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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Grand Old Southern Family Tale, With No Holds Barred, May 6, 2005
Carter Coleman continues to prove that he is a fine writer who is gaining well-deserved wider attention. He understands the great Gothic style of the important writers of the South with all the jasmine-scented niceties that wrap the subdermal tragedies and secrets and yet he can move his characters out of their Southern atmosphere into the madness of the outer world and mold them into fully formed contemporary people. He seems to have the best of both worlds at his fingertips.
The Rutledge family goes back many generations in the humid atmosphere of Tennessee (Cage's Bend is a town at the bend of a river), a family with as many odd characters as solid ones. The Rutledges of this novel include Franklin, a bishop in the Episcopal Church, his strongly supportive wife Margaret, and three sons - Cage is the eldest followed by the year younger Nick and the ten years younger Harper. This ecclesiastically peripatetic family is a solid unit, each growing into parents and young men successful at their levels until a tragic car crash in 1987 kills Nick: the events leading to this crisis and the resultant sequelae on each of the members' lives make the substance of this story.
Idiosyncrasies are unveiled in a flashback flash/forward manner with 'chapters' of bold type history interspersed with first person accounts by Cage, Harper, Margaret and Franklin - a method of writing that allows us a more intimate vantage of each of the characters' perspectives. The tragedy affects Cage the most strongly: he feels responsible for the death of his beloved brother for reasons that unfold later in the book. Cage being the eldest carries the gene for bipolar personality disorder and the death of Nick triggers his first manic manifestation, followed by the seesaw manic/depressive episodes that change him from the successful athlete and businessman to a drug and alcohol besotted failure wandering the country seeking meaning and refuge from his soulful agonies. Harper as the youngest feels ignored by his father and less desirable than the departed 'holy Nick' to his mother and while he manages to become a successful stock broker, he is also plagued by being a sex addict, always seeking the mother that he felt eluded him.
The novel is spiced by that peculiar brand of Southern stoicism ("Cage will be fine, Mars. Don't you worry. Every good southern family has a manic-depressive....Fine old families often have more. They all learn to get by. They often distinguish themselves."), bandaids for problems that eventually peel away when the realities of the depth of the illnesses become blatant. Cage's words say a lot: "I don't see why everyone doesn't commit suicide. Life is like an all-night party with rivers of blow and naked playmates, but to get to the party you have to pass through a filthy hole, slathering yourself with excrement, and buy a ticket by prostituting yourself, and at the end of the night you have to squeeze back out through the fetid crack into nothingness." Reflecting on his past Cage muses he was "a child who smiled long before most, as if my happiness which began prematurely would spend itself prematurely and plunge the family into more sadness than anyone had ever dreamed, bearing the legacy of violence which the Cages brought to Tennessee, a curse of blood which would reach forward through time and seven generations to haunt the innocent soul of the first born and the last to carry the family name." And later strong Margaret adds "I read that manic-depressives have a better recovery rate in the third world countries because all the members of the extended family are close by and supportive. Surely that's the healthiest way to live."
So it is the return to the nuclear family unit that ultimately provides healing of the slings and arrows that take each member on a Rake's Progress. Coleman gives us wholly credible characters who never lose our interest or compassion. If at times he meanders through the myriad love affairs of the brothers or extended forays into sailing trips etc, it is all in keeping with the style of the novel. Don't expect this or treat this like a quick read: CAGE'S BEND is one of those novels that while at times seems to contain passages that can be skimmed, if the eye doesn't linger, some important metaphors and references are missed. Highly recommended reading. Grady Harp, May 05
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Compared to Pat Conroy....., January 18, 2005
Everyone is comparing Carter Coleman to Pat Conroy. While I can't agree with that wholeheartedly, there was a certain familiar feel to this novel. Maybe more of an old school Wally Lamb....The quirks and dysfunctions of this Southern family were unique and interesting. Every family member has a voice in this book, with a seamless transition from one character to the next. It did take me a bit longer than usual to become engrossed in the story, but as soon as I did I was hooked. I found myself telling this tale to others and think it would make a wonderful book for a group discussion.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A quiet but ultimately engrossing tale of love & sacrifice , January 22, 2005
CAGE'S BEND --- the mini-saga of the Rutledges in Baton Rouge, Memphis, Nashville, and other points south --- is a quiet but ultimately engrossing tale of love, sacrifice and vocational, if not spiritual, redemption.
The Rutledge family as a whole is not dysfunctional. The parents have what would be considered by any standard, normal definition to be a good marriage. The father, Franklin Rutledge, is an Episcopalian minister who is quick to acknowledge that his wife, Margaret, provides the underlying strength and drive of his success. When he refers to himself as the husband of the minister's wife, he speaks volumes of truth. Their sons, however, are another matter. Cage, the oldest, is full of promise, a state that goes unfulfilled when he succumbs to the sudden onset of a bipolar disorder, which is exacerbated at least in part by a combination of substance abuse and traumatic guilt over the death of middle son Nick. Meanwhile, Harper, the youngest sibling, has achieved great material success as a day trader yet is a moral disaster, happily succumbing to a sexual addiction.
Carter Coleman delivers what may be the literary observation of the year: "Every good southern family has a manic-depressive." And the character that he delivers in Cage speaks directly to this. Coleman makes the reader care about the characters, as he alternates viewpoints and time frames and travels the story across four decades. His best work is bestowed upon his descriptions of Cage, though Coleman goes beyond merely describing him. There is genuine empathy here, not only for Cage but also for those who continue to love him despite his maddening, frustrating behavior. Whether or not one agrees with Coleman's subtle message --- to wit, a man can function most effectively only when he gives himself over to the care of a strong woman --- he certainly makes a convincing argument for it.
CAGE'S BEND is not a southern novel in the traditional sense --- though Coleman references William Faulkner, he doesn't tread the same ground, nor will he be mistaken for Larry Brown or Tom Franklin --- but his descriptions of Memphis and Baton Rouge capture both cities perfectly. And though the book screams for a film adaptation, don't wait for such a release to dip into the lives of the Rutledges. There is no way that the film version of CAGE'S BEND can be as good as the novel. Jump on now.
--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub
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