ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, April 14, 1996 TAG: 9604120094
SECTION: BOOKS PAGE: 4 EDITION: METRO
TYPE: BOOK REVIEW
SOURCE: REVIEWED BY DAN GRIBBIN
THE FENNEL FAMILY PAPERS. By William Baldwin. Algonquin. $19.95.
William Baldwin's second novel, "The Fennel Family Papers," has a promising premise-a young history professor trying to sidestep a cagey old Southern Belle for a look at a notorious batch of family papers. He hopes to ride those papers to academic glory, having attached himself romantically to the daughter in the family.
With his droll (and occasionally corny) sense of humor, Baldwin develops a promising cast of zany characters, including a family cook who practices voodoo and looks remarkably like the cagey old Southern Belle. I can imagine some readers taking delight in any or all of these elements. But I can't say this novel, which tries to weave a mystery in the midst of its broad satire, actually works.
The problem is that the novel's main character, Paul Danvers, doesn't hold our interest. He is suitably taken aback by almost every occupant of the matted branches of the inbred Fennel family tree, but after awhile the device of his feeling like a fish out of water outlives its usefulness. The idea that big-shot, Ph.D. Paul, is the one being taking advantage of while he thinks he's milking the Fennels for their historical treasures is clumsily handled, at best.
"The Fennel Family Papers" is a disappointing novel, though it does have the virtue of humor as it portrays an old coastal South Carolina family that takes itself too seriously while scrupulously dusting the skeletons in the closet.
Dan Gribbin teaches at Ferrum College and reviews films as the Ferrum Ferret in the Cinema POV corner on America Online.
LENGTH: Short : 40 linesby CNB