If this book came with a soundtrack
it would be on cassette tape. So grab your boom box and get ready to enter the
world of Magnum, P.I. television, rotary
telephones, and soon-to-be Reagan politics. Cast
Me Gently is set in 1980s Pittsburgh where due to the numerous steel mill
layoffs, the homeless and hungry are plentiful. However, author Caren Werlinger
provides us with a love story despite the hardships and bleak outlook of the
city.
Even though the main character,
Teresa Benedetto, is 34 this is very much a coming-of-age story. She lives at
home and works as a pharmacist for her parents’ store, making the presence of
family in her life both paramount and smothering. One day Teresa meets Ellie
Ryan and the two embark on a relatively normal friendship that eventually leads
to much more.
It’s a basic and simplistic
girl-meets-girl story-line that is as common as the acid-washed mom jeans the characters undoubtedly wear. The monotonous atmosphere left me wanting for
something with a little more profundity, but these two characters are nice
enough that you are genuinely happy for them.
Werlinger does an exemplary job describing
the various settings throughout the book. She is extraordinary at placing the
reader directly on the streets with the destitute, on a couch in a one-room
apartment, upon a stool at a favorite restaurant, or behind the counter in the
quaint store where Teresa works.
In the book’s first paragraph we are
welcomed to the front door of the Benedetto shop. The author wonderfully
illustrates Teresa opening the store at dawn, and you almost feel like you’re a
customer waiting to pick up a few items. I give full kudos to Werlinger for a
strong and beautifully written beginning.
Unfortunately, this is where my
praise for the novel ends because it is by paragraph two, that the author’s
writing starts to become static. A pattern begins to emerge in the text where
words and phrases are overused and repeated continuously.
In this particular segment, it is
the word grit that is triplicated in
quick succession.
Dirt, sand, or specks of gravel are just three of many synonyms that could have
been used, yet grit finds its way
onto the page over and over again. Later on we see repetitiveness with words
such as lit, moan, moonlight, and goose bumps. In another section of the book,
almost 25% of a 149-word passage was made up of the same two nouns.
Welinger
can absolutely immerse the reader into a scene, but without using a variety of
words her talent seems diluted. I think this could have been a simple fix if
only the writer or beta reader had pulled out a thesaurus.
Other
examples of the lackadaisical writing include weak dialogue and careless
transitions.
It
appeared that every time something of great importance needed to be said, an
interruption would occur. A waiter would arrive, a telephone would ring, a
customer would come in, etc… I can understand the importance of a good cliffhanger,
but to never pick these unsaid words back up was a major disappointment. I
craved for a finished, meaningful conversation to actually happen.
This
novel is told from a combination of viewpoints and in several instances, the
lack of precise segues made it difficult to find a point of reference or
understand exactly where you were at in the story. Ellie comes with an
intricate and complicated history, therefore often she reflects on her past. In
addition, a lot of this novel is told from snippets of Teresa’s perspective and
internal dialogue. So in order to create a world where these two visions can
exist, clear and concise transitions are a must.
One of the most beautiful things I
read was finding out that Teresa was a size 16. Finally, we can imagine a
character who is not all just about physical appearance. But my joy was
short-lived when I realized the author did nothing but fat-shame the character
for her size. For me the absolute worst thing about this book was degrading its
main character.
The author may have been trying to
show us a “real” woman with insecurities, but the execution failed miserably. Werlinger
kept bringing up Teresa’s size as a negative. I don’t need to hear about
how Teresa knocks stuff over with her behind because it's big. Nor do I need to
hear about how she is concerned with the weight limit on elevators or how she
is afraid she will break Santa’s lap if she sits on him. It’s appalling,
demeaning, and cliché.
Initially, I thought maybe Werlinger
was going to write some sort of arc where Teresa finds out that she can be both
large and beautiful. But as the book kept going and the remarks kept showing
up, it almost seemed like she was on a subliminal message of fat hate.
Allowing a character to continuously make self
deprecating comments without anyone opposing such thoughts is alarming and
beyond disheartening. I questioned the author’s use of a larger character as it
seemed her appearance was only a gateway for insults.
This book does not earn a one star
rating simply for the above issues. Cast
Me Gently is filled with numerous amounts of plot holes and inconceivable
notions. If you choose to read further, know that there are some spoilers- but
I could not in good conscious give this book such a low rating without
explicitly explaining why.
***************
1. Best Friend Bungle
Secondary
character, Bernie, is quite possibly one of the most annoying women I have ever
read about. Her personality is surrounded by a
cloud of racism, adultery, and profanity. She is a teacher who works in a rough
neighborhood and shortly into the book, Bernie uses a handful of stereo types
in regards to the poor African American families that live there.
As someone who has both taught in
low-income neighborhoods and worked for HUD, I can attest that not every family
is black, nor is every child there the product of a crack whore mama and absent
father.
Additionally, I found Bernie’s ignorant,
expletive-laced dialogue hugely uninteresting. I'm no prude but she says so
many fucks, shits, and goddamns that it has me as an atheist wanting to go to
confession. Her foul language was nonsensical and terribly absurd.
Overall, Bernie was just not a believable best
friend for overly-sheltered Teresa.
2. Preposterous Plot Hole
Early on we learn Ellie's parents
are dead and that her older brother, Daniel, went off to fight in Vietnam but
returned as a homeless vet. For the past seven years, she has been frantically
searching for him on the streets. Often, she places herself in life threatening
situations- one of which also becomes a major plot-hole-ish scene later on.
Concurrently, Teresa befriends a
homeless gentleman (Dogman) fitting the description of Ellie’s missing brother.
(Ellie also shows Teresa a picture of her brother). So even though Teresa knows
of Ellie’s desperate attempts to locate Daniel, she never once introduces them
to one another. It isn’t until the last page of Chapter 29 that Teresa even
thinks to ask Dogman if his real name is Daniel. The last page of Chapter 29!
Um, your girlfriend has been in
total despair over her brother’s disappearance and you don’t think to make a
serious effort in mentioning this man to her other than in passing? The dude
even has an Army bag.
It is all very aggravating since
Daniel takes up such a large chunk of Ellie’s narrative and because Dogman
plays such a pivotal role in Teresa’s story line.
3. Outlandish Outing
Teresa has been spending the night
and time in general with Ellie but tells her mom (Sylvia) that she's been
spending all of that time at Bernie's. It makes absolutely no sense whatsoever
for Teresa to lie about hanging out with Ellie. Everyone knows they have become
fast friends so it wouldn't be weird for them to be spending large amounts of
time together.
Teresa invites Bernie and Bernie's
mom (Angela) over for a Sunday meal when it comes out that Teresa hasn’t been
hanging out with Bernie after all. So, from that statement
alone, and only that, Sylvia now knows that Teresa and Ellie are a couple. What?
How? There have been no context clues given to Teresa’s family for them to ever
even assume that their daughter was gay. Yet, in one sentence she is outed.
This then leads to a very overly-dramatic seemingly
Dynasty-inspired slapping scene that I’m still not over.
4. Ludicrous Love Scenes
Teresa is
a virgin and the first time she has ever really been kissed was by Ellie on
Christmas Day. But when she uses the terminology “down there” for her anatomy,
I rolled my yes.
It could have been believable
because of her inexperience, however she’s a pharmacist. I think she knows the
word vagina. Teresa probably fills prescriptions for women’s vaginas every day.
So “down there” was really odd and ridiculous.
When it comes to the actual
lovemaking scene, Teresa, who has had nothing but terrible things to say about
her appearance, just disrobes without hindrance or hesitation. If she has such
a poor outlook in regards to her presence, then it stands to reason she would
be worried about what she looks like at her most vulnerable especially when
Ellie has been written as lithe and thin.
Actual excerpt:
Ellie stepped closer and, with more dexterity than Teresa, unhooked Teresa’s
bra and let it slide to the floor, freeing her breasts. She placed her hands
under the soft weight of them. The nipples didn’t harden like Ellie’s did, but
that didn’t stop Teresa from gasping when Ellie bent to take one in her mouth.
Ok, I'm sorry, but it's New
Year’s night in Pittsburgh in 1981. It was 30 degrees that
evening (I googled it on weatherchannel.com) thus Teresa’s nipples and everyone
else’s would be hard whether they wanted them to be or not. And whose nipples
don't harden? This is Teresa's first time of ever being touched and it's by
someone she is crazy about. Please.
These may seem like small,
insignificant details. But for me, excellent writing does not include
distractions that can pull you away from the story. I do not want my brain saying
“Wait, what?” when it can be saying, “Oh, yes.”
***************
These are only a handful
of the questionable aspects presented within this work, but if I wrote about all
of them my review would be longer than the book itself.
This is my first
Werlinger read, but it is the author’s eighth published novel. I would have
surmised that the content would be of a much higher caliber and that it would have
resembled a more experienced style. I have seen some of
the most eloquent posts on Facebook by this author, and I have read lovely
prose in her blogs, but I am befuddled by the writing and dissatisfying quality
of this book.
NOTE: This book was provided by the publisher for the purpose of a review.
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