THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, October 22, 1995 TAG: 9510210498
SECTION: COMMENTARY PAGE: J2 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Book Review
SOURCE: BY AUDREY KNOTH
LENGTH: Medium: 68 lines
A woman and man marry. They work a farm.
The events are ordinary, but Robert Morgan recounts them with extraordinary grace in his novel, The Truest Pleasure. This tale of a turn-of-the-century rural marriage speaks to relationships of almost any time and any place.
The story is told by Ginny Peace, who lives in the mountains of western North Carolina. She begins her narration at age 17, when she's leading a life of chores around her family's farm, socializing with her siblings and regretting that she's only been kissed once, because she's ``too tall for the boys to like.''
Things change when she goes to a Pentecostal church meeting with her father. He began attending revivals during the Civil War, and continued the practice over the objections of her mother, who is now dead. Unexpectedly, Ginny finds herself responding to the service.
``I felt the fire around me. The flames bathed and caressed me. The fire scorched away all pride and dirt of willfulness and the pain of vanity . . . The fire burned and cooled me at once. Flames stretched through my thoughts and across the sky millions of miles like endless sunsets one after the other.''
Soon after, Ginny meets the man who will become her husband. They first spot each other at her regular church, whose minister speaks against Pentecostal services. Then, the couple go walking and Ginny sees fire in the sky again - there's a spectacular meteor display. Tom's serenity during the fiery shower, so unlike Ginny's emotional response, appeals to her.
``Now people say women always fall in love with danger, that if they're not scared by a man, they can't really love him . . . But I guess I was born different. What made me fall in love with Tom was to see how calm he was when the sky exploded and fell down in flames.''
But their differing reactions to fire come to symbolize their opposing opinions about religion. After Ginny and Tom wed, Tom objects to Ginny's Pentecostal interests.
In prose as delicately textured as a painting, Morgan shades the subtle emotions of marriage. On occasion, Ginny and Tom's conflict is so bitter that they don't speak to each other for days; then, she suddenly finds that ``all the harsh things built up between us begun to melt away.''
Other relationships and characters are neatly drawn as well. Ginny sees both the good and not-so-good in her sister-in-law Lily, who dresses well and puts on airs, and in her sister Florrie, who makes an unsubtle play for Ginny's husband. But, as in marriage, friendships can ebb and flow, as Ginny reflects on the day the three women put up peaches:
``I've noticed that when people work together they sooner or later get more friendly. It's natural that once you are sweating and straining together you begin to feel like a team.''
While writing from the point of view of the opposite sex is not easy, Morgan accomplishes it nicely. And story aside, the novel's descriptions of farm traditions, such as making molasses, offer intriguing reading.
Morgan, a North Carolina native, has published numerous volumes of poetry. His verse has won a number of prestigious awards. His poet's eye for image and ear for pacing are clearly at work in his prose, making this novel a true pleasure.
- MEMO: Audrey Knoth is a free-lance writer and executive director of public
relations at Goldman & Associates. ILLUSTRATION: Jacket design by ROBIN GOURLEY
by CNB