I went into Idaho, by Emily Ruskovich, with my eyes wide open. I read enough reviews without getting spoilers to know that this was one of those books you either love or loathe, but I didn't quite know why.
Reading it is akin to watching a train wreck, a beautiful, dazzling disaster of a novel. Let me start with the writing. It is gorgeous. Ruskovich has the pen of a poet--she can weave sentences that are strong and poignant and colorful. Her words sing.
The problem is that the story doesn't hold together and the characters are unbelievable. I'm pretty comfortable with ambiguity in novels, but I don't think that Ruskovich wanted her readers to feel uncertain about what her characters did. The ambiguity is unintentional, so despite the glorious turns of phrase, the novel is weak.
If you haven't read it or don't mind spoilers, here goes - Jenny and Wade are married, have two young daughters, June and May, live on a mountain in Idaho near a small town. Wade meets Ann, a music teacher and English expat, and asks her to teach him to play the piano so that he won't develop early dementia, as his father did. She does--he practices at home. One hot summer afternoon, May is singing a song Wade learned from Ann, so Jenny kills her with a hatchet. June runs away from the scene and is never found. Jenny goes to prison, Wade and Ann get married, Wade gets dementia, Ann becomes obsessed with Jenny.
So, why did Jenny kill May? Because she hummed a song? Really--no other reason? Why did Ann and Wade fall in love? There seemed zero chemistry between them. Why was Ann English--what on earth did that have to do with anything? She didn't even seek solace in a cuppa tea, ever! The most non-English character I've ever met. Why did Ann visit the weird Deliverance-esqe family at one point in the story? It had absolutely no bearing on the plot or our understanding of Ann. What did Eliot and his accident have to do with anything--okay, plot device to get Wade to the school to meet Ann, but then why did he surface again later in the story for one short section? How did that have anything to do with the story arc or help explain anything at all about what went down that summer afternoon?
All that said, I actually found the prison scenes interesting, although they did nothing to help me get a handle on who Jenny really was, why she did the awful thing she did, etc.
Idaho was one of the most dissatisfying books I've read in a long time. It should've been great--Ruskovich has a way with words, but based on Idaho, I don't think she's a very good storyteller.
This is a Tournament of Books finalist. I have feeling it will do well. The crowd at GoodReads on the Tournament of Books group seemed to love it.
I gave up on this book largely because nothing the characters did make any sense. The writing was lovely, and I was intrigued by the situation, but I couldn't deal with the characters. Reading the comments in the TOB Goodreads group made me wonder if there was something I missed, but it sounds like you felt the same after finishing it.
ReplyDeleteI remember reading your comment on GoodReads, but I tried it despite that...you've never misled me :)
DeleteSorry this one was so disappointing and dissatisfying...if those are even strong enough words to describe this book. I'll definitely be staying away from this one.
ReplyDeleteFrom what you explain, it definitely sounds like the storyline doesn't hold together. Which is too bad if her writing is poetic. I can imagine it'd be quite frustrating. I will steer clear of it.
ReplyDelete"She didn't even seek solace in a cuppa tea, ever" - This made me laugh! I forgot that Ann was even English.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I didn't get on with this title either. The "gorgeous" writing just annoyed me since I couldn't make the leaps required to follow the story. I also typically prefer more straightforward prose, although there are exceptions to this.
My reaction to this title reminds me a bit of my reaction to one of last year's short listed books The Sport of Kings. It was also evocatively written, but that only served (IMO) to hide a weak plot. However, many absolutely adored it.
Early buzz made me add Idaho to my wish list, but I removed it as negative reviews from trusted sources began to roll in. Still curious about her writing, but not enough to read a book that doesn't ring true.
ReplyDeleteGreat commentary on what seems to be an odd book. Fictional characters who act without convincing motivation can ruin a story for me. Thus I can understand why this did not work for you.
ReplyDeleteThis sounds so strange I'm almost tempted to try it!
ReplyDeleteThat's partially why I decided to give it a go, that and I like books set in the western states.
DeleteI don't like books with too much ambiguity. It seems like lazy writing. It's like those modern art paintings with a giant black dot. I feel like they're hoping we won't question is so they can get away with creating a book that doesn't hold together well.
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