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Title: Judge: A Novel by Dwight Allen, Workman Pub Co Algonquin Books ISBN: 1-56512-369-7 Publisher: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill Pub. Date: 01 April, 2003 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $23.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.4 (5 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: Interesting
Comment: The author has put together a nice story, wherein he explores
the lives of some complex characters, all related to the elderly federal judge who has recently died in his hometown of
Louisville.
His children are rather diverse in character, and they are still
exploring their feelings and goals even in middle age, and they
continue to explore life in a very real way, even to the point
of disrupting their own families.
There is a certain vagueness about some of the "action", where
we aren't quite sure of the exact relationships among the various players, but the story is interesting and moves along
at a nice pace. It has the added attraction of moving in some
unexpected directions.
Slightly off-beat, but all the more interesting.
Rating: 5
Summary: THE PRESENCE OF AN ABSENCE
Comment: It's a fact that the absence of something - or in this case, someone - that has loomed very large in the lives of people can be felt as a presence. In Dwight Allen's debut novel, that presence/absence is the title character, Judge William Dupree. As the book opens, his clerk of twenty years, Lucy, is gathering together a few of his personal effects that she has found in the office. Through her thoughts - and those of the Judge's widow, his two sons, his cousin Louis and several friends and members of his extended family - we come to know, understand and appreciate this man. The journey to this understanding is a comfortable one, filled with remembrances and anecdotes, humor and, most of all, an overpowering sense of the importance of love in the life of a human being. We are ushered through all of this with warmth and grace, thanks to the writing skills of Allen. I first came across his writing - chapter 5 from this work - in the 2002 edition of NEW STORIES FROM THE SOUTH: THE YEAR'S BEST, accompanied by a note that the piece was a chapter from a forthcoming novel. I was very happy to see it arrive.
The Judge's family has its ups and downs - but these are basically decent, everyday people, striving to find some happiness and satisfaction in their lives and careers. His wife is gently domineering - there are not many who know her who will stand up to her in a dispute. His sons - grown by the time of his death - wrestle with personal and professional quandaries, guided by the Judge's advice and opinions, but never dictated to. Lucy, with whom the Judge 'almost' slips off the 'fidelity wagon', is fiercely devoted to him - so much so that, counter to the advice of others, she remained with him as his caseload declined, well into her own middle age, pretty much closing any doors to any law practice of her own. His cousin Louis is an alcoholic - and while the Judge had little tolerance for those who drank too much, he was always gentle and caring with his cousin, helping him time and again to attempt to plant his feet on a more sober path. Judge Dupree is sometimes shocked or disappointed with things that happen around him - but his love for his family and friends is alive at his core through it all. He is a religious man, but not one who preaches to everyone around him - his is a quiet faith, and strong, and the example of his own life and happiness with it is the most effective witness.
The chapters of the novel look at incidents and events in the life of the Judge and those who shared it, told from various points of view, and not necessarily in chronological order. Rather than make the novel harder to understand, this technique, in Allen's hands, actually lends a feeling of comfort to the story - rather like the stories that pour out of those attending a wake, fond (and often humorous) remembrances of the departed.
The Judge himself - in the form of a ghost - makes an appearance now and then, but never in an attempt to overtly affect the lives of his loved ones, more as an observer. His spectral presence is felt from time to time, but those who sense it are never quite sure that they're not 'seeing things'. One of the most poignant passages in the novel is in one of the final chapters. The Judge had a life-long love affair with railroading - and after his death, now that he has the opportunity, he takes to riding trains back and forth across the country. On one of these soirées, he inadvertently observes a couple in his boxcar making love - '...the Judge, who had always been a firm believer in the right to privacy, concentrated on the scenery and removed his hearing aid.' He muses about the physical vs. the spiritual aspects of love: '...he hadn't found the sexual act itself all that rewarding. What he had really hoped for more was kissing, nuzzling, hand-holding, things that women (as opposed to men) were supposed to require.' He examines these thoughts carefully and honestly - and they are a great indicator of what a gentle soul he possessed. He sees things in the lives of his family and friends that at first upset him, but comes quickly to a love-borne understanding, and finds it easy to forgive.
Allen's novel comes in a just over 300 pages - but it seemed to fly by for me. The pleasure of reading such a well-written work made it so. Get to know the Judge - your life will be the richer for it.
Rating: 5
Summary: It's Even Better If You Knew the Judge
Comment: I used to be related to the author because one of my relatives married one of his relatives. At the time, the Judge lived and Dwight had a quiet job at the New Yorker. If I hadn't been so wrapped up in my teenaged life, I might have noticed how lucky I was to be related to someone of the Judge's nature, not to mention Dwight's talent. The book is quite something, and by that I mean something you should buy and read if you would like to spend some time reading a good book. I can't wait to give this to the Judge's namesake, who now occupies an adolescent's headspace.
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Title: A Hole in the Universe by Mary McGarry Morris ISBN: 0670032883 Publisher: Viking Books Pub. Date: 08 March, 2004 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: The Known World by Edward P. Jones ISBN: 0060557540 Publisher: Amistad Pub. Date: 14 August, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler ISBN: 0399151613 Publisher: Marian Wood Book Pub. Date: 22 April, 2004 List Price(USD): $23.95 |
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Title: The Amateur Marriage: A Novel by ANNE TYLER ISBN: 1400042070 Publisher: Knopf Pub. Date: 06 January, 2004 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: Flyboys: A True Story of Courage by James Bradley ISBN: 0316105848 Publisher: Little, Brown Pub. Date: 30 September, 2003 List Price(USD): $25.95 |
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