The good thing about following a writer is that one gets to see the evolution of his/her body of work. One sees how the writer is able to polish his/her craft from one book to another. The not-so-good thing with respect this habit is one also sees how a writer can fall into a pattern, relying on previous successes and unwilling to chart new paths. These writers soon tend to repeat themselves from one book to another until their readers give a sigh of bored exhaustion.
Anita Shreve is one of the writers, who I have followed through the years. Except for Sea Glass, I have all of her books:
A Change in Altitude (2009)
Testimony (2008)
Body Surfing (2007)
A Wedding in December (2005)
Light on Snow (2004)
All He Ever Wanted (2003)
The Last Time They Met (2001)
Fortune’s Rocks (1999)
The Pilot’s Wife (1998)
The Weight of Water (1997)
Resistance (1995)
Strange Fits of Passion (1991)
Eden Close (1989)
Shreve’s books shift from exceptionally good to acceptable.
Rescue is Anita Shreve’s latest work and as in her other books probes closely into the decisions people take in their relationships and how these decisions impact on the lives of the book’s characters.
Rescue tells the story of Peter Webster and Sheila Arsenault who met in their early twenties when Webster, an EMT, rescued Arsenault from a vehicular accident. The two embarked on a whirlwind romance and not long after, Arsenault found herself pregnant. Arsenault, however, had a closet-full of skeletons bursting at the seams. She was battered as a child, gotten herself involved with a married policeman, and was alcoholic. Despite the red flags, Webster decided to marry her.
A few years later, Arsenault figured in another accident while drunk driving. This time, Webster took a different course in rescuing the damsel in distress. He told her to leave Vermont promptly and leave their daughter behind who almost got killed in the accident (she was in the backseat). Arsenault did not have much choice as she would have faced jail time if she stayed in Vermont. She did not only hurt her own child but managed to injure the passenger of another vehicle during the collision.
Eighteen years later, Webster found himself looking for Arsenault. He was having problems dealing with Rowan, their daughter. Mother and daughter would reunite when Rowan had an accident which resulted in her falling into a four-day comma.
Rescue is not Shreve’s best work. It was not able to develop that spine-tingling suspense where the reader can almost hear a pin drop (The Pilot’s Wife). There was none of the history and vivid backdrop story-telling which has captivated me in the first place (Fortune’s Rocks). There is just the constant dreariness and tiredness throughout and characters have given up and settled for much less far too early. Even how Shreve builds the climax is a cliché. (Rowan falling into a comma; Arsenault and her daughter captivated by each other at the hospital; Rowan making it in time for her graduation despite the few days she needed to recover, undergo therapy, and take her exams.)
Shreve is also repeating herself. When Webster says to Rowan, “That’s your given. You didn’t have a mother most of your life. That’s another given. You’ve been dealt that hand, and that’s what you play with. You can wish you had a different given but it won’t do you any good. People start feeling sorry for themselves, that’s pretty much the end of them.”, she has stuck to her theme in almost all of her books: “You’ve made a choice/This is what’s been handed to you. Bear your cross.”
It would be interesting to find out if Shreve can make out a character in her future books who as Dylan Thomas put it, would “rage, rage, against the dying of the light.” Shreve might also consider leaving the past buried in history. Sometimes, there really are no resolutions to a story. Characters will just need to come up with their own answers to long-standing questions. Or leave the questions unanswered and move on with life.
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