Mrs. Bridge ~ A Capsule Book Review
Mrs. Bridge ~ A Capsule Book Review by Allen Kopp
Mrs. Bridge, the superb novel by Evan S. Connell (1924-2013), was first published in 1959. It is a classic of realist fiction, a piece of Americana, an indelible portrait of the kind of Midwestern American woman who lived in the 1940s and who no longer exists. (The companion piece to Mrs. Bridge, titled Mr. Bridge, was published ten years later.)
India Bridge is a Kansas City “country club matron” of the 1940s. She is married to Walter Bridge and they have three children: Ruth, Carolyn (Corky) and Douglas. Walter is an attorney and he is busy, busy, busy all the time to make enough money to “take care of” his family. In fact, he believes that “providing” for them is much more important than spending time with them or showing them he loves them (even though he does love them). He works from morning ‘til night and sometimes when he gets home all he can do is fall into bed to rest up for the next day of work. (Do we detect a heart attack in the making?)
Walter and India Bridge are “well to do” rather than rich. They have enough money for just about anything. They live in a lovely house and have two cars; they belong to the country club and they have plenty of snooty friends. They can afford a tour of Europe, which they are enjoying until the Nazis invade Poland and they have to go back home.
Mrs. Bridge can afford a maid to run the household, do the cleaning, shopping, laundry, cooking, etc. The maid’s name is Harriet and she is both a blessing and a curse to Mrs. Bridge. She is efficient, but in the very fact of her efficiency she places Mrs. Bridge in a dilemma because it leaves her (Mrs. Bridge) with plenty of time to try to find something to do and think about the past when she had to do all the housework herself and her three children were little and needed her.
One of Mrs. Bridge’s endearing qualities is that she is “traditional” and resistant to change. As her three children grow to adulthood, she is frequently baffled and hurt by their behavior. Her son, Douglas, is aloof and secretive. When she finds a naked girly magazine in his dresser drawer, she burns the magazine and gives Douglas an old-fashioned marriage manual from when she herself was young. The older daughter, Ruth, is something of a bohemian and nothing like her mother. She leaves home as soon as she can and goes to New York to work and become a libertine, unashamedly “sleeping” with a number of different men that she doesn’t care about. The younger daughter, Carolyn (Corky), goes off to college and finds an “inappropriate” man that she wants to marry. Mrs. Bridge must accept the fact that Carolyn’s husband’s father is a low-class plumber instead of a doctor or a lawyer. Carolyn soon finds herself with a baby and discovers that that she “can’t stand” the man she’s married to.
Mrs. Bridge is a slice of life, a chronicle of a specific time in twentieth century American life, an engrossing account of the small moments that make up a life. India Bridge is a conflicted character: a woman with all the material comforts to make her happy but with plenty of reasons not to be happy. By the time you reach the end of the novel, you will have the feeling that India Bridge not only a character in a book but a person you know, or have known, intimately.
Copyright © 2020 by Allen Kopp
They Have All the Gravediggers They Need
They Have All the Gravediggers They Need ~ A Short Story by Allen Kopp
Somebody was knocking at the door. Who could it be? He was inclined to ignore it, but the knocking continued for longer than it should, so he felt compelled to answer it. It might be something important, but probably wasn’t.
When he opened the door, he saw a man he had never seen before smiling at him. The man was not young, not old; not fat, not thin; not handsome, not ugly; not anything.
“Mr. Arbuckle?” the man asked.
“Yes?”
“Mr. Gerhardt Arbuckle?”
“That’s me. How can I help you?”
“My name is Dexter Peebles. I’m from Sacred Heart Memorial Gardens.”
“Yes?”
“I understand both your parents are interred at Sacred Heart Memorial Gardens in our aboveground mausoleums?”
“That’s right.”
“And your mother just passed over recently?”
“That’s right.”
“Allow me to express my deepest condolences.”
“Thank you.”
“If there’s anything that we of Sacred Heart Memorial Gardens can do to help you in your hour of grief, we are always at your disposal.”
“No, I’m fine. Thanks for stopping by.”
“I wonder if I might have a few moments of your time?”
“What for?”
“I wish to discuss with you some of the services we’re offering at Sacred Heart Memorial Gardens at this time.”
“My parents are already taken care of. There isn’t anything else to be done for them.”
“Yes, I know that. It’s not for them. It’s for you.”
“What do you mean?”
“Might I come in for a few minutes?”
“I’m busy right now. I was just about to wash my clothes.”
“I promise it won’t take more than a few minutes.”
“Well, all right. But let’s make it quick.”
Gerhardt Arbuckle stepped aside and let Dexter Peebles enter. As soon as he was over the threshold, he removed his hat.
“Might we sit down?” Dexter asked.
Gerhardt led the way into the living room and they both sat down.
“Now, what is this about?” Gerhardt asked with a hint of impatience.
Dexter opened the small briefcase he was carrying and took out a sheaf of shiny brochures. He held them hesitantly in his hand and cleared his throat.
“Might I inquire if you have made the final arrangements for yourself and other members of your family?”
“Have I done what?” Gerhardt asked.
“Have you secured your final resting place?”
“Do you mean when I die?”
“Yes.”
“Why, no, I haven’t.”
“Excellent! That’s what I want to discuss with you today.”
“You’re going to try to sell me a cemetery plot, aren’t you?”
“No matter what time of life you are in, it’s such a comfort…”
“I think I can save you a lot of hot air by telling you right off the bat that I’m not interested,” Gerhardt said.
“What?”
“I said I’m not interested.”
“May I ask why?”
“I don’t have to tell you why. Just take my word for it.”
“We are currently offered discounted prices.”
“I don’t care.”
“The type of aboveground mausoleum your mother and father lie in normally sell for thirteen thousand dollars apiece. For a limited time, the vaults are being discounted at twelve thousand each. That’s a savings of a thousand dollars per vault.”
“I’m still not interested.”
“Now, I must tell you, the two vaults immediately adjacent to your mother’s vault are available. These two vaults would be ideal for you and your dear wife.”
“My dear wife took off three years ago and I don’t know where she is. She might be dead and I hope she is.”
“So you have no use for two vaults.”
“I have no use for one vault.”
“Well, as you might expect, the vaults are kind of expensive for certain families. The cemetery plots sell for only a thousand apiece. For a limited time only, I can offer you four adjacent plots at the discounted price of thirty-five hundred dollars.”
“I don’t want those either.”
“May I ask why not?”
“I don’t think it’s any of your business.”
“Do you have children?”
“No.”
“So you would have no use for four cemetery plots?”
“I would have no use for one cemetery plot.”
“Well, uh, you’re getting along in years, as we all are. You must have given some thought to your final resting place.”
“None at all.”
“Most children want to be interred with or beside their parents.”
“Not me.”
“If I may ask, if you die tomorrow, where will your mortal remains repose?”
“I don’t know and I don’t care.”
“You don’t care.”
“That’s right. The city dump will suit me fine.”
“You want your body deposited at the city dump?”
“If I’m dead, I won’t know where I am, will I? The birds can peck at my eyes and the rats eat my flesh and I won’t even know it.”
“Well, I…”
“I told you right at the first I wasn’t interested in hearing your sales pitch. You didn’t believe me, did you?”
“We’re taught in salesman’s training that any sales resistance, no matter how strenuous, can be overcome.”
“You’re finding out that’s not true, aren’t you?”
“I must say your sales resistance is very high.”
“Higher than most?”
“Yes, I think I would say it’s higher than most.”
“You’re not a very effective salesman, then, are you?”
“No, I suppose I’m not.”
“How long have you been selling cemetery plots?”
“Six months.”
“Have you sold any?”
“I’ve sold a few.”
“How many?”
“Two.”
“Two in six months?”
“That’s right.”
“Some people are not cut out to be salesmen.”
“Truer words were never spoken.”
“Do you like selling cemetery plots?”
“I hate it. I’d rather dig graves.”
“Then why don’t you apply for a gravedigger’s job?”
“I’ve inquired about it. They have all the gravediggers they need right now.”
“Try something else altogether. A job that doesn’t have to do with death.”
“Well, the truth is, I don’t have much time to look for a job because I’m out selling cemetery plots all day long.”
“When you get back to Sacred Heart Memorial Gardens, tell them selling cemetery plots is not the right kind of job for you and you’re quitting.”
“They’re going to fire me anyway by the end of the month if I don’t meet my quota and there’s no way that’s going to be possible. I won’t have to quit.”
“Quit before they fire you! Tell them to take their shitty job and stuff it sideways!”
“If only I could!”
“You can! Stand up for yourself! Nobody else will!”
“I’ve thought about killing myself.”
“Don’t do that!”
“I don’t want to kill myself, but it might be my only option.”
“It’s not! It’s not your only option! That’s the wrong way to think!”
Dexter Peebles looked at his watched and slapped both hands on his knees.
“Well, I think I’ve taken up enough of your time already,” he said. “I should be going and let you get back to whatever it was you were doing. Thank you for taking the time to talk to me today. Most people just slam the door in my face as if I was a piece of filth that had blown up on their doorstep.”
“Wait a minute!” Gerhardt said. “You said you want a different job but you don’t have time to look for one?”
“That’s right.”
“Well, hold on! I have a cousin who owns a package liquor store downtown. He’s looking for somebody to train as a manager. Do you know anything about liquor?”
“No, but I could learn.”
“Do you have anything against liquor? Like religious scruples?”
“Not a thing! Both my parents were alcoholics. Also my brother.”
“Well, all right, then! You have alcohol in your family!”
He wrote the cousin’s name and also the address of the package liquor store on a little slip of paper and gave it to Dexter Peebles.
“Tell him Gerhardt sent you.”
“I certainly will!”
“If I were you, I would go down instead of calling. The last I heard, there’s plenty of competition for a manager’s job in a package liquor store.”
“You bet I will, and I certainly do thank you! I just can’t think you enough!”
“I hope you land the job. You need to stop selling cemetery plots before it kills you.”
“Say a little prayer for me!”
Before Dexter Peebles left, he gave Gerhardt a life-affirming hug. Gerhardt hated to be hugged but he tried to hide his distaste. It was a hug that seemed altogether necessary and appropriate.
Copyright © 2021 by Allen Kopp
Flowers by Night ~ A Capsule Book Review
Flowers by Night ~ A Capsule Book Review by Allen Kopp
Set in Japan in the 1820s, Flowers by Night, by Lucy May Lennox, is a fascinating glimpse into an exotic Asian culture of two hundred years ago. Tomonosuke is of the samurai class, but he’s not an especially important samurai. He works as a sort of accountant in the office of the exchequer. He’s in his early thirties and he has a wife named Okyo. They have been married for five years but have no children because they aren’t interested in each other sexually.
Ichi is an “anma,” a blind masseur, only twenty years old. He went blind in childhood as a result of a fever and a rash. His family disowned him when he went blind, so he has no standing in society. He is a “non-person,” but he has learned to be self-reliant and to support himself by giving massages and performing as an amateur musician. He is a member of the Todoza, a guild of blind men. (Most of the Todoza members are moneylenders and for that reason are generally disliked.)
When samurai Tomonosuke meets blind masseur Ichi by chance, he is drawn to him because of his beautiful face and pays him for a massage. After several meetings, their “business” relationship turns sexual. (We are told in the background information for Flowers by Night that sexual relations between men were not only common, especially among the samurai class, but accepted and acceptable, during this period in Japanese history.)
Tomonosuke and his wife Okyo, along with Okyo’s maid, Rin, are relocated to the city of Edo (present-day Tokyo), and Ichi tags along to be near his beloved Tomonosuke. (Ichi lived in Edo before and knows his way around.) Tomonosuke and Okyo are adjusting to life in the city when tragedy strikes.
Tomonosuke is falsely accused of embezzlement (set up by a fellow employee) and is jailed. He is waiting to be executed, he believes, when an earthquake, followed by a fire, strikes Edo. (Fires are so common in Edo that they are called “flowers of Edo.”) The jail where Tomonosuke is being held collapses in the earthquake and Tomonosuke is freed, along with the help of Okyo, Rin and Ichi. All four of them flee Edo since Tomonosuke is a wanted man. They travel, under cover, with a band of itinerant musicians. In their travels, they experience much hardship, including brutal winters (many feet of snow) and near starvation.
In the meantime, we learn that Okyo and Rin have been involved in a long-term lesbian relationship. Rin had been sold as a child to a brothel; Okyo rescued her and vowed to always take care of her. So, we have an unusual foursome: Tomonosuke and his blind lover Ichi and Okyo and her young lesbian lover Rin. The four of them together form a strong bond and, in their highly unusual circumstances, vow to always remain together, no matter what. They become a family in an uncaring and inhospitable world. Okyo feels compelled to produce an heir (especially important in an Asian culture at this time) and, since her husband Tomonosuke doesn’t have sexual relations with her, this is not going to be possible. Tomonosuke and Okyo come to believe in time that a wise expedient is to have the Tomonosuke’s blind lover Ichi conceive a child with Okyo. “Will the child be blind also?” Rin innocently asks. “Of course not!” Okyo tells her. “He wasn’t born blind!”
I haven’t ever read anything like Flowers by Night before. It’s a story about courage, about being on the outside and overcoming the odds in a world that is betting against your survival. More than that, it’s about the bonds that people can form with each other to make life a little more bearable. Highly recommended.
Copyright © 2021 by Allen Kopp
