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Cavedweller: A Novel
by Dorothy Allison
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Paperback
Publisher: Plume
ISBN13: 9780452279698
Condition: NEW
Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
A lush, epic novel from the New York Times bestselling author of Bastard Out of Carolina.
When Delia Byrd packs up her old Datsun and her daughter Cissy and gets on the Santa Monica Freeway heading south and east, she is leaving everything she has known for ten years: the tinsel glitter of the rock 'n' roll world; her dreams of singing and songwriting; and a life lived on credit cards and whiskey with a man who made promises he couldn't keep. Delia Byrd is going back to Cayro, Georgia, to reclaim her life--and the two daughters she left behind...
Told in the incantatory voice of one of America's most eloquent storytellers, Cavedweller is a sweeping novel of the human spirit, the lost and hidden recesses of the heart, and the place where violence and redemption intersect.
"Luminous. Unabashedly emotional. Pays close attention to the way women get by, the way they come to forgive one another, the way they choose who they will be. Might have been written by George Elliot, had she ever passed through the shockwaves of rock-n-roll." --The New York Times Book Review
"Rich and involving...Its generous vision of the world stays with you." -Newsweek
"With the yarn-spinning rhythm of old Southern legends. An epic novel full of sweet-dream fever." --Boston Globe
"Spectacular. Sensual. Allison has a spare gospel-tinged lyricism that few can match." --New York Newsday
"Hooks the reader on the first page." -Time
"Its narrative takes you over without your realizing it...the heartfelt urgency of what happens to whom carries you along." --Boston Globe
"A startling and powerful novel about a woman's painful salvation...well worth the time and the tears." --New York Post
"Brilliant. Funny, heartbreaking." --Atlanta Journal-Constitution
"Introduces a new cast of indomitable women. Powerful. Sassy. Knowing. An extraordinary book." --Baltimore Sun
"Death changes everything." So begins Dorothy Allison's sprawling, ambitious, and deeply satisfying second novel, Cavedweller. For Delia Byrd, Randall Pritchard's death in a motorcycle accident launches a journey of several thousand miles and almost two decades, a rebirth of sorts that's also a return to her roots. Years before, the handsome but untrustworthy rock star Randall helped Delia flee an abusive husband; Delia escapes physical danger but leaves her two small children behind. In California, her abandoned daughters haunt her dreams and preoccupy her waking hours, even as she sings in Randall's band and gives birth to another daughter, Cissy. But when Randall is killed in a motorcycle accident, Delia packs rebellious Cissy into a broken-down Datsun, bound for Cayro, Georgia, and the one thing that suddenly matters more than anything else: her abandoned children and the chance to be a mother to them once again. Cayro's poverty is emotional as well as material; the town is a hard place, full of hard people. To them, Delia will always be "that bitch" who abandoned her babies, "that hippie" living a life of sin. Nonetheless, Delia forges a cruel bargain with her former husband: in exchange for Delia's agreeing to care for him as he dies, he gives her a chance to reclaim her daughters. Like Bastard out of Carolina, Allison's acclaimed debut novel, Cavedweller is a chronicle of rage, strength, and survival. Here, however, Allison is equally concerned with the redemptive power of love and forgiveness, and a novel that began with death ends on an unexpectedly sanguine note: "'Yes, it's time for some new songs.'" There are no victims in Dorothy Allison's work; Delia triumphs through sheer force of will, bringing her family together despite the contempt of almost everyone around her. The novel has its flaws--including occasionally flat-footed prose--but it is in the end compulsively readable, and it's populated by some of the most memorable characters in recent fiction: tough, prickly, flawed, and deeply human, Delia and Cissy are literary creations of the first rank. In describing the complicated emotions that bind and divide them, Allison demonstrates a profoundly unsentimental understanding of the way the human heart works. Cavedweller is the work of a mature artist, her best fiction to date.
| Customer Reviews: |
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| Powerful and emotionally riveting |
| Customer Rating: 4 out of 5 |
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"Cavedweller" is among a number of contemporary novels that effectively incorporate rock music as a major theme. It makes sense to do it, given the importance that rock music has in contemporary life. But few novels do it as subtlely as Cavedweller. The interesting thing is that rock is not the primary force in the book -- at least on the surface -- but it has been the salvation for Delia, the main character. And the book would lack an underlying logic without it.
Delia escaped from a bad marriage to an abusive husband when she jumped aboard a traveling band's bus, thus abandoning her young children in her hometown of Cayro, Georgia. Delia became the lead singer in the band, Mud Dog, and had a child by its lead singer, Randall. Fronting Mud Dog was the thing that Delia did best in her life. Even though the novel begins with her having put Mud Dog and the rock-n-roll life behind her, it clearly gave her a confidence and strength that helped to see her through the challenges she faced in rebuilding her life. It also gave her an aura of fame that awed and intimidated the people of Cayro when Delia returns to the town more than a decade later, with her third daughter (child of the Mud Dog's lead singer) in tow.
Delia's decade-plus in California was eventful: Mud Dog had its heyday and then broke apart; she left Randall; and then he died in a motorcycle accident. That accident was the spur for a recently sober Delia to take her young daughter Cissy back to Cayro and to try to make amends. Delia receives a frosty reception from a town of citizens who mostly think of her as a bad wife and mother, and who have sympathy for her husband Clint (who never granted a divorce), who's dying of cancer. Gradually, Delia rebuilds her life through a series of penances -- to Clint, to the daughters she abandoned, and so on.
The book is powerful because Delia maintains her strength and dignity, despite her many weaknesses and mistakes. She doesn't give in. Everything she agrees to do, she does on her own terms, such as caring for the dying Clint and raising her three daughters. She accepts help when she really needs it, but she is also not going to apologize for things that were not mistakes. And she's not going to put on a good public face (i.e., pretending to be religious) unless it's true. In the end, her success is far from complete, but it's a real success, not a fake.
Among the memorable things about this book are Delia's two best friends: Rosemary, a black woman with whom Delia co-wrote songs in Los Angeles; and M.T., her best friend in Cayro, who has carved out a life as the town's most alluring woman. Each demonstrate versions of what I call the "strong woman," a woman who impresses and intimidates everyone around them.
Delia's daughters are a bit cliched. Amanda is a church fanatic who marriages a pastor (and then starts to experiment with sin); Dede is a beautiful but crazy-dangerous blonde who falls for the boy next door; and Cissy is an uptight tomboy who will need to escape town to reach her potential.
Finally, the atmosphere in the book is often well-sketched, from Delia's hurtle across the country back to Cayro, to the church encounters early in the book, to caving expeditions by Cissy, to the warm and safety of Delia's hair salon. It's a rich portrayal of a small town, showing that there's actually far more going on than meets the eye.
"Cavedweller" is my first exposure to Dorothy Allison, and, based on the reviews I've seen online, it's not her best work. But if this is second in line, I'm really looking forward to reading more that she's produced.
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| A Mother Runs Off with a Rock Star and Leaves Her Children Behind |
| Customer Rating: 2 out of 5 |
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This book is poorly conceived. The plot is fragmented, the writing awkward, and the characterization is superficial and contrived. Overall, it was a big disappointment.
The novel is about a woman who leaves an abusive husband and her two daughters to run off with a rock star. The rock star dies and she returns to the small Georgia town she left in order to reconcile with her children.
I recommend reading Bastard out of Carolina: (Plume Essential Edition) by Allison instead of this. 'Bastard Out of Carolina' is a fine book that is beautifully written.
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| Not impressed. |
| Customer Rating: 1 out of 5 |
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I am a first time reader of Dorothy Allison, and I was not at all impressed with this novel. I sort of struggled through it, forced myself to finish it.
The first thing I noticed was all the characters' personalities kind of melted together, the dialogue did not provide them with individual voices, poor character development. The girls as children spoke just the same as the adults - clearly not age appropriate language.
New characters continually appeared, which made me stumble. And so many important scenes of real ACTION were left out and just referred to! Just when I thought we were getting to the good stuff.
And lastly, the novel could be dirtier. 400+ pages and only allusions to sex? Please.
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| blah |
| Customer Rating: 1 out of 5 |
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Bought this on a clearance rack and can now see why it hadn't sold. The characters were unexciting, and the story dragged on and on. I read 4 books while having this one unfinished on my night stand. I've never read any of Allison's other novels, but after reading this one, I don't think I'll jump on the chance. Dede was the most interesting character, and even she couldn't keep me involved.
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| Let's get to the Point of this Book... |
| Customer Rating: 5 out of 5 |
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Another "Top of the list". The first 50-75 pgs were a little slow, but then I didn't want to put it down!
The way the story weaves the lives of Mom and daughter, leaving the life they knew in CA behind, to search the two daughters left behind in GA... is sad, intriguing, cryptic and dynamic all in one!
Recommended, just to see how the lives of the women of Cayro, Georgia come out on Top, together!!
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