"The Bradshaw Variations": Switching Roles

I had read and liked novels by British writer Rachel Cusk before, most recently and most notably "Arlington Park" (2007), so when I heard she had published a new novel, "The Bradshaw Variations" (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2010), I sought it out. It tells the story of a married couple, Thomas Bradshaw and Tonie Swann, and their year of switching traditional gender roles. Tonie accepts a demanding full-time administrative position at her university, and Thomas stays home to take care of their eight-year-old daughter and to spend time on his music. On the surface, everyone is agreeable and all is well, but certain cracks in the marriage begin to appear, as difficult adjustments are made. Family members are more or less supportive, yet some - subtly or not so subtly - cast doubts on and undermine the arrangement. These family members are almost as central to the story as Thomas and Tonie: Thomas' brothers and their wives, Thomas' quirky parents, and Tonie's awful mother and father. These are all vividly portrayed, each with his or her own backstory. There is much talk among them, much analysis, much taking of emotional temperatures. Despite this, for some reason the characters seem a bit bloodless; although the book focuses on a topic that is of great interest to me (gender roles), I found it hard to care very much about the characters. However, Cusk writes very well, the story is mildly enjoyable, and I never considered stopping reading the novel. It does make readers think about issues of family, marriage, and gender.

Charlotte or Emily?

Whose novels do you like better - Charlotte Bronte's or Emily Bronte's? I was swept up by Emily Bronte's "Wuthering Heights" when I was in college; the extreme romance (in both senses of the word - the "love" sense and the literary sense) and drama were appealing to me as they are to so many young people. Those moors...that howling wind...that love that even death couldn't end.... But as the years went by, the appeal of the novel wore thin, and the appeal of the cruel, overbearing "hero," Heathcliff (understandable as his behavior was, given the way he had been treated as a child), turned sour. Ever since, I have liked and appreciated Charlotte Bronte's work more. "Jane Eyre" is, of course, also romantic, gothic, and unrealistic in some ways, and its hero is also sometimes quite overbearing and even unlikable. But there is somehow more reality in "Jane" than in "Wuthering." And the character of Jane is so well drawn, so appealing. The story and main character in Charlotte Bronte's "Villette" are also very believable and compelling. Charlotte's writing conveys a kind of hard-won wisdom about life. I have re-read and enjoyed her novels several times. But when I tried to re-read "Wuthering Heights" a few years ago, I just couldn't do it.