Krishna
A drama of American life. Joyce is known for these stories. Let us dive straight into the story-line.
A farm truck hits a hog truck. Carleton Walpole and Pearl are in it. When Pearl gives birth to the child, his second, he worries about losing her. He loves her a lot. He is a casual worker, poor, trying to make a living. Many years later, he is struggling with a brood of kids, and the pretty Pearl turning into a vacant eyed harridan who does nothing in the house. The explanation of how he feels betrayed and, though he loves his kids, wants to just go out and have a drink with friends because ‘the house is a hell hole and he deserves it’ are moving.
Carleton’s despise of wetbacks, niggers and Jew York are shocking to read. So are his descriptions of wetbacks : ‘Black like Indians but not deep black like niggers’. He has a huge chip on his shoulders. He worked hard but did not get his deserved breaks. He goes with a friend to a bar and pisses that friend off by repeatedly insulting the latter’s wife and repeatedly crushing him in a hand wrestling in front of cooing young girls who look to be eminently available.
It gets ugly and Carleton whips out his knife and stabs the friend in a street brawl after they fought inside a pub and got thrown out for it.
Carla is considered a really slow student and is grouped with the youngest kids in the class.
We learn of Carleton’s contempt with others in the camp. Clara is friendly with Rosalie another dull girl who shows her what shoplifting is. Rosalie’s father is lynched by the Klan and Carla learns that it is because he allegedly molested his own daughter Rosalie. Great stuff.
Also great is Clara’s attempt to bed a stranger (blond army man) and her being thrashed by Carleton. She runs away. He, Lowry, luckily does not exploit her and takes her to New York, finding her a job as well. Finally she makes him make love to her and then he is with her constantly.
When she realizes that she is pregnant, against the warnings of Lowry to take care, he runs away before she could tell him and she traps a richer man called Revere and makes him believe that the child is his. A tale of gritty survival, then.
He marries her when his sick wife finally dies, and Clara has enough sense to refuse when her ex lover comes back and invites her to join him to start a new life in Canada, as she realizes that he will never amount to anything anywhere.
She is bored with her husband and flirts with men who come to her house when he is away. Steven goes for hunting with Revere’s son Robert, hating every moment of it. In an accident (Swan pushed him lightly) Robert falls off, shooting himself with his own gun that he had not put the safety catch on. Revere develops an aversion to hunting after that but Clara is startled and is wary with Swan thereafter.
He finally decides to ‘stop being good’ and ‘read so much’ and gets a girlfriend.
Swan completely ignores his college and even reading of books suddenly.
When one more son runs away and the remaining one becoming a bum, Swan (Steven) becomes the sole heir to the Revere fortune and has plans to buy out all the pesky relatives who do not share his vision for the empire he plans to build.
Then the book takes a confusing turn and ends tragically with a little bit of an aftermath described. The story is definitely interesting and showcases Carol Joyce Oates’s power of description but it is illogical in places, which kind of jars.
Overall a good read though not spectacular.
6/ 10
— Krishna