Perfect Little World by Kevin Wilson
My rating: 3/5 cats
this is the first book i have read by kevin wilson, although i own both of his others. i wasn’t immediately wowed by the synopsis, but from its first sentence (the first chapter 1 sentence, after the confusing-at-the-time prologue), i was hooked:
Three hours after she had graduated from high school, Izzy sat on a park bench next to her art teacher, Mr. Jackson, and told him that she was pregnant.
after that opener, i went on a page-folding frenzy: 9, 11, 15, 28, 43, etc, because his writing instantly drew me in, and i remember thinking, “oooh, why haven’t i read this guy before – this is wonderful!!”
and it continued to be wonderful – i liked the story very much while i was reading it, but when i finished, i was left with a vaguely unsatisfied feeling; something was missing to the novel as a whole experience, and while it was very strong in both story and writing, it was a bit lacking in the character department.
but good things first – this is definitely worth your reading-time. i cannot stress it enough – the description didn’t make it sound appealing to my personal tastes at ALL, but his writing just hit my sweet spot.
as we have learned from the opening sentence, izzy is fresh outta high school and carrying her art teacher’s baby. her mother is dead, her father is lost in drink and grief, and when mr. jackson is suddenly taken out of the daddy-picture, izzy is faced with the prospect of raising her child alone, with only the money she earns from her job pig-shredding at the BBQ restaurant to support them.
fortunately, izzy’s pregnancy coincides with the recruitment-period of The Infinite Family Project, a ten-year-long experiment in parenting run by wunderkind dr. preston grind and his research assistants, in which ten expectant couples (or, in izzy’s case, a soon-to-be single parent) would all live together and raise their families collectively, and where the children would not even know who their biological parents were until their fourth year. the project is incredibly well-funded by an elderly benefactress wanting to establish her legacy, so the participants lack for nothing money can buy, and the children and parents both have more advantages than they would otherwise: private chefs, tutors, instant close-knit extended family, and employment and higher education opportunities for the parents without the stress of rent or other expenses.
the hypothesis is that having a larger support system will make the children better able to handle life’s challenges, and will take some pressure off of the parents, leading to a better environment all around.
this is dr. grind’s pet project; a reaction to his own unusual upbringing: the son of two child psychologists, he was himself the subject of an experiment in child-rearing, one much more cruel than his own.
According to the Grinds, the world itself was harsh and unpredictable, exacerbated by human beings who were programmed to selfishly consider only their own interests. The failure of many parents, in their opinion, was that they tried to create a false and ultimately unhelpful view of the world with regard to their children, seeking at all times to provide comfort and to make life free of complication. This resulted in children who, as they became adults and were forced to interact more closely with the true world around them, were incapable of processing the actual unfairness and destructive qualities of society.
i appreciate their goals. their methods, however, are another matter. they developed The Constant Friction Method, whose aim was to introduce as much tension and instability into preston’s life – disrupting his feeding and sleep schedules, handcuffing him in a locked room at the age of three, challenging him to find the keys allowing him to escape… dr. grind’s experiment is a clear reversal of their ideas, and one he hopes will result in well-adjusted, happy, and high-performing children and relaxed, effective parents.
and for the most part, it seems to work, as far as the children are concerned. their test results place them at or above the development of children raised in a more traditional environment and that part of the project seems to be living up to the expectations of all. however, as in all situations involving groups of children and their parents, it’s rarely the children who are the cause of the problems, and this is no different. many of the potential complications were addressed during the planning stages of the project, and measures taken to avoid them, but nothing is 100% predictable, and unanticipated situations arise that are devastating to the community.
once the story started unfolding, i was completely on-board with where it was taking me – each chapter covers a year in the course of the project, and it was both fascinating and astute in its observations and descriptions of human behavior, both good and bad. some of the characters blended together, but the story is primarily concerned with dr. grind and izzy, with some secondary characters getting screentime and others kind of mooshing together, particularly the children other than izzy’s son, cap.
the problem i had was with izzy as a character. she is someone in whom so many other characters see greatness and potential and talent, but on-page, she’s a little flat and it’s hard to see the greatness everyone else assures us is there.
at first, i liked her point-of-view a lot; most of the folded-over pages in the beginning were because of character quirks and viewpoints attributed to her:
her saddish self:
Happiness, she believed, was small and quiet and you expressed it when no one else was around. She had not, in fact, experienced enough of the emotion to support this firm belief that she held as fact.
her practicality:
Five pregnancy tests, all stolen from the drugstore because they were more expensive than anything that depressing should ever be. Let the people who wanted a baby pay for them.
her awkwardness at waitressing:
She did not like being witnessed while in possession of someone else’s food.
her presentation as a smart, but unambitious oddball:
Izzy had been a straight-A student in high school, so whip smart, seemingly without effort, that the teachers simply forgot about her. She showed so little enthusiasm for the subjects that her perfect scores on every test were seen as an anomaly and the teachers focused instead on the smart enough students who begged for attention. From her junior year until graduation, the guidance counselors assured her that she could receive a full ride to any of the state universities, but she informed them, politely, quietly, that she had no interest. She was smart and she wasn’t apologetic about it, but the studying and the memorization tore something loose in her each time, the fear that she was devoting her life to something that did not entirely interest her and would, ultimately, disappoint her. She imagined herself at a job making only slightly more than the minimum age, as fucked as if she hadn’t spent four more years in school.
i liked the way her character was shaping up, but it was a details-only characterization. she absolutely grows throughout the novel, in the unusual situation she finds herself, but she retains this aloofness. as much as she participates in the demands of the community, she maintains this observer status, perhaps because she is the only person not sharing the experience with a partner. she’s somewhat sidelined, doesn’t call attention to herself, follows the rules, and is even accused of being a goody-goody by another parent because of this reserve. there’s a self-reliant strength to her, but that’s a lonely kind of strength. despite all the people surrounding her, who she does indeed see as family, she’s still inscrutable. the problem is that the reader notices this pulling-away as much as the characters surrounding her. it’s hard to know her, even though all of her is right there on the page.
and i don’t see what it is about her that sets her apart and impresses people so much. her art doesn’t seem that innovative, she’s smart and kind and capable, but not in any remarkable way. it’s one of those situations where we are told a character is an incredible person, but we’re not really shown anything that supports this fact.
View Spoiler »i think this is a really strong book – i loved the ideas it presented and izzy’s relationship with the gruffly paternal mr. tannehill is so sweet and moving. there’s a lot here to celebrate. but for me, there were a couple of things preventing me from unconditional love.
it’s a solid 3.5 stars cats, but i can’t round this one up to 4 the way i do with so many others. however, my quibbles are only my own, so as always – don’t take my word for it, read the book!
