A great read, despite annoying minor quirks

STILL LIFE WITH BREAD CRUMBS<br><b>Anna Quindlen</b><br><i>Hutchinson</i>
STILL LIFE WITH BREAD CRUMBS<br><b>Anna Quindlen</b><br><i>Hutchinson</i>
Still Life with Bread Crumbs starts slowly.

And as such, I had a somewhat complicated relationship with this novel. Initially, I decided to review the book based on its quirky cover and the credentials of its author, Anna Quindlen (a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist).

However, within the first few pages I tired of the jumpy, hard-to-follow narrative style Quindlen seems to favour. Despite this I persevered, and a quarter of the way through the book I realised I had got used to, and actually begun to like, that style, and by the time I was halfway through I realised I loved it.

The novel follows Rebecca Winters, a 60-year-old woman whose photography once depicted the feminist movement. Money was never an issue for Rebecca until she no longer seemed to have any. In an attempt to cut down costs she moves to the middle of nowhere and rents a small, cheap cottage while subletting her beautiful New York apartment. Every month she struggles to pay the cottage fees, her mother's nursing home bills, and her father's rent; her only steady source of income being the money from the sublet.

She hopes the country atmosphere will provide her with enough inspiration to take photographs that will speed up her return to the city. However, as Rebecca relaxes into country life, she and readers begin to realise perhaps moving back to the city is not what she really wants.

Soon Rebecca has made friends with all sorts of local oddities in the small country town; the clown who had once been a child singing prodigy, the cafe owner who dreams of running an English teahouse, a dog (who even narrates some of the chapters), and, perhaps most importantly, the 40-something, handsome roofer Jim Bates.

Rebecca does find her muse in the countryside surrounding her cottage and produces a series of photographs that launch her back into fame. But the images have an unexpected back-story that creates problems for Rebecca in her country town.

Some readers have criticised the novel for being a run-of-the-mill romance, but in fact there are many subplots and undercurrents in the novel that lift it above that of a standard romance. Personally, I didn't even expect this novel to be romantic. Rebecca had been through an unpleasant marriage followed by an unpleasant divorce and that relationship has left her sceptical of finding love.

My biggest problem with the novel was a few aspects of the writing I found pretentious. Entire paragraphs were sometimes bookended with parentheses and two successive chapters were titled the same.

Small things perhaps, but annoying. However, as most of the writing is great, and the characters fantastic, this novel is definitely a winner. This is the first novel by Anna Quindlen I have read, but it won't be the last.

- Fiona Glasgow is a master of information studies student.

Add a Comment