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Honore de Balzac wrote, "A mother who is really a mother is never free." It is true that the maternal bond may be one of the strongest forces in the universe. A mother's heart is always with her child, even when --- or perhaps especially when --- that child is far away. And a grown child is no exception. So what happens in a mother's heart and mind when she learns that her child is far away and in danger? What if the danger is self-inflicted?
These questions take center stage in Mary Gordon's latest novel, PEARL. Single mother Maria Meyers is celebrating a quiet Christmas in New York when she finds out that her twenty-year-old daughter Pearl, who is attending school in Ireland, has chained herself to the American Embassy in Dublin and has not eaten for six weeks. Pearl has written a statement saying that her death by starvation is meant to mark the death of a young man who recently has been killed. Even more than that, Pearl's actions are meant to witness the "will to harm" she finds in humanity.
Maria is unaware of Pearl's connection to the boy and is confused and saddened to learn that Pearl feels in some way responsible for his death. She feels helpless and alone knowing that her daughter is so far away and in so much pain. On the flight to Dublin, Maria tries to remain calm but is struggling to keep her feelings in check as she rushes to rescue Pearl. Also making the painful journey to help Pearl is Joseph Kasperman, who Maria grew up with and who Pearl has trusted and loved all her life. As the two travel to Dublin, readers learn all about their complicated relationship, Pearl's childhood, and the events that drove her to desperate measures.
Gordon's prose is amazing; heartfelt and honest but not sappy, and emotional without being overwrought. There are so many themes present in the book: family relationships, the struggle for political and civil freedom, individual responsibility, and the question of human nature. Still, the story is never muddled; Gordon does a commendable job of keeping the plot crisp, the characters true and believable, and the reader interested. It is only with Joseph's thread of the story that the novel drags ever so slightly.
Pearl's suicide attempt is about politics but it is mostly about witnessing --- not just the life and death of one individual who has died senselessly, but also the lives and deaths of so many who have, and do, all the time. It is also about Pearl trying to find a voice and identity in what feels to her like a chaotic and troubled world. Because she doesn't think that her voice is loud enough or strong enough to make a difference, she believes that her body will make a bigger statement.
Her act of sacrifice forces Maria and Joseph to assess their lives and their relationship to each other and to Pearl as they reach out to try and save her from a burden they do not understand.
Maria is a fierce character; she's protective of her daughter yet blind to her daughter's real needs. In her Gordon has created an interesting, not always likeable but quite understandable, character. Pearl is very compelling and Gordon writes her story with sympathy, thoughtfulness and wisdom. Gordon's narrative style is quite unique --- an omniscient and personal, unnamed narrator who shares with readers a concern for the characters.
In the end, neither Pearl, who had wanted to be, nor Maria, who had hoped never to be, are free from each other and their complicated, realistically portrayed relationship. The final chapter, almost hidden in the hardback edition, finds them together, trying to heal and understand each other. Gordon writes, "We will hope for the best."
--- Reviewed by Sarah Rachel Egelman
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