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A review by doreeny
Emancipation Day by Wayne Grady
3.0
Jack Lewis, a Navy musician stationed in St. John’s, Nfld, during WWII, meets Vivian and marries her despite her family’s misgivings. After the war, they set off for Windsor, Ont., to meet Jack’s family before they decide where they will live. It is in Windsor that Vivian starts discovering that there is much Jack has not told her and that much of what he has is not the truth.
Jack’s biggest secret, revealed to the reader in the first quarter of the book, is that he is passing as white. His entire life has been devoted to passing tests to prove that he is white: “girlfriends, lunch-counter waitresses, the high-school baseball team, and so far he’d passed them all.” He joins a band called the All-Whites: “No one blinked when Jack joined the band, which meant no one knew anything about him or his family.” To remain anonymous is his goal: “Nobody knew who he was, and nobody cared, which was Jack’s idea of paradise.” When Vivian suggests that since Jack’s family is in Windsor, he belongs there, he replies, “’No, it ain’t. . . . You get born, you grow up and you leave. . . . Why can’t I belong to where I’m going?’”
The relationship between Jack and Vivian is problematic. First of all, Jack is not a likeable person. He may resemble Frank Sinatra, but he has little else going for him. He’s a glib actor and not just when he’s on stage. Vivian‘s sister calls him a “smooth” performer: “’He’s meant to be looked at, not understood. . . . He’s all surface.’” She also describes him as “by-catch” and, even after the wedding, thinks of him as an “unpleasantness, like a blocked drain.” Even Vivian is bothered by his reserve and distance: “He didn’t look at her when he talked, he didn’t put his arm around her when they walked down the street. We’re not even married yet, she thought, and already we’re acting like an old couple. What will it be like when we’re actually married.” Furthermore, Jack never tells Vivian that he loves her. She “worried how to tell him she loved him . . . [and] practised telling him,” but there is no mention made of his ever declaring his love for her. Nonetheless, she marries him? Vivian’s sister says, “’You only think you’re in love with him because he’s your ticket off the island’” and Vivian, herself, when listing reasons for getting married mentions love “almost as an afterthought.” Certainly there is not a great deal of passion in the relationship – sex, yes, but passion, no. Perhaps Vivian hits on the truth when she comments to her husband, “’How can you love me if you don’t love your own family?’”
Vivian’s character development is weak. There just seems no vitality to her personality; she could best be described as tepid. Her most outstanding trait is her naivety, this perhaps being the result of her sheltered upbringing. She speaks about “about her desire to see something of the world,” but has little concrete idea of what she would like to see. Throughout the novel, she remains vague and amorphous. The last sentence of the novel is powerful, but it does suggest that she remains a non-entity - even in her own family she has no impact.
There are some plotting issues. For example, the timing of Vivian’s epiphany is just too perfect. Then, is it likely that Jack’s secret could be kept for so long in a community the size of Windsor? And, in the episode where Jack and Peter go searching for Della, how does Peter manage to return home so quickly and without a vehicle? By the time Jack finds Della, Peter is already home, despite their being “miles from home, too far to walk”? Peter’s absence is necessary for what transpires next, but it should be explained logically.
Despite its shortcomings, the novel does have good qualities. It seriously examines the theme of self-identity and explores race issues in the mid-twentieth century. The reader may not approve of Jack’s behaviour and would prefer if he were more accepting of his heritage, but it is understandable given the treatment of blacks in that time period. The use of point of view is very effective; the perspective of several characters is given, including that of Jack, his father, and Vivian. The title of the book is genius; it refers to the abolition of slavery in the British Empire, but it has an entirely different meaning for Jack. And given the date of publication and the author’s own history, Emancipation Day has meanings on other levels as well. Despite its not being flawless, the book certainly gives readers some things to consider.
Note: I received a copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley.
Please check out my reader's blog (http://schatjesshelves.blogspot.ca/) and follow me on Twitter (@DCYakabuski).
Jack’s biggest secret, revealed to the reader in the first quarter of the book, is that he is passing as white. His entire life has been devoted to passing tests to prove that he is white: “girlfriends, lunch-counter waitresses, the high-school baseball team, and so far he’d passed them all.” He joins a band called the All-Whites: “No one blinked when Jack joined the band, which meant no one knew anything about him or his family.” To remain anonymous is his goal: “Nobody knew who he was, and nobody cared, which was Jack’s idea of paradise.” When Vivian suggests that since Jack’s family is in Windsor, he belongs there, he replies, “’No, it ain’t. . . . You get born, you grow up and you leave. . . . Why can’t I belong to where I’m going?’”
The relationship between Jack and Vivian is problematic. First of all, Jack is not a likeable person. He may resemble Frank Sinatra, but he has little else going for him. He’s a glib actor and not just when he’s on stage. Vivian‘s sister calls him a “smooth” performer: “’He’s meant to be looked at, not understood. . . . He’s all surface.’” She also describes him as “by-catch” and, even after the wedding, thinks of him as an “unpleasantness, like a blocked drain.” Even Vivian is bothered by his reserve and distance: “He didn’t look at her when he talked, he didn’t put his arm around her when they walked down the street. We’re not even married yet, she thought, and already we’re acting like an old couple. What will it be like when we’re actually married.” Furthermore, Jack never tells Vivian that he loves her. She “worried how to tell him she loved him . . . [and] practised telling him,” but there is no mention made of his ever declaring his love for her. Nonetheless, she marries him? Vivian’s sister says, “’You only think you’re in love with him because he’s your ticket off the island’” and Vivian, herself, when listing reasons for getting married mentions love “almost as an afterthought.” Certainly there is not a great deal of passion in the relationship – sex, yes, but passion, no. Perhaps Vivian hits on the truth when she comments to her husband, “’How can you love me if you don’t love your own family?’”
Vivian’s character development is weak. There just seems no vitality to her personality; she could best be described as tepid. Her most outstanding trait is her naivety, this perhaps being the result of her sheltered upbringing. She speaks about “about her desire to see something of the world,” but has little concrete idea of what she would like to see. Throughout the novel, she remains vague and amorphous. The last sentence of the novel is powerful, but it does suggest that she remains a non-entity - even in her own family she has no impact.
There are some plotting issues. For example, the timing of Vivian’s epiphany is just too perfect. Then, is it likely that Jack’s secret could be kept for so long in a community the size of Windsor? And, in the episode where Jack and Peter go searching for Della, how does Peter manage to return home so quickly and without a vehicle? By the time Jack finds Della, Peter is already home, despite their being “miles from home, too far to walk”? Peter’s absence is necessary for what transpires next, but it should be explained logically.
Despite its shortcomings, the novel does have good qualities. It seriously examines the theme of self-identity and explores race issues in the mid-twentieth century. The reader may not approve of Jack’s behaviour and would prefer if he were more accepting of his heritage, but it is understandable given the treatment of blacks in that time period. The use of point of view is very effective; the perspective of several characters is given, including that of Jack, his father, and Vivian. The title of the book is genius; it refers to the abolition of slavery in the British Empire, but it has an entirely different meaning for Jack. And given the date of publication and the author’s own history, Emancipation Day has meanings on other levels as well. Despite its not being flawless, the book certainly gives readers some things to consider.
Note: I received a copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley.
Please check out my reader's blog (http://schatjesshelves.blogspot.ca/) and follow me on Twitter (@DCYakabuski).