When Frederick Barthelme came to Lemuria to sign and read from Waveland, I knew immediately that he was not the run-of-the-mill Southern storyteller. Barthelme had a quiet, kind demeanor, and his sense of humor was evident as he read from the first chapter of the novel. I became interested in Waveland instantly, and Barthelme has delivered with this novel.
It’s refreshing to hear a voice like Barthelme’s coming from the south. So often southern writers tend to be stuck in the southern gothic tradition of their forebears: not Barthelme. Waveland is dark, but it isn’t dark in the Cormac McCarthy or William Gay sense (both of which I love). The novel reveals the darkness that can find us even in the seemingly common circumstances of life, the pain that emerges in contemporary America.
The novel’s protagonist, Vaughn Williams, is stuck in the post-Katrina coast of Mississippi. The structural recovery from the hurricane is painfully slow, in the same way that Vaughn’s personal wounds are slowly healing. Vaughn has been through a divorce, feels guilty for not loving his father hard enough in his final days, is uncomfortable around his successful brother, and is painfully aware of the differences between the days of his youth and being middle aged.
Vaughn remains friends with his ex-wife, Gail, who, in a series of bad decisions, finds herself hospitalized by the boy she is seeing, Tony. In the aftermath of her abuse, Gail asks Vaughn and his girlfriend, Greta Del Mar, to move in with her until she is back on her feet. The move-in prompts Vaughn to ask the necessary questions regarding his current lot in life, to assess his love for Greta, and find meaning in a world that appears to have lost its shimmer. In no time, Gail invites Vaughn’s brother, Newton, to the party, forcing Vaughn to confront his discomfort with his highly successful brother.
Barthelme’s characters are believable, loveable, and charming. The book is full of laughs, and real to the point that the reader cannot help but cheer Vaughn on as he glues his post-Katrina life back together. I have not enjoyed a novel this much in a long time. Laughed out loud, and felt for characters the way this novel has propelled me to do. Waveland is a small contemporary treasure, and I will be spending a lot of time in the coming months with Barthelme’s stories.
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