ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, February 4, 1996 TAG: 9602020079
SECTION: BOOKS PAGE: F-4 EDITION: METRO
TYPE: BOOK REVIEW
SOURCE: REVIEWED BY LYNN ECKMAN
FAULT LINES. By Anne Rivers Siddons. Harper Collins. $24.
"Fault Lines," the 12th novel by the author of such popular works as "Outer Banks," "Peachtree Road" and "Downtown" will not enhance Anne Rivers Siddons' reputation.
It begins with Merritt Fowler catching rats in her home and carrying them to a nearby stream, where she releases them. Her husband, Pom, a prominent doctor, is much too busy saving the world to bother about such a mundane task or to pay attention to his wife or their anorexic, adolescent daughter, Glynn.
Merritt feeds the dog her husband insists on keeping, and she cares for his mother, an elderly harridan in the throes of Alzheimer's disease. Pom refuses to allow his mother to live in a nursing home but does nothing to prevent the havoc she wreaks in their home and their lives. After she sets fire to Glynn's room, the 16-year-old leaves Georgia and flies to Los Angeles where Aunt Laura, her mother's younger sister, is striving to make a mark in filmdom.
Laura, like everyone else, had depended upon Merritt for sustenance and emotional support, but her dislike of Pom has created a schism in their relationship. They are reunited when Merritt goes to California in pursuit of her daughter. At first dazzled by the glamour of Hollywood, Glynn and Merritt later learn about the shallowness and deception that abound in Tinseltown.
When the three women spend a weekend in an isolated mansion in the Santa Cruz Mountains, Merritt falls in love with its unusual caretaker. What follows is a brief but intense affair, ended only by an earthquake. Shades of "The Bridges of Madison County"! Even worse is the startling transformation of Pom from a self-centered monster into a warm, caring husband and father.
It is equally incredible that a writer as original and creative as Siddons could expect readers to accept such balderdash. Robert Waller succeeded in making half the population of America believe his romantic fantasy, but it is doubtful that these same people will be fooled twice.
Lynn Eckman teaches at Roanoke College and volunteers for the Office of Refugee and Immigration Services
LENGTH: Short : 47 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: ALLEN MATTHEWS. Anne Rivers Siddonsby CNB