When Madeline Was Young Book

I think this might be the best example I've seen of what people mean when they refer to "women's fiction." This is a book in which, basically, nothing happens. And not even really in the Seinfeld sense where a great deal happens that is internally, or conversationally, noteworthy -- no, nobody in this story changes their heart or mind. Like people do, they get older and think they understand more and they talk deprecatingly about their wives but you can tell they love them a lot, in a very pragmatic way. And that's all.

At least one review has dismissed this as a "situation story," as in, that's not a story, it's a situation. But I don't even think it's that. The flicker of Seinfeld absurdity which even the jacket flap takes to be the "situation" of the book -- that the narrator grows up with his father's first wife, who was brain-damaged into childishness early in their marriage, living in the same house as his mother and father and treated by both parents as another child -- is not the main situation. This isn't even one of those (irritating) books where the weird thing that happened in youth goes on to inform and affect everything else, even the most seemingly unrelated experiences.

The main situation is, simply, the life and surroundings, feelings and thoughts, people and places, of Mac Maciver, the narrator. The narrative structure of the book is best described as that of a long friendship, close enough to hear intimate thoughts but distant enough for lengthy updates. There isn't really any plot build -- again, not even the back of the book can tell you what HAPPENS in this story. There aren't even any of the wacky scenarios typical of, ahem, chick lit, which is what people probably mostly define women's fiction as these days, the kind of thing that, in theory, you could explain quickly to a nearby man: "And Luke DIDN'T KNOW that Becky had planned this whole other wedding at the same time..." There isn't anything to encapsulate. There is just the whole; there is just what is. Nothing happens... but it's still pretty interesting. Mac Maciver... nice guy.

How do I feel about a book like this? How do I feel about calling it feminine? Well, in the words of Teddy KGB of the film Rounders (which my male partner has been known to watch more than once IN A DAY0: "I feel ahkay."