Divining Women

Kaye Gibbons explores so many different ideas in Divining Women, that I had a hard time getting fully involved in all of them. The novel is centered around Mary: she is a single, intellectual woman living 1918. She comes from a financially well-off family, but they could be considered extremely eccentric. It is implied that Mary may be a homosexual, but it is never explicitly said, and it could just be my interpretation. (If anyone reads this novel, come back and let me know what you think)

The background of the novel is somewhat confusing; her grandfather apparently liked to visit nudist colonies and explore nature while in the buff, and his first wife promptly left him for that trait. He manages to go and find a woman who embraces his more eccentric side and they live happily, whereas, his first wife lives bitterly and warps the child that they produced together. There are a series of bitter, demanding letters that arrive periodically from the first wife, and they ususally disrupt this harmony that Mary's family experiences. Confused yet?

Gibbons created this extroadinary but slightly odd family: they are all intellectuals, in the 1918 sort of way. By this I mean, that they seek out intellectuals and explore new ideas. They also believe that their house is haunted, sort of a stopping-over ground, for souls looking to find peace. The grandfather spends much of his time playing "host to these lost souls" and listening to the ghosts speak through the walls. Before describing more of this household, we are whisked off to the first wife's (remember her?) son's home. Personally, I would have liked to have spent more time in the ghost-house.

Now we arrive at the first-wife's son's home: his name is Troop and his pregnant wife, Maureen, is having difficulties with her pregnancy. This is where the real story starts. Gibbons takes us deep inside their abusive marriage. It is not physically abusive; Troop abuses with his words, and his physical and emotional distance from his wife. His constant belittlment and derision has caused her self-esteen to crumble into non-existence. For me, this was the most interesting part of the novel. Gibbons does a thorough job of portraying an abused spouse and helping the reader to understand the reasons someone may stay in such a relationship.

I wish Gibbons focused solely on this relationship though, it was a bit of work wading through all the periphial stories to get to this main one. I found that there were many avenues in this novel that could side-track the reader, but they didn't really help in understanding Mary's life and how she helps Maureen deal with the abuse. Everything seemed a bit too unreal, a bit hazy.

There were many parts of this novel that I thoroughly enjoyed, but there were too many parts left unexplored. These tempting tidbits that didn't really lead anywhere. I also found some of the background information somewhat confusing. I guess if you are a Kaye Gibbons fan, I would recommend this novel. Otherwise, I would advise you to skip it. Happy Reading!