Stormy Weather: A Novel [Hardcover]

Michael Meehan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 7, 2002

In a tiny town in northwest Victoria in 1955, the year before the introduction of television will spell the end to their way of life, a troupe of vaudeville artists arrives to give a performance. Over the course of a day of interminable rain, we see the exhausted hopes and secret dreams of the Prospero-like, endlessly scribbling ringmaster; the Calibanic, malicious-yet-innocent rabbiter obsessed with a beautiful, pale English girl and her saxophone; and the weeping, middle-aged soprano. Their stories and others-of illusions fostered and shattered, desires met and denied-are bound together by the magical, transformative power of art.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Australian writer Meehan takes a sly, baroque look at the inner workings of a dying vaudevillian theater troupe in his second novel, an arch retelling of The Tempest that takes place in Australia in 1955, just as the marvel of television is about to send the troupe into electronic-age oblivion. The pivotal show, an event called the Blind Concert, is in considerable jeopardy when the novel opens, as two of the troupe's stars, the Barringtons, encounter a tumultuous rainstorm on their way to the theater. Meehan (The Salt of Broken Tears) explores their disaffections, then makes his way through the cast in a similar fashion, exposing the frustrations of the Barringtons' son, Freddie, an aspiring star, as well as those of the director and the company's attractive female saxophone player. The most intriguing character is an odd, sneaky local figure known as the rabbiter (read Caliban), who lures two of the women from the company to his remote hovel near a swamp outside of town, then turns his attention to sabotaging the performance by booby-trapping the theater. It takes a while for Meehan to establish his rhythmic style and get the story in gear, but once the pieces are in place, this novel turns into a fascinating ensemble character study in which the author offers incisive observations on the nature of art and its role in our lives. The final concert scene proves especially revelatory, rising to a crescendo of poetic prose expressing the "deep and urgent yearning" of the soul for the enchantment that music can provide.

From Booklist

In the 1950s, during the last days of touring vaudevillian acts (which television would soon obliterate), a group of actors and artists arrive in a small town in rural Australia to perform in a Blind Concert, a series of benefit performances to support the Royal Victorian Institute for the Blind. Over the course of one day, Shakespeare's Tempest is acted out, in real life, in this dark, often depressingly funny novel. In it, Meehan explores the shattered dreams of the performers--the concert-trained English girl transplanted into a country whose music she hates; the aged, bickering couple who are seeing the end, not only of their careers, but also of their lives; and those of many others. Meehan's gift for lushly translating The Tempest into the rain-drenched towns of Victoria, Australia, is powerful, and his tale offers nothing less than a fantastic interpretation of it. It also offers a great insight into Australia, still creating its own outcasts, and the power of art and performance to inspire and bind together all those involved. Michael Spinella
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 208 pages
• Publisher: Arcade Publishing; 1 edition (May 7, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1559706201
• ISBN-13: 978-1559706209
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.3 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,444,981 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars COMPELLING AND INVOLVING...AND SURREAL, September 11, 2002

By 

Larry L. Looney (Austin, Texas USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Stormy Weather: A Novel (Hardcover)

Like his earlier novel THE SALT OF BITTER TEARS, Michael Meehan has, by way of his carefully constructed language, brought to the reader's reality the strange world of the Australian hinterlands of the 1950s. The characters that fill this novel are all unique and very real -- as odd as they are, they never come off as unbelievable creations. Also, as in his earlier work, the natural surroundings are almost a character themselves -- both the landscape and the weather (as implied by the title).

The reviews I've read of this novel -- as well as the jacket-flap information -- indicate that this is a partial retelling of Shakespeare's THE TEMPEST. I have to admit ignorance of that particular work (or perhaps just a faded memory since my schooldays, take your pick), so I can't really speak to the parallels between the two. The story herein stands well on its own, I must say -- Shakespearean shadows aside -- and is one that will, I think, remain with the reader (or in his/her dreams/nightmares) for some time to come.

It came to my mind that stormy weather can either isolate us with its power (and our own fear) or throw us together, forcing us to interact and leave our marks on the lives of others around us (for good or ill). In this story, there's a bit of both, although the latter scenario is the one that wins out -- and just about everyone involved comes away from the experience a bit richer, touched and changed by those around them.