Father Melancholy's Daughter

Summary (from the publisher): The novels of Gail Godwin are contemporary classics--evocative, powerfully affecting, beautifully crafted fiction alive with endearing, unforgettable characters. Her critically acclaimed work has placed her among the ranks of Eudora Welty, Pat Conroy, and Carson McCullers, firmly establishing Godwin as a Southern literary novelist for the ages.

Father Melancholy's Daughter is widely recognized as one of the author's most poignant and accomplished novels -- a bittersweet and ultimately transcendent story of a young girl's devotion to her father, the rector of a small Virginia church, and of the hope, dreams, and love that sustain them both in the wake of the betrayal and tragedy that diminished their family.

Review: "Utterly taken by surprise, I felt his fingers firmly on my elbow as he led me away. That was the way it went, wasn't it? You had to stop wanting something, or at least forget you wanted it for a minute, before it would come to you on its own."

Father Melancholy's Daughter is about an Episcopal priest's daughter growing up in Virginia in the 1970s. The tragedy of Margaret's life is that when she is a young girl, her mother leaves for a few days of vacation which gradually extends to a year away from her family, before being killed in a car wreck. Margaret is then left alone with her father and an assorted collection of church members.

I was drawn to this book for personal reasons. My mother was the daughter of an Episcopal priest (who also suffered from depression) and she also lived in Virginia in the 1970s. In fact, I'm familiar with many of the other Episcopal churches mentioned such as Low Moor, Danville, etc. It was ironic that I selected this as a means of delving into my mother's history, since much of the book deals with Margaret trying to discover the mystery of who her mother was.

Something about Margaret's thoughts reminded me greatly of how I think: "But of course how you imagine something ahead of time and the way it turns out are always two different stories. Whether it's a looked-forward-to evening, or a trip, or even just what you will say to someone the next time you see him, the real thing is invariably different. Sometimes just a little bit different, often unbelievably different. Why, then, did people spend such large portions of their days and nights plotting scenarios that they knew from experience would never go off exactly as planned? Why didn't they learn?" Really, why can't I learn? Wise words, Margaret.

I also really enjoyed/appreciated the dynamic between Margaret, Ben, and Father Adrian. I'm sure many can relate to the Ben situation - a guy being obsessed with you and seemingly perfect but for whom you feel nothing. You cannot even feel compassion for the fact that he's hopelessly in love with you. All Margaret feels is numb and slightly irritated by his clinginess and refusal to accept no as an answer. And God knows I can relate to the Father Adrian situation too - secretly pining away for someone who barely knows you exist. That's its own particular form of torture. I was disappointed that that particular storyline was left largely unresolved. Those prove the most disappointing in real life too - the constant wondering of what might have been about something that never really was.

In many ways, I connected with Margaret and her story because we're in similar life stages - post college, in a state of becoming rather than solid being, struggling to find the plot of our own life narratives. And I think in this novel, Margaret is torn between taking the lead of her mother's life story or following her father. I was pleased with her final decision.

Stars: 4