"I have no accomplishment [...] I was as much of a nothing as Mommy or Grandma Edith [...] People around town talk about how I wrecked it all [...] So all I have is the knowledge that I saw! That I saw without being afraid and without turning away, and that I didn't forgive the unforgivable. Forgiveness is a reflex for when you can't stand what you know. I resisted that reflex. That's my sole, solitary, lonely accomplishment."
I chose this quote because I think it encapsulates many of the topics of this incredible work of art. This novel is all about the meaning of family when it's toxic, generational cruelty, traditions impossibly to maintain without sacrificing a great part of oneself, forgiveness and cruelty, and the insidious power of the unsaid. I just read this novel for the second time around and I think I'm ready now to talk about this masterpiece.
PLOT
The novel starts describing the farm in Zebulon County that belongs to the Cook family, and how the patriarc, Larry, inherited this land from his grandfather and his father. Larry has three daughters: Ginny, the oldest; Rose, the middle one, and Caroline, the youngest.
After this description, we go directly to an event that will set in motion the events of the novel and of Zebulon County: the arrival of Jesse Clark, the prodigal son who disappeared time ago and who is back as if nothing happened. He doesn't have any property unlike his father, Harold, who is the owner of a very important farm but not as big as Larry's which measures a thousand acres, one of the most impressive farms of the county, not only in size but in family values, hard work and tradition.
Ginny and Rose live next to their father and their husbands, Ty and Pete work for him respectively. Ginny and Rose are opposites. Ginny likes peace and her marriage is a mirror of this desire, Ty is a handworking man and a very respected citizen. Rose is a very vocal person and has a very volatile marriage with a husband who used to hit her in the past, she has two daughters, Pam and Linda. Even though Rose has had cancer and a very tumultous life, Ginny envies her because she can have a true family whereas she can't have children: she's had three miscarriages already, or those are the ones her husband know about because she would want to keep trying.
Things change and secrets unfurl when Larry Cook decides to give his farm to his daughters and their husbands who have worked the whole time to his side. He rejects his daughter, Caroline, who is now a lawyer and lives in the city. He leaves her out of the will. Ginny tries to mend things among them but his father is not the forgiving kind, or the type of person who reconsiders his own opinion or that listens to others'. He stops working and leaves his sons-in-law in charge.
Life continues in appearance (because that is what their whole life is about: performance and show what people want to see) but Larry starts to drink more than usual and he drives his car around town, this much to their daughters' dismay who are sure he should continue working to keep a healthy rythm. After some incidents, they decide to forbid him from using his car and also urge him to keep working alongside them because, in a sense, the farm will always be his. Meanwhile, Caroline, after thinking their sisters are neglecting their aging father, has concerns of her own about the inheritance and wonders if it was a good thing or an impulse decision from her father.
Many things happen in the meanwhile: It's revealed Ginny has had more miscarriages because she really wanted to have a baby, the town starts to talk about Larry, his health, and how his daughters treat him, and most importantly: Ginny starts having an affair with Jess who talks to her about the city, about a life without worries. She likes him more than she'd like to admit.
Then, there's a decisive moment: Larry finally loses it and curses his daughters when drunk and apparently lost in his mind. At a certain point, they try to reconcile, just to find out they were set up for more humiliation during an event where they see their father.
After this, it's very difficult to keep appearances, specially when Larry gets help from neighbors who consider the daughters just took advantage of him and kicked him out after all he did for them. Ginny is devastated but keeps up the appearances while Rose is just furious at her father and feels like keeping the farm is a form of retribution. Furthermore, Rose reveals a very disturbing family secret: he raped her when she was a child, and she knows he raped Ginny too, but Ginny doesn't remember, but Rose is so concentrated in her anger and her ruthlessness that Ginny can't help but think she is making things up since she doesn't remember the rape and thinks Rose might be manipulate her with this "repressed memory".
Caroline shows up to support her father and they start a lawsuit to give the farm back.
Pretending things are okay takes a high price on their lives: Ginny has constant frictions with his husband who loves her but appears to support in a way her father and claims she's just being dramatic and is being manipulated by Rose. Rose's husband does something unexpected and tries to kill the neighbor who is sheltering Larry and then he drowns after drinking too much.
The lawsuit doesn't come to fruition. Rose and Ginny can keep the farm along with Ty who will now be working alone, but Ginny can't keep pretending anymore and leaves the farm unable to continue with this life of pretending, living with rage and feeling judged everywhere she goes.
STRUCTURE
The novel is narrated by Ginny in the first person and is divided in 5 books. Some chapters are flashbacks of her life or to talk about the family history, specially her mother or some major events involving Larry.
At the end of book 1, Larry gives up his farm to Ginny, Rose, Ty and Peter. For book 2, Ginny and Jess share a first kiss. Then, book 3 ends when Harold sets up Ginny and Rose to humiliate them during the church meeting and he accuses them of dumping their father in the street.
Book 4 comes to a conclusion when Ginny remembers being abused by her father, and book 5 when Ginny decides to leave the farm for good.
There is an epilogue after Ginny sells the farm and remembers the family and the farm, both things tied together.
THEMES
The unsaid is one of the biggest topics of this book. This family has issues sharing important feelings and opinions mostly because Larry, the patriarch, believes only his opinion matter and the only thing to care about is the farm, not people's feelings or ambitions. We see at which point legacy stops being an advantage and just becomes a burden. This becomes clear, almost at the end of the novel, when Ginny is finally honest to Ty after three years of abandoning him where he reveals he only cared about what was good for the farm and really didn't think much of the horrible words her father said to her in a moment of anger.
THEMES
The unsaid is one of the biggest topics of this book. This family has issues sharing important feelings and opinions mostly because Larry, the patriarch, believes only his opinion matter and the only thing to care about is the farm, not people's feelings or ambitions. We see at which point legacy stops being an advantage and just becomes a burden. This becomes clear, almost at the end of the novel, when Ginny is finally honest to Ty after three years of abandoning him where he reveals he only cared about what was good for the farm and really didn't think much of the horrible words her father said to her in a moment of anger.
Forgiveness is a pillar in this novel, but the lack of is even more crucial. The only person capable of forgiving was Ginny, and not by staying with those who kept her in a role she didn't want forever. Once she has the necessary knowledge about herself and the environment that is smothering her everyday, she decides to set herself free and also forgive herself for staying so long in a place that is poisoning her in all senses, implied at a certain point that maybe the pesticides from the farm made her lose her babies.
Putting anger aside and forgetting are the final lesson from this novel, as Ginny says in her last lines describing every family member and people who had an impact in their life, how she sees herself reflected in them and also how they are an essential part of the puzzle of her past, but she also acknowledges the need to let them go, specially her father, not by pretending the horrors he made her go through didn't happen but by imagining the monster he tried to avoid looking at everyday.
She went through the fire to live the life she wanted or close to the things she wants to do at least. In her case, that means something, because of all the people in the list she mentions, she's the only one that survived and learned a lesson, but most importantly, was able to move on after all that chaos.
ABOUT THE ENDING:
The end of book 4 was stunning for me when I first read the novel.
There was this tension throghout the novel, all the characters in this tight rope where the only way out was death or mysery, but Ginny, in spite of being the more cautious, the more timid (in a way) ended up being the only one with the courage to leave everything behind.
CHARACTER: 10/10
PLOT DEVELOPMENT: 10/10
THEMES: 10/10
GRADE: Must-Read
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