The Quickening by Michelle Hoover
Available June 29, 2010
224 Pages
Published by Other Press
Category: Literary Fiction
Official site: Michelle Hoover
The Quickening is a story told by two women – Enidina, strong and driven to work along side her husband on their farm; and Mary, a delicate woman who takes care of her family and home as best she can. As they raise families in close proximity to one another, their lives intersect through tragedies endured during the Great Depression.
Enidina tells her story through letters written to her grandson. She writes about the farm – the hard work of taking care of crops and animals while also trying to conceive a child. After a miscarriage, Enidina questions whether she will be able to carry a baby to full term. Enidina isn’t a deeply religious person, she likes to hear the singing of the hymns, but not the sermons. With a bit of skepticism, she decides to get baptized by the local minister, Borden, and knows he cannot relate to her arduous life.
Borden’s hands were clean and white. Not a hardworking man. Religious. How would never understand what it meant to pray to a field. To feed and watch over the animals that ruled the fat of our stomachs. We looked in hope to the ground and the roots growing there more often than we looked for grace from the sky.
In Mary’s chapters, we get a more reflective side of life on a farm. She takes care of her growing boys, keeps the house in pristine condition, and plays the church piano whenever possible. But she also knows something of the perils of life.
What a strange sort of skin we grow as we age, one that never forgets a single gash or pinch or season out in the sun. My Mother’s hands were worn along the knuckles, a nervous habit she had of rubbing them. My own had already grown swollen from scrubbing, my fingertips dull from playing my imagined piano along any stretch of wood. Every misstep, it makes its mark.
The book is beautifully and heartbreakingly written; a story told from two very different points of view. There were times I wanted to shriek as Mary made excuses for her abusive husband and lied to keep her family’s name clean – to the detriment of others. Because she is so manipulative, it’s difficult for me to feel compassion for her (even when I should). The strength of Hoover’s writing is in Enidina, a fully developed character I could sympathize with while never coming across as a victim during her many hardships. Enidina is an imposing figure who knows nothing but farm life, yet Hoover keeps me rooting for Enidina to the very end.
Please note: this review is based on an advanced reader’s copy, which was sent to me by Other Press at my request.
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