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The Coast of Akron: A novel
Books: Travel: Akron: Item 7
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The Coast of Akron: A novelby Adrienne Miller
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13 of 18 people found the following review helpful: obvious talent but one wishes put to better use, June 4, 2005 Reviewer:B. Capossere (Rochester, NY USA) - There is a lot to like in Miller's Coast of Akron: her sense of humor, vivid and original descriptions, sharp use of language, a boatload of absurdity. Unfortunately, these appear more as isolated bits and pieces while the larger whole-book aspects that one tends to judge a novel on--story, character, and narrative--are much less effective. Akron, therefore, is a book that while you could open it randomly and point to almost any sentence or paragraph as proof of the writer's obvious talent, you just don't want to read. It focuses on a single family made up of ludicrous characters: Lowell Haven--famed self-portrait artist of personality (think a more self-aware, more fraudulent Andy Warhol) who hasn't "painted" in five years; his ex-wife Jenny--failed artist now involved with a children's art museum whose younger life is conveyed via her diary notes; Fergus--Jenny's flamboyantly gay childhood friend now rich and living (with Lowell) in a status-dripping Tudor mansion in Akron complete with suits of armor and a motto; Merit--Jenny and Lowell's daughter who escapes her marriage with an obsessive-compulsive statistician with periodic wildly inappropriate affairs (including her current one with an Iron-Maiden tee-shirt wearing employee of hers), and Wyatt--Merit's husband who is more attuned to his self-invented lighting system than to his marriage. The characters are over-the-edge and Miller uses their inevitable fall into dissolution to poke fun at lots of personal and societal issues. There's a lot here on art, on gender, on identity, status, artificiality, celebrity, pop culture, etc. And it all works for about the first quarter or third of the book. But then the reader begins to grow a bit wearied of the episodic nature; of the over-the-top nature of the characters; of the sprawling, somewhat disconnected plot. Like the family, the novel starts to fall apart (though unlike the family it at least had a promising start). One continues to be impressed by the building blocks of the book--Miller's sentences, her language, her imagery (dolls with faces removed, etc.) but the blocks never seem to actually construct anything. Because the characters are so over-the-top, because they're so removed from reality and so unlikable in many ways, they can't save the plot because one doesn't care much about what happens to them. Fergus comes closest to gaining our empathy, but never quite does, while at the other side of the spectrum is Lowell, who is truly unlikable but also such a vague, unsubstantial presence that we don't get the joy of truly hating him, or feeling much at all. Luckily, this inability to connect with the characters makes the ending even less of a disappointment than it is. I'd certainly try Miller's next novel because Akron shows not just great potential but great current ability, but I'd recommend passing on Coast of Akron and hoping that ability is put to better use in novel number two.
From Publishers Weekly
The soul of the Haven family decays inside a massive faux Tudor dubbed On Ne Peut Pas Vivre Seul—"One Cannot Live Alone." Barraged with the spiraling lies and self-deceptions chronicled here, however, readers may wonder whether living alone is such a bad idea. This first book by Miller, Esquire's award-winning fiction editor, entertains, even fascinates, but ultimately strands the reader with the family's unresolved conflicts and filthy laundry at a homestead literally in flames. The story centers on Merit Haven Ash, grown daughter of two artists, Jenny Meatyard Haven and Lowell Haven, and Fergus Goldwyn, Lowell's lover and Merit's surrogate parent. Miller's talent for caricature is evident early on, as Merit observes her husband Wyatt's obsessive-compulsive behavior, and Fergus, as fabulously bitchy as he is lonely, describes Lowell's evil self-obsession. The author tempers her humor admirably, too, tucking in heartbreaking moments of self-reflection. The trouble is that the scenes don't hang together. Lowell and Jenny are fascinating raptors, and the reader is ready for confrontation as Miller tells the characters' secrets and escalates the drama toward a costume party that is the family's finis. But along the way, Merit and Fergus morph so extremely that their behavior stops making sense. Perhaps their leaps in personality are Miller's take on what happens to children—and adults childlike in their desire for love—when they are betrayed. At the (abrupt and confusing) end, however, it's not the fault of readers if they feel as lost and confused as troubled Merit and her adoptive parent, Fergus. Agent, Christy Fletcher. Author tour.(May)
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From The New Yorker
In this bewildering first novel, Lowell Haven is a charismatic self-portraitist who lives with his wealthy lover, Fergus, in a multi-turreted folly in Akron. But have Lowell's paintings—of himself as Richard III, as the Wife of Bath, etc.—really been painted by his embittered ex-wife Jenny? Lowell and Jenny's neglected daughter, Merit, dreads dealing with all three of them, and soon so do we: Jenny is an alcoholic, Fergus sneezes with violent frequency, and Lowell seduces anything that moves. Their greatest offense, though, is their two-dimensionality; they're like campy walk-ons in a Republican fever dream. The good news is that Miller can write, and everything about Merit's fairly banal life—her vexing marriage, her erratic driving, her job selling ad space for Ohio Is—is described with hilarity and complexity. Unfortunately, these qualities are absent from the rest of the novel, which eventually chokes to death on its own whimsy.
Copyright © 2005 The New Yorker
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