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Savage Adoration
by Gale Zoë Garnett
Holstein, ON: Exile
Editions Ltd., 2009, ISBN 978-1-55096-120-1, 222 pp., $22.95 paper.
North American boomers will probably remember Gale Zoë Garnett for her 1964 musical hit "We'll Sing in the Sunshine." They may also be familiar with her acting because her credits include Bonanza, Tribute and My Big Fat Greek Wedding. Torontonians may recall the articles she wrote for that city's newspapers over several decades. They may be less surprised than others when they discover that she has written several novels, such as Transient Dancing, Visible Amazement and this one.Skeptics who dismiss her as a Sixties trivia item may be surprised to learn that Savage Adoration is published by Exile Editions, an Ontario literary press that has also brought out works by well-known international poets and novelists. This makes her subject to the same critical scrutiny that acclaimed authors must endure.
The plot revolves around the efforts of a rural British veterinarian named Ellissa Major to find her father's missing will. The deceased, Johnny Major (né Giovanni Paolo Maggiore), founded a chain of restaurant/club casinos. She is opposed by his estranged wife, Mareike DeLyn, an aging ex-film starlet, her anorexic artist daughter Petra and Petra's obese twin sister Floris.
Since the story centres on a wealthy dead patriarch with a colourful family life and is set in glamorous New York, London and Montreal, it can be classified as a "sprawling epic." Such books are sometimes dismissed as escapist or derided as "soap opera."
This novel includes some dodgy dialogue. When Ellissa meets Petra, wearing a similar outfit, latter says, "we look like clothing sisters again" (118). Garnett may have been trying to showcase her character's banality, but her statement recalls the cutesy dialogue of Dondi, the title character in a disastrous 1961 film comedy about an Italian war orphan. Critics may not accept a kind of cuteness from an artist that they would not tolerate in a waif.
The author displays her skill by pointing out her tale's ethnic undercurrents in a sharp, "politically incorrect" manner. Ellissa refers to Italian sentimentality as "the Full Sloppy Woppy" (52). This is the type of expression a British person might use, but can't, unless she is of Italian descent. Garnett's use of that phrase is her way of assuming that character's persona.
Garnett displays real sensitivity in her depiction of John Major's Italian, or more precisely, Sicilian, milieu. She treats Sicily as a distinct part of Italy, not merely as its underdeveloped island, examining local customs respectfully and thoroughly. Some characters use regional dialect, which is set off in italics in the text.
Cultural assimilation is viewed as a necessity that can be amusing. Giovanni Maggiore's name change helped him succeed--with the same name as a former British prime minister.
The plot may be a complete fantasy, but the protagonist is a reflection of her character, on some level. She meets Nicholson Brown, a politically ambitious Virginia doctor and ex-lover. The reunion prompts her to recall their affair, which ended after she refused his marriage proposal because it would compromise her independence. Ellissa's attitude echoes the spirit of Garnett's opus, "We'll Sing in the Sunshine," a song about a free-spirited woman who eschews long-term commitments.
Since Ellissa travels in New York after 9/11, that catastrophe is dealt with in various ways. Her gay half-brother Davy complains that his London-born boyfriend, Tariq, was profiled by airport authorities. He imitates him, combining theatrical terrorist and homosexual images--"I am going to stab and shoot and kill you, Madam, but first let me do something about these curtains" (24). New York reality is revealed when she notes that John F. Kennedy Airport security doubly sealed her Swiss Army knife and that Ground Zero "reeked of burnt hair" (123).
Garnett shares Ellissa's nonchalant sexual attitudes. The aforementioned "hook-up" with Nicholson Brown occurred after he informed her that he had a wife and a young daughter. Ellissa's nonchalance can be viewed as the defence mechanism of a child who grew up in a dysfunctional family. She once caught her father in a compromising situation with Mareike. That past trauma is now dismissed with a salty observation. Readers learn about character development, even as they laugh at the bawdy aside.
Savage Attraction can be termed a "compelling" novel, but it does not mean that you have to read it in order to understand what Canadian literature was like in this decade. This work is however crafted in a manner that draws readers in and maintains their interest.
Ronald Charles Epstein's DVD reviews will be published in VIDEOSCOPE.
Buy this book at McNally-Robinson Booksellers.