Time flies, cleverly, in 'See Now Then'
Philly.com
Reviewed by Susan Balée (follow link)
"See here, readers: See Now Then, the new
novel by Jamaica Kincaid, traces the interior history of a (ticked off) black
woman whose heart has been broken by her (once beloved) husband. And although
she says otherwise in interviews, it sure looks like Kincaid is the woman and
her erstwhile ex-, Allen Shawn (son of famous editor William, brother of actor
Wallace), is the heartbreaker.
All the external details match up: Shawn and
Kincaid's life in Bennington, Vt., where he taught musical composition and she
composed prose in their house, possibly the house where the horror writer
Shirley Jackson once lived, but certainly a haunted place; their daughter and
son; his neuroses (Shawn has written a book about anxiety) and short stature,
her middle-aged largesse and love of gardening; his ultimately leaving her for
a younger woman. Although the main characters in this book are called Mr. and
Mrs. Sweet, the Mrs. quotes from her writings and they are recognizably works
by Jamaica Kincaid."
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