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Jon Hassler published his first Staggerford novel in 1977. That event set the scene for the subsequent books that tell the stories of the events that touched the lives of its inhabitants. When asked in an interview about his choice of locale he said, "I've been rooted in northern Minnesota all my life; I've never moved." Clearly this is his "place" and that is where he set his latest novel, THE NEW WOMAN.
THE NEW WOMAN is the story of Agatha McGee, an octogenarian who taught sixth grade for almost 50 years in Staggerford. At 87 her health is good and her mental faculties are as sharp as they were when she was a much younger woman. She still lives in the house she grew up in, and until recently she managed very well. "She has carried around the image of Staggerford as a bucolic, serene little hamlet, and she was under the false impression that she was still acquainted with all its citizens, as she had been in her teaching days." For years she had based that view on what she was able to see from her windows in "her house on River Street."
We meet her three days after she's moved into the Sunset Senior Apartments. And as she gazes from the window of her new home she stares at the Kmart parking lot across the street. She is amazed at the number of cars coming and going. "…she realized that there were hundreds of people living in this town whom she didn't know." When her lifelong friend Lillian, also a resident of the building, pays a call, Agatha thinks, "Oh, dear, this move was certainly a mistake." She "had feared that living here would compromise her independence."
But in Hassler's imaginary Staggerford, things don't always turn out as expected, and as the story unfolds Agatha moves back and forth from the present to her past. And these journeys give the richness and texture of what otherwise could have been a novella without much punch. When one considers Hassler's words in another interview, a real connection is made between the writer and his theme and the reader and his message: "I spent seven years visiting my mother in a similar place in a small town in Minnesota," Hassler recalls. "I'd go up there once a week and we'd have our peach delight and our coffee. I got to know these people pretty well. I just felt so at home with them that I wanted to write about them. People get outspoken at that age, and I like that. I just love people talking at odds, going off in their own directions." Add to these flights of verbal disconnects the eccentricities of each member, and sparks fly.
Over the course of a few weeks Agatha slowly works her magic and gains the respect of her fellow residents, realizing that since she retired what she missed most was being taken seriously. She really is the "grand old lady" of the town, and when she starts reaching out to her former students who are now the movers and shakers of Staggerford, she realizes that she was never forgotten.
Hassler stages several scenes in which one or more of the characters experience an epiphany. Agatha touches people who felt neglected and ignored, which gains their everlasting loyalty. They come to honor her for who she is and was, and how she affected their lives.
At some points the plot seems to be on the verge of unraveling, but Hassler manages to pull the loose ends together. Without being sentimental, melodramatic or gloomy, he writes in a conversational style that is charming and real. He doesn't romanticize getting old and being alone or having to leave the comfort and security of one's home. He doesn't sugarcoat the difficulties inherent in meeting new people under conditions that one didn't necessarily choose. Yet he manages to give the reader an honest portrayal of his characters and his message.
Agatha is a strong-willed, pious woman who is as devoted to her church as she is to doing good and living a charitable life --- despite the dark days. The supporting cast knows that bad things happen. All of them have experienced different kinds of hard times. Of this Hassler has said in the past: "I'm not sure that the optimism and the success of my characters in overcoming darkness is really connected to my religion. I think it's connected to a belief I have in the ongoing quality of life. People survive and are stronger for their suffering. It's just the feeling I have about life."
Those notions are the major thread in THE NEW WOMAN. Agatha is surprised and delighted when she finds her niche as the leader of a support group that over 10 months grows so large that the meetings are held in the high school gym. At the end of a long meeting, when Agatha is exhausted, she says: "I believe 'range of motion' applies to our psyches as well as our bodies. If we shut down parts of our thinking, we'll never get them back, and so you might say these [meetings] are my psychological therapy."
Jon Hassler infuses today's literary scene with a book that reflects small-town style, USA. He clearly sees teachers as heroes, friendship as a special gift, optimism as the anecdote to the blues, and aging as an opportunity to continue to grow as an individual. We are never too old to learn --- and if someone is willing to teach, all of us benefit.
--- Reviewed by Barbara Lipkien Gershenbaum
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