‘Kalila’ by Rosemary Nixon

Review as fiction by Victor Enns

January 3, 2012

THE PHYSICS OF LOSS

1.

I put my Noble key into the deadbolt in the oak door on my way in from the Wolseley street. I have to force the key, the entry a little rough. The lock would  benefit from a bit of WD-40 or graphite. Despite its complaints, the mechanism lets me in.  I am happy to be home after spending my day in the service of the Province doing my job, making nothing happen.

I pocket my keys, and put my walking stick against the hot water radiator in the hall, either a political statement or something I need to keep my ankles from collapsing under the sheer force of my personality. Lenny Bruce said shoes were invented to keep the dog shit off our feet.  I’ve been lucky today, and rack my size fourteens.

The books arrived about a month ago, in a box just left leaning against the door.  I feed my book habit in a number of ways. One is to adjudicate. To decide. To evaluate. To say this is better than that, a lifelong habit which didn’t help me much on the playground at recess.

I am serving as a juror for the new Envoi Literary Awards, named in honour of the self-effacing Burton Cummings, and only available to poets and fiction writers in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta. Due to the fortunate death and legacy of a plumbing magnate with a railroad fetish, The Envoi Literary Foundation (ELF) Awards are now the richest literary awards in all of Canadian literature providing $75,000 prize money and two nights in a premium prairie railway hotel with ensuite bathrooms, of the writer’s choice, provided of course, that the writer takes a train to get there .

I turn on CBC Radio 2 to give it a chance before I switch to my own jazz and blues CDs. In the kitchen I find my Ballantine’s glass, just one left of four, and pour three fingers of scotch over just the right amount of ice.  I pick up the last book I have to read called Kalila, by Rosemary Nixon, as I settle into my favourite Danish rocker, with a sharpened 2HB pencil to make notes in the margin and underline pithy phrases.

2.

Section One: Quantum, p. 9

Marginalia & highlights:

page 9: Scrub the first two lines of this novel.  The opening metaphor is apt, but it explains what kind of book this going to be, what kind of tactics are going to be used in its telling.  The book really starts here  “You prepared for a child to be born. You have not prepared for this.” Everything follows, in three voices, Brodie the father, the husband, the physics teacher, Maggie the torn mother and Doctor Vanioc trying to explain the failures of modern medicine.

9: Moby Dick opens with one of literature’s most famous lines. ”Call Me Ishmael.”  Compare: You think the baby’s name. Kalila. Beloved. This  baby’s name. Common in Arabic and Islam, but not in the top 1,000 American names. Will I listen to Kalila, to Brodie, to Maggie?

Turn the page.

11: Maggie’s voice, also in first person as was her husband Brodie opening the novel. Even shorter sentences, if that’s possible, naming herself Maggie Rachel Watson at the end of the chapter.

13: Dr. Vanioc, renames Kalila as a patient, a list of her list of symptoms he records, a nurse’s he reads.

14: what does a “Brady”  measure?

17: And here’s some physics courtesy of Brodie.  Einstein never accepted Schrodinger’s quantum mechanics.  Hope there’s not too much of this, I skipped physics to take music.

18: Oh shit, here it is again, this insistence readers understand the importance of story. Foothills Neonatal breathes story.  Could have skipped the first paragraph for the much stronger opening of the second paragraph, I hold Kalila on my lap, an intravenous needle stuck in her head.

25: “Because, grade elevens, every time we make an observations we change what’s observed.”

27:  The social worker misnames Maggie Mrs. Solantz (her husband’s last name) she corrects her – “I’m Ms Watson.”

31,32: Well-written erotic love scene.

Notes:  I once heard David Arnason say that the first sentence was likely the most important sentence in any story. Once you had written it you excluded at least a billion alternative stories, and like a butterfly in chaos theory, the small change at one place in a system could result in large differences to a later state. The usual example is extreme, the presence of a butterfly flapping its wings could lead to creation or absence of a hurricane somewhere else in the world. Not in ruddy Manitoba. Imagine Nabokov with his net and pins plunging through a meadow between the bush in the Interlake. I rather imagine Ada.

Section Two: Inordinate Light

Marginalia & highlights:

36: I long for such a spilling of blood. A proof of suffering. A measurement of grief.

43-45: funny, Brodie in class, some welcome comic relief.

52: Burn. “You’ve had a baby? The woman stares at my flat stomach. God! Milt. Come look at Brodie Solantz’s (is he hers?) skinny wife. She’s had a baby!”

I say, “I have the afterbirth to prove it.” Whoo.

59: we chalk up tears at 37 cents a minute.

61: Brady’s defined: Severe apnea can lead to bradycardia, a dangerous slowing of the heart rate.”

Note: Put pressure on the tooth that aches, it’s real and provides a perverse kind of relief.

Section three: Refraction

Marginalia & highlights:

70: sizing up premies: “two pound babies the size of a hunk of cheese.” Maggie’s Dad’s reference “they’re the size of roasting chickens.” I know this is wrong because the free-run happy harvest chickens from De Luca’s I roast are all over five pounds.

79 : Ah Shit. No, not The Little Prince?

83: The uncertainty principle reigns in quantum mechanics.  Planck’s imaginative thinking. The 1918 Nobel Prize. There was a war on.

85: Explication of quantum mechanics. “a photon, a quantum of light in other words,  can be in two or more states, here and there at the same time.

That doesn’t make sense, a voice pipes up from the back.

Sure it does. Anita leans forward. “It’s like my boyfriend – nice guy, son of a bitch—

99: Dead on description of Brodie longing to talk about unimportant things.

102: Some welcome comic relief , courtesy of Maggie, while reflecting on faith. Dougie Staganofski, at church camp to get out of doing dishes, said, I’ll bet Jesus walked on salt water. That’s all. Right then and there I stroked him off my potential  husband list. Trust a Catholic. Relying on works. No faith.

111: Friends, mere acquaintances trying for really nice. Their gusty breaths, their strapped-on smiley faces.

Notes: Ashamed. Memories of dead baby jokes, memories of God, memories of my son fully recovering from brain surgery. Memories of other parents in the waiting room with kids who probably weren’t going to make it.

Section four: Deflection

Marginalia, highlights

121: God is dead, but Maggie sure misses him.

122:  So it’s grandma that prays.

125: Brodie introduces chaos theory to his grade elevens, a little obvious but fitting, see also page nine.

130: continue to ignore Maggie’s references to The Little Prince. Somehow Brodie’s physics seems more grown up. OK I’ve been socialized. I read The Little Prince and learned to make light of it, physics on the other remains a heavy mystery.

133: Physics allows for more than one reality. Oh, wait, Brodie’s said that already.

139: “…a baby leaves some of her X chromosomes behind in the mother’s body when she’s born.…

A mother carries her baby forever, the nurse says. Imagine that.”

147: Here’s faith again, Maggie, (italics the authors) “We have to believe the things that matter are going to survive.”

Notes: This book is a lot about faith, without the heavy baggage of religion, and how it relates to courage. But there are all those hymn and Bible quotations. Yeah, right there alongside The Little Prince.

Section five: Superposition

Marginalia, highlights:

171: “Marriages break up at times like this, “ I know this is true, but it seems churlish in the nurse’s voice.  Foreshadowing.

184: What’s normal? Sunshine and suctioning.  We shall all be changed. Quote from Corinthians darkens the mood as the quote goes on something like at the last trumpet, the dead shall be raised incorruptible, which is not quoted here.

187:  Entanglement. Brodie sneaks in some more physics. Particles may be thousands of kilometres apart but whatever happens to one of them causes immediate changes in the other.

190: Visitors, “She’s almost a normal baby!”

199: Double play, bureaucrat from health service and the insurance company visit to recommend

discontinuation of services because they are costing the taxpayer “a lot,” and there are other more needy children. This reads true, anyone that has had to advocate for health services for a family member knows this scene. Bang on. Maggie and Brodie do not give in.

205: nurses strike, a flight to Edmonton Home lies like a book abandoned three hundred kilometres away,

209: The Gideon Bible, in Edmonton Maggie finds the cut-the-baby-in-half story.

211: “She’s gone.”

214, 215: More poetry-like stuff, more white space, reminds me of Johnny Crackle Sings, Matt Cohen’s second book with Anansi.

219 And a voice was heard in Ramah, lamentations and bitter weeping. Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted. Drawn from Matthew 2:18.

222: This is important. The (Watson) sisters sing ‘Faith is….’ at  the funeral.

225: The pain is like the light. Its waves go on and on. Circles back on the opening metaphor I didn’t like. The rest is dross, is epilogue. And what’s with 5 pages of acknowledgements and citations, every song cited, but not the Bible. I guess it’s public domain, and the quotes weren’t exactly like I read. God, Google is great.

Notes:  Maggie and Brodie separate, maybe divorce. Readers are prepared for this (see page 171), but it still freezes my heart. If the child dies it will never feel responsible for his parent’s divorce.  Both parents will feel responsible for the baby’s death. Mine lived. Surely a smaller problem for all three of us.

I’ve tried to explain reading to some of my friends. How the reader shapes the text from their personal experience and every book is different for every reader, so how do you say this book is better than that book? The only way you can is from your own experience, sure shaped by what you know of the craft, but your attention comes from yourself. Each one of the judges will have read this book differently.

3.

January 8, 2012

TELECONFERENCE

– Don’t know if I can get this damn Skype thing to work; you’d think with this kind of prize money the ELF  could fly us all to Winnipeg.

– Why do we have to do this on Saturday?

– Well some of us still have real jobs.

– Oh there you are. This doesn’t need to take a long time. Why don’t we just settle on one book for each province and then fight over the last places on the short list.

– We could also rank our top five choices and see which we chose.

– Why don’t we weight certain criteria, like relevance, innovation, for whom the award would be the biggest sales boost, its literary quotient (looks like we have some genre fiction and YA in the mix).

– That’ll take forever.

– We’re just looking for good books here, aren’t we? Can’t we talk about the writing? And then have some consensus? There wasn’t a guide on how this was supposed to work…

– First time for this award, and first jury for you?

(an hour later)

– Manitoba? Dadolescence by Bob Armstrong.

– Saskatchewan? Nobody Cries at Bingo, by Dawn Dumont.

– Alberta? Grayling Cross by Gaylene Froese.

–  We’re allowed up to five titles on the shortlist. But isn’t Nobody Cries, isn’t it a children’s book?

– I’m not really sure, it was in my box of books so it must mean it’s eligible. Who cares?

– Well shouldn’t we be comparing apples to apples?

– It’s all fruit, and it was in our box of books, so it must be eligible.

– There are no children’s or young adult categories for ELF awards, so I thought this would be a good choice. She’s funny as hell. If there’s anyone on the list so far deserves it she sure does.

– Aboriginal too.

– That has nothing to do with it.

– Just saying.

– The three are fine. What about Kalila by Rosemary Nixon? For number 4?

– Nixon’s a Mennonite isn’t she? Don’t really think there is room for two Mennonite authors on the short list.

–  An Alberta book recommended by a Manitoba juror, oh, right, the province is rife with Mennonites that can sing four part hymns, quote from the Bible and swear like troopers with shit on their boots and publish each other in Rhubarb.

– Well actually Rosemary is quite reserved. There are no swears that I noticed. But you have the quote from the Bible business right.

-What else we got?

– OK, I like Kalila too. It’s not often you get a writer tackling a dying baby story, with enough humour in enough places that it doesn’t become a relentless misery. It raises some important issues. The book clubs will love it.

– Right, Alberta.

– Maybe Bandit? Tefs has published more books than the other writers, he’s been a serious mentor and editor to what by now must be dozens of writers in Manitoba. It would be a solid recognition of a long literary career.

– What about the book itself? Docu-fiction? What the hell is that?

– You didn’t read Michael Winter’s book last year? Guys might like it. A bullion bandit.

– We’ve got a guys book. Dadolescence.

– Right, stay at home dads, not exactly an adventure story.

– Well it’s nice to read a guys book where all the men aren’t assholes.

– Funny as hell, saw it at the Fringe one year when it was called Tits on a Bull.

– Maybe it makes a better play. I know he’s written plays. This is his first real novel isn’t it?

– Nice to have a newcomer on the list

– What you got Saskatchewan?

– I was going to suggest Sue Sorenson’s first novel A Large Harmonium, it’s published by Coteau, but it would really be another Manitoba title. I’m starting to figure out how this jury thing goes. Alberta, Manitoba, you may or may not have colluded but you both put up your second choices, a genre novel, and a first novel as your first choices, knowing you had strong second choices. You know you’re taking advantage of a newbie here. And Manitoba, you know Sorenson and you were betting I’d put it up so you wouldn’t have to.

– Oh, come on you did the same thing, putting a children’s book on the list. You could make the case for Warwaruk you know. Presenting a character that has a violent racist past is as difficult as dying babies I would think. And it’s about guys.

– What do you think, Alberta?

– I’ll let you two sort it out. I’m happy with the two Alberta titles on the list. I’ve got to go, take my kids to the rink.  I’ll write up the blurb for Graylings Cross, but Manitoba I’d like you to do the blurb for Kalila.

– OK Saskatchewan, I’ll switch my choice from Bandit to The Large Harmonium. And then we’re done.

– Doesn’t seem fair, somehow. It is funny. I did like it. Oh, all right. But you better write the blurb for that, I’ll do Nobody Cries at Bingo.

4.

Glad that’s over with. I do like being a decider. And no major publishers on the list. I wonder if they got the memo. Mind you Miriam Toews has moved to Toronto and doesn’t qualify.  You know, despite what Saskatchewan thought, I wasn’t sure whether I’d push for Tefs or Armstrong. I decided during the call that it was time to give a funny first novel a chance. I’ll have some explaining to do, and Tefs did say some very nice things about my first book. Both are published by Turnstone so that should be all right. But Saskatchewan was right. I did want someone else to propose Sorenson, and I was pretty sure somebody would, and I had bet on Saskatchewan since Coteau is in Regina and Sorenson has lived there. Not that many Saskatchewan writers with novels this year.

I liked Sue’s book, and now I have two Manitoba writers I can live with when we get down to the real negotiating. And the reality of giving someone $75,000 for a book sets in. Look out Saskatchewan.

5.

Later in the evening, after dinner.

Might as well write the Kalila blurb while I still remember what I like about it. But first three fingers of scotch over just the right amount of ice.

“In Kalila, Rosemary Nixon has given readers characters to remember as a young couple struggles to cope with a premature infant whose life is in danger. In a tightly compressed novel with short snappy sentences and moments and phrases of poetic precision we have a heart-wrenching story with just enough humour to lighten the darkness. Using sources as diverse as The Little Prince, the Bible, hymns, traditional songs and the laws of physics, Nixon explores what it is to believe. Believe this: Kalila is a fine gem of a novel.”

That ought to do it. It’s been a long Saturday. Ten o’clock. Time for bed. Dadolescence can wait until tomorrow.

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Goose Lane | 256 pages | $19.95 | Paper | ISBN #978-0864926524