Chez Shaffner

Friday, October 13, 2006

Book Review: How Elizabeth Barrett Browning Saved My Life

I zipped through How Elizabeth Barrett Browning Saved My Life by Mameve Medwed on Tuesday. It isn’t often that I break a binding and read the final page in the same day, let alone within a ten-hour span. That should give you some clue to the book’s easy readability and engaging story.

The fact that the author was visiting my local writing group later that night might have been the spur to pick up the book at Trident, but if the story hadn’t engaged me right away, I would have pawed through a smattering of pages and called it a day.

How Elizabeth Barrett Browning Saved My Life (henceforward EBB) is the story of Cambridge antiques dealer Abby Randolph, whose life is a shambles. Her boyfriend recently took up with a woman whose antiques he appraised, her mother died in an earthquake in India, and her father moved to California with his new wife and their children. Business is slow, too, until she takes one item from her store onto local auditions for PBS’ Antiques Roadhow. Turns out that her chamber pot is extremely valuable, and overnight her entire life transforms.

Medwed’s voice is vibrant and fun, and she takes us deep inside Abby’s head. The first-person narration is quite effective; it reads like an intimate friend recounting her life story over drinks, with all the digressions and what-I-mean-to-say’s you’d expect in such a case. More than the actual chain of events, it is Abby’s wit and personality that makes the story enjoyable.

The book offers many sharp glimpses into Cambridge/Harvard privilege. For an alumnus, the inside jokes and passing local references are great fun. If you are not familiar with Cambridge and Harvard, do not despair – the book will resonate nonetheless.

My only complaint is that the ending is bundled up far too neatly for my taste and comes too soon. Part of my unease stems from the fact that while we see rich character portraits of Abby, her ex-friend Lavinia Potter, Boston Globe reporter Todd, etc., Ned Potter remains a pencil sketch. Given that Ned is Abby’s lifelong love and one of the key players at the end, I don’t think we see enough of him to feel comfortable with the ending.

Ultimately, EBB is an exceptionally fun read, and I highly recommend picking it up at your local bookstore or library.

Labels: Book Reviews