Review: Deeply moving
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 10 6, 2013
Intelligently and intricately written, Fay Guilian's `The Sympathy of All Things' is like Marguerite Duras' `The Lover'--that is, if you made the main female character more in tune with her humanity and vulnerabilities. This also made me sweetly nostalgic, as it is initially set in the early 1980s in the Philippines--a time and place that have a special meaning in my memory. Nevertheless, right at the get go--seriously, read the first few pages and all you'd glean from it is the sheer quality of Guilian's writing--you know you have a fine specimen of women's fiction in your hands.At the center of the book's story is Leah Holden, a dutiful, well-meaning military wife who is nave enough to believe distance can provide sufficient protection from her past. When she follows her husband to his station in the Philippines, with her daughters in tow, she's ready for a new beginning--or at least, for things to get better, even if the marriage itself is a farce. But in a place crawling with lonely men, Leah meets a young enlisted officer who "gets" her emotionally and intellectually--a kindred soul--and from then on Leah is gradually being torn apart by her growing affection and her raging internal conflict. And as you can expect, this does not end well.The emotional gravitas and the powerful internal conflict remind me of the time I first read `The Bridges of Madison County' (which most people probably remember as "that Clint Eastwood tearjerker movie"). I`m having goose bumps just reliving how Leah struggles with herself throwing all that she had just to deny it--only to give in, with jaws-dropping consequences. I love how author Guilian has articulately fleshed out the plot and built up the solid characters--this is a story that brims with verisimilitude and authenticity, made more memorable by Guilian's knack for prosody. On a side note, Leah Holden's encounter with an essentially unfamiliar culture (the Philippines) is amusing to watch unfold--it provided a subtle comic relief to an otherwise emotionally heavy story.Overall, `The Sympathy of all Things' is a novel you will not want to miss--it is compelling, well-written, and a delightfully cathartic experience, deserving of all the five-star ratings it will get.