Baby Got Books

Lark & Termite

Lark & Termite by Jayne Anne Phillips was an interesting read for me because it was one of those books that I didn’t embrace until I was almost half-way through it. The first half of the book is mostly character driven while the second half is much more plot driven. This novel focuses on six characters living in West Virginia in the 1950′s. One of the characters, Corporal Robert Leavitt, is stationed in Korea in 1950 and his story takes place during the No Gun Ri massacre. The story goes back and forth between each character and at the beginning I had a difficult time seeing how they all tied together.

Lark, a seventeen year old who has spent most of her childhood taking care of her disabled brother, is the most interesting character. In one sense, she is completely naive and selfless and assumes her care-giving duties as a gift rather than a burden.

I’m so used to being with Termite, he feels like alone to me. He’s like a hum that always hums so the edge of where I am is blunt and softened.

But by the end of the novel, she becomes the only character who takes charge of her life and makes a significant decision to improve her and Termite’s life. Along the way we learn that she has been sexually involved with her neighbor from a young age and that she is much more aware of what is going on around her than you initially think. What is most striking about Lark is the amazing sibling bond that she feels with Termite despite the imbalanced relationship.

Termite, who is severely disabled, is the character that I had the most difficulty with. Phillips did an amazing job in writing Termite’s thoughts and feelings into the story from a first person viewpoint but I found it to be almost too esoteric.

Sudden morning air floats low to the ground amid the small houses like fragrant evaporating mist, a cool bath of dew and shadow and damp honeysuckle scent. He gasps and hears the sharp grass under them move its fibrous roots.

You get the picture……Since I am much more of a “realistic” reader, I sometimes got lost in the endless metaphors of Termite’s voice. From the reviews that I have read of this book, Termite’s portrayal was one of the triumphs of the book but I found it was a little too “lyrical” without moving the book forward enough.

The other characters include Lola, Lark and Termite’s mother, who abandoned them for reasons we learn at the end of the book; Nonie, the no-no-nonsense aunt who raises them and has borne the brunt of the mistakes her sister and lover made; Corporal Leavitt who is the father of Termite and in my opinion was included solely to show the atrocities of war and finally Charlie, who is Nonie’s lover and becomes a more important character as the book progresses.

As language driven as this book is, it is very suspenseful and there were many twists and turns along the way. When I finished the book, I almost wanted to go back and re-read it because I felt that there were so many symbols and underlying themes (such as ghosts) that I probably glossed over.

It is only upon reflection of this novel that I realized how expertly Phillips conveyed the classic American themes of family, small-town life and war. Lark and Termite was a National Book Award finalist and if you are interested in the use of language and style and how it can define a character, you won’t be disappointed.