3 out of 4 stars
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Hiram McDowell is a difficult man to like; indeed, I didn’t like him through much of the novel. A self-centered surgeon of high repute who seems to live for climbing the highest mountains both literally and figuratively, he embodies the drive to succeed at all costs. He is the central character in McDowell by William H. Coles. His personal life qualifies as a mess. His third marriage has passed the tolerance stage. His children prove unable to live up to his standards although he does not abandon them. His daughter, Sophie, and son, Billie, show artistic talent. Although their talents fail to impress him, he grudgingly supports them. His other daughter, Ann, lives in an unloving marriage with children straight from a horror movie. On the verge of being named to a high-level position in the Department of Health, his actions remove him from consideration, cause scandal, and lead to his imprisonment. He escapes prison and dedicates himself to avoiding recapture and writing a self-justifying memoir.
The second half of the book concerns Hiram’s adventures in avoiding capture and his work on the memoir. The memoir develops as he meets people who challenge his thinking. It also takes on importance as Sophie and others attempt to acquire it in order to publish it. His daughter, Sophie, begins to develop professionally and personally. Other strands involve an aging television reporter’s search for Hiram, a bookstore owner, a bed and breakfast operator, an artist, and a female private investigator.
Although Hiram McDowell is the central figure in the novel, much of the novel is told through his interactions with other people. The reader gets limited insights into his thinking and must rely on how he treats the people he interacts with. In fact, we get to know his daughter, Sophie, better than him.
A primary transformation in Hiram comes in his relationships with women. Before his fall, the author has Hiram treat women as if they existed for his use. To challenge this view, the women portrayed in the second half of the novel become his educators. One woman challenges his self-image, another woman awakens in him an appreciation of female sexuality, and the third woman enhances his relation to the visual arts. These women provide the resistance that enables the kinder and gentler Hiram to develop.
William H. Coles has a great eye for detail. For example, in these phrases, he describes a scene in Nepal: “even in the rural areas, where all of civilization seemed to exist writhing on snake-width curves of the never-straight road.” His dialogues seem like real people talking. However, he also seems to apply commas randomly at times in compound sentence constructions where one compound sentence will have the comma correctly placed. In a nearby compound structure of similar length, he uses no comma.
McDowell offers a story of fall and redemption. The novel raises issues but doesn’t provide simple answers. Accepting ambiguity is necessary to enjoy the novel. The author withholds much of Hiram’s thinking from readers allowing them to arrive at their own conclusions. I rate this book 3 out of 4 stars. My rating is partly based on how loose the author plays with comma rules. The rating stems primarily from how as Hiram moves from sinner to saint-like, the internal struggle remains hidden. The novel has an appealing theme and has wonderful descriptions. Readers who find redemption stories enjoyable will enjoy the redemption of a truly dislikable character. On the other hand, readers seeking some insights into the struggles of such a character to come to terms with himself will finish the book feeling shortchanged.
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McDowell
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