I'll Take You There
Summary (from the publisher): New York Times bestselling author Wally Lamb weaves an evocative, deeply affecting tapestry of one Baby Boomer's life—Felix Funicello, introduced in Wishin’ and Hopin’—and the trio of unforgettable women who have changed it, in this radiant homage to the resiliency, strength, and power of women.
I’ll Take You There centers on Felix, a film scholar who runs a Monday night movie club in what was once a vaudeville theater. One evening, while setting up a film in the projectionist booth, he’s confronted by the ghost of Lois Weber, a trailblazing motion picture director from Hollywood’s silent film era. Lois invites Felix to revisit—and in some cases relive—scenes from his past as they are projected onto the cinema’s big screen.
In these magical movies, the medium of film becomes the lens for Felix to reflect on the women who profoundly impacted his life. There’s his daughter Aliza, a Gen Y writer for New York Magazine who is trying to align her post-modern feminist beliefs with her lofty career ambitions; his sister, Frances, with whom he once shared a complicated bond of kindness and cruelty; and Verna, a fiery would-be contender for the 1951 Miss Rheingold competition, a beauty contest sponsored by a Brooklyn-based beer manufacturer that became a marketing phenomenon for two decades. At first unnerved by these ethereal apparitions, Felix comes to look forward to his encounters with Lois, who is later joined by the spirits of other celluloid muses.
Against the backdrop of a kaleidoscopic convergence of politics and pop culture, family secrets, and Hollywood iconography, Felix gains an enlightened understanding of the pressures and trials of the women closest to him, and of the feminine ideals and feminist realities that all women, of every era, must face.
I’ll Take You There centers on Felix, a film scholar who runs a Monday night movie club in what was once a vaudeville theater. One evening, while setting up a film in the projectionist booth, he’s confronted by the ghost of Lois Weber, a trailblazing motion picture director from Hollywood’s silent film era. Lois invites Felix to revisit—and in some cases relive—scenes from his past as they are projected onto the cinema’s big screen.
In these magical movies, the medium of film becomes the lens for Felix to reflect on the women who profoundly impacted his life. There’s his daughter Aliza, a Gen Y writer for New York Magazine who is trying to align her post-modern feminist beliefs with her lofty career ambitions; his sister, Frances, with whom he once shared a complicated bond of kindness and cruelty; and Verna, a fiery would-be contender for the 1951 Miss Rheingold competition, a beauty contest sponsored by a Brooklyn-based beer manufacturer that became a marketing phenomenon for two decades. At first unnerved by these ethereal apparitions, Felix comes to look forward to his encounters with Lois, who is later joined by the spirits of other celluloid muses.
Against the backdrop of a kaleidoscopic convergence of politics and pop culture, family secrets, and Hollywood iconography, Felix gains an enlightened understanding of the pressures and trials of the women closest to him, and of the feminine ideals and feminist realities that all women, of every era, must face.
Review: I received an uncorrected proof copy of this novel from HarperCollins.
This novel focuses on narrator Felix Funicello, a film scholar who runs a movie club in an old vaudeville theater. One evening, while in the theater alone, he sees the ghost of a former Hollywood star who enables Felix to view videos from his own past. In these scenes from his own life, Felix ruminates on the women who have impacted his life, including daughter Aliza and his sister Frances. These movies allow Felix to reflect and gain some understanding of the struggles of the women in his life, as well as the feminist realities that all women face.
Unfortunately, I enjoyed this novel from Wally Lamb far less than I did his earlier work, We Are Water. The gossipy, first person narrative voice irritated me, as did Felix's tendency to speak directly to his reader with lines such as, "Hmm? Oh right - excuse my manners. I'm Felix Funicello" (2). The corny jokes he tries to use when interacting with his supposedly savvy, New York City-living daughter fell flat for me as well. The plot itself did little to amend the narrative style. The supernatural element of the story felt forced to me, as did the focus of Felix's reveries into his past. Significant time is spent discussing a previous Miss Rheingold competition, a beauty contest sponsored by a beer manufacture in the 1950s. This includes an article written by Felix's daughter detailing the competition's history. Another major plot point is the revelation of a close family member's true birth parents and a detailed segue into the birth mother's life story. In sum, none of the parts came together for me in any sort of cogent or meaningful way.
The major theme of this novel was feminism and female equality, but its inclusion in the narrative felt forced, rather than naturally blending in with the plot. For example, at a family get together following a funeral, one member picks a fight with another over a song that supposedly oppresses women. It just felt like a random scene rather than a well integrated theme that underlined the novel. Characters were constantly and seemingly out of nowhere spouting statistics such as, "Not with women only earning seventy-eight centers for every dollar that men make" (23). Although I appreciated having a male narrator gain a greater appreciation for the areas of inequality that women face, it felt forced and nor did it seem like Felix was a man that particularly needed great enlightenment on the subject.
Stars: 2
Related Title:
- We Are Water by Wally Lamb
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