The Writer's Life 4/30 - Tina, Kay & Abe

A recent donation to the floating book shop, Angie, I Says by NYC's Avra Wing, is the story of a blunt, thirtyish, pregnant woman. She does not love the father, an Italian-American laborer who offers to marry her. Instead she begins an affair with a generous, divorced Jewish lawyer who disappears for long stretches. Her family history is not rosy: taciturn Italian dad, Jewish mom who had to be institutionalized. This is a novel that embraces, normalizes dysfunction, where the protagonist, Tina, defiantly defends it. Her best friend, the title character, is beaten regularly by her husband, whom she refuses to leave. It is a first person account from Tina's point of view. She does not suffers fools and is not reluctant to offer an opinion. The course of the narrative extends through the entire pregnancy and into the first weeks of her child's life. It is told in modified Brooklynese. She uses "aks" for ask, and "would of" for would've. Curiously, she keeps the g at the end of words many people, not just Brooklynites, would drop. Tina is not a bad person. Deep down, she is good, but she wouldn't be easy to live with. Then again, who is. An author who presents a character in an uncompromising light should be applauded. That is the best aspect of the book, although it is often grating. Fortunately, it is only 214 pages, and reads like considerably less. Wing has only three other books in print, a young adult novel, a memoir about her recovery from some sort of affliction, and a poetry collection, one copy of which lists for $638.10 at Amazon. That ten cents must really be crucial. Only three users at Amazon have rated Angie, I Says, forging to a consensus of three on a scale of five, perhaps a tad high. There is a 1994 film version titled simply Angie, starring Geena Davis, which seems odd casting. Also odd is the fact that it seems Angie and not Tina is the main character. I'll reserve judgment until I've seen it. I debated whether to add it to my Netflix list, and was won over when I spotted Michael Rispoli's name among the cast. I've met him several times and have always enjoyed his work in film and TV.

There is rarely any negative commentary in the mainstream media about the sexual revolution. Kay Hymowitz addressed it recently in the Los Angeles Times. Here are three quotes from the article that were in today's Fast Takes column in the NY Post: “The sexual revolution also helped midwife the soaring number of single-parent families and the related ills of inequality, poverty, achievement gaps, and men MIA from family life.” “By proclaiming sexual self-expression as the primo value for all enlightened people, it weakened social support for those women who weren’t in the mood.” “Most of us of a certain age weren’t limited to a dating pool heavily populated by males in the throes of porn- and hookup-infected post-adolescence.” As I always ask - do the plusses outweigh the minuses? I believe the sexual revolution made society freer but I don't know if it made it better. Whatever - it is the way the western world has evolved, and there's probably no going back. My next novel, Inside Out, scheduled for January, is in great part about the adjustment to that revolution.

In an op-ed piece in today's Post, Karol Markowicz mentions the Friends of Abe, a private group of Hollywood conservatives founded by Gary Sinise, disbanded in 2016 amid infighting about Republican candidates for president and other issues. It has returned, and even has a Facebook page. Members are able to keep their identities anonymous and join at no charge. One needs to either be publicly known as a conservative or have someone already in FOA who can vouch for his/her political views. Jon Voight, Clint Eastwood and Kelsey Grammer are other high-profile members. On a down note, the re-organizers hope to keep Sinise out.

Winter returned today. Many passersby cited the cold. If the forecast is correct, I wonder if we'll be complaining it's too hot by week's end. My thanks to Bus Driver, who bought two hardcover David Baldacci thrillers, and to Mike, who donated a work of non-fiction.

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