RECENT READING: WIVES IN THE 1960’S
Absolution by Alice McDermott
Set in Saigon in 1963, Absolution focuses on the lives of several wives of Navy officers. Tricia, just 23, has only been married a short time to lawyer Peter on loan to navy intelligence. She is taken up by the somewhat older, more sophisticated Charlene, mother of three. Charlene is forceful, attractive, and domineering and has gathered around her a small group of women to do her bidding. While society views their primary functions as motherhood and being a good helpmate to their husbands, Charlene has ideas about how to do good and raise money to help the local population. Employing the talents of a local native seamstress and acquiring a bunch of newly released Barbie dolls, Charlene involves Tricia and others in her charity schemes.
These events are re-lived sixty years later through the eyes of now senior citizen Tricia and Rainey, Charlene’s daughter (a child at the time). They have reconnected through letters.
I think what McDermott tries to do in portraying a little known aspect of American servicemen’s wives in Vietnam is laudable, but I found this novel hard to like. Charlene is an unsympathetic character, and Tricia is too easily led until the packed punch of the culminating event. The details of 1960’s life were familiar and convincing, but I expected something more from the renewed connection between Tricia and Rainey, some better reason for retrospectively sharing their memories of that time. Why did Rainey become significant to Tricia? For me, it wasn’t clear.
The novel has received significant praise; I give it a qualified recommendation.
VIEWING DELIGHTS
NEW YORK HIGH SOCIETY
The Gilded Age Season 2 ($ Amazon Prime et al)
Julian Fellowes is masterful! Creator of Downton Abbey, screenwriter for Gosford Park and The Chaperone among others, his latest drama, The Gilded Age, is both fun and insightful. Set in 1882 in New York, it follows young Marian Brooks’ entrance into high society with its battles between old money (Mrs. Astor and the van Rhijns) and new (Bertha and George Russell). Marian is a niece of the van Rhijns, and she and her Aunts Agnes and Ada live across the street from the Russell family.
A young woman’s goal then was to conduct herself discreetly and find a promising rich man to marry. Marian breaks with convention by teaching watercolors at a school and is good friends with Peggy Scott, Aunt Agnes’ Black secretary. Add in Peggy’s parents, and her work as a journalist, and one gets a view of a Black middle class on the rise. Historic events such as the opening of the Brooklyn Bridge and steelworkers threatening action add richness. They also document the social changes afoot.
I thought this season was even better than the first one, and I loved the fashions. The hats are something else! There are 8 episodes, and a third season is planned. Highly recommended!
COURAGEOUS FIGHTER PILOTS
Masters of the Air (Apple TV+)
This is not my usual fare, but the Chief Penguin and I are watching it together on our big TV. Produced by Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg among others, Masters of the Air, a World War II series is getting rave reviews for its technical effects. This account of the perilous missions carried out by the American pilots and crews of the 100th Bomb Group is harrowing, finger-biting, and compelling. Risking daytime raids over Nazi Germany, the ten men in each plane never know whether they will get shot down, lose an engine and limp back, or need to bail out of a flaming plane into enemy territory. Some missions were successful, and bombs were dropped on the correct target; others failed and some, but not all the men, returned to base still alive.
Two majors known as Buck and Buckley, very different in style and temperament, are the lead characters. With them and their men, one feels the physical and the emotional challenges they face in carrying out these missions.
Based on a book of the same name, the series has nine episodes and is being released weekly. Three episodes are currently available. Recommended for WWII fans!
DINING NOTE
Duval’s on Main Street in downtown Sarasota reliably delivers fresh fish and nicely prepared meals. We had lunch here earlier this week with graduate school friends visiting from Michigan. Service is friendly and efficient and the food very good. Our group enjoyed superior clam chowder, a twisted ahi tuna sandwich, salads, and a shrimp po’ boy.
Bring some of that clam chowder with you next month! I love it.