TWO LIVES by William Trevor, read and reviewed by N.H.V.V.

It's hard to read. It has to do with mundane events: Working in a dry goods store that specializes in various kinds of fabric. The woman, whose name is Marry Louise, is married to the owner of the store, but he's taken to drink, and on their wedding night, he goes to sleep; and the marriage is never consummated. His spinster sisters torment her, and you see her disintegrate over the course of the novel. The only touching moment is when Marry Louise goes to see her cousin whom she'd always fancied. He's a cripple whose only pleasure in life is setting up historical battles with toy soldiers and reading Turgeniev. She declares her love for him, but he soon dies. When she returns home, she ends up spending most of her time in the attic, and she refuses to say what she does up there when asked. We can guess that she's looking at photos of her cousin whom she loves. The book is sensitively written and received reviews full of praise which do not correspond to my experience of the book, which I found depressing and lacking in event. I was disappointed because I had read stories by this author which I thought were brilliant. There are some things that never should be published. Copyright 2011, by Nicholas Van Vactor.

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