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Best friends share secrets, shoes, clothes, jewelry and --- in SMALL ACTS OF SEX AND ELECTRICITY --- a husband. A husband is not an object to be given away, but that is just what Jane does. "He's a dubious gift isn't he?" Jane gives her husband Mike to her best friend Mattie, along with her life and children, and drives away in a Jaguar that was part of their childhood memories together. Jane, Mattie and Mike form a love triangle that has eroded Jane's marriage and driven her to give a daring gift in an attempt to break the strength of the triangle.
Mattie has been invited by Jane to grandmother Franny's oceanfront beach house to appraise her estate. Franny's sudden death six months earlier demands that antiques and "stuff" be appraised and small acts of sex and electricity exposed. The electricity between Mattie and Jane's husband Mike has arced repeatedly over the years. Jane not only wants to settle the estate, she wants to plug Mike and Mattie together for a summer of heated exploration.
In a provocative opening to a bizarre story of friendship and self-discovery, Mattie willingly assumes her new role as "Jane" and climbs into bed with a sleeping Mike before Jane's taillights are completely invisible. Permission granted, permission taken. No more small acts of sex, "sleeping with men who reminded me of Mike." Mattie and Mike seize the opportunity with teenage-like lust to explore their feelings for each other. The "mythology" that marriage makes relationships safe is sufficiently refuted. "...if you'd seen Mike and Jane fifteen years ago...they looked like people destined for a magazine culture, not wreckage."
The competition between Jane and Mattie for the "whole life" began when they met at ages eight and nine, living a short stretch of Miramar Beach from each other every summer. Jane and her sister Nan spent summers with their chic grandmother Franny after the suicide of Jane's father. Franny took the girls every summer and taught them about life, antiques, how to iron and how to wear a scarf, and told them they'd be "amazing women." Mattie played second fiddle to her parents' obsession with sailing and alcohol, and Franny became a surrogate. "When you're here in the summer, I want you to feel like you're one of my girls," Franny said. The deceased Franny is a formidable spirit whose lingering scent of Chanel No. 5 remains firmly fixed in both girls' memories.
Through Mattie's reflective narrative and memories of past events with Jane and Mike, the reader learns which small acts of sex and electricity led to Jane's sudden departure and life swap with Mattie. What part does Mike take in the swap? He's a willing participant in bed and an outlet for Jane and Mattie's competition. In fact, the dual electrical fixture on the cover aptly conveys that Mike is the outlet these two women plug into in a way that has subtlety eroded the wires of his marriage and forced the woman he has lusted for since college to see his true character --- a man who in the end can only offer chaos. "I'm offering you chaos, Mattie. You can't turn chaos down. I love you."
Behind the closed doors of Franny's estate, Mona and Livvy, Jane's four-year-old and 14-year-old daughters, accept the fact that Jane has left them in Mattie's care. Lasting bonds are formed. Mike is a good father, taking the girls to the beach and to amusement parks, telling them their mother will be home soon, even though he's unsure. Lousy husbands can be good fathers at the same time.
Jane's choice to deal with the small acts of sex and electricity she has observed between Mattie and Mike by giving Mattie the firsthand experience of living with Mike and acting as his wife forces Mike ultimately to choose between the two women. "What if Jane and I split up?" is explored with raw clarity. Mattie has assumed Jane's life completely. "And I knew if we slept together again, and he called her name, I'd probably answer." When an emaciated Jane returns from her own bold explorations, an explosive confrontation with Mattie reveals "You pulled the same s--- with Franny. Pushed your way in."
This September Book Sense Pick written by Lise Haines swells with the sounds of the Pacific Ocean and imagery so vivid and unique that the reader will be as entranced with the sights and sounds as with the introspective and complex issues of relationships the novel addresses. A normal day at the beach with "pelicans diving into the ocean" is in vivid contrast to "all the rooms of Jane's psychic house...though I thought I knew where the worms were buried...I ripped up her lawn and laid the pink bodies of childhood end to end." The controversial and moral issues are ripe for mature book club discussion and self-discovery. Ask these questions: "Would you hungrily explore your feelings with your friend's husband, or remain within the boundaries of morality and marriage?" "Are twenty-first century parameters less restrictive?" "Am I bold enough to explore electricity?"
Amazing and bizarre events take place behind closed doors and in relationships. With reality shows like ABC's "Wife Swap" being among the highest-rated series for adults 18-49, it is obvious that viewers are eager to see what kind of electricity arcs when wives swap husbands and families. Romantics may want Mike to leave Jane for Mattie, while moralists would want Mike to honor his marriage vows. In reality, life is short and sexual electricity is undeniable. Electricity is a force to be explored with ardor --- because shared electricity can generate enough heat to light up our lives.
--- Reviewed by Hillary Wagy
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