THE INKLING

by Fred Chappell ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 11, 1965

This is the story of the Anderson family of North Carolina: the boy Jan who represents ""the will,"" kills cats horribly, and covets his Uncle's wife; the girl Timmie who represents ""desire,"" becomes not quite right in the head, and has a wild thing going with a toy giraffe named after her brother; Uncle Hake who sits around the house a lot rustling his newspaper; the maid Laura for whom he puts his newspaper down; and Mother the head of the household, with a multitude of problems on her hands-- Jan, Timmie, Uncle Hake and Laura, which is nothing really compared to what's on her children's hands, i.e. stigmata. The Inkling abounds in kinesthetic-onomatopoetic verbs, dark symbolism, and phrases like ""Sisyphean persistence."" (There is Love and there is Erotic Love, but only one kind of persistence when you get right down to it.) One suspects after a while that Mr. Chappell took his title from those liquid drops used in administering Rorschach tests. It reads like a Rorschach test.

Pub Date: Aug. 11, 1965

ISBN: 1932482083

Page Count: -

Publisher: Harcourt, Brace & World

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1965

Categories: FICTION