In a Perfect World
Laura Kasischke
In which Constance Reader discusses literature with herself, OR "A mid-exam week psychotic break"
Constance: Hi, Connie!
Constance: Hi, Connie. So we just finished A Perfect World. I'll recap the plot for us: Flight attendant Jiselle quits her job when she marries airline pilot Mark Dorn, and becomes a full-time mother to his three children, who don't like her very much. His daughters in particular make her life miserable. To make things worse, the country is in the grip of a Phoenix flu pandemic. The disease spreads and spreads until life as Jiselle knew it is changed forever. And then Mark goes out of the country, and is detained overseas. He doesn't return, and she must find a way to hold things together in a world that is falling apart. So, what did you think of Laura Kasischke's novel?
Constance: SHE KILLED BRITNEY SPEARS!
Constance: ...I didn't know we liked Britney Spears.
Constance: I didn't know we did, either. But once Kasischke had her die of the Phoenix flu, I started contemplating a world without Brit-Brit, and it was horrible. HORRIBLE.
Constance: "Toxic" is such a great song.
Constance: I know. It's the best song ever. Even our punk rock guitarist husband secretly likes it. [sings] You're toxic, I'm slipping under...
Constance (gently): I think we should get back to the book, don't you?
Constance: Yes. Sorry.
Constance: It's OK. Anyway, I had a lot of unanswered questions about this book. There was a lot of speculation as to what was causing the flu, but we never get a straight answer about that. I guess it's OK. But when Mark disappeared--why didn't he come back? Was he detained overseas? Or did he really intend to leave Jiselle with his kids from the very start of the marriage? That was a huge gaping hole that was never addressed, and not in a nice Sarah-Waters-I-trust-the-reader-to-draw-the-right-conclusions sort of way. It was just...
Constance: Confusing? Unsatisfying?
Constance: Yes. Both. And I was a little taken aback by Kasischke's writing. I thought this would be a fluffy women's lit wish-fulfillment sort of book with a hook, but occasionally, it seems like Kasischke was trying to take it farther. She took [an apple] and smelled it before biting into it. Orchards and sunlight in that mouthful of apple. It was crisp. Tart and sweet at the same time.
Constance: Shades of Hemingway. "She ate the apple in the rain. Cold, in the rain. And the rain came down."
Constance: LOL. Well, overall I guess I liked this book. I couldn't put it down. I read it way into the wee hours, and finished it today when we should have been outlining collateral habeas corpus for our Federal Courts exam on Saturday. But I guess it was just never clear to me why Kasischke wrote this book. What was she trying to say with her story? It's just a lot of shit, a steady stream of awfulness, and then an abrupt, ambiguous ending.
Constance: Was it a happy ending? I couldn't tell. I guess it's nice if Jiselle finally learned to love her stepdaughters, and vice versa.
Constance: That was nice. But I agree with you. This whole book reminded me of those Us magazine covers with the screaming headlines: ANGELINA LEAVES BRAD! And so you buy it, and you find out that it was like, she left him for a weekend to fly to the Berlin film festival. I guess I just felt like Kasischke was preying on our general fears of doom and death without giving us any real message. Reading Cormac McCarthy's The Road was like being bludgeoned in the heart for 400 pages, but in the end, he had a lot to say about life and love and hope. This, on the other hand, just seemed...
Constance: Cheap? Emotionally manipulative?
Constance: I was going to say "sensationalist," but I guess that's basically the same thing.
Constance: I think it's really neat the way we can read each other's thoughts sometimes.
Constance: Me, too. I love you, Connie.
Constance: Aw, I love you, too, kid. You're the best. Although I don't think we should read novels with post-apocalyptic plotlines right before bed anymore.
Constance: Me neither. Especially if Britney bites it. Because that really would be the end of the world as we know it.
Rating: 2 of 5 stars
Why can't she leave Britney alone!!!
ReplyDelete(sorry, someone had to make the reference, albeit almost being dated)
I loved this review, btw. It actually kinda makes me want to read the book, despite the 2 star-ness at the end of the review...
hm, and I had been interested in reading this book, as I love post-apocalyptic storylines, but this review is making me reconsider.
ReplyDeletesometimes the only sense you can get is talking to yourself:-)
ReplyDeletethanks for sharing
martine
DON'T READ THIS COMMENT IF YOU DON'T WANT SPOILERS!
ReplyDeleteYou crack me up. And I mentioned the Britney thing in my review too. I liked it more than you did ... I didn't need to know WHY the flu started or anything. And I do think the end was left intentionally vague (in my mind, it was either the end of them all or help was on the way.) And I read it as Mark chose to abandon them all once he realized Jiselle would take care of the kids. (Didn't you get the impression that he basically MURDERED or HOUNDED ex-wife to kill herself by his evilness but he was just able to hide it.) I was surprised by how different the book was written too. I read afterwards that she is also a poet and that might explain it.
Also, I loved how despite all the terrible things that happened in the book, the little family does create their own perfect world in a way.
Gosh ... I realize I've been dying to talk about this book with someone! SORRY TO ANYONE ELSE FOR SPOILERS!