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CAGE'S BEND --- the mini-saga of the Rutledges in Baton Rouge, Memphis, Nashville, and other points south --- is a quiet but ultimately engrossing tale of love, sacrifice and vocational, if not spiritual, redemption.
The Rutledge family as a whole is not dysfunctional. The parents have what would be considered by any standard, normal definition to be a good marriage. The father, Franklin Rutledge, is an Episcopalian minister who is quick to acknowledge that his wife, Margaret, provides the underlying strength and drive of his success. When he refers to himself as the husband of the minister's wife, he speaks volumes of truth. Their sons, however, are another matter. Cage, the oldest, is full of promise, a state that goes unfulfilled when he succumbs to the sudden onset of a bipolar disorder, which is exacerbated at least in part by a combination of substance abuse and traumatic guilt over the death of middle son Nick. Meanwhile, Harper, the youngest sibling, has achieved great material success as a day trader yet is a moral disaster, happily succumbing to a sexual addiction.
Carter Coleman delivers what may be the literary observation of the year: "Every good southern family has a manic-depressive." And the character that he delivers in Cage speaks directly to this. Coleman makes the reader care about the characters, as he alternates viewpoints and time frames and travels the story across four decades. His best work is bestowed upon his descriptions of Cage, though Coleman goes beyond merely describing him. There is genuine empathy here, not only for Cage but also for those who continue to love him despite his maddening, frustrating behavior. Whether or not one agrees with Coleman's subtle message --- to wit, a man can function most effectively only when he gives himself over to the care of a strong woman --- he certainly makes a convincing argument for it.
CAGE'S BEND is not a southern novel in the traditional sense --- though Coleman references William Faulkner, he doesn't tread the same ground, nor will he be mistaken for Larry Brown or Tom Franklin --- but his descriptions of Memphis and Baton Rouge capture both cities perfectly. And though the book screams for a film adaptation, don't wait for such a release to dip into the lives of the Rutledges. There is no way that the film version of CAGE'S BEND can be as good as the novel. Jump on now.
--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub
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