Switch [Paperback]

Carol Guess (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 1998

Switch explores the strange nature of passion and unravels the "normalcy" of a midwestern landscape.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Carol Guess's lyrical and accomplished second novel, set in small-town Indiana, is poised on the tension between the surface cheeriness of the waitresses at the M&H Diner and their dark inner lives. Caddie and her friends each have a secret and, through years of hiding and watchfulness, they have developed a wary alertness to what other people are withholding. Since her lover Jo skipped town, no one escapes Caddie's attention or the brief focus of her shifting desire. She learns that shallow, selfish Gwen, the new girl at the diner, has a surprisingly rich singing voice, "as if all the things she knew she kept hidden in her throat," and that Selena, her long-time ally, cares little for people, but will kiss a $50 bill when she thinks no one is looking. Suffering makes Caddie compassionate, as well as needy, and she unhesitatingly adopts the small orange cat that shows up on her doorstep one rainy night. Here at last is something to love, someone to listen to her dangerous confidences. But why does the cat remind her of her lost lover? And where does the cat disappear to when the lover finally returns? Switch is a complex, haunting novel with mystical overtones and a mastery of narrative voice. --Regina Marler

From Publishers Weekly

At first glance, the waitresses at the M&H Diner in Cartwheel, Ind., look just like everyone else, just a little closer to central casting: good listener Caddie, flirtatious Selena, sweet Gwen. Yet each harbors a secret existence. What almost nobody around them notices is that Caddie is a lesbian whose lover is so butch that everyone believes "she" is a "he"; that Selena has a furniture fetish, preferring objects to people; and that Gwen is an abusive, neglectful mother. Guess (Selling Dell) reveals these hidden lives through the voices of alternating narrators: Caddie, Selena, Caddie's lover and other members of the waitresses' circle. Guess deftly performs the parlor trick of handling the several different voices, switching fluidly from perceptive Caddie to the clipped cadence of masculine Jo to jaded Selena. This Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore for the 1990s celebrates the differences between people without fudging the loneliness that these entail. Guess's attempts to put a Midwestern spin on magical realism are blessedly rare: in a book loaded with so many natural surprises, any supernatural extras would be gilt on the lily. Rights: Elizabeth Wales of Levant and Wales, Seattle.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 275 pages
• Publisher: CALYX Books (June 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0934971609
• ISBN-13: 978-0934971607
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,629,685 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Carol Guess is the author of three novels, Seeing Dell, Switch, and Homeschooling; a memoir, Gaslight; and three poetry collections, Femme's Dictionary, Tinderbox Lawn, and Love Is A Map I Must Not Set On Fire. Forthcoming books include a poetry collection, Doll Studies: Forensics; a flash fiction collection, Darling Endangered; an essay collection, My Father In Water; and a novella, Willful Machine. She is Associate Professor of English at Western Washington University, where she teaches Creative Writing and Queer Studies.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Scintillating. Exquisite. Emotion Beyond this Realm!, July 30, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Switch (Hardcover)

If you enjoyed Seeing Dell, you won't be able to put down Carol Guess' latest work of art, "Switch". If you have yet to read either book, BUY BOTH!

Ms. Guess shows amazing insight into the human mind. Her characters are real, alive, and quite intriguing. And the story of each character is told in their own words, in both books.

The story takes place in the small town of Cartwright, Indiana just outside of the Ms. Guess' own hometown. The story is centered on Caddie, a youngish woman who makes her living as a waitress in a small, privately owned diner.

Caddie tells the story of her dearest love, Jo, who left her one day with barely a note of explanation. Through Caddie we learn about Jo's true identity. Caddie is the only resident of Cartwright who knows Jo's secret body, and real name. The man everyone knows as Jo, or Joseph, is actually Josephine. A woman who left her true identity on the bus that took her to Cartwright, Indiana.

Through! out the book Caddie struggles with her desire to tell the truth of her own sexuality and the fear of what that admission might bring to her life. She suffers in silence for years with no one else who she can relate to, although we soon find, that there are many people in Cartwright who share her burden of guilt, because their love also takes them from the acceptable boundaries of society.

As each character adds their own narrative to the story, we learn each have their secrets from each other. Ultimately, each of these secrets surround love or passion and how they have lived their lives to ensure their hidden loves go forward unaltered.

"Switch" shows the true complexity and depth of human desire and need. Its standing testimony to the fact that everyone, male, female, in any class stratification, of any sexual orientation, will do what they need in order to protect what is valued in their lives, and do so happily, in a world less accepting of their differ! ences. All in the name of love.

This book was delightful! , fascinating, and captivated my attention for hours on end. It will stand on my book case for many years to come, and will be read again and again. Cheers to Ms. Guess!

(If you are interested in seeing more reviews, please email me for the URL to my home page!)

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Tidal, June 26, 2002

By 

"blissengine" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Switch (Paperback)

The novel revolves around a diner in the small town of Cartwheel, Indiana. Caddie, a waitress at the diner, had a very public affair with Jo, a worker at a local factory, until Jo just left her. No one outside of the lovers knows the true texture of their love affair because Jo never let on that he was really a woman. Selena, another waitress, has a secret of her own, as does almost everyone connected with the diner. "Switch" is an addictive novel of secrets, desires, and the sensual aspects of everyday life. The characters spring from the pages and take on lives outside the story. And by the time the final pages are reached, the reader wants to become a regular at the diner so as not to miss any moment in these characters' lives. Truly masterful storytelling.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Powerful, lyrical, and haunting., October 25, 2003

By 

erica "ejs192" (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Switch (Paperback)

Carol Guess's second novel, "Switch", is the story of a small-town diner and the lives - public and secret - that intertwine within its walls. The narration shifts among several women, but the main character is a waitress named Caddie, whose lover, Jo, has left her. Her friends are sympathetic, but Caddie takes little comfort in their condolences because none of them know that Jo is a woman. When the diner hires a new waitress, Caddie must confront her feelings for the new girl and accept her own sexuality.

"Switch" is a story of womanhood and sexuality, and learning to accept them both in yourself, whatever their form. But it is so much deeper, more involved, and more delightful than its synopsis. The prose is distinctive and profound; the novel's voice is so unusual and incisive you will find yourself thinking in the characters' words even after you've finished reading. The characters are bizarre but utterly human and believable; Guess has found a way to make the impossible plausible. The story exists in a realm of intuition where feeling is being, where reality is flexible. It is a realm that absorbs the reader and leaves an imprint on the mind. This is a book you will not want to reach the end of, and a read you will never forget.