The Last Days of the Lacuna Cabal [Paperback]

Last Days of the Lacuna Cabal
by Sean Dixon, 2009

Intricate and audacious, but the author pulls it off 5*

I'm seldom genuinely sad to see a book come to an end, but I had become so engrossed in the lives of the crew of unusual women (and token boys) who make up the Lacuna Cabal Montreal Young Women's Book Club (in the words of Du, "an intense little book club") that I felt like a kid moving out of town and losing his circle of friends, or maybe more aptly, a traveler heading home after the brief but intense camaraderie of the road. The characters were not all terribly likable, but were interesting, quirky and human

Now there are two extremes of stylistic ideal. In one, the writing is so transparent that one hardly notices it. Nothing seems to come between the reader and the characters, setting and action. This style seems so natural that one imagines it is effortless, but of course takes great skill and effort. If this is your favored read, approach this book with trepidation!

Then there is writing where the style itself is front and center, in your face, and "Last Days..." certainly falls toward that end of the spectrum. The conceit of the book is that it is written by two of the members (or former members) of the Club, Jennifer and Danielle, and their auctorial voice is sometimes clear as they address us directly in their own name(s), sometimes implicit in the narrative [e.g., "Do you remember when we mentioned the backpack that Neil found back in Chapter One?", p.71]. At other times, the narrative appears straightforwardly third person, yet the question of just how the narrators know, for instance, what a character was thinking at some moment, is never far from view -- and such considerations are often addressed directly. The narrative is self conscious, but seldom devolves into the merely precious. That this is a stylistically different book strikes us from the very beginning, where there is what we can later interpret as a hastily whispered conference between the two 'authors' as to the epigraph (or 'epitaph' as one accidentally calls it).

Here's an example of the sort of swerve that is constantly dished up: "{Runner Coghill] was almost weightless, with translucent skin, a haughty nose -- a pig nose, she sometimes called it in her own garment-rending arias of despair, which were private and known to us only because they were occasionally gossiped about in fits of envy of which we are not proud." Note that here we move effortlessly from a third person narrative, to an abstract first person, to an intimate first person ("we are not proud"); and there is also the concern with attribution, how the author/narrators know what they are reporting.

For those who think this sounds like reading "Last Days..." will be an exercise in intellectual analysis, let me just recommend that you simply read it straight through without stopping to ponder too much. What at first seems confusing should eventually begin to clear up as you get to know the characters and acclimate to the numerous swerves and differing viewpoints that Dixon throws at you. The ride is bumpy and unpredictable and can be unsettling or exhilarating depending on your frame of mind or maybe just the day you're having, but it'll be smoother if you relax and go with the flow. And if, like me, you are reluctant for the story to end, it's one of those books where you can comfortably go back to the beginning and start over again, with a now familiar crew of old friends. It's a tale best unraveled iteratively, rather than by stopping to obsess at each moment.

One complaint: the tablets that Neil carries around are constantly referred to as "stone". As far as I can figure out, the original tablets of the standard version of the Epic were baked clay. (And because of the 11-tablet nature, it is seemingly the standard version that is being used.) Cuneiform is a writing system intended for pressing with a stylus into clay (or wax, etc.), not chiseling into stone. Incidentally, the standard version was written down between 1300 and 1000 BCE, with other partial versions over the previous millennium (as with most epic literature, this is more a 'cycle' of connected stories than a single narrative), and whatever historical framework they are built on was maybe ~2500 BCE. Or did the author have some intent in switching from clay tablets to stone? If so, I can't divine it.

Usually when one finds a book about a group of female friends, the reader can expect a light read. Something that will be fun and enjoyable and require the least investment of mental energy. This is what I was expecting when I began The Last Days of the Lacuna Cabal. I was completely mistaken.

It was quite confusing to start with. I was expecting something completely different from what I got. I was not disappointed by the surprise but it was jarring to start with. Once I got into it, I really liked it a lot. The writing style was different to say the least. Different in this case does not mean bad by any form of the imagination. I am usually not a big fan of the more experimental writing styles but I found that this was an exception. It the hands of a less talented writer "different" would have not worked so well but in Sean Dixon's it resulted in a really great book.

I really liked most of the characters. The only one I really could not make a connection with was Runner. She seemed a bit abrasive to me. The other women in the book club were much more my speed. Strangely, the boys in the novel were my favorites. Cory, Du and Neil were funny, smart and aware. They seemed to know the women in the Lacuna Cabal were crazy but just went along with them because they couldn't help being caught up in the whirlwind.

I also found myself over thinking the themes in The Last Days of the Lacuna Cabal as I am likely to do with books like this. I am probably very off on my interpretation but I like theorizing, so bear with me. Iraq seemed to a specter in the background. The book they are reading is The Epic of Gilgamesh which takes place in Mesopotamia (modern day Iraq), the blog that Aline reads (The Baghdad Blogger by Salam Pax) and constant mentions of the escalating war in Iraq (even though the women in the group seem to brush it off as unimportant most of the time). I found it interesting that the only member of the Lacuna Cabal who thought the war was an important issue was Aline. She seemed the most aware of the world around her. The other women tend to dismiss any type of conversation that they find unpleasant or frightening. They barricade themselves in their book club and very rarely look beyond. But yet, they can't completely barricade themselves because the world will still happen around them even though they ignore it.

I really liked this book. It was slightly more complex than I was prepared for but it was worth the extra mental energy expended and I think it is definitely worth a read. I am in the middle of the summer doldrums of the brain right now and this really helped me break out of it.

The Last Days of the Lacuna Cabal took some time to fall into, however the end result was so worth it. I cannot go into too much details or I would ruin the story for you. However I can tell you I so want to join a young woman's book club now!

The story is unique, challenging yet fun to read. Different from anything else I have ever read, which makes its appeal much stronger. It is a book about the love of books and friendship. It is odd though, so you have to be up for a challenge and willing to open your mind to the story.