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"A
little Child will lead them" could well be the theme of Paule Marshall's
latest and fifth novel, THE FISHER KING. It is a tale
of longings that reach beyond the grave, of family rivalries that
transcend death, and of the redeeming power of love --- in spite
of our lack of forgiveness. It is also a story about how misguided
and thwarted desires can ruin family relationships.
Using jazz as a backdrop, the story weaves in and out of four generations
of two families who could be described as the modern day Hatfields
and McCoys. These two Brooklyn families were unwillingly united
through the Romeo and Juliet romance of their offspring, Everett
Payne and Cherisse McCullum, who ran away after eloping, becoming
expatriates in late 1940's Paris.
At the opening of the novel, both Everett and Cherisse are dead.
After their deaths, their only daughter, JoJo, went bad and ran
away at the age of 14. At 15, she dropped off her newborn son, named
Sonny, for Hattie to rear. (Hattie had been her parents' childhood
friend and her father's lifelong live-in manager.) Hattie loved
the couple so much that she feels she has something of both of them
in the infant and tries to raise him in her now greatly reduced
circumstances.
The backstory is slowly revealed through the current story. Everett,
renamed "Sonny-Rett Payne" by his followers, had been the toast
of Brooklyn in 1947, when he combined his own creative genius with
his childhood training of Bach and Beethoven. As a pianist he could
create tunes that became part of the innovative, unpredictable sound
called "jazz." His mother Ulene, a first generation West Indies
immigrant, had sacrificed her life as a hardworking widow (in order
to pay for his classical music lessons). When her son was a teenager,
she turned on him for playing what she called "The Sodom and Gomorrah
music." In fact, Ulene became so bitter towards her son that she
would not let him return to her home when he came out of the army
at age 21. Subsequently, Sonny-Rett and his runaway bride Cherisse
moved to Paris, where they remained until their deaths, never to
return to their respective homes.
Sonny-Rett's wife Cherisse was the pampered, only child of Florence
Varina McCullum-Jones, the Black Scarlett O'Hara of the block. Florence
Varina had big dreams for Cherisse to become the next Lena Horne.
To that end, she spent all of her money grooming her daughter to
be a singer and dancer, neither of which Cherisse had the talent
nor inclination to do. Although Cherisse never became a star, she
dressed like a vedette, a movie star, until her death.
When Hattie returns from Paris with 8-year old Sonny, there is a
revival of interest in Sonny-Rett's music --- which his well-to-do,
entrepreneurial-minded brother, Edgar Payne, plans to capitalize
on by throwing a concert to commemorate the 15th anniversary of
his brother's death. Edgar previously had hired a detective to find
Hattie and his grand nephew Sonny in Paris and invited them to the
concert. From this set up, the past and present collide in a memorable
story.
It is Sonny Rett's grandson, at the age of eight, who tries to reunite
the two warring great-grandmothers. And although it doesn't turn
out like he expects, his effort has its payoff.
Through this rich, textured plot, we get a historical lesson on
the rise and fall of jazz for many of the African American expatriates
who fled this country for creative freedom in Europe. Many, like
the character Sonny-Rett, died broke and disillusioned. We also
see the ongoing clash between the different factions of the Diaspora
of Africa, such as the African Americans versus the West Indies
American.
On one level, this is a universal story of the damage parents can
do when they place all their hopes and dreams on their children.
Ulene and Florence Marina both could have taken lessons from Khalil
Gibran when he said, "Our children are not our children but the
source of life's longing for itself." The premise is that pride
in your offspring to the extreme instead of letting your offspring
follow their own true callings can destroy the relationship. But
these women were also shaped by their cultures. Upward mobility
and breaking in through musical or singing talent was part of the
American Dream for Blacks during the 1940s. Both of these strong-willed
women, in trying to shape their children to their desires, did the
very thing they didn't want --- instead of bringing their children
closer to them, the two mothers, Ulene and Florence Varina, drove
their adult children out of their lives. Their attendant guilt is
what made them bitter, hateful old women.
The character I liked most in THE FISHER KING was 8-year-old Sonny,
the grandson named for his famous grandfather. Most of the actions
are filtered through his central consciousness, so you get the double
irony of what is going on in his childish perception while understanding
all the hidden agendas of the adults. You can also see through Sonny's
precociousness and his drawings that he, too, will be a future artist.
On another level, this is a tragic story of how society often destroys
its artists, be they writers, musicians, or painters. My heart went
out to Sonny-Rett and his vulnerability as a pianist who only wanted
to "tilt his ear to the heavens" and create his music.
In THE FISHER KING the writing itself is subtle and quiet but exciting.
Marshall has an ear for dialect, and her plots are well thought
out. I like to think of her works as having an undercurrent of turbulence
that is always present. I've always liked Paule Marshall for her
deftly turned sentences, where you can hear the rhythms of Barbados
and West Indies culture in every line. Moreover, I like to reread
different lines out loud just to hear how Marshall weaves her native
tongue from Barbados into her narrative and dialogue. For instance,
here's Ulene talking to Sonny. "I went to my father and I said,
'Papa, the white people war finish, give me my passage and my show
money."
Marshall's subtext deals with old versus new, young versus old,
the generational divide that has plagued mankind since the beginning
of time. It's the age-old paradox. In order for mankind to progress,
children have to break away from traditions, yet traditions are
the underpinning of society. When people like Sonny-Rett do not
conform to the norms, society destroys them. Then, years after their
deaths, their works and they themselves are usually revered for
their being ahead of their time.
The moment of truth for each character is exceptionally poignant
and well rendered. It wasn't that Ulene or Florence Varina changed
and went and made up. However, through their common great grandson,
(namesake of the errant son who broke both of the women's hearts),
they both had an epiphany. Likewise, Hattie, the caretaker of Sonny
and the manager for Sonny-Rett, has her moment of truth, which will
shock you and leave you reeling.
Reading Paule Marshall has always reminded me of a slow strip tease.
She starts out slowly, setting up the situation and the characters.
She uses such striking details while fleshing out her characters
that you can actually see them. At the same time, with the exception
of her first novel, BROWNGIRL, BROWNSTONE, I've always had a hard
time getting into her books --- but once I get into her novels,
I can't put them down. And I always walk away feeling soul-satisfied.
When I finish her books, I am eager to go back and reread her works,
the same way I reread Toni Morrison to see what I missed the first
time around.
THE FISHER KING is no exception. In an explosive climax, which blew
me away, I found myself up all night finishing the last half of
this book. I was disturbed by the ending, yet I liked its ambiguity.
It was fitting and it left something to the reader's imagination
as to what will be little Sonny's fate.
--- Reviewed by Maxine E. Thompson
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