30 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
You'll Be a Nelson Fan After Reading This Book!, June 12, 2000
Long regarded in literary circles as one of America's finest writers, Antonya Nelson has yet to find a wider audience. I suspect LIVING TO TELL will change all this. Winston Mabie returns to his rambling childhood home in Wichita, Kansas after serving five years in prison for the drunk driving accident that killed his grandmother. Always charming and handsome, Winston has become the Mabie family's shame, the one they don't know what to do with, the "alcoholic" of the family even as his siblings, parents, and uncle seek their solace and comraderie through booze. As the Mabies adjust to Winston's return and the changes he represents, they begin to question the direction of their own lives. Nelson has populated her novel with quirky, complex, and decidedly real characters who struggle with their separate, often private dramas and who always return to the shifting terrain of those who have known them the longest. Her prose is clear and detailed, never sentimental or heavy-handed, and it carries this story forward with a surety that is remarkable. Especially if you enjoy Anne Tyler and Alice Hoffman (without the magic realism), you'll love this book.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Choosing life, March 16, 2001
This novel begins with a revelation: a young man has caused his grandmother's death in a drunk driving accident and is now returning home, after his incarceration, to a dysfunctional family that lives mostly under one roof, much like a benign patriarchy. The Mabies, Professor and Mrs., own a huge, rambling home large enough for all their grown children to reside comfortably, enabling each to pursue their interests, including romance, drugs and/or alcohol. It should be noted that the Mabies don't feel dysfunctional; their disagreements are few, and their ways familiar.
The divorced Emily inhabits the upstairs apartment with her two children. Mona lives in the main part of the house, having retreated to the safety of family after a suicide attempt over a broken relationship; the brother returning from jail adds to the curious mix. This family unit, along with assorted relatives and friends, work out their domestic complications with open-hearted kindness. When one of them becomes seriously ill, rather than destroying the family, they find a unity based on the value of everyday life.
I would like to see some of the more wordy passages shortened, but this author writes very believable dialog. Her characters, particularly the siblings, are defined by their loving natures and generosity towards eachother. As families go, this one is "functioning dysfunctional", able to avoid the more serious damage that usually affects this condition.
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13 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A good man is hard to find....., October 1, 2000
I've been a fan of Antonya Nelson's for about ten years. It's no
surprise to me she's earned the Flannery O'Connor and PEN/Nelson
Algren awards. Like O'Conner before her, Nelson writes stories filled
with the offbeat, dysfunctional, and neurotic (the DSM III made the
term neurotic passe, but what else is there? ). And, like O'Connor,
Nelson has a finely tuned ear for dialogue, which she uses effectively
to portray the psychological makeup of her characters.
I can
understand why some people might find this book offputting. People who
grew up in relatively normal healthy homes where alcoholism and it's
attendent dysfunctional behavior weren't the norm might not believe
folks like the Mabies exist. But, they do.
Scott Fitzgerald had an
alcohol problem and a wife Zelda some called zany and others called
crazy. He wrote about "3:00 o'clock in the morning of the
long night of the soul." I think of him on those nights when I
wake up and the clock beside my bed says 2:46 a.m. I think about him
when I stumble down the stairs past the night lights placed at
critical junctures between my bedroom and the kitchen. I think about
him when I switch on the light and pick up a book to read.
Or,
sometimes I think about Benjamin Franklin, who said if you can't sleep
at night, get up, walk around and flap your arms a bit. Or maybe I
think about my brother who has suffered from an alcohol and drug
problem ever since he dropped out as a flower child in the sixties. Or,
maybe I think about other relatives and friends who've OD'd, died by
their own hand, or been in bizarre accidents while under the influence.
From now on, I'll think about the Mabies--parents and children--up
at four a.m., falling over each other in the kitchen. It's easy to
describe Emily, Mona, and Winston as young adults in various stages of
arrested growth. Through the course of the book, however, each of them
makes an effort to improve. All three Mabie children are doing the best
they can.
I recommend this book to anyone who is in recovery,
knows someone in recovery, or works with people who are trying to get
sober. I read passages of the book to a friend who is in recovery and
works with alcoholics and drug addicts in recovery, and he howled
with laughter. Who knows, maybe you will too?
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