THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, November 1, 1995 TAG: 9511010040
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E5 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Book Review
SOURCE: BY IRENE NOLAN
LENGTH: Medium: 74 lines
EVEN AS THE role of women has changed during the social revolution of the past few decades, one expectation has remained relatively steadfast. Women, for the most part, are still the caretakers. Even if they work and even if their husbands are more involved in child care and housework, women orchestrate, make it all work and serve as the backbone of the family.
Despite changes in the law, the workplace and child-care arrangements, many women still define themselves in terms of who they are to the others in their lives - their husbands, their children, their parents.
It is women's role as caretakers that is the theme of ``Fault Lines'' (HarperCollins, 336 pp., $24), the new novel by the popular Southern writer Anne Rivers Siddons.
In a note to her editor about the novel, Siddons writes: ``I have long wanted to look at the contracts that many women make with their families and with their lives; to examine the cost of them, to see if they serve to enrich lives or impede them, to examine what might happen if the woman involved in them chose simply to walk away.''
In ``Fault Lines,'' Siddons creates a character who does just that - walk away from her life.
Merritt Fowler becomes a caretaker early in life when her mother dies and her father lets her take over the care of her lovely but erratic younger sister, Laura. Merritt marries Pom, a divorced physician who is intensely dedicated to medicine and to raising funds for his inner-city clinic. She gladly signs on as caretaker of Pom, his home, his two young sons from his previous marriage, and Glynn, the daughter they have together. She is even the primary caretaker of Pom's two bird dogs, which he keeps just in case he ever has time to hunt. Eventually, Pom's aging mother, with an advanced case of Alzheimer's disease, is added to Merritt's list.
Not surprisingly, Merritt becomes increasingly stressed with the demands of the self-absorbed Pom; a teenaged Glynn, who has bouts of anorexia; and her mother-in-law, whose deteriorating behavior includes setting fire to Glynn's new wardrobe.
Early in the story, Glynn and her father have a major blow-up over, among other things, the teenager's attitude toward her grandmother. Glynn runs away to California, where her glitzy Aunt Laura is struggling to make a life as a starlet. Merritt takes off after her daughter, against her husband's wishes. He, of course, wants her to stay home and take care of him.
Once in California, Merritt impulsively decides to stay for a while. It is here that she confronts her relationships with her sister, her daughter, her husband and eventually herself as she plunges into an unexpected and passionate love affair. The ``fault lines'' in Merritt's life converge at about the same time as the fault lines in the California mountains, and the climax is a catastrophic earthquake.
``Fault Lines'' is Siddons' fastest paced, best-written novel. Merritt Fowler is an immensely likable and believable character, one with whom many women will identify. Pom may be a bit much to take, but there probably are still men out there who demand as much looking after. Glynn is both sweet and outrageous - just a typical teenager. And every family probably has one immature, selfish member such as Laura.
As usual, Siddons' characters are straight out of the South, but she ranges to Hollywood and the rugged country around San Francisco for most of the novel. The climactic earthquake is both believable and terrifying.
Some may find the ending just a bit too clever, with all the loose ends carefully tied up and all the relationships confronted, but I found it quite believable.
Siddons is a masterful storyteller, and ``Fault Lines'' is her richest story. MEMO: Irene Nolan is a free-lance book reviewer and editor of The Island
Breeze in Buxton, N.C.
by CNB