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A Brief History of the Flood, by Jean Harfenist
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In Acorn Lake, Minnesota, Lillian Anderson has reached the end of childhood still believing her much-adored mother’s worldview that life is a floating-wedding-cake fantasy fueled by love—that’s it, just love. She believes it even while naming every new pet right away, because anything without a name is likely to get eaten. She believes it in spite of knowing she needs to head home when hunters are hiding behind duck blinds with their shotguns loaded and the safeties off.
But clearly, not everybody is playing by the same rules as her mother, Marion, a resolutely optimistic roller coaster of a woman, equal parts mom, little girl and sexual goddess. Especially not her father, Jack, an easily ignited alcoholic with a talent for making the entire family feel as if they’re living beneath a clenched fist. When Lillian isn’t tiptoeing around her parents, she’s learning about life—and sex—from her two brothers and Mitzy (“My sister is the kind of girl who thinks letting Buddy Franklin fuck her in the Hoffmans’ hayloft is the same thing as a date”), and from her father’s mistress, Betty Boop, who tells her, “Once you learn how to cook and sew, hordes of hungry men will show up on your doorstep dragging gunnysacks full of mending.”
In a family scratching its way down a small-town social ladder, Lillian barrels from childhood into her early twenties with no illusions about her future, biding her time and honing her shorthand. But as she’s struggling to get on her feet and get out, her family’s house—built long ago on landfill hauled in to cover the marsh—is literally going under.
This is the irresistible debut of a writer with a hypnotizing gift for place and voice, and a singular talent for capturing the best and worst of rural life; in eleven linked stories she delivers up a character with the grit and sheer exuberance needed to appreciate the best and overcome the worst. Rich in emotion and brimming with wit, A Brief History of the Flood speaks to the question of whether it is possible, or even desirable, to leave the most troubled of family histories behind, and offers clear-eyed evidence that familial love, in even the most inclement circumstances, finds purchase in us, and persists.
- Sales Rank: #3785158 in Books
- Brand: Knopf
- Published on: 2002-06-18
- Released on: 2002-06-18
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 7.33" h x .95" w x 5.87" l,
- Binding: Hardcover
- 224 pages
- Great product!
From Publishers Weekly
First timer Harfenist packs a big story into a short coming-of-age fiction peopled by broadly painted, eccentric characters. In 11 linked short stories set between 1959 and 1970, this jolting, highly colored narrative traces the life of Lillian Anderson from eight to 18. She and her sister and two brothers live in a perpetually flooded, rundown house in Acorn Lake, Minn. Their mother, a convincingly portrayed manic-depressive, is always up for wild projects, like turning the family's pontoon boat into a giant-size floating wedding cake; once the fun is over, she sinks into bed for days. Their father, an alcoholic, sits in his recliner drinking beer and eating pickles when he isn't tormenting their mother. Essentially bringing herself up, Lillian sculls through her hardscrabble life, losing her virginity at 14 to a teacher, shoplifting with her best friend, fighting her way to a secretarial job and a small studio in the Twin Cities. Throughout, Harfenist combines pared-down first-person storytelling with terrific character descriptions. Sounds place the reader at each scene and in Lillian's mind, like the noise a city boy makes when he "walks across the crushed gravel driveway in bare feet." The author's direct narrative style, though sometimes abrupt, gives Lillian's story a bright, three-dimensional quality. Readers looking for a fast, entertaining summer read with multidimensional characters will be pleased with this effort.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
Die-hard novel readers leery of short stories will not be put off by Harfenist's first collection; these stories follow each other like chapters, leading readers deeper into the confusing world of Lillian Anderson, in 1960s Minnesota. Lillian is having a tough time growing up. Poverty, drugs, and alcohol dominate her family life, and she can't wait to get out and live her own life. We witness not only Lillian's memories of an idyllic childhood of living and playing on Acorn Lake but also the disruptive family life that begins to erode her love of the water. The usual themes for female coming-of-age stories are here, including food and weight issues, sexual yearnings versus sexual taboos, and makeup and clothes, but Harfenist's characters are real and their situations absorbing. Will Lillian's older brother come back from Vietnam? Will Lillian make it to adulthood without getting pregnant, landing in jail, or overdosing? Contrasting with her disruptive family life, Lillian's narrative voice is strong, honest, and straightforward. A solid debut from a talented writer. Michelle Kaske
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Review
"Welcome to the world of fiction a new voice, frisky and funny and completely at home with the plainspoken truth that makes for human comedy. Jean Harfenist's writing is wonderfully fresh and direct. By the time you finish this collection of pungent stories, you'll feel as if you've made a smart new friend."
--Mark Childress
"A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE FLOOD is its own torrent of strength. The writing seems to come more from natural ability, love of language, and the wisdom of life experience--it is most rare these days--rigorously beautiful without an ounce of dangerous pretension. This is a book I'll put on my book club's list, tell bookstore owners about, and keep by the bed for the dark nights when I need a language booster shot. I have a feeling that the writer has many stories in her soul--she's such a hearty curiousity evident in this work--and I'll look forward to one day saying with the pride of the journey, 'Yep, I've read everything she's written.'"
--Kaye Gibbons
"Reading Jean Harfenist's stories is like finding a hot slot machine in a casino. One winner after another? In wild defiance of the odds? Who cares. Stay seated."
--Richard Russo
Most helpful customer reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful.
Well-crafted glimpse of a quirky loving Minnesota family
By Linda Linguvic
These collected short stories, which read like a novel, involved me completely in the trials and tribulations the narrator, Lillian Anderson. We meet her first at the age of eight in 1959 and watch her grow into young womanhood through 1970. In seemingly simple words, the author gets right into the heart and soul of family life with a quirky mother, an alcoholic father, and three siblings - each one so clearly drawn that I felt I knew them all. They live in rural Minnesota, in a world that sharply contrasts with my own life in New York City. Her father and brother hunt for ducks and small animals, bringing them home for the family to butcher. Her entire grade in high school has a total of only 18 boys, unlike the graduating class of more than a thousand here. And she's always in her car, driving sixty or seventy miles to the nearest city.
If anyone had paid attention, Lillian's mother would probably be classified as bi-polar in today's psychological jargon. She has wild mood swings and is either elated about her latest project or contemplating suicide. She has a slim trim body and shows it off in great home-sewn clothes, sometimes to the embarrassment of her children who she obviously loves like crazy and teaches to survive. She's feisty and gritty and pathetic and complex. And her presence drives the book.
Lillian is the quiet observer but easily led into a shoplifting spree with her best friend. Later, she lives on Dexedrine just to get through the week at her secretarial job. I really related to this because I've been a secretary myself for a lifetime and it brought back all the details of working in an office in the 1960s - the electric typewriters, the carbon paper, the casual way everyone smoked cigarettes at their desk.
Each story ended with just enough closure to make me yearn for more. They built on each other and, by the time the book ended, I felt I knew Lillian, her family and what it must be like to live in Minnesota. It was a great read.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful.
Right up there with Richard Russo
By J Scott Morrison
I'm glad to see this book by a first-time author has received so many reviews here. ... I notice that one of my favorite writers, Richard Russo, has written a glowing back-cover blurb: 'Reading Jean Harfenist's stories is like finding a hot slot machine in a casino. One winner after another.' These stories read like a novel because each tale is about members of the same Minnesota family. After finishing it I'd have to say that it ranks right up there with Russo's own recent story collection, 'The Whore's Child.' No small compliment. It has quirkily attractive characters who are complex, inconsistent (like real life) and maddeningly appealing, even though sometimes you want to shout at them.
I had to fight to get to read this book. No sooner had it arrived at our house than my wife took it and spent the rest of the day with it, frequently reading passages aloud to me. The next morning I woke to find it at my place at the kitchen table with a Post-It saying 'I liked it a lot. I recommend it. I would buy anything this woman writes. I'm going to put it on our book club's next reading list.' A discerning woman, my wife, and I can't think of a better recommendation.
Scott Morrison
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful.
It's all about the writing, the writing, the writing
By Jennifer Sandell
This book literally found me (and I must say that I am really glad it did.) I am still unsure how this slim little gift of a novel made it into my hands, but according to the Amazon.com reciept, it is a gift from the author so I figured: What the hell, I'll read this and see what I think. So, I cracked open the cover and was wonderfully entertained right up until the end.
Lillian Anderson is a strong-minded, fiery, wise-beyond-her years-girl who tells the story of her family, her perpetually run-down house and her life in rural Acorn Lake, Minnesota. Lillian begins narrating the story at the age of eight and it continues virtually seamlessly, with Lily's steady hand on the pulse of her family until the age of nineteen. Lily's mother, Marion is a neurotic, manic depressive personality who always has some wierd project in the works. Jack, Lily's Dad, is an alcoholic but no one ever talks in such negative terms. Marion seems to be able to put a positive spin on everything that's wrong, even her husband's years of substance abuse. Oldest child, Randy, (age twelve when the book begins is the dyed-in-the-wool peacekeeper of the family. Mitzy, the middle daughter, seems to see her mother for what she really is and is very bitter about it. Mitzy has no trouble saying what's on her mind and even at ten years of age is tired of ignoring the pink elephant in the living room. I am amazed that Lilian seems to be the only sane one in the family and has learned, (certainly not through example) to take care of herself. She has learned to become a mother figure for the youngest, Davey who is too young to understand the extent of the chaos in the family.
I love coming of age stories and this one was a very good one. It reminded me very much of ELLEN FOSTER by Kaye Gibbons and AMY & ISABELLE by Elizabeth Strout. The writing and the imagery and the lanuage of A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE FLOOD were very high caliber. I will be watching for more from this author.
I wasn't bothered at all by the fact that this book was originally chopped up into several short stories. The stories came together so well and the novel made such an impact that I can't imagine it in any other form. Bravo to a wondeful new writer.
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