I have always been a big fan of Jane Hamilton's. I loved A Map of the World and The Book of Ruth, but my all-time favorite has to be Disobedience.
I have to say, though, that I have very mixed feelings about her latest book, Laura Rider's Masterpiece. The story is of a woman who orchestrates her husband's 'friendship' with a local celebrity in order to have material for a book she wants to write. It's a lab experimet to her. It is also Jane Hamilton's poke at aspiring writers who go to Writer's Conferences and think they can write a book. It seems that Jane H is saying that you have to be a born writer, who thinks about nothing else from childhood and works on said writing skills till FINALLY becoming 'an artist'.
I found the character of Laura Rider odd. She never really cares that her husband is having or has had an affair. Don't believe it.
Jenna Faroli, the NPR radio show host, is the character that looks down on aspiring 'artists' that are not serious about their craft. Didn't like her.
Has Jane Hamilton never seen the popularity of writers like JK Rowling or Stephenie Meyer? Maybe it's not high literature but the Harry Potter series and the Twilight series have thousands of people reading books that maybe never would have. These two writers just got an inspiration and went for it.
People who attend workshops or MFA programs do become writers.
So, I neither liked the snootiness of Jenna Faroli or the emotionless natterings of Laura Rider. Yet something made me go back and pick the book up and read it in just 3 days. It's very short, an easy read, and maybe just a little like a road accident...I just had to slow down and gawk.
Yep, I was gawking at the train wreck that happened in this book.
So, I enjoyed it, but came away feeling very ambiguous about this book. I will not recommend it to my book group; it seems too light for that. But I will tell people that they should read it and enjoy the character develop, lovely writing, and look-away-now-if-you-value-your-sanity aspects of the story.
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