Krishna
The preface is an old Algonquin folk take that reads very similar to Cinderella with some supernatural elements thrown in – an odd coincidence, that – if coincidence it is. One of the characters, Will, is from Sioux background and this is the tie in for these small stories sprinkled in the book.
The book in itself is a chick lit. However, people seem to behave in irritating ways throughout the book, for those of us unused to this storytelling style.
The story proper start with a girl waking up in a cemetery (on a tombstone), injured, but with no memory of how she got there or even where to go next.
Meanwhile Will (William Pale Horse) who is half native American, is finding Los Angeles too crowded and claustrophobic for his liking – no open spaces, nothing. He comes across the lady and takes her home. She trusts him. When she wakes up on the first day, William goes to work (first day as a cop) and gets his uniform. She decides to clean the house and hang all his native american artifacts in the house. When Will comes back, he is angry about her decorating saying that he does not want to see those memorabilia since he ‘ran away from all those’.
But they get close. Jane (as she calls herself) slowly remembers that she was an anthropologist, digging bones etc. She finally finds the bones she discovered – by going to a library and researching. Finally, a photo on the paper brings to her the husband – the most famous actor, Alex Rivers. He meets her at the station and it kills Will to realize that she will be gone from his life but he quietly takes her. She learns from Alex that her name is Cassie and that she is married to him. She was indeed an anthropologist; that was how they met.
She is enraged when she realizes that she works in UCLA teaching anthropology and realizes that Alex had not mentioned it, as well as taking the liberty to ask for a week’s absence. (I am puzzled; she has lost all her memory but is upset that her husband thought of managing the affairs? Though I understand the fact that she is angry that he hid the teaching fact from her, even then, given the circumstances…). She also feels that Alex seems to be playing a role whenever he defers to her wishes. They reconcile when she realizes that he is indeed a tormented soul and feels that she is ‘his other half – perfect fit.’
Meanwhile she meets a beautiful girl who, she learns, was her closest friend – Ophelia. She was Cassie’s roommate even before Cassie met Alex. Ophelia does not seem to like Alex and vice versa. Ophelia tells Cassie that she, Cassie, was looking forward to a trip to Kenya and the old Cassie she knew would never have subordinated herself to Alex’s wishes.
When Alex’s costar openly flirts with Cassie when Alex is away in the bathroom, an enraged Alex punches him in the face and snarls at Cassie too, shocking her completely. He is fully apologetic later. However, Cassie steals away and incognito, goes to see an Alex Rider movie marathon, just to watch the reaction of the audience!
Alex seems to slip into an act even when he is with Cassie. She finds it very discomforting. He takes her to the Malibu home where she is overwhelmed by its opulence.
She gets slowly some memories back: How her childhood sweetheart Connor was killed by Connor’s father (and later killing Connor’s mother and himself). Other memories in bits and pieces.
She remembers how abusive Alex was. In the three years, she had always made excuses for him but when she is hit – in a fit of anger but contrite immediately, like he was with the other man who tried to make an unwelcome pass at her – after knowing that she was pregnant, she decides to leave him for the sake of the baby and just walks out. She never told him about the pregnancy, though. She realizes that with the ‘golden boy’ and ‘world’s darling’ image Alex has cultivated, no one would even believe how he is in private with her.
She remembers her childhood, and also her wait to get tenure in her university. Judy employs the same ploy as other successful authors. Zoom in on a moment – in this case, Cassie’s waking up in the cemetery with no memories and slowly zoom back to show more of the story but somehow, A trick used well by some other authors too – The Blind Assassin by Margaret Attwood would be a particularly contrasting example.
We learn of her childhood attachment to Connor who came from another city and taught her what fun could be. She also realizes her visit to Tanzania where she is interrupted first and hired as a consultant for the latest movie by the movie star Alex Rivers.
She surprises him by bringing a cold juice when he orders her to, and drop it on his pants. She is amazed at how he picks up her emotions and mannerisms too when she shows (as a consultant) how she would dig and scrape around a skull – the movie scene calls for a major find as an archeologist. He is intrigued by her – the only one who is not awed by his immense fame. He invites her to a dinner and then they get close.
He then proposes to her and they marry in Tanzania, away from the maddening paparazzi.
There was that one incident where, in a tent in a desert, Alex tried to strangle her and bruised her neck, but it seemed to be a nightmare.
When she is taken back to LA, she is unused to the opulence, the lifestyle and how famous she was just for being the wife of the famous Alex. She struggles.
Her friend Ophelia is also very irritating. She comes to the villa and when not admitted, climbs over the fence (with barbs) ripping her shorts and comes in, almost catching Alex and Cassie in the act of making love!
She seems to think that Alex may be suspicious. Cassie seems to be constantly bewildered and seems to constantly feel that Alex is play acting all the time – even though he opened his heart to her and said that once they are back in LA, he may have to act differently because of his fame and glamour and that ‘this is the real me’.
They all seem to not realize the choices they themselves made.
When Ophelia kind of forces Alex and Cassie to take her for dinner at an exclusive restaurant, she seems to be both jealous that Cassie was chosen by Alex and not her and gets drunk and puts both Alex and Cassie in serious paparazzi trouble.
As a reader, I never understood why Cassie had all the hangups and why people behaved really oddly. I am not entranced by Alex’s fame and fortune or of the belief that Cassie should be a doormat, but then Cassie does not seem to understand the repercussions of the choices she voluntarily made and Ophelia does not even seem to understand what it means for her best friend (?) to have married the most desirable man in Hollywood. (They both do not have to like it or even be awed but common sense could have told them of the implications, I think). When she forgives Ophelia for the huge devious treachery and acts as nothing has happened, it sticks in the reader’s gullet.
Alex keeps blowing hot and cold. When the greatest find of Cassie happens in Tanzania and she rings him up excitedly, he simply hangs up but then shows up with crates of food for the whole group to congratulate her! He attends her lectures in the University. But is also sometimes moody and even violent. Interesting interplay.
Cassie, due to his unannounced visit, seems to have gotten pregnant, even though it will interfere with her career and Alex definitely does not want kids – as ‘he does not want to end up a father like his own father’.
There are multiple episodes of Alex losing control and battering Cassie, skilfully woven into the story by the author – you now know why she is so famous for her stories. The human drama element is right there in the forefront, and you want to shout at Cassie for sticking with him. However, when she does walk out (albeit for a brief period) we see how much Alex is lost without her. The two sides of his personality – his love for Cassie and his complete loss of anger when he is provoked are well told.
The mounting terror of Cassie – especially during the episode where her horse gets loose and runs away and Alex has to pursue it on another horse and bring it back – is shockingly well told.
Cassie, despite precautions, gets pregnant and wants to divulge the news to him after the celebration for his greatest victory at the Academy Awards ceremony but he comes home angry and hits her – she turns away to protect her stomach, taking the hits on her back. Immediately after is the interview with Barbara Walters for Alex and Cassie – as a follow up to Alex’s reaching yet another peak in her career. The story was selected by Cassie but was too close to Alex’s life with his father. He decided to produce and direct it too, which also won accolades.
When she realizes that with another of Alex’s rages the baby in her stomach is at risk, she just runs away. And wakes up at the cemetery as in the beginning of the story. Now, when she has remembered everything, she again slips away – the only place where Alex will not search is the house of Will (William Pale Horse) and she runs there to seek refuge.
He takes her to the reservation – definitely a place where she can hide out from the world and the mighty Alex. She has an uneasy agreement with Will’s parents to keep her while Will returns to his job. When Will is back for a holiday, lying to his superiors about a family emergency, he takes her to a bar to see the Oscar performance where Alex wins three Oscars for the film and is once again the hottest property in Hollywood. He, though, realizes that without Tracy he is nothing.
The flawed but loving characters are a hallmark of most Picoult novels and they come through with all the raw emotions here. Will helpless in love with Cassie; Cassie still pining for Alex; Alex in love with Cassie but unable to control his temper at critical moments – they are played off against one another in scintillating sequences.
Cassie’s life in the reservation is told in some detail. Will finally decides that he does not fit in Los Angeles and decides to return to the reservation and Cassie’s child’s birth time is nearing.
She finally gives birth to a boy. When he gets fever, is terrified. Will is always by her side. Shows compassion.
She rejects the ‘white man’s medicine’ when the kid runs a fever that does not seem to abate and opts for faith healing on Will’s persuasion. She even throws away the medicine the doctors offered. And duly the child recovers. (I know, right? It is one thing to talk about Native American traditions and beliefs and another to throw away modern medical technology in favour of burning sage and dancing with songs).
Meanwhile, Alex comes back and is stunned to see that he is a father. He takes her back home. She goes willingly. Will is totally devastated at her decision!
Alex seems to have turned a new leaf and Cassie is convinced that it will work. The ending of the book comes soon after but with another twist.
I will leave it at that.
This is pure drama and it is nice to read. I have heard the reputation of the author for emotional tear jerker aspect of the novels and there is some in this book too.
6/10
— Krishna