Cavedweller
A substantial novel about a woman returning home with old wounds and trying to reclaim the family she lost. It is a Southern story where violence and renewal intersect.
Work Information
A heavy, searching homecoming story about reconnecting a damaged family.
A Lambda Literary Award-winning novel set against Southern landscapes and family memory, closely tracing the difficulty of repair and forgiveness.
Review Summaries
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Many readers respond to its serious treatment of family wounds and renewal. Its strong voice and Southern Gothic atmosphere are often what linger after reading.
Book Information
- Publisher
- Dutton Adult
- Published
- 1998-03-01
- Pages
- 434 pages
- Language
- 英語
- Size
- 16.51 x 3.81 x 24.77 cm
- ISBN-13
- 9780525941675
- ISBN-10
- 0525941673
- Price
- 7123 JPY
- Category
- 洋書/Literature & Fiction/Contemporary
From the author of Bastard Out of Carolina comes another compelling novel about four women whose lives converge unexpectedly and force all of them to come to terms not only with their past, but their future. 125,000 first printing. $200,000 ad/promo. BOMC & QPB Feat Alt. Tour.
Dorothy Allison was born in 1949 in Greenville, South Carolina, to a fourteen-year-old unwed mother. The only father figure she ever knew was a violently abusive man who used her mother's desperate desire for respectability to tie the terrified family to him. Though it was Allison's mother who placed her daughter in these precarious situations by not challenging her husband, Allison credits her as an inspiration. While the Greenville community disdained Allison for being poor and illegitimate, Allison's mother insisted her child was bright. She kept a jar of money she called the college fund, and though she had to empty it on several occasions and Allison's college was paid for by a National Merit Scholarship, just the presence of that jar convinced Allison that she had a right to excel. The first of her family to graduate high school, Allison went on to get a bachelor's degree from Florida Presbyterian College and a master's from New York's School of Social Research. Allison credits emerging feminism with much of her redemption. Suddenly, getting angry did not make her a misfit, and the movement gave her the strength to reclaim her self from years of put downs and abuse. When she began her writing career, Allison kept close to the gay and feminist presses, distrusting the establishment and believing that "literature was written by men, judged by men." In 1988 Firebrand Press published Trash , a book of short stories, that started to win Allison notice. This was followed by The Women Who Hate Me: Poetry, 1980-1990 , which secured Allison's stature as a respected talent within the gay and lesbian community. When Bastard Out of Carolina was published by Dutton in 1992, Allison achieved mainstream success. Bastard was greeted with rave reviews from the Village Voice , the San Francisco Chronicle , and The New York Times Book Review , and nominated for the National Book Award. Allison returned to a small press with Skin: Talking About Sex, Class and Literature , a critically acclaimed collection of essays. In 1995, she published a short memoir, Two or Three Things I Know for Sure , using text and family photographs. In March 1998, Allison's most ambitious work yet was released. Cavedweller is an epic novel that chronicles the trials and victories of four strong women and the opportunities they wrest from the unforgiving terrain of small town Georgia. In addition to her own books, Allison has contributed to many publications, ranging from The New York Times to Harpers and Allure . Allison lives in Northern California with her partner and their son, and continues to pursue "the thing all writers want--for the world to break open in response to my story...The same thing I have always wanted."
Reviews
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Interesting Read
A good read, with well developed characters that really gives you a feeling for life in the American South. Lots of messages & themes. A couple of the big themes are the joy of cave exploration and also finding yourself and forgiving. There was also a tiny little theme of lesbianism.
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This book was long, plots and characters came and went, point of view switched around. I adored it for all of those reasons - what a thick, rich, satisfying experience I enjoyed while reading Cavedweller. Dorothy Allison's second novel showcases her greatest strength as a storyteller: she writes the way most of us experience life, a rare talent that modern literature desperately needs. Allison doesn't write for spectators. In order to truly enjoy her work, a reader must be willing to commit to the act of reading, to experience the work as a collaboration between author and reader. Nothing she writes goes down like silk; she is much more deeply textured than that, and infinitely more real.
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Very well written. I found myself deciding to stop reading at the end of a chapter and then was half way through the next. The women were all challenged by the hardships life had dealt them, but their strength prevailed. A real insight to a life of hardships. At times I hated it and then I loved it. I would recommend this book for some enlightenment about the human spirit.
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I love the writing style. I was taken back by the title, but it is a lovely story that I would recommend.
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This is not a bad book and maybe I just wasn't in the right frame of mind for it. I loved the premise but I simply couldn't get into it. Something about the flow? I will likely give this book another shot in the future -- I feel like I was missing something.
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Family at its best and worst. This story is one of redemption and survival. The characters' voices ring true and their struggles are compelling.