Reviews

• v good

• So... do you like dark, brooding books about socially stunted males? If so, then this book is for you. But even if you despise emotionally limited men, you will enjoy the ruminations of a mature man who managed to escape his suffocating family in Memphis, only to be lured back by lurid tales of his aging father's romantic dalliances (reported by his somewhat loony older sisters). Anyone who has whacky family members, or sorrowful memories of family life, will enjoy this book if only for the darkly cathartic laughter this book will evince. But even deeper, this book resonates because it is true. We all feel deep ambivalence toward all things we love - family, hobbies, careers. It is this ambivalence that artists strive to capture. I posit that Mr. Taylor succeeded - thus the Pulitzer award.

• So poignant!

• Peter Taylor is a first tier short-story writer, but his novels often like extended short stories than true novels. The Pulitzer Prize-winning Summons to Memphis (1986) struck me overall as more of an elegiac return to his native Tennessee of yesteryear than a fully-realized novel; at points it like a stream-of-conscious memoir, sprinkled with some beautifully related anecdotes, than a true novel. Although I felt it lacked the sustaining force that a truly successful novel requires to propel it, I still found it most rewarding. The work still managed to coax enough anticipation of "the next step" to keep the narrative going to the last page, with Taylor's wonderful poignancy and grace. So I do highly recommend reading it, with what I said in mind in terms of expectations.

• Although Peter Taylor was a fine writer, I doubt that A Summons to Memphis merited the Pulitzer Prize in 1987. It seems almost that this novel should have emerged from an earlier decade, perhaps the 40s after World War II, given its restrained and old-fashioned tone. The dynamics of the Carver family keep the story interesting, but ultimately there is not one defining event which is dramatic enough to place what happens to this family within a larger, universal context. The personal misfortunes of each family member collectively do not constitute or even come close to tragedy. A move to another city and the loss of the person one hopes to marry may be unsettling, but they are not earth-shattering events. The reader does not see any significant emotional impact that these events have had on any of the characters. Moreover, there is not one character who is so likable or lovable that the reader is moved by his or her fate. Even at the ending of the story, I did not feel empathy for Phillip Carver, despite his conflicting emotions about his father or his proclaimed independence of spirit. The central weakness of this novel is in the lack of character development and the failure of the author to reveal anything of the characters' inner lives. The two sisters, Josephine and Betsy, for example, might as well be called "Tweedle-Dum" and "Tweedle-Dee." They are practically indistinguishable from one another, and their viewpoints and responses to events are identical. They are not fully rounded characters and reside in the realm of caricature and burlesque. In a similar vein, the mother of the family, who was part of a vibrant social scene in Nashville, is depicted as having strong, fortifying qualities. For example, she places their move to Memphis in an historical perspective and braces the children for its attendant changes on their lives. Inexplicably, she lapses into invalidism and helplessness after the move. No reason is given, other than that this occurs shortly after the onset of a severe headache one day. Even Alex Mercer, a lifelong friend and ally of the narrator, stops communicating after the death of the father, George Carver, and the reader is left wondering why. Although it succeeds as a well-told narrative about a southern family with a domineering father, A Summons to Memphis does not succeed in bringing us unforgettable characters whose lives resonate long after we finish the book.

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