'Lark' is a worthwhile literary romp
by Kristen Smith
Off campus | 2/24/09
Posted online at 12:33 AM EST on 2/24/09
Jayne Anne Phillips's new novel Lark & Termite does not stand out on the "new fiction" table at the local Barnes & Noble. Its cover isn't glossy or glamorous; it's brown, black and blue and looks like it's made out of a grocery bag. But, as the saying goes, Lark & Termite is much more than its modest cover suggests.
Much like William Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury, Lark & Termite spans only four days in July of 1959, yet we see each day's events from a different person's perspective and time. Seventeen-year-old Lark of Winfield, Virginia goes to secretarial school at night and takes care of her disabled brother Termite during the day. Though Termite, chair-bound, cannot speak or walk, he hears and senses things other people can't. He hears the ragged orange alley cat as it creeps on its belly behind the neighborhood houses or rests under Nick Tucci and the Boys' porch. Lark and Nonie, the siblings' aunt and caretaker, can't hear, and Termite "says and says and says."
During the day, Nonie works at Charlie's, a local restaurant run by its namesake that is constantly haunted by the presence of his mother Gladdy, who disapproves of Charlie's treatment of Nonie, Lark and Termite. Charlie and Nonie love each other, but won't marry because things are going well as they are. Nick Tucci, too, stops by Sundays to mow the lawn, following Lark's movements protectively, becoming one of the other men that make up their extended neighborhood family.
And then of course, there's Lola, Lark and Termite's mother, who sang nights at Billy Onslow's club in Louisville and who gave them over to Nonie's care. Though she is absent, Lola's name rolls off people's tongues in Winfield as if she were a reincarnation of Nabokov's infamous Lolita. Yet all Lark and Termite have left of her are six cardboard boxes marked "Florida" that lie unopened in their basement. Corporal Robert Leavitt, Termite's father and Lola's young husband, drifts in and out of consciousness in Korea, wounded by friendly fire and trapped in a tunnel with a self-sacrificing girl and her blind younger brother.
Much like William Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury, Lark & Termite spans only four days in July of 1959, yet we see each day's events from a different person's perspective and time. Seventeen-year-old Lark of Winfield, Virginia goes to secretarial school at night and takes care of her disabled brother Termite during the day. Though Termite, chair-bound, cannot speak or walk, he hears and senses things other people can't. He hears the ragged orange alley cat as it creeps on its belly behind the neighborhood houses or rests under Nick Tucci and the Boys' porch. Lark and Nonie, the siblings' aunt and caretaker, can't hear, and Termite "says and says and says."
During the day, Nonie works at Charlie's, a local restaurant run by its namesake that is constantly haunted by the presence of his mother Gladdy, who disapproves of Charlie's treatment of Nonie, Lark and Termite. Charlie and Nonie love each other, but won't marry because things are going well as they are. Nick Tucci, too, stops by Sundays to mow the lawn, following Lark's movements protectively, becoming one of the other men that make up their extended neighborhood family.
And then of course, there's Lola, Lark and Termite's mother, who sang nights at Billy Onslow's club in Louisville and who gave them over to Nonie's care. Though she is absent, Lola's name rolls off people's tongues in Winfield as if she were a reincarnation of Nabokov's infamous Lolita. Yet all Lark and Termite have left of her are six cardboard boxes marked "Florida" that lie unopened in their basement. Corporal Robert Leavitt, Termite's father and Lola's young husband, drifts in and out of consciousness in Korea, wounded by friendly fire and trapped in a tunnel with a self-sacrificing girl and her blind younger brother.
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