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I Knew When I Married Her …

… she was hot and smart. Fifteen years on she’s all that and it turns the wife can write, too. But don’t take my word for it.

New York Times Sunday Book Review: 

Amy MacKinnon comes close to ruining her hypnotic debut novel, TETHERED (Shaye Areheart, $24), with an ending that substitutes fuzzy abstractions for clear and tangible answers to the mysterious events she has used to entice us into her narrative. Told in hushed whispers by Clara Marsh, an emotionally fragile young woman who works in a funeral home in Brockton, Mass., the story is revealed obliquely, through Clara’s tender ministrations to the bodies she prepares and the private thoughts accompanying these rituals. There’s a quiet, almost stealthy quality to the writing, so we become distinctly uneasy when Clara befriends a neglected, possibly abused child who has made the funeral home her sanctuary. Clara is an astonishing character, and with language as blunt as the death she sees every day, she expresses herself with devastating simplicity. When asked what she believes, her response is unnervingly direct: “I believe it’s important to breathe.”

Reasonable people can disagree about that “comes close to ruining” ending part, but I’m on board with that “quiet, almost stealthy quality” bit, “astonishing character,” “language as blunt as … death” and “devastating simplicity.” 

Meanwhile, National Book Critics Circle member Donna Chavez gives ”Tethered” five stars:

Undertaker Clara Marsh works in a Brockton, MA funeral home as assistant to the funeral director. Right from the start it is clear that Clara is an unusual heroine. Not merely a loner she seems to have become a pathological recluse able to relate only to the dead bodies she preps for burial and the flowers in her lavish greenhouse. Living people pose a problem for Clara. However, when a neglected little girl named Trecie visits the funeral home and becomes the focus of a police investigation into a child pornography ring, real life, as is its wont, threatens to shatter Clara’s world.

Since she’s the only one who has spoken to Trecie Clara is key to helping the cops locate the pornographers. She is immediately torn between trying to maintain her impossibly isolated life and stepping up to help the abused child.

The beauty of Tethered is two-fold. Not only does MacKinnon write haunting prose she has created a character/narrator who keeps us guessing about her reliability as a witness. Tethered grabbed my attention and held it as I raced to the end to learn the outcome of this off beat story.

“Tethered“ at Amazon

Crit’s own shameless, pandering review of his wife’s book here.

Topics: literary

  Posted by Jules Crittenden at 10:18 am on Saturday, September 13, 2008

9 Responses to “I Knew When I Married Her …”

1. Americaneocon Says:
   September 13th, 2008 at 11:58 pm

   Congratulations to you and your wife.

2. Jules Crittenden Says:
   September 14th, 2008 at 12:33 am

   Thanks, ANC. She’s a piece of work.

3. Potfry Says:
   September 14th, 2008 at 8:56 am

   Jules/Amy: Congrats. We’ll be sure to pick up a copy for the Potfry household.

   And if I can say so with complete respect, she is hot.

   Potfry

4. I Don't Really Understand . . . Says:
   September 14th, 2008 at 9:05 am

   [...] Happy Anniversary to Jules Crittenden.  No compromise, there. Posted by Dan Collins @ 12:20 pm | Trackback Share This [...]

5. Jules Crittenden Says:
   September 14th, 2008 at 10:01 am

   Thanks Potfry, on both counts.

   Thanks Dan, too, I think. Shameless self-promotion R us.

6. sarah rolph Says:
   September 14th, 2008 at 10:31 am

   Marilyn Stasio comes close to ruining an excellent book review in a Very Important Paper because of her apparent need to insert the obligatory One Negative Thing. The ONT is generally less related to the work being reviewed than it is to the Very Important Reviewer, who wants to make sure we know that she could have written an even better ending. In her dreams, anyway….

   It’s completely appropriate for the ending of Tethered to be somewhat mysterious. The book is best read without knowing too much about its content; suffice to say that the subject matter does not lend itself to a “clear and tangible answer. ” I imagine most readers will understand and appreciate this.

   The book is great! Buy it at once!

7. Jules Crittenden Says:
   September 14th, 2008 at 1:20 pm

   Great review from freelance writer Sarah Rolph … and thanks!

8. Grimmy Says:
   September 14th, 2008 at 11:05 pm

   Jules:

   No wonder you took the summer off. No matter what you pulled to convince a quality woman like that to commit to you, heavy doses of quality time must definitely be part of your long term strategy to keep her interested enough to stay.

   The book does sound most very interesting. I’ll get it, for sure. If it was for sale in ebookwsie/rocket format, I’d have it now.

9. Grimmy Says:
   September 14th, 2008 at 11:28 pm

   Ha! It is for sale on Ebookwise’s site! Budget is a bit tight this month but I”ll definatly get it next month.

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