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Title: Hello to the Cannibals : A Novel by Richard Bausch ISBN: 0-06-093080-2 Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 02 September, 2003 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.08 (12 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: A deeply moving novel written both beautifully and lovingly
Comment: Mary Kingsley was a brilliant, self-educated, articulate, well read, strong willed, Victorian woman. For thirty-one years she was trapped in the roles of maid and caregiver to her family, until her parents died. Only then, could she finally escape her circumscribed life in England, to follow her wanderlust --- to pack up and travel. As a result, she became one of the first females to brave the mysterious environs of West Africa. Her book, TRAVELS IN WEST AFRICA, remains a classic to this day.
A part of Kingsley's legacy is to be found in her stoicism and loyalty; in her honesty and courage; in her commitment to her family, and unwavering devotion to her friends; the men whose respect she gained as a writer, a traveler, and a humane being. In HELLO TO THE CANNIBALS, Richard Bausch's latest novel, he writes both beautifully and lovingly as he celebrates the life of his heroine.
"I wanted in particular to write a book about friendship, and about the affections we form for those who have gone before us. Some of what Mary Kingsley is known to have done is here, all of it in a form that is transmuted by fancy ... ," writes Bausch in his authors' notes.
But Bausch does not simply give us Mary Kingsley's story as a straight, dry narrative of "faction"; rather, he segues back and forth from Victorian England to the American south of the late nineteen eighties to offer readers a second voice, that of Lily Austin, who becomes not only the reader's guide to Kingsley's extraordinary life, but also confides the confusions she must reconcile on her own journey to some kind of self fulfillment.
Lily's dream is to write a play about Kinglsey, working title: HELLO TO THE CANNIBALS. She is the daughter of theater people and has been enchanted by Kingsley since her fourteenth birthday, when she received a book of famous explorers. Kingsley, of course, was the only female. Lily is inspired by this woman's larger than life accomplishments and is determined to celebrate her on the stage.
Bausch's strategy is ingenious: he frames his story through fictional letters and journals from the past juxtaposed against the ones Lily writes in the present. As the novel unfolds Lily begins to write to Mary in the same way Mary "wrote in her journals to a fictionalized reader in the future". We learn about both women in long lyrical passages that seem to compress time and put them in the same space. The architecture of the book is riveted by the similarities in the women without losing the sharp contrasts between them.
This works beautifully because Bausch uses language and events like an alchemist to create an atmosphere wherein the women seem to become "friends". Bausch's writing is so skillful, his genius for setting so real, his ear for dialogue pitch perfect, his gift for plot unmatched and his ability to seamlessly segue back and forth from nineteenth century England to the American south in the twentieth century, resembles the fabric of a tightly woven tapestry imbued with historical veracity and contemporary angst.
HELLO TO THE CANNIBALS is a deeply moving novel. It speaks to the loss of innocence all children experience as they grow up, especially that "special" pain when youngsters begin to understand that their parents, like everyone else, are not perfect; it deals with women's sexuality or lack of it, in sympathetic understatement; it presents psychological and geographical terrain that Mary and Lily both learn to navigate; it presents the breadth of diversity in the different kinds of marriages and friendships people are bound up in. And, Bausch proposes that the most important lesson for all of us is to learn that self respect is gained not only by sacrifice to others but, too, in one's ability to recognize one's own intrinsic needs and when the time is right we must generate the courage needed to garner what is most valuable to our self growth and individuation...
Rating: 2
Summary: Dull and disjointed with occasional flashes of brilliance
Comment: I purchased this novel after listening to Richard Bausch's interview with Diane Rehm on NPR. The author sounded so passionate about his work, and I thought the idea of bringing the two parallel stories of fictional Lily and Mary Kingsley together was inspired.
Unfortunately Lily's character is never brought to the same level of wholeness and interest as her historical predecessor. Her cautious, withdrawn, but intelligent personality seems incompatible with the impulsive choices she makes in her personal life. Because she never seemed quite real to me I was unable to take much of an interest in her part of the novel. I appreciated the analogy to "Dallas" that another reviewer brought up, although the characters in the Mississippi story were certainly better drawn than any television series personalities. It's just that they seemed a bit like props designed to move the story forward, not as vibrant personalities in their own right. I think all of the charcters in the modern day story were somehow stilted by the need to tie the two stories together, or by the inherent difficulties involved in creating interesting modern characters who appear to actually belong in our media-anesthetized culture.
The Mary Kingsley story soars, and I was able to finish the book only becuase I was dying to hear the rest her tale. My feeling is that the author, talented as he shows himself to be in the historical aspects of the novel, bit off more than he could chew.
Rating: 4
Summary: Beautiful and Gripping Tale of Two Women
Comment: Richard Bausch's "Hello To The Cannibals" is an amazing tale of two women who never meet. This interwoven book of a young Victorian women and a modern day girl takes off into an unexpected world of discovery. I loved the language, characters, settings (both modern and historical) and thought it blended beautifully into both worlds.
Mr. Bausch is a gifted storyteller with many many wonderful voices inside - waiting to tell their own stories. Can't wait for more of his work... a real triumph!
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Title: The Gypsy Man by Robert Bausch ISBN: 0156028735 Publisher: Harvest Books Pub. Date: 15 November, 2003 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: Any Human Heart by William Boyd ISBN: 0375414932 Publisher: Knopf Pub. Date: 04 February, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: Someone to Watch Over Me : Stories by Richard Bausch ISBN: 0060930705 Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 02 May, 2000 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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Title: The Little Friend by Donna Tartt ISBN: 1400031699 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 28 October, 2003 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: In the Night Season: A Novel by Richard Bausch ISBN: 0060930306 Publisher: HarperCollins (paper) Pub. Date: June, 1999 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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