Clock Without Hands by Carson McCullers
Summary (from the publisher): Set in small-town Georgia on the eve of court-ordered integration, Clock Without Hands is Carson McCullers's final masterpiece as well as her most poignant statement on race, class, and individual responsibility. The actors in this allegory are J. T. Malone, a lonely, dying middle-aged druggist looking to redeem his misspent life; Fox Clane, a corrupt old judge and defender of the ways of the Old South; Jester Clane, the judge's orphaned grandson, a directionless adolescent with a strong sense of social justice; and Sherman Pew, an angry, blue-eyed black youth in search of his own identity. Their interlocking stories are told with that unique mix of humor, irony, power, and love that marks all of McCullers's writing.
Review: Set in a small town in the south on the eve of integration, this novel explores the themes of race, justice, and mortality.
Thematically, this novel does remind me a lot of McCullers' betters known novel The Heart is a Lonely Hunter as it also follows multiple interconnected individuals in a smalltown and explores their lives as a means to reveal societal issues. However, it really drills down on racial inequality in a much more heavy-handed way in this novel.
The character of the judge is an intentionally very problematic character. He presents as a very recognizable Southern character, that of the well-respected, congenial, accomplished older white man. He is friendly and generous in many ways but also opposes integration, argues that Confederate dollars should be reinstated, and used to be a member of the klan. McCullers presents him without comment, allowing the reader to come to their own conclusions. It is up to the reader to decide if he is bad or a product of his time and its prejudices. Disappointingly, despite reading this 65 years after it was first written, the judge is still incredibly recognizable as a Southern type and not much has changed.
I had the most sympathy for the pharmacist who finds out he is ill and spends the book in a sort of existential crisis as he contemplates his own mortality and questions the choices he made in his life. His is a life that just went with the flow and the path of least resistance, and he seems to really regret not striking out for what he wanted versus what life handed him.
This book is hard to read in a lot of ways. There are some absolutely horrifying scenes of racially motivated violence and also a triggering scene of violence against an animal. The language used has vocabulary that would be offensive to today's readers. But I think this is an important read and really depicts the south as it was (is?) and highlights the incredibly complicated dynamics and issues impacting its people.
Stars: 4
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