Witches on the Road Tonight, (Pages 64-122)

The prose, in this second segment of the story, continues to be remarkably fresh, a little odd, but very natural and accessible.  More memorable similes continue to delight, such as: “Through the fog, the neon lights of Shea Stadium glowed red like a flashlight shone through the palm of a hand.”  This kind of imagery is used just sparingly enough to continue to charm us, along with the “creepshow” imagery that is germane to the characters – such as the adult Eddie appearing as Captain Casket on late night TV as the host of old-time cheesy “horror” movies. 

This story is one of those that skips around its time line, giving us glimpses of where the characters are coming from or going to.  I know I’m not alone in my cynicism for this particular plot device, but for some reason I’m comfortable with it here.  There seems to be a compelling reason for constructing the story this way, though it’s hard to put one’s finger on that reason this early on.  Telling it linearly would be giving away too much too soon, one senses, so that it’s easy to be patient with the author. 

Her creativity with plot and simile extends to creating expressive terms and words as well.  I like “trailerish,” referring to something or someone as that which one might find in a cheap trailer park.  “He is mean and trailerish in the thin gray and green baseball shirt he wears, the ragged fringe of his cutoff jeans…”  This author uses such words and terms as an artist uses paint.  Not quite Percy Bysshe Shelley, but it does make me wonder if Ms. Holman has had any poetry published. 

And what about the “Witches” promised in the title?  Mostly we are tantalized by the most obscure references.  But this section does include a superb passage describing the young girl’s exit from the house late at night while everyone else is sleeping, and a convincing description of her spell-weaving with the victim’s hair and fingernail clippings, a candle … and more graphic substances as well.  She is the granddaughter of the woman referred to earlier in the book, though she has never met the woman or even heard much about her.  The Black Art just comes to her naturally – or perhaps, supernaturally.

 

Early in this segment, our main heroine blatantly cheats on her husband.  It remains to be seen why this is important to the story.  If it turns out not to be important, it’s disappointing; not because of any prudish sentimentality or conservatism, but because we want to respect this woman, and this stands in the way.  We don’t generally have a great deal of respect for those who don’t keep their promises, and marriage is perhaps the ultimate promise.  If this passage was intended to show weakness in our heroine, there must be better ways to do that.  Here’s hoping that the indiscretion turns out to be important to the plot.


Next segment, pages 123-195




November's book has been changed to "Lunatics," by Dave Berry and Alan Zweibel! (If you already got a copy of "White Tiger," let me know and we'll read that in January or February.) Lunatics was recommended by a club member and is an excellent choice - good call, CJ!