The whole purpose of a country club is to keep the have-nots out and remind them exactly why they're not invited. This attitude inspires both curiosity and hatred, and the have-nots ask themselves, "What's in the country club that's so great, anyway?"
Not much, answers local author JoeAnn Hart, whose novel, Addled breaks into the country-club life and finds that what's going on in the back rooms and kitchens is far more exciting than the repetitive, sterile traditions being carried out in the main rooms.
At Eden Rock Country Club, nestled near Boston, members try their best to keep nature under complete control. They rage when geese appear on the golf course, and a club-within-a-club tries to manage the proper breeding of its members. Meanwhile, a somewhat efficient staff caters to their every whim.
The plot kicks off when a club member breaks the boundary between nature and hyper-civilization when he accidentally kills a goose with a bad shot. As the novel progresses, the line between club members and their servants is slowly erased as members of the two groups establish alliances.
And that's good news for the book because, as is typical in class-conflict fiction, the servants are far more interesting than the masters. The kitchen staff, particularly head chef Vita, comes alive, and Hart's writing grows stronger when she writes about food. Some of the food passages will make you feel like you've finished a gourmet meal.
In one scene, Vita tastes a goose prepared by a waitress' mother, and she becomes obsessed with recreating the flavor: "Vita snatched [the goose leg] from her and gave the flesh a professional squeeze. It was firm and not at all slick. The skin was an excellent bronze color and not too puckered from being refrigerated. She held it under her nose like a fine brandy, and oh, the smell! Woodsy and dark, with unidentifiable herbal undertones. She took a small bite, moving the piece around her tongue so she would not miss a single sensation."
More of the review after the jump! Image of book cover from Amazon.
As Vita pursues the perfect goose meat, along with the heart of a doctor/epicure, the upper classes work very hard to discourage genetic and class mixing. One character proclaims, "Our instincts are geared toward survival, and monkeying around, if I may call it that, pays off in practical advantages for one's issue. School admissions. Jobs. Summer rentals. You think these connections just happen? A certain amount of social glue must be squeezed out of the tube first."
The members of Eden Rock Country Club think "monkeying around" is okay - as long as you don't do it with your relatives or the hired help. But the club has been rocked by a few accidents, and, if you get anything from this book, you'll start thinking the upper class may be as inbred as the Hatfields and the McCoys.
One family of Eden Rock members finally starts to rebel against the requirements of the club - the father, Charles, the goose-killer, suddenly discovers his soul. His wife, Miranda, starts wondering how her free spirit became tethered. And their daughter, Phoebe, is a vegan freedom-fighter of sorts who demands that the club go vegan.
Unfortunately, the Lambert clan is the book's weakness. All three of the Lamberts grow tiresome, especially the parents because they are representative of so many midlife crises that appear in pop culture. Miranda's story quickly slides into Desperate Housewives territory when she starts eyeing the Eden Rock pool boy. The other country club characters are caricatures - but at least Hart's descriptions of their preening and bickering sparkle.
Even though some characters don't develop fully, Hart gets all the details, and, if you ever wanted to know what a country club was like, then she brings it to life. And then she makes you want to stay away from it - as far as you can!
add to digg
add to stumble upon
add to reddit