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Executive Times |
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2006 Book Reviews |
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How
Elizabeth Barrett Browning Saved My Life by Mameve Medwed |
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Rating: |
*** |
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(Recommended) |
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Click on
title or picture to buy from amazon.com |
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Belonging The
protagonist of Mameve Medwed’s new novel, How
Elizabeth Barrett Browning Saved My Life, Abby Randolph, struggles with
loss, low self-esteem, and overall lethargy in coming to terms with finding
her place in the world. After Abby’s mother and her lover, Henrietta, die during
an earthquake in The buzzer wakes me. I
glance at the bedside clock. It’s eleven in the morning. Even though it’s
Saturday, I can’t help blushing with shame. Since I hired a Rindge and My Antiques Roadshow appearance aired two weeks ago. Though I’ve got
it on videotape, one viewing is more than enough. There I am, raccoon-ringed
eyes, Kabuki-mask skin, Kewpie-doll lips opened in an astonished, clichéd 0
while running underneath, like the subtitles of a foreign film, is this: Chamber
Pot Belonging to Elizabeth Barrett Browning — $75, 000. During my
fifteen minutes of fame, I blink fast. I pull at my hair. Wow! Wow! I
exclaim. You’re kidding, I add. Gosh. Gosh. Over and over like
an old LP with a nick in its groove. Now I throw on a bathrobe. I
open the door a crack. The intercom has been broken ever since I moved in.
“Who is it?” I call down three flights of stairs. “Mailman. You’ve got a
registered letter. You need to sign for it.” I slip on my boots, which,
though it’s March, lie just inside the door. I hurry down the stairs. Thank
goodness no one’s coming or leaving to witness my slovenliness. Except the mailman, of
course. Who, given the nature of his job, has no doubt seen worse. People out
of the shower. Lovers out of bed. Couples in the middle of a fight.
Roommates kicking each other’s empty yogurt cartons into the corridor. The mailman’s wearing a cap
with blue postal-issue flaps. His eyes stay on my boots. No wonder. My hair’s
a mess. I slathered my face with cream last night, and haven’t wiped it off.
He thrusts a letter at me. He props a clipboard under my nose with a stubby
pen attached. I sign. “Have a good day,” he says. His heart’s not in it, I
can tell. I don’t look at the
envelope until I’m back inside my apartment. I flip the coffeepot on. I fall
into my mother’s armchair, upholstered in a faded
chintz of cabbage roses and peonies. When I was a little girl, we’d sit here
together before dinner, me curled into her lap, as she read from Winnie
the Pooh, A Child’s One arm of the chair shows
the singed hole made when I was thirteen and sneaking cigarettes. The lumpy
down cushions still give out the faint whiff of the lavender sachets she kept
in her sweater drawer. I tuck my legs underneath me. My knees buttress the
edge. Once, I fit here so easily. The envelope is of thick ecru stock. Snodgrass,
Drinkwater & Crabbe, Ten Court Square, SNODGRASS,
DRINKWATER & CRABBE LLP COUNSELORS-AT-LAW TEN COURT
SQUARE TELEPHONE 617-555-8805 FACSIMILE 617-555-8818 James P.
Snodgrass, Esquire 617-555-8825 Dear Ms.
Randolph: I have seen evidence which conclusively
shows (1) that you appeared on Antiques Roadshow (program number 2036)
with a certain ceramic vessel (hereinafter referred to as the “Chamber Pot”)
and (2) that you claimed to have inherited the Chamber Pot from your mother,
Emily Granby Randolph, late of I represent Mrs. Lavinia
Potter-Templeton of Emily Granby Randolph and Henrietta E.
Potter, having died simultaneously or under circumstances such that it cannot
be determined which of them survived, the Chamber Pot passed to my clients
under Article Second of Henrietta E. Potter’s Last Will and Testament, which
was duly admitted to probate. My clients strenuously demand that you
return the Chamber Pot forthwith. If you do not do so promptly, my clients
intend to avail themselves of all appropriate civil and criminal remedies. By
the time you receive this letter, a restraining order will have been issued
enjoining you not to sell, assign, or transfer the Chamber Pot or to remove
it from this Commonwealth. Failure to obey this order will put you
in contempt of court and may subject you to further penalties. I look forward to your timely response
in this matter. Very truly yours, James P. Snodgrass James P. Snodgrass JS/chs In the hands of a lesser writer, this
novel would drag. Instead, thanks to Medwed, How
Elizabeth Barrett Browning Saved My Life,
provides wit, charm, and a central character that readers will be rooting for
on every page. Steve Hopkins,
June 26, 2006 |
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The recommendation rating for
this book appeared in the July 2006
issue of Executive Times URL for this review: http://www.hopkinsandcompany.com/Books/How
Elizabeth Barrett Browning Saved My Life.htm For Reprint Permission,
Contact: Hopkins & Company, LLC • E-mail: books@hopkinsandcompany.com |
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