Set On Smolder
Local writer turns out a real romp of a debut novel
From the deadpan absurdities of William Faulkner to the macabre imaginings of the early Cormac McCarthy, a sense of the risible and the ridiculous has never been far away in Southern literature. Southerners seem to have a special capacity for antic tales from authors like William Price Fox and Rebecca Wells, and now they have Fairview resident Paula Wall—who writes a weekly syndicated column called "Off the Wall"—to add to their shelves of great Southern story-tellers. Wall is funny as hell.
Her new novel, The Rock Orchard (Atria Books, 256 pp., $24), tells the story of several generations of the women of the fictional Belle family, women of unbuttoned sexuality and a rollicking approach to life. They are unabashed fishers of men, adhering to what Wall calls "the law of catch and release." As cigar-chomping Aunt Charlotte Belle puts it, "You're not a blue-blooded Belle unless you're crazy as hell."
The center of the story is the innocent and idealistic Dr. Adam Montgomery, who has come down from Harvard to the Belles' little Southern town with plans to open a practice and marry an aristocratic Boston beauty named Lydia—"cultured as a pearl," Wall says. Adam is set on the idea of a prosperous and respectable life with Lydia, but he soon discovers that his new wife is a vapid and sexually frozen woman who is horrified by life among the locals. That leaves Adam as easy prey for Aunt Charlotte's 20-year-old daughter, Angela, whose "thermostat was already set on Steam." Lydia in the meantime is surprised to find herself smitten and aroused by the town's handyman, Boone Dickson, who has "arms that made a woman feel light as a scarf...and an attitude set on smolder." While Adam dithers, trying to resist his longing for Angela, Lydia and Boone set out on a full-bore affair. Along the way they share the stage with a riot of minor characters, and even God makes an appearance or two.
Wall's writing is graceful and crisp, downright lyrical at times, with an aphoristic style that laces the story with bits of stand-up comedy. For example, speaking of the sultry proprietress of a barbecue stand: "She wore next to nothing under her sauce-stained apron, and you got the impression she could smoke ribs just by blowing on them." Or, speaking of Aunt Charlotte, "They say she welcomed more men into her harbor than the Statue of Liberty." Wall's humor is warm and tolerant, rarely sarcastic, and it sizzles like fatback.
Wall will read at Davis-Kidd Booksellers on Feb. 22 at 6 p.m. —Wayne Christeson
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