There’s no other way to say it - if you’ve not yet read a novel by Ward Just you’ve been seriously deprived. Don’t waste a minute more. If you are familiar with Just’s writing you know that RODIN’S DEBUTANTE, his 17th novel, will be just as trenchant, thoughtful, and absorbing as his others.
This time Just takes us to pre-World War I Chicago where wealthy Tommy Ogden, the heir to a railroad fortune, refuses to give his carping, sarcastic wife the money she wants to have a bust of herself made by Rodin. Yes, the French master himself. Instead, Ogden proposes to turn his mansion into a boys’ school - Ogden Hall School. This is a shock to Ogden’s wife as he is a taciturn, private man whose interests appear to be only sketching and hunting. Yet, the decision is made.
Years later Lee Goodwill will be a student at Ogden Hall. Lee’s coming of age is at the center of Just’s story, and introduced by a time and place change - the end of World War II and a mill town bordering Lake Michigan. It is at Ogden Hall that Lee encounters his idealistic headmaster, Gus Allprice, who becomes weary of his students’ ennui and leaves.
As time passes Lee is living on Chicago’s South Side and volunteers at a free clinic where he meets Dr. Petitbon who is in charge of the clinic. It is at this point that Lee the youth morphs into Lee the man. He has chosen a life of relative poverty in order to become a sculptor, enjoying creative freedom.
This is a fascinating story, perceptive and deep. Don’t miss it.
No comments:
Post a Comment