|
The Editor by Thomas William Simpson |
| (Bantam, $6.50, V) ISBN 0-553-57396-9 |
 |
|
Sam Adams is still trying to get over the murder of his wife of ten years and his young son. The three had stopped at a motel on the way to an Easter egg hunt and while Sam was attending to the car, a man broke into their room, robbed Ellen and Nicholas and beat them both to death. Now, six months later, Sam is still trying to put his life together and decides to rent a cottage in rural, western New Jersey, a place where he can recover, yet still get to his job as an editor at a prestigious New York city publishing house, and have quiet time to edit books assigned to him.
Sam’s landlords are a blind, world famous cellist, Evelyn Richmond and her mostly absentee son, Roger. Evelyn is in residence most of the time, although she spends quite a bit of time on tour. She begins to tease Sam and flirt with him, and eventually, the two become lovers. Evelyn is a difficult person to have a relationship, Sam finds, as she jealously guards her privacy and tells Sam up front that their relationship is most likely transitory and he should get involved, but not too involved. Against her advice, Sam becomes more and more dependent on their relationship, almost to the point of obsession. The events that follow after Evelyn goes on a long European tour are at first unbelievable. At first, Sam appears the victim of a cruel, uncaring, manipulative woman, but then the scene shifts and it is Evelyn who may actually end up as the victim as a pattern of behavior slowly starts to emerge. The Editor is written in short, choppy diary entries (spanning one year’s time) that switch back and forth between the distant past, the recent past, and the present. It is a bit hard to read at times, and realize where in time Sam is. After the book is finished, these sort of entries make sense, but during the reading, they are quite distracting. Evelyn appears as a very selfish, manipulative woman and it is hard to feel sorry for her when she falls victim. If the way she tells Sam she has been living her life is true (having many short-term affairs, mostly based on sex) it would seem only a matter of time until something like this happened. Sam is a very empty character, but that would be understandable based on his tragic past. Roger is not around very much, but at times, there are Oedipal overtones to his relationship with Evelyn. While the ending of the book is a shock, there is not tension in the first three-quarters of the book leading up to it. The twist the plot takes is also not particularly exciting, but rather a falling into place of odds and ends offered throughout the book. Unfortunately, The Editor is best enjoyed retrospectively rather than during the reading of it.
--Jennifer Monahan Winberry |
Please tell us what you think!
Back Home