Customer Reviews

Misfortune

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

It is the early 1820s in London. After an infant boy is discarded on a garbage heap and left for dead, he is found by Geoffroy Loveall, the effeminate, eccentric Lord of Love Hall, who is concerned about the need for an heir to inherit his vast wealth. Lord Loveall brings the baby back to the manor, hastily marries a member of the household staff, and claims that there is a new heir to the family fortune. However, obsessed with the death of his sister and living in a dream world of his own, the Lord declares the baby to be a girl and names him Rose. With the collusion of the immediate family and household staff, Lord Loveall raises Rose as a proper Victorian girl who is pampered, spoiled by an excess of weath and prestige, and dubbed "Miss Fortune". For years Rose never questions his femininity. His life seems idyllic as he plays with the two children of a household servant and helps his mother with her work in the estate library.

Inevitably, the young Rose reaches adolescence and suddenly doesn't look or feel ladylike any more. As greedy relatives circle in their attempt to wrest control of the estate from Lord Loveall, Rose discovers his true gender and adoptive status. When he reveals himself as a male to society at large and to his predatory relatives, he causes a scandal that jeopardizes the legitimacy of his inheritance. He does not feel at home in his male body and continues to wear dresses, even while sporting a fine mustache. After Lord Loveall dies, his survivors struggle to keep their claim to the Loveall fortune while Rose sets out to discover his roots... and himself.

There are many humorous elements here. The reaction of proper Victorian society to the cross-dressing Rose is one. Another is the squabbles of a dysfunction pack of conniving relatives who examine each other's weaknesses and go for the jugular. The Loveall wealth is exaggeratedly immense, leading to descriptions of a household staff so huge that one servant does nothing except raise or lower a flag to signify whether the Young Lord is at home and well. Author Wesley Stace, who is also known as singer/songwriter John Wesley Harding, laces the story with Victorian ballads, one of which is instrumental in helping Rose unearth his true past.

In some ways, this story brings to mind the novel "Middlesex," since both novels are about a male brought up as a female in unconventional family surroundings. Both concern the child's gradual awakening to his true sexual nature, his flight, and his gradual acceptance of what, and who he is. Both are also interwoven with mythological references. Although "Misfortune" is not as well-crafted a novel as "Middlesex," it is an entertaining story full of wild Dickensian coincidences, absurdly comic situations, songs, and bawdy humor. It also offers some serious observations about a dual masculine/feminine psyche and the nature of fate. This is a great debut novel!

Eileen Rieback

"Misfortune" is more than a promising debut; it's a fulfilled promise. It's an astounding literary undertaking, and Stace pulls it off masterfully.

Stace is an extremely gifted storyteller. His fiction writing is well served by his talents as a songwriter. His prose is lyrical, direct and momentous; his timing and sense of pace are impeccable. Rose's story is often heartbreaking, just as often hilarious, and always fascinating. She and the people who surround her occupy not only another century, but the furthest and most extraordinary reaches of that century, and yet we recognize them instantly.

I can't think of another novel I've read in recent years with such well rendered scenes of childhood. The scenes with Rose and her playmates capture all the idyllic feelings of wonder, vitality, laughter and the seemingly endless possibilities of childhood--as well as the creeping onset of recognition that things cannot and will not remain this way. Rose's bewilderment--at her loss of invulnerability and her departure from a world where everything is more or less as it should be--is utterly transcendent.

Each character in "Misfortune"--even those who appear for only a page or two--is exquisitely rendered. The Loveall family is populated with some of the most gruesome, petty and awful extended family members imaginable, yet they always remain human--and always hysterical. The scenes with some of the most infuriating and despicable members on the periphery of Rose's new family stand out as the moments of highest comedy in the book.

This is one of the finest, most touching, funny and utterly enthralling novels I've read in years. I found myself wanting to leave social engagements early to get home and continue reading. The book itself also happens to be a design masterpiece: The cover of the hardback edition, and the sublime illustrations are befitting the classic it is destined to become.

If this is Stace's first book, I can't wait to see what's next.

"Misfortune" is a hilarious, brilliant, warm-hearted and occasionally rather dirty literary adventure novel... think A.S. Byatt but less prissy. Actually, think A.S. Byatt but not prissy at all. I just finished reading it and am now somewhat at a loose end -- that feeling of having been engrossed in someone else's world (and century) for a week and not wanting to leave or face picking up another book.

By the looks of things, a handful of contemporary writers are returning us to the wondrous days when novels - not movies - were the dominant narrative form. No longer are our best storytellers cowed by Hollywood (no relation) into producing elliptical, bloodless tomes that refuse to compete with more visceral media. Wesley Stace is unafraid to sauce his tale with a tangy dollop of vulgarity. No artless hack, Stace, like Marquez, Rushdie, Grass, and on these shores Irving, is a complete writer. In the library at noon and the whorehouse at midnight. Nabokov said that a writer's job is to enchant. Well, Wesley Stace wears the hat. Surrender yourself to MISFORTUNE and you will be in his spell. Or just stare at that author photo for a while.

The witty, fast-paced, deliciously detailed opening of "Misfortune" raised my expectations for an escapade on a par with, say, "The Oracle Glass." But once the inevitable first denouement occurred, the pacing of the story fell askew, and the latter section of the story was more of a plod than a trot. And while it's apparent that the central character of Rose is deemed lovable and worthy of indulgence by the supporting cast, it's not clear why. Several of the secodary characters are far more charismatic, contributing to the off-balance effect of the book as a whole. I wanted to like "Misfortune" much more than I ultimately did.

From intriguing start to triumphant finish, Misfortune is a book that is difficult to put down. Full of fascinating characters, song, word games, and a twisted plot, this epic tale is sure to be enjoyed by many.

Well done, Mr. Stace!

Misfortune is my favourite novel of the year so far. I was really sad when it was done, because I had become so attached to the characters, particularly the main character Rose Old (the boy who is brought up as a girl). This gender-bending aspect of the book has attracted a lot of attention, but to me it was secondary to the coming of age element of the story - and, although the plot is labyrinthine in the best Dickensian way, there was always something else going on to catch your attention and whisk you along - the word games (Rose Old/Dolores/Lord Ose), the poetry (don't want to give anything away here!) and the Guide Book appendix which I loved - giving a truly historical perspective to the events of the book, as well as making a sly comment on the National Trust and other administers of National Heritage. And perhaps the best thing about it - though a thick book, an easy read. I will be giving a few of these out for christmas and am looking forward to Stace's second novel.

Although this is his first novel, Wesley Stace has proven his absolute domination of the english language. I never would have guessed. Each sentence is so colorful and tells you so much about the characters in his novel that you find yourself breathless to see what will happen next. And you never know what will happen next as it is a most unpredictible story. Artistically weaving several different points of view in the first person narrative, Stace demonstrates a masterfully creative writing style. You can tell from his writing that he is also a lyricist. Sometimes writing tangeants that leave you wondering where on earth he is going, Stace inevitably brings you back full circle neatly and with greater understanding of the story and its characters. I truly enjoyed reading this book and look forward to reading his next book.

A really good read, with an adorable narrator and some very villainous villains, that kept me gripped right until the end. The plot ties up quite quickly, but I didn't see this as a problem, as the focus of Misfortune is Rose's birth, struggle and ultimate victory rather than the plot, which (in a way) reminded me of what Altman said about Gosford Park: "not so much a whodunnit, as a who cares who dunnit." The working out of the family drama - which is always interesting - is most illuminating not for the excitement of the plot but for what it tells us about the remarkable, resilient Rose - weird how some people call Rose a 'transgender' or 'transexual' rather than a 'transvestite' which is what s/he is.

I can't wait to see this made into a movie - surely it must be! They just made Pride and Prejudice for the fifteenth time after all.....

An infant, the new Lady Rose Loveall is the answer to her father's dilemma, an heir to the Loveall fortune, Love Hall Manor and the prestigious family name, keeping all safe from disingenuous relatives. Distraught over the loss of his younger sister and boon companion, Delores, Lord Loveall names the baby Rose after his deceased sister, in spite of the fact that she is a he, a small impediment for a man who is used to having his every whim accommodated.

Then there is the matter of the baby's origin: the infant is found abandoned on a trash heap in a London suburb, snatched up by Lord Loveall from certain death. The event is later the theme for a ballad printed in a popular broadsheet of the time, the tale of The Rose and the Briar. In a tizzy of delight, Lord Loveall returns home with the purloined bundle and plans for his family's future and secured inheritance.

To give the appearance of propriety, Lord Loveall marries Love Hall's former nanny, now official librarian, creating an instant family for the new member of the Loveall dynasty, Baby Rose. Lord Loveall's wife is a devotee of Mary Day, a woman whose writing espouses the theory that the masculine and feminine are integrated in each person. In deference to the wishes of Lord Loveall, the family plays out the ruse that the child is a female, without much consideration for the long term effects of gender-confusion.

Little Rose remains ignorant of her sexual ambiguity, acknowledging the truth only at her father's death bed. By then the child is comfortable in her compromised identity, although planning ahead toward an announcement of her true gender. Suddenly, all is thrown into confusion by events, the heir exposed, dispossessed of everything familiar. It is these new surroundings that challenge Rose's mettle, life in the real world and an adjustment to the difficulties of gender identification. The author tackles a difficult topic with compassion, creating a multi-dimensional protagonist beset with choices that are dangerous and frightening and seemingly impossible to resolve.

Misfit or not, Rose is a sensitive, thoughtful person who has never harmed another, a creature caught in circumstances beyond her control. In Victorian London, Rose is indeed adrift in a society defined by moral rigidity, enduring contempt and scorn by those who are all too willing to judge.

Misfortune struggles somewhat from its own identity crisis, drifting between fiction and fairy tale, as Rose's path veers from Mistress/Master to fugitive on the fringes of society. Through the skillful manipulation of facts, secrets long-hidden in the family tree are uncovered and Rose's future resolved. Patterned after the English adventure novel, Misfortune has all the drama, behind-the-scenes machinations and ill-fated, much-abused heroine/hero in a complex plot with an adequate serving of jealous, greedy relatives to usurp the family home. If a bit too long, the novel is the perfect stage for the tormented Rose, embattled, embittered and triumphant. Luan Gaines/2005.