SAME BLOOD

by Mermer Blakeslee ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 23, 1988

Blakeslee's debut novel, a saga of hard times in the rural Catskills, may well have something to say, but whatever that sump'n is, it gits kinda lost-like in the overdone dialect and the endless assault of bleakness and tragedy. Margaret, the narrator, is an earthy unwed mother who has some sort of mystical connection to the natural world. She got pregnant the first time she ever had sex, and she gave birth to her son all alone in a scene that she recounts bluntly, sparing none of its spectacular gore. Now, she supports Bubby, her little boy, by working as a maid, and she mothers by instinct, surprised to learn that other people don't approve of breast-feeding a three-year-old. In short order, tragedy strikes: Margaret loses her job, and then Bubby dies suddenly--and this is only chapter one. What follows, as Margaret gropes her way through grief, is a string of events doused in mysticism--an encounter with Bubby's spirit, a faith-healing that doesn't quite work, and a deep, primal relationship with another woman who seems, confusingly, to be sometimes named Eudora and, at other times, Dorothea. In the realm of the real world, Margaret leaves her apartment and moves in to share a farmhouse with an older couple who have taken care of her in the past; she also takes in a foster child, Billy, who has recently lost his mother. Blakeslee seems to be relying on the mystical scenes to give some meaning to all the Sturm und Drang, but it never comes off--the connections aren't there. And though there are some strong and moving story elements here, particularly near the end, they're diminished in the context of so much bathos. Finally, truth to tell, it gits all us readers kinda numb-like.

Pub Date: Jan. 23, 1988

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1988

Categories: FICTION