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Book Nook provides readers with insights into the world of books. Vick Mickunas takes you into the center of the publishing world with the latest book buzz, book reviews, and exclusive chats with authors..Home > Blogs > Book Nook > Archives > 2008 > April > 13 > Entry
Blood Kin
Ceridwen Dovey was born in South Africa. At the age of 15 she moved to Sydney, Australia for a better education than she could get in South Africa. Her parents stayed behind. She has been on her own since the age of 15.
Dovey went on to attend college in America. She made films. She worked for Bill Moyers on his PBS program. Now at the age of 27 Dovey has just published her first novel. It is a real page turner. Here is my review:
“Blood Kin,” by Ceridwen Dovey (Viking, 183 pages, $24).
Ceridwen Dovey’s first novel, “Blood Kin,” is receiving high praise. J. M. Coetzee calls it “a fable of the arrogance of power, beneath whose dreamlike surface swirl currents of complex sensuality.”
“Blood Kin” starts while a coup is taking place. The “President” has become a prisoner of the “Commander.” Three men working for the President are captured. “His Portraitist” was painting another portrait of the President when the government fell. “His Barber” and “His Chef” are also being held prisoner in a room with “His Portraitist.”
The first section of “Blood Kin” is narrated alternately by these three men. The disorienting chaos of the coup is accentuated by Dovey’s erasure of all identifiable markings. The country is nameless. So are the people. They don’t even have facial characteristics.
These details don’t matter. This is a story about power - what will people do to get it, or just to get close to it? What happens to them after they obtain it and, when they lose it again?
The President was a cruel man. These men were close to him. They have seen a lot. As prisoners of the Commander they find themselves performing their former duties. The Chef prepares his meals. The Barber grooms him so that he can pose for his portrait.
As our narrators ponder their changed circumstances we learn about the women in their lives. The Chef’s daughter’s lover is the President’s son. The Barber’s brother’s former fiance’e is now the Commander’s wife. These twisted chains of contact form the outer edge of a tangle of deceit that threatens to suffocate all of these participants.
Dovey writes with a maturity that is impressive. The second section of “Blood Kin” introduces some secondary narrators; the Barber’s brother’s fiance’e, the Chef’s daughter, and the Portraitist’s wife. Dovey’s narrators reflect upon their past experiences and the uncertainties of their present lives.
The Chef’s wife was once a high government official. Now she has lost her mind. The Chef’s daughter doesn’t know if her father survived the coup. She waits and observes “I have been sitting in the dark, drinking, not for the oblivion most people seek but because it’s the only way I can be emotionally honest. It scares me that I feel so little sometimes, that in the face of sadness I can be so collected. The wine is a relief because it makes me feel human again, if to be human is to be sad.”
Dovey rips apart the drapes. We find her characters revealed for what they are; lustful, thirsty for power, vicious, sadistic. The quest for dominance by the President, the Commander, and others becomes a pretext for unspeakable acts.
One female narrator makes this scaldingly astute observation: ” I look at the women and they look at me and we rank ourselves constantly according to what we see. In fact, it’s a wonder to me that men ever get our attention when we’re all so busy looking at one another.”
“Blood Kin” bubbles out to a disturbing conclusion.
Vick Mickunas
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Comments
By Riverdale Ghost
April 13, 2008 11:30 PM | Link to this
You caught my interest with this one.