fiction
29. 05. 2008 um 20:09 UhrCrane Flies and Other Domestic Terrors
Teresa DiFalco
ISO Publisher
97,000 words / 320 pages
Ellen and Howard Jenks are a young, ostensibly thriving couple living with their two children in a prosperous Oregon suburb in the late ’90s. However, their self-assured exterior masks a creeping frustration at their inability to feel fulfilled in relationships or careers. Howard is mired in a dull but well-paying job, and Ellen has abandoned a respectable career to care for their home and children, and nurture futile dreams of greatness.
They flirt with self-medication and infidelity, they try valiantly to escape the ruthless grip of monotony. Ellen plays the same Mozart sonata, one she’d learned as a small-town prodigy, over and over, she starts petty feuds with their neighbors. Howard bottles his disappointments up tight, like port wine. As their relationship deteriorates, their hopes of self-fulfillment and dreams of love are thrown into jeopardy.
This is almost word-for-word the jacket copy for Revolutionary Road, by Richard Yates. Crane Flies and Other Domestic Terrors is Revolutionary Road with sight gags. It’s a dark comedy, it’s lousy with bugs, a fair number of strangers come to the door. I think you’ll be pleased. It’s essentially a long tirade about confinement and sex. It’s also a love story.
They had the greatest marriage in the world. They were unhappy. They couldn’t live with each other. They did.
Full excerpt to come.
(Additionally, synopses + excerpts of Hustling Woody Allen and The Better Wives’ Club, are available by request. Request here.)
