Customer Reviews

The Mammoth Cheese

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

You gotta give credit to someone willing to title her book The Mammoth Cheese. Luckily, the story stands strong against the title. This is a more sprawling work than Holman's The Dress Lodger. While its geographic base is pretty focused, rarely leaving the small town it is set in, the story spins through a large number of characters and several major plotlines, including a pending farm foreclosure, a Presidential election, the aftermath of a divorce, the birth of 11 babies to one mother, a spiritual crisis, several mid-life crises, unrequited love, a growing relationship between a teacher and his pupil though whether it tends toward good or bad remains up in the air for a while, and of course, the creation and transport of the mammoth cheese itself. That's a lot to tackle and Holman admirably handles the load. As one might expect with so many characters, some are not as fully fleshed out as one would like. The history teacher and the ex-husband in particular I thought were a bit weak in their portrayal, as is the mother of 11 until somewhat later in the book. While their lack of full depth is noticeable, it does not detract over much from the work as a whole. And their somewhat shallow development is more than made up for by the rest of the characterization, which is deeply satisfying. One begins to care for and root for these characters early on. We take on their hopes and desires along with their despair and fear. The woman desperately trying to hold onto her farm and family, the Jefferson impersonator trying to figure out who he is behind his persona, the minister struggling with his recent decisions and his possible motivations, eventually the mother of 11, and perhaps most of all, the young daughter struggling to find herself among and sometimes in spite of all these adults surrounding her. The tension steadily rises throughout the novel as questions come nearer their answers, answers which Holman skillfully manages to not foreshadow too obviously. And because we care about the characters, we care greatly about the answers. There are moments that are truly terrifying, especially as one moves toward the close. It seems lately that my biggest complaint about recent books, even ones I loved such as Lovely Bones or Bel Canto, is that so many of them have had poor or even terribly endings. I'm happy to say this book broke the trend. The ending here is not only earned by what has gone before, but is the best part of the book. Another complaint I've had a lot lately is that so many characters in a lot of recent books have acted not as real people would but in ways to service the plot. Once again, The Mammoth Cheese shines as the opposite. all of the characters, even the small ones, even the ones not so well drawn, at least act human. They do dumb things, they doubt, they make mistakes, they get lucky. and because we can recognize ourselves in their thoughts and actions we care even more about what happens to them. I wouldn't call this a great book or say as some reviewers have that I couldn't put it down though I never considered doing so. It did bog down in two or three places, though only briefly, and as mentioned, some characters were too sketchy for my liking, but even in the slow parts I wanted to read on because I wanted to know what happened to these people. More than wanting to know, I wanted the right things to happen to them. I won't say if they did, but it's worth finding out.

As I was reading Sheri Holman's new novel, THE MAMMOTH CHEESE, on the subway, I received countless comments from strangers on the book's title. "THE MAMMOTH CHEESE," more than one person said to me, "What's THAT about?" Although many of the novel's situations --- and certainly its title --- are rather absurd, the novel touches on themes that are anything but silly.

Sheri Holman, whose previous novels, A STOLEN TONGUE and THE DRESS LODGER, were set in Palestine and England, respectively, here writes a novel that is not only American in its setting and scope but also quintessentially American in its themes of self-reliance, family obligation and, most importantly, independence. In many ways THE MAMMOTH CHEESE is an extended meditation on the concept of independence, explored through the examples of several carefully drawn small-town folks from rural Three Chimneys, Virginia.

There's Manda Frank, part of Three Chimneys's most notorious white-trash family, who finds herself the mother of eleven babies after a fertility drug proves a little too effective. Counseled by her pastor to keep all the babies, Manda is completely bewildered by her new responsibilities. When some of the babies start to die, Manda is torn between anguish at her loss and relief at the prospect of regaining the freedom she has always valued and the ability to hunt and roam the woods with her beloved dogs, a freedom that motherhood seems to have stolen entirely.

Also struggling with his own independence is August Vaughn. By day, August is a farmhand on Margaret Prickett's small dairy farm. By night, he dresses up as Thomas Jefferson to interpret Jefferson's life and writings to audiences of locals and tourists alike. Even though August reveres the man famous for writing the Declaration of Independence, he is unable to declare his own independence. He's in thrall both to his parents, with whom he has lived as an adult for more than twenty years, and to his long hidden and unrequited love for Margaret.

Margaret, too, must define what independence means to her. Recently divorced from her husband, she's struggling to keep her small dairy farm afloat while raising her 13-year-old daughter Polly, protecting her from the corrupting influences of modern life. Margaret has pinned all her financial hopes on newly elected President Adams Brooke, who has run on a platform of granting debt amnesty to America's small farmers. As a dramatic expression of her gratitude, Margaret is determined to present President Brooke with a 1,200-pound cheese, a gesture reminiscent of a gift given to Jefferson during his presidency. Soon, though, the mammoth cheese gets out of Margaret's control, and she must decide how far to take the media circus that ensues.

Finally, there's Polly, Margaret's teenage daughter, who loves her mother fiercely but feels lost in the wake of her parents' divorce and the drama of her mother's struggles to save her farm. She is drawn to her history teacher, Mr. March, whose favorite Jeffersonian motto is "Rebellion to Tyrants is Obedience to God." Mr. March paints himself as a radical and encourages Polly to rebel, but it soon becomes clear that his interest in Polly is more sinister than a desire to help her gain her independence.

Amazingly enough, all of these threads do come together during the Mammoth Cheese's pilgrimage to Washington, D.C. Without being preachy or predictable, THE MAMMOTH CHEESE manages to incorporate some big ideas about the nature of independence and the character of America.

--- Reviewed by Norah Piehl

I cannot recall the last time I read as entertaining and smart a book as the Mammoth Cheese. It's a really smart book about family, destiny, love, and, alas, the government and the ways in which power is obtained and maintained. All of this manifest's in young Polly March's life and a far as narrators go, I haven't come across as interesting a young woman since I read Margaret Atwood's Cat's Eye. Sheri Holman nails the sense of a girl beginning to think and live her own life so vividly that I could not put the book down. I was just riveted.

This is a big, important, lovable, endearing book. Don't miss it!

Is it my imagination, or is it getting harder and harder to find mainstream literary fiction that doesnt stink? Fortunately, just as my cynicism is just about to peak, along comes Sheri Holman and The Mammoth Cheese. Holmans manages to be witty, complex and absorbing all at once. Her novel brilliantly weds personal and political themes in a way that seems utterly natural. In fact, it is natural to wed personal and political themes, and the real genius of this book is to show how political corruption and neglect trickle down to the personal level, and how personal corruption and neglect affect the larger political scene. But never once does the novel come across as ponderous or affected. Youll keep turning the pages not because of Holmans sophisticated ideas but because the book is just so fun to read.

I've read this and The Dress Lodger. Consider this a comment on them both.

Sheri Holman's characters are, each and every one of them, beautifully flawed. They are drawn out to the very detail, and she never ever takes the easy way out and makes them just good or bad. The plots she comes up with are far-fetched and bizarre, but she does this with incredibly real characters, which, if you ask me, makes for incredibly well-written novels.

There have been several reviews which deal very well with the plot, so I will not replicate it here, except to say that the two major events, the arrival of the 11 live born multiple-birth babies and the manufacture of the title's mammoth cheese are the central events of this well crafted novel. But the real richness of the book is in the fabulous characters that Sheri Holman gives us to sympathise with, get annoyed with, and ultimately feel some satisfaction with.

And they are great characters too. There is poor Manda who finds herself in IVF hell. There is Margaret, the somewhat eccentric cheese maker who clings to the old life and her somewhat prickly teenaged daughter Polly. There is August the Jefferson devotee and his father the Pastor who somehow seems to be in the middle of all that drives the town and the people who live in it. By the end of the book you feel as if you know these people quite well, and I find that it is this talent that makes me really enjoy a novel.

There have been some criticism of elements of this book, and it certainly isn't perfect, but it is a really lovely story, well written, and I am happy to recommend it.

This is by far the best novel I've read this year. I don't know where Sheri Holman's talent comes from but I suspect it's otherworldly. Her gifts for characterization, her flawless writing and her beautiful yet horrifying story kept me up all night. I literally could not put this book down. Nothing but raves and praise here - I'm going to find her other book, The Dress Lodger, just as soon as the bookstore opens. Read this book. Read this book. READ THIS BOOK.

Here is America with all its warts and all its faults, in the microcosm of Three Chimneys, Virginia, a tiny rural town with a population less than 800 souls.

Something enormous has put Three Chimneys on the voracious radar screen of the nation and the press: ordinary blue-collar hunting-dog trainer Manda Frank has given birth to 11 babies, known as the "Frank Eleven." No matter whether or not the babies are healthy, whether the poor couple wanted all these babies, or what will happen to them--they are now celebrities, along with the entire starstruck town.

What happens to push the Franks off the radar and replace it? None other than the desperate move of one woman, Margaret, who is struggling to keep her family-owned farm against all odds. Margaret makes the finest cheese...and to call attention to her plight and the plight of so many other family farmers faced with extinction and foreclosure, she decides to replicate a stunt from Thomas Jefferson's day and create a 1200-pound "mammoth cheese" to be ferried to Washington as a gift for the President.

How this noble cause becomes perverted by local personal interest, the press, the pastor, and just about everything and everybody else is the center of this hilarious but disturbing book. We see the facetious and sometimes horrifying modern-day obsession with fame and fortune through the eyes of Margaret's only daughter, 13-year-old Polly, who is under the influence of her cynical and smarmy history teacher, Mr. March.

All in all, a simply brilliant, albeit very upsetting, look at the underside of all that is good about America and society in general. Highly recommended.

In Sheri Holman's previous work, A Stolen Tongue and The Dress Lodger, it's been noted how informed the novels are by Holman's diligent research and attention to detail. With a contemporary setting, I wondered before reading The Mammoth Cheese how she would put her research to work.

And yes, there's the issue of multiple births and plenty of historical reference; these should have satisfied the author's penchant for holing herself up in the library. But it's Holman's attention to the details of the heart, the authenticity with which she creates her principal and supporting characters, and the clear-eyed but affectionate way that she describes life in a small town that makes this novel come to life.

A wonderful story, told with remarkable skill. Holman has done a marvelous job, infusing the story with trenchant observations of politics and contemporary values, without ever taking away from the sincerity of her characters' hopes and desires.

I'm a big fan of Holman's earlier book, The Dress Lodger. And I'm happy to report this book is, at least plot-wise, nothing like it. But that's not a bad thing at all. Instead, Holman harnesses her considerable humor and wordsmithing to create a well-spun, character-driven paen to the joys and troubles of modern small-town life.

Veering between descriptions of the main character's cheese farm (does not sound interesting, but is!), a presidential campaign, a family blessed (and cursed) by multiples births and a Lolita-like relationship, Mammoth Cheese is a big mouthful of a book. But Holman's ability to use well-honed facts, quirky characters and interesting plotting makes it all come together. I can't wait to see what she does next!