Customer Reviews

The Worst Thing I've Done: A Novel

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

 

 

Annie drives at night, eating junk food and listening to talk radio psychologists. It's no wonder, as her husband Mason has recently hung himself in her studio. Nor is this the first wrenching disaster Annie has had to deal with. On her wedding day eight years ago, her father and her pregnant mother both died in a car crash, leaving her and Mason to raise Annie's baby sister Opal. But the young couple, who have known each other all their lives, rises valiantly and successfully to the occasion. Mason in particular is able to enter into a child's world and jolly the fiery Opal out of her impetuous tantrums. But now Mason is gone, and Annie is left with Opal and her guilt over Mason's death.

The third party to the adult triangle is Jake, who was always there --- the steady one, Mason's best friend since childhood, hopelessly in love with Annie. Add a dose of compulsive jealousy on Mason's part and a late night in a sauna, and you have the ingredients for the causal tragedy --- the worst thing they've done? --- that sets the scene for the novel.

Since we know so much so early, the only tension the novel provides is how Annie and Opal will muddle through the pain (and in Annie's case, the guilt) of losing Mason. Ursula Hegi teases the reader with snippets of Mason's long suicide note (presented in a different typeset) in between the chapters of the other characters' points of view. And we hear from them all --- Annie, Opal, Aunt Stormy, a friend of Annie's mother with whom they are staying, and eventually Jake. Annie is a collage artist, and the book itself is put together like a collage, with layers of each character for materials. The descriptions of Long Island and Aunt Stormy's modest old house are lyrical and beautifully done. The sea, the plants and the wildlife all seem to be characters in the book, and they provide a welcome relief to the maudlin goings-on of the humans.

I confess to losing interest in the characters --- Opal, frankly, is a spoiled brat --- and much of the plot (for instance, the fatal parental accident on the day of their wedding) was hard for me to swallow. The liberties Hegi takes with points of view distracted me. Opal rarely sounds like an eight-year-old in her sections, and she relates scenes that happened when she was a baby as if she has total recall of them (did Annie really tell her the exact moment that Opal leaned back into Annie and Annie scratched her head?). Aunt Stormy, the wise and good earth-mother type, takes Annie along to protests against Bush and the Iraq War. I share their political views, but their presence in the book seems forced. At one point the kind Aunt Stormy gently straightens out a new protester who has brought a peace sign that looks like the Mercedes logo. Right.

At least Pete, Aunt Stormy's great love who lives next door in his own house but sleeps in her bed, does not inflict his point of view. Fortunate because, due to a recent stroke, he talks like this: "Yes, but...I only find...things...I've stopped looking...for." As a matter of fact, the punctuation gods have been extraordinarily generous with this book, which swims with ellipses, italics, different typesets and our good friend --- the dash.

Through it all Annie stubbornly refuses to see Jake or allow Opal to see him. After a couple of months, though, she acquiesces. Will she accept this kind, steady man already so implicated in her life and sad story? Will the salubrious effects of time and seashore and radio psychologists and art and patience grant Annie and Opal some peace? What, after all, is the worst thing Annie or Mason or Jake has done? If, like me, you loved STONES FROM THE RIVER, you may be put off by the soap opera quality of Hegi's latest effort.

--- Reviewed by Eileen Zimmerman Nicol

I read about Ursula Hegi's newest novel in the San Francisco Chronicle, where they gave a great review. I found The Worst Thing I've Done to be remarkable. Her novel is very much like a collage - each character, their actions, the descriptions of the surroundings, filters through like the pieces of bright paper in Annie's collages to reveal a poignant, unforgettable story. The multiple points of view add dimension and kept my interest longer than the same story told chronologically from one point of view would have. Mason's voice pulsing in and out made him seem more accessible and gave me greater insight into his last moments before he committed suicide.

This story is nothing like Stones from the River or Floating in my Mother's Palms, but it shows Hegi's maturity as a writer to write beautifully and deeply about different time periods, to be able to create different frameworks for each story, and her dedication to the uncomfortable situations that most of us would turn away from. I urge anyone who might read this to go buy a copy!

Ursula Hegi's "THE WORST THING I'VE DONE" is not a story that I felt she, the author, ever really entered. It was plotted and she wrote it and she should have given in more time and more attention. Because Hegi is a great writer. So maybe she felt pushed to get this one out. The truth is that when I read any book I live in the language and the story for days afterwards.

And in doing so with this book, I FELT FALSE TO MYSELF INSIDE HER PROSE AND HER STYLE here. That for me, is the acid test. This in no way means that her other books are not wonderful; they are. But once this falsely told tale unfolds, it's third rate and sad to say that.

Having enjoyed reading Stones from the River as well as most of her other novels, I have always recommended Ursula Hegi to others. When I read the book flap on The Worst Thing I've Done, I was surprised by the plot summary, which seemed far fetched at best. However, I thought that if anyone could bring the story to life in a sensitive,realitic manner, it would be Hegi. Unfortunately, I found this novel almost impossible to read to its conclusion. It seems Hegi had 3 separate stories to tell, each big enough to be a novel of its own: Annie and Opal; Mason, Jake, and Annie; Lotte, Stormy, Annie, Opal. With shifting points of view from chapter to chapter, the stories intermixed without much of a timeline or connection, and almost no character development it was very difficult to make myself keep reading. Hegi also intersperses heavy-handed political commentary randomly within these stories, which just added to the disjointed flow of the novel. Indeed, I do wonder if this novel started as a much longer piece and was edited down to a length that would make it sell well. This piece is just not worthy of Ursula Hegi. I would still recommend her other novels, but this one will be almost painful to read for anyone who has read her previous works.

...That sums up, in a way, what this book felt like to me. A lot of treasure, a lot of debris.

I've heard Ursula Hegi's name for years, but this is the first book of hers I've ever picked up. I can understand why she's considered a wonderful author. She writes beautifully; it's hard to believe that English isn't her first language. Her descriptions of nature and people and moments are often breathtaking. And I was involved to the very end.

At the same time, I was disappointed. There were too many fraught coincidences (wedding/birth/death) and too much that seemed belabored and repetitious. The political aspect of the book didn't seem organic at all--but clumsily grafted onto the main plot. Worst, it was hard to empathize with any of the main characters--and the secondary characters (Aunt Stormy, Pete, Opal) never seemed to come completely to life. I agree with others who've commented that Opal is unlike any small child--regardless of precocity--that I've ever known.

Criticisms notwithstanding, I was intrigued enough to want to read more of Hegi's work.

I have been an admirer of Ursula Hegi since her brilliant "Stones from the River." This current work fails in many respects and is a grave disappointment.

The general plot is simple. Three people grow up together (two males and one female) who love each other. Two marry leaving the third in an awkward position and places strain on their mutual relationships. Added to this is the woman (Anna) loses her parents the day of her wedding and her mother was pregnant with Opal, who is miraculously delivered moments before her mother's death, to become Anna's sister/daughter. Anna and Opal's mother was a German immigrant whose friend becomes an "aunt/mother" to Anna after he husband hangs himself over his inability to deal with and resolve the conflicts of the four way relationship of the protagonists.

Hegi had some good material to work with. However, she chose a complicated literary technique of fragmented memories, imposed upon by memories of things the deceased husband (Mason) says and does along with the noxious ranting of two radio "psychologist" talk show hosts. The technique gradually reveals the complexity of the relationship, its harms (especially seen by Mason) and the dysfunction and psychopathology of Mason while Anna tries to deal with it all.

This approach fails because it does nothing but obscure a straightforward plot and obvious relational conflicts and selfish motives. It may have worked if the heroine (Anna) was totally blind to these affairs and the novel is one of her "working it out" in her mind from the recall of memories that she pieces together. No, Anna knows all along what the issues were and that is obvious from the beginning.

The net effect then becomes not an "unveiling of successive revelations" for Anna who seeks some closure or redemption, but a dry, emotionally distant deliberate fog placed before the reader in which the simple plot is obscured. The literary technique becomes the book and does not serve any other purpose. This is basically lazy and covers the author's lack of development of character, plot and tension that would naturally flow from the situation.

The climax of the story concerns Mason's fear that Anna loves their mutual childhood friend Jake. Mason tries to resolve his selfish insecurity by manipulating his wife into consummating her "repressed" feelings for Jake by sleeping with him. Mason repeatedly justifies this by believing that such a consummation would bring a sort of bizarre closure in his mind. Mason is quite selfish, a narcissist and ill. It is obvious from the beginning that the worst thing Anna ever did was what she did not do, sleep with Jake but torture he sick husband into believing she did without admitting it. Mason, who has a history of getting his way by threatening to kill himself, finally does and no one is surprised. Worst of all, Anna has no real remorse as all works out well in the end as Anna and her true love, Jake, get together.

The clouding and unveiling of this simple plot becomes the main focus of the book. As far as the meat is concerned, it is superficial, emotionally detached and could be summarized in a few pages. Literary technique is no substitute for substance. Unfortunately, I have seen this trend in many modern authors who have early success and then don't seem to have much to write about.

The most noxious part of the book is space and attention spent to anti-Bush and anti-war issues which have no connection to the story are artificially imposed upon the text and serves little use other than a ranting of the author's political views. They serve no purpose other than to take up space. Comparing Bush to a Nazi and America to pre WWII Germany is ridiculous and pointless. The characters are forced into the roles Hegi needs to insert these passages and are awkward and have no basis in what little character development is offered.

Much is expected to those who much is given. I can only hope that the next effort is worthy of the first ones. If not, it is best to learn from Harper Lee.

Although Ms Hegi is one of my favorite writers, this book held mixed feelings for me. It flip-flopped on me several times, which ended up not really making a difference for me. I just had mixed feelings about the whole thing between Mason/Annie/Jake. I thought as usual her descriptions were beautiful.

I love her writing but it felt forced and pushed. Stones From the River was one of my favorite books of all time. This book felt like she had a deadline and just had to get something out. However, don't get me wrong, it wasn't horrible horrible.

The storyline in itself is beautiful, but a bit sad. I am glad to have another Hegi book to add to my bookshelf!

Let me say that after 2 previous Hegi books I am very disappointed.

OK, this will not be long-winded, but I wanted to share a few notes I made whilst suffering through this book.

- The whole set up of the "sauna incident" and the "raft incident" are implausible catalysts for the events that follow. I believe what happened on the raft could have, and even see why she should be obsessed with it, but why would the sauna incident ever even go down (ha ha) like that?! It's ludicrous.

-The games they play are silly. Like "well the worst thing I've ever done is..." They're a silly little couple, more like kids than a marriage.

-It reads stilted, like a bad play.

-The writing is flat and emotionless. It is difficult to care about any of the characters. (Or worse still, not to hate all of them: the pouting childlike husband, the whorish main character, the bratty demanding little girl...)

-Contrived.

-Does anyone really have that job? Of going in and renting prettier furniture to ppl for their beach house? Really?

-Finally, the LIRR doesn't come into Grand Central, it goes in to NY Penn Station on the west side. Geesh.

I may be giving up on Ursula Hegi. I was bored stiff by The Vision of Emma Blau and this book, even though I read it to the end, was a struggle for me.

Here are my two major gripes:

1)The characters are completely unlikable. I don't understand why Annie, who is possibly the most likable, has so intertwined herself with the boring, forgettable Jake and the petulant, self-absorbed, unbalanced Mason. Why didn't she go off and form new friendships after high school?

Also- Annie's collages? The over-the-top political views? Could't get into that. Hegi's descriptions come off as pretentious and smug.

Aunt Stormy is almost too much to bear. When one starts comparing George Bush to Hitler, and sincerely MEANING it, they lose all character credibility in my book. Did she really have to pull out the Hitler card?

2) The plot was lacking interest. If Hegi had wanted a truly riveting love-triangle, she should have focused more on the character of Jake. He comes off as a one-dimensional moron.

And the worst thing Annie's ever done? Nothing more than the worst thing that lots of people, every day, do. A big let down. Jake's worst thing was a lot more shocking, but his lack of remorse or confession makes him all that more deplorable as a character.

On the positive side, I loved Hegi's descriptions of the ocean-side setting, the boat-rides, the pond, all of that... She is an evocative writer always. Just not at all subtle. And subtlety, I think, is an art form in itself.

"The Worst Thing I've Done" by Ursula Hegi was a fascinating exploration into the secrets people keep. Sometimes, the scariest secrets are the ones we don't even know we're keeping. Told through the eyes of 5 fascinating characters, while sometimes going a little too much "stream of thought", I enjoyed the way the story was pieced together through each of the characters' perspectives. Definitely a great book for a book club or for a discussion over coffee with a friend, this book leaves almost as many questions as it answers. An intriguing look into the world of suicide, jealousy and unbridled passion, this story uses such lovely language that while it gets a bit confusing and heavy in parts, you don't want to stop reading until you've unraveled the puzzle that's been pieced together by three lifetime friends.