Customer Reviews

The Testing of Luther Albright: A Novel

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4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

In her intriguing debut novel, "The Testing of Luther Albright," MacKenzie Bezos tackles the question of what makes a man an effective father. Her protagonist is a good man, on the surface a dutiful provider, honorable husband and competent companion to his son. Yet, Luther Albright is as brittle as a withered autumnal leaf; in his quest to never burden his family with his private emotional turmoil, he shuts himself off from them. His acts of spiritual isolation and compulsive refusal to open his heart to those he loves result in a predictable disaster. Indeed, in the very first sentence of the novel, Bezos informs us that Luther "lost" his wife and son in the span of one year, after failing "nine separate tests" of character.

The central irony of the novel is that Luther's sincere efforts to protect his family from pain result in silent suffering, deepening resignation and simmering resentment. Discouraged by the "unfathomable Rube Goldberg workings that controlled my mind and heart," Luther steadfastly refuses to share his own broken heart, the result of unresolved ambivalence over his own childhood relationship with his father. Rather than confront his own pain and share his anguish with his wife, Luther resolves to assiduously maintain his meticulously-constructed home. As a craftsman, Luther is without peer; as a husband and father, he fails terribly.

Repressed and vigilant about any show of emotion, Luther cannot find a means to share himself with his son. Whether it be home repair or instructions about shaving, Luther awkwardly flails about in trying to connect with his son. Direct, honest, authentic talk never is a possibility. Consequently, the son quietly rebels; even Elliot's gentle acts of rebellion are cries for recognition, pleas for connection. Out of fear that he may utter the wrong phrase or offer improper advice, Luther selects the worst of all avenues to approach his son: a prim and distant affection, which his son interprets as rejection and repudiation. A brash and boorish co-worker even provides a better, if rough-hewn, role model as a husband.

Bezos' style could stand some refining. She tends to slight her secondary characters, especially wife Liz and son Elliot, never permitting us the chance to understand the world from their point of view. As well, by the end of the novel, the author has thoroughly mined every conceivable angle by which we may judge Luther. A more trim, compact novel would have achieved the same end.

The sadness that suffuses "The Testing of Luther Albright" reminds us that emotional risk taking is far superior to buttoned-down, flat affect. Children need genuine parents, parents who are courageous enough to share their flaws, as well as their virtues, with their offspring.

this story is well-conceived and the main character is an interesting study in distancing and alienation from loved ones. the plot could have used more fuel, and the writing requires concentration without being entirely involving, but luther albright's climactic realizations are carefully orchestrated, unsettling, and sad. be prepared to be patient with the mental maneuvering of a man who is so overcontrolled that he only occasionally simmers with emotion.

While I found The Testing of Luther Albright to be a very engaging book, it was, at the same time, extremely intense and I could barely read a chapter at a sitting. It is the story of Luther Albright who wants to avoid replicating the relationship mistakes he saw his father make, and the book is a grueling look at the lengths he will go to to try to avoid becoming a man like his father.

I found this book to be very powerful and I think it would lead to great discussions in the context of a book group.

MacKenzie Bezos writes in a very engaging style and clearly did her research for this book. I'm looking forward to reading more books from her.

This is a taut, stinging story of the family dynamics involved in repressed feelings and denied passion. The intergenerational aspects self-abegnation, over-control, and a desire for perfection are illustrated in this well crafted cautionary tale. Luther Albright suffers intense anxiety and acute insecurity as he strives to cope with his only son's trying teenage behavior which brings back memories of incidents from his own youth and painful interactions with his own parents. Long-term psychological damage and personal relationships that are stunted and false are all part of this sad story that we are all the wiser for reading. Don't miss it.

Although the writing is quite nice in some places, this novel becomes quite numbing in it's glacial pace. A novel about an ordinarly family has to have a universal appeal, but this book is an endess exercise in self-indulgent navel-gazing. The detail is so minute and insular that you're left gasping for air. And books where the protagonist is so unnaturally self-aware and insightful bothers me. If he was this in tune with his family, then his emotional distance does not make sense.

In "The Testing of Luther Albright," MacKenzie Bezos draws you into the intimacy of Luther Albright's mind. We hear his every thought and experience every nuance. The writing is personal and inviting all while it is occasionally especially revealing. This is a meticulously researched novel with a distinct male voice. MacKenzie Bezos has successfully stepped into Luther Albright's world and writes with a keen sense of observation. She skillfully weaves a subtle suspense into the story and this keeps you reading right to the last page. The story is captivating and has interesting twists and turns that surprise and at times inspires laughter. This is one of the most insightful novels I've ever read and the ending was not what I expected.

~The Rebecca Review

This is a beautifully crafted psychological study in which everything in the external world correlates with cracks and stresses in the protagonist's mind. Is the dam he designed defective? Did he err when installing the plumbing in his house? For a controlling person like Luther Albright, these issues are symbolic of flaws in his relationships, or in his perceptions of them. Tension builds slowly, and the inner demons begin to emerge like cracks in a damn, or in the living room plaster. A great first novel!

I was intrigued by a review of this book that I read in our local newspaper and decided to give the book a read. I wish I hadn't. As much as I tried, I could not connect with and appreciate the main character, Luther Albright. Far too much of the book is focused on the interior dialogue on this emotionally constipated and overcontrolled man. Bezos went overboard in articulating his inner angst. For Pete sake's Luther, tell Elliot and Liz how you really feel and stop the perpetual internal obsessing.

In addition, the book was often choppy as the narrative shifted from internal to external events and across time. The ending is profoundly disappointing and is a kick in the gut when you've endured the rest of it and continue to hope it might get a little better. I regret the time I spend grinding through over 200 pages of Luther's anal reminations.

Bezos' demonstrates skill as a writer and a wordsmith, but if the tone and pace of this novel is a harbinger of future work, I'm definitely crossing her off of my list of authors to follow.

The main protagonist of The Testing of Luther Albright is a dam builder. A Sacramento civil engineer, Luther Albright has spent much of his life trying to reroute rivers and repair the structural damage of massive structures, but when it comes to his own family, and his relationship with Elliot, his young son, he is not as successful.

Luther Albright is a fussy, maddening, and heartbreaking individual; he's one of those men we all know, who refuses to go out after work for a drink, the man who never partakes of office gossip, he's the partner who seems so solid, moral and decent, but who is also so mind-numbingly boring.

An emotionally repressed, uncommunicative man, Luther is presumably the person least capable of telling his own story, but in this novel he actually does, and it makes for a compellingly written narrative, a haunting and evocative portrait of a husband and a father, mired in miscommunication, narcissism, and self-absorption.

The novel is set in the early 1980's, and it's a time of endless opportunity for Luther Albright. Outwardly he seems happy, he has a good job working for the government, and he's proud of his family, and dearly loves Liz, his comforting wife and his young son. By his own estimation he had been a decent father, in every way a better father than his own. But lately he has been drifting away from his family and Elliot, aware of his father's lack of engagement, tests him, and finding him wanting, gives up on him.

Elliot is the hyper-responsible type; he has a boy's overconfidence in his own abilities and an ignorance of the dangers of the world, sometimes making him hasty. When he formulates nine separate tests of his father's character, in attempts to connect, he ends up alienating his father even more. Luther isn't sure if his son is deliberately setting these tests, or whether his changing behaviour is simply a result of the usual teenage angst.

In desperation, Elliot shaves his head, performs a dangerous rooftop stunt, works on a school report of the life of his paternal grandfather, and tries to explore Luther's professional tribulations. But Luther remains detached, in one instance he comments that he's haunted by a fear of loss to "gather not around his wife and son, as it should have, but around the fragile workings of out house."

Indeed, it his Luther's house gives Luther the most satisfaction. Built twenty-two years before, "you could lift a roof shingle today and find the sheathing beneath dry as paper. Pipes never leaked or knocked; my floorboards and hinges were silent." Which is why Eliot resorts to structural damage to try and get a reaction from his father, he needs to break down what Luther has carefully built. When sewer gas starts permeating the house, Luther, so confident in his construction abilities, is absolutely stymied at where this smell might be coming from.

An earthquake kicks the plot in, but the shaking is also symbolic, it begins Elliot's tests, and also raises a professional challenge for Luther - the larger community questions the safety of a dam that Luther has designed. Luther is appalled at the attacks on his specialized and skilled integrity, and rather than counter the attacks by saying that the dam is safe, he just keeps silent and bristles.

Author MacKensie Bezos spins a marvelous tale, her characters meticulously observed: there's Elliot the confused adolescent, so desperate for approval from his father, Liz, the loyal, loving wife and mother, who takes on volunteer work at a crisis center, so that she can make a difference, and of course, there's Luther, the profoundly repressed civil-engineer father, who loves his wife and son dearly, but feels so detached from them. "He's a man who suppressed all impulse, his self control finally plundered by his sorrows."

Bezos almost takes a satirical approach to Luther, this "everyman" who is thrust into the spotlight, a man who is constantly rattled with the strange sensation that he is watching someone else's wife and son, as if their time together in his presence was charged with intimacy that no longer included him.

Luther orbits his wife and child, desperate to find his way back to their primary connection and as he looks back on that time - perhaps with a particular melancholy - he finally realizes that "real love just can't grow from a bond that relied so heavily on omission." Mike Leonard November 05.

first of all, this is not a boring book. the narrator, luther albright, writes with such a sense of impending doom that it seems certain his life will come crashing around him at any moment.

it was very hard for me to relate to luther. he never says what's on his mind, and he constantly struggles to avoid showing any reaction to his son, elliott's, increasingly destructive "tests." the more successful he becomes at hiding his feelings, the more he pushes his family further away.

luther's family life is full of missed opportunities and regrets. if only he had told elliott that his shaved head embarrassed him; if only he had been honest with elliott about what his grandfather was really like and how he struggled to be a different kind of father. luther's wife and son give him chance after chance to be emotionally intimate with them, but his caution prevents him from doing this.

i'm not sure how mackenzie bezos managed to dig so deeply into such a flawed character. i kept asking myself whether she liked luther albright or whether his tale is a warning to the reader.