All He Ever Wanted Book

'All He Ever Wanted' by Anita Shrive is described by the publisher as a novel about 'obsessive love', and although I find using the word 'obsessive' to describe love problematic, I have to admit that I was transfixed by this story from the first page. The novel is narrated by 64-year-old antagonist Nicholas Van Tassel. He relates his story to readers over the course of a train ride he is taking from New England to Florida to attend to the burial of his sister. Readers are taken back 30 years into Nicholas Van Tassel's past where we become witness to the unraveling of his life. Nicholas begins his story in 1899.. the time in his life when his academic career was beginning at Thrupp College, a small college in New Hampshire. His future, which seemed to have opened up to wonderful possibilities, appeared even brighter when he caught sight of Etna Bliss. Nicholas and Etna had been dining in a hotel dining room (although not with each other) when a fire broke out. Nicholas began helping panicked people to safety and amidst the hysteria and chaos, his eyes were drawn to Etna Bliss, who was calmly standing in the street. Looking back on the totality of this story, this catastrophic fire seems to foreshadow the disaster that Nicholas and Etna's life would become.

Although the opening scenes of this novel would suggest that this story is one of 'love at first sight', it doesn't take long to realize that this isn't exactly true. In fact, Nicholas's own description of his feelings that night set off warning bells for me and left me feeling uncomfortable. He was too intense and his feelings developed much too quickly....
".... my eyes were caught, in the midst of this chaos, by the sight of a woman who was
standing near a lamppost.... there was about her a quality of stillness that was undeniably
arresting.... my desire for this unknown woman was so immediate and keen and
inappropriate that it quite startled me....."
Nicholas alludes many times when writing about his feelings for Etna, his awareness that his attraction and his feelings for her were too intense and even though he insists he was powerless to control those feelings, I began to suspect he wasn't as powerless as he proclaimed. In fact, through his own words, I began to see at times, a calculated manipulation behind some of his behaviors which was unsettling. Nicholas was determined to marry Etna Bliss and he set about methodically to make that happen.... regardless of how SHE felt about it.

We don't get a clear picture of Etna Bliss since everything we learn about her comes from Nicholas's writings. We learn that Etna's mother had recently died and she was staying with an uncle in the little New England village. As was common in Victorian society, Etna (as an unmarried woman) could look forward only to being a nanny for her sister's children and it was obvious that the thought of what her future held, felt suffocating to her. But it was also clear that in the social interactions between Etna and Nicholas that she did not share his amorous feelings. The two began seeing each other socially , according to expected traditional Victorian customs... they went for long walks, shared afternoon tea and exchanged favorite books. Despite Etna's continued emotional distance and aloofness, Nicholas's passion for her never cooled. In fact, he seemed to regard her distance as a challenge and he doubled his efforts. Finally, Nicholas proposed marriage to Etna. The proposal wasn't particularly romantic but rather was presented in a matter-of-fact way.. almost a business proposition and I suppose, in a sense, it WAS a business proposition because Nicholas realized that Etna had not warmed to him emotionally. But he also knew that her prospects for the future weren't appealing to her so he offered her something he believed she couldn't and wouldn't refuse.....
"... I offer you a life as mistress of your own household, as mother to your own children,
as wife to a man who adores you.... I offer you everything a man has to give a woman,
including his mind and heart and modest fortune."
Even Nicholas realized, as he looks back on this moment years later, that this was the event that set into motion events which he couldn't control after all, regardless of his schemes and manipulations. Etna accepted his proposal but if Nicholas was expecting her to fall into his arms, he must have been disappointed. Etna's response was less than enthusiastic and about as far from romantic as an acceptance of a marriage proposal can get....
"... I could not lightly turn aside so generous an offer, Professor Van Tassel. Nicholas.
What woman could when it is so sincerely meant? And I do have admiration for you, I do.
And some fondness.... But... This must be said.... I do not love you.... I shall accept your
proposal... We shall speak no more of love, either of its presence or its absence......"

If Nicholas was disappointed by Etna's response, he remained undeterred. Nicholas and Etna married but from the beginning, the marriage was fraught with misunderstandings, miscommunications and secrecy and as the conflicts increased over the years, Etna became more distant and Nicholas grew more desperate. The final straw for this beleaguered marriage occurred when Philip Asher, the brother of Etna's former lover (whom Nicholas had known nothing about), took a teaching position at Thrupp College. Philip became not only a threat to Nicholas's professional ambitions but Etna's familiarity with this man and the ease with which she spoke to him, sent Nicholas into a rage. His jealousy and his burning anger led to his complete loss of self-control. He first began spying on his wife's every move and violating her privacy. He forced himself on her sexually and his last despicable act was using their own teenaged daughter in a plot which ultimately ended up ruining his life, his marriage and his family.

In 'All He Ever Wanted', Anita Shrive skillfully created the claustrophobic and oppressive atmosphere that characterized the life of women in Victorian society. It wasn't lost on me that in using Nicholas Van Tassel as narrator of this story, Etna's voice was completely suppressed. In the society in which she lived, she not only had no control over her independence and what her life would become but she even had no voice with which to tell her own story. The little we learned of Etna came through her husband's voice.. a voice that was self-satisfied and unreliable at best.

Having said all of this, I admit that Nicholas Van Tassel is one of those complex characters that I enjoy. Although he was pompous and arrogant and his behavior was abhorrent, I still felt sympathy for him at various points of the novel. Although a villain, Ms. Shreve did a terrific job of humanizing Nicholas Van Tassel. He married a woman he didn't really know and who clearly didn't love him... this made him sympathetic to me. After all, everyone wants to be loved. But in the end, although his actions were desperate, they were also despicable and he alone was responsible for the decisions he made and the damage that occurred.

This novel was a portrayal of the repressive nature of Victorian society and most interestingly, it was the story of an ill-conceived marriage that went terribly wrong. And perhaps the story was a kind of cautionary tale.. a warning of how misunderstandings, dishonesty and jealousy can fester and grow... leading to the ruination of a marriage and a family.