WETTERMARK

by Elliot Chaze ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 1, 1968

A deceptively unprepossessing novel about a man's decimation and crack-up in a small Mississippi town, by the author of Tiger in the Honeysuckle and some humorous works. Cliff Wettermark, reporter and columnist for the Catherine (Miss.) Call, who'd given up smoking, who was plagued by TV dinners, a decaying house and furniture, debts and a possibly malignant facial affliction, languidly does the town rounds--police station, politicians, the newspaper office. Liked and trusted, Wettermark however knows himself to be a burned-out battery with no vestiges of hope, ambition--and powers. He loves his wife, Margaret (wary with middle-aged fears), but ""No matter how much glow a woman starts with, she can glow only so many times in the face of disappointment."" Wettermark is regretfully fired after he challenges an unctuous Senator on live TV while in his cups. His attempt at bank robbery seems to just naturally happen, as despairing nights follow sour days. But Wettermark is a bungler--easily falling into exposure and homicide. At the close, Wettermark in his death cell stares at money-sized cut-outs of blank paper. . . . Better at limning corrosive circumstances that goad a consciousness to action than at rooting about in the disturbed psyche of the actor, nonetheless Mr. Chaze is able to set out a convincing milieu for a very human tragedy. The flotsam of ruin on a quiet current.

Pub Date: Jan. 1, 1968

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Scribners

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1968

Categories: FICTION