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(More customer reviews)In "Private Life," Jane Smiley has presented readers with another beautifully crafted novel. The tone of the book is reminiscent of Sinclair Lewis' works; its texture and atmosphere are solidly middle-American. "Private Life" is the story of a marriage and the resulting disillusionment experienced when the wife sees her husband for what he really is. What she thought was a private life is, in reality, a life of quiet desperation in which she has subordinated herself to the myopic vision her husband espouses. The author draws back the curtain on everyday characters' lives to reveal deeper truths about those individuals and, as a result, the reader may be prodded into reexamining his/her own life choices.
Both the prologue and epilogue are set in 1942, but the majority of the novel's action occurs during the period between 1883 and that date. In order to appreciate the plot, one must keep in mind the status of women during those years. Margaret Mayfield, the daughter of a doctor who committed suicide, is his oldest surviving child; her two sisters are more beautiful and considered more marriageable than she. Margaret is a bookish, but not brilliant; personable, but lacking a dynamic personality. Lavinia Mayfield, Margaret's mother, daughter of John Gentry a Missouri farmer, is ever mindful of the advantages of a "good marriage." Dr. Andrew Jackson Jefferson Early, a Navy Captain and PhD, and Montgomery County's (MO) most famous son fits the bill. Margaret, conforming to the dictates of societal norms, accepts his marriage proposal. Following their marriage, the two move to Mare Island Naval Shipyard in California where Captain Early is in charge of a small observatory.
Without giving too much detail and spoiling "Private Life" for the reader, suffice it to say Andrew Early proves to be a spoiled, pompous, know-it-all who expects Margaret's unquestioning support. His private life involved professional and personal secrets which, had Margaret known of them, would have affected her decision to marry. Margaret's private life is not so much private as a life of quiet desperation; she has no focus other than her husband and his theories of the universe. She questions whether his world view is somehow an argument against education - whether he might have been happier with smaller thoughts. During a time when Margaret begins purchasing prints from a Japanese artist, she sees depicted in one of the pictures that there is a moment just before the recipient of the gift realizes the evil intentions of the sender. This highlights Margaret's awakening and her realization that Andrew is not all he seemed to be; she has been drawn into his world and is expected to orbit around him. Through letters Margaret discovers in Andrew's office, she learns that what she thought was a private life has been orchestrated by others who know more about Andrew than she does. At one point, Margaret's friend Dora tells her that thinking of Margaret always made her give thanks for soundness and stability; that somewhere in the world things were going on as they always do. Margaret replies that Dora talks like a woman who never married.
"Private Life" is an emotionally charged, sometimes disturbing portrait of a woman trapped by society's expectations and her own acquiescence to her husband's demands. Her life is subsumed into his. These complex characters are finely drawn; each is distinct and adds to the overall theme and the plot of the novel. Each individual plays an important role in Margaret's subordinating herself to her husband or in her awakening to the truth of her life and of her marriage. I was unable to put the book down once I started it and recommend you read this when life's demands will allow you to do so in one sitting. Jane Smiley has written another American classic; it is intelligent, engrossing, and speaks volumes about the danger of a life so private that it is no life at all.
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