Divisadero (Vintage International)

Michael Ondaatje writes beautifully, poetically, even. "The English Patient" is one of my favorite books ever. But "Divisadero" was disjointed and its plot(s) were disappointing. The book was really three short stories only tangentially related and only one had a complete story line. There were two elements that ran through the three stories -- a blue table which seemed to stand for unhappy love affairs and cut glass which seemed to stand for tragedy/pain/loss of (in)sight? A "book club questionnaire" at the end of the book may have helped me understand what I should have been getting from it. But as a writer and a prolific reader, I was not satisfied with this book.

This was one of the most difficult books I've ever read. I enjoyed the English Patient and I've always enjoyed Ondaatje's style --- but Divisadero became torture to finish. Nearly every chapter set a new plot line, as if no matter how involved you became in any part of a story, it was a passing visit. It became more than frustrating as I turned each page only to find some new story. The first part of the book, the story of Coop, Anna and Claire, kept me interested, but where did it go? Did these people just drop off the end of the earth? Although I enjoy the subtleties of Russian literature, the second "division" of the book, nearly totally unrelated to the first (except by attenuation) not only never engaged me, it left me wondering what Ondaatje was doing. While the language was nearly poetic, the final story lines, what I could make of them, became more like watching a flag flap in the wind. I finally quit. This book is a compilation of incomplete short stories. I give it an A for language and an F for coherence. I know Ondaatje can do better.

Some years ago, after Michael Ondaatje had written "The English Patient," I finagled an invitation to a private reading held by the Canadian Consulate for an exclusive group of business executives. Upon arrival, my husband and I were quickly unmasked as fakes, but, enduring the slings and arrows of whispered remarks and sidelong glances, we held our ground and remained for the reading. When Ondaatje appeared, I found him a simple man in dress, humble in manner, and a diffident reader of his works. I recall thinking that if only I wrote prose like his I would strut, not fret, my hour upon the stage.
After reading this introduction, you'll probably not be very surprised by my confession that when it comes to Michael Ondaatje's works I'm like a besotted teenager when faced with the object of her desire. I find his words magical, his creations dreamlike. Which brings me to "Divisadero," Ondaatje's most recent novel, a much debated and often maligned work.
In "Divisadero" Ondaatje explores the bonds of family: the family given us through blood-relation and the family we choose. Anna, is the only daughter of a Northern California widowed farmer who adopts another girl, Claire, when Anna's and Claire's mothers both die in childbirth. Born just hours apart, Claire becomes Anna's "twin." The orphaned son of a neighboring farm couple, Coop, is already part of the family. "Divisadero" is the story of these three. We meet them briefly as teenagers, see the family torn apart, then follow each of them as they continue their separate lives. Claire and Coop meet again, accidentally, but providentially.
Coop's story seems to strike some reviewers as the least satisfactory, charging the writer with having created and then abandoned this character. Coop represents the random violence all of us often face in life through war, fate, or of our own making. Coop's parents were murdered when he was just a boy, he is taken into this neighboring family, then expelled, cruelly and violently. Although he is a temperate man, violence follows him like his own shadow until Claire gently guides him home. This, to me, is a very poignant scene and a most satisfactory conclusion to Coop's story.
But Anna is the focus and storyteller of "Divisadero." Although she leaves home and country, her siblings and father are never far from her heart and mind. She finds her soulmate in the past life of Lucien Segura, a poet whose writing and life story she explores as she settles into his house in the small village in Southern France and chooses his "adopted" son as companion. This is where Ondaatje's writing turns truly magical. As Anna's and Segura's stories intertwine, the scenes become stunningly sensual, gorgeously trancelike.
When I finished "Divisadero," I felt such a loss, I had to re-read this book at once. I wanted again to take part in the lives of the ill-fated Marie-Neige and her husband, Roman, an incarnation of the enigmatic Coop, all raw rage, which he is unable to verbalize. I wanted again to eat a simple meal of herbs and onions grown in the garden of a small farm house in Southern France on a warm summer's day. And I wanted again to dance with no purpose with a cat. So find yourself a quiet corner in a garden or a sun-filled room and let one of our generation's greatest writers awaken your senses, touch your heart, and seduce you with this magic dance called "Divisadero."

I was enthused by the first segment of what I thought would be a full novel with a single plot. To my disappointment, the author created three short novels with a barely visible connection among the parts. I thought there was ample room for an expansion of the life and times of Cooper, a principal character. But perhaps I am prejudiced by never having had enough to read about California, casino gambling and the rough, tough times going all the way from Gold Rush days up to the present Las Vegas, Lake Tahoe and all the fascinations surrounding those exciting places. Overall, Divisadero was a moderate disappointment. I was struck, however by the author's occasional but punchy ant-war comments.

I picked this book because I like the English Patient so much, but after reading it, I believe it was a far superior writing style than I have read in many a year. He is captivating in his word structure and imagery.I am recommending it to all as a must read! A classic!