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Morality Tale
When this novel's unnamed narrator meets the elusive but exciting Richard (an envelope salesman with a nice layman's line in Zen philosophies), he offers her a friendly escape from her dreary domestic life. Burdened by her husband's ongoing negotiations with his angry ex-wife, the strains of looking after two stepchildren, and the lingering ghost of her own past betrayals, she finds that the life of a “second marryer” leaves much to be desired. As their friendship develops, so grows the shadow cast over her marriage, and when they make a late, illicit bay crossing on a ferryboat, the story gathers momentum under California's Mount Tamalpais. There, in the fabled Golden State, Sylvia Brownrigg shows how even a layman's Zen can lead to some important revelations about the need to look forward, not back. Bristling with honesty and wit, Morality Tale explores the triangular complications that can befall a modern marriage and the tragicomic forces that surround them.
- GenresFiction
240 pages, Hardcover
First published April 28, 2008
3 people are currently reading
115 people want to read
About the author
Sylvia Brownrigg
15 books208 followersSylvia Brownrigg is the author of six books of fiction, including the novels Pages for You and The Delivery Room. Her most recent novel, Pages for Her, was published in July 2017 by Counterpoint in the US and Picador in the UK.
Sylvia's work has been included on the NY Times Notable list and the LA Times Best Books of the Year. Her reviews have appeared in the NY Times, The Guardian, and the TLS, and she has taught at the American University in Paris. Her novel for children, Kepler’s Dream (published under the name Juliet Bell), has been turned into an independent feature film.
She lives in Berkeley, CA, with her family, and continues to spend time in London.
Sylvia's work has been included on the NY Times Notable list and the LA Times Best Books of the Year. Her reviews have appeared in the NY Times, The Guardian, and the TLS, and she has taught at the American University in Paris. Her novel for children, Kepler’s Dream (published under the name Juliet Bell), has been turned into an independent feature film.
She lives in Berkeley, CA, with her family, and continues to spend time in London.
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
March 9, 2013
Originally published on my blog here in March 2009.
If someone divorces their spouse in order to get together with you, then you are expected to be happy about it. But one of the problems with divorce is that the old relationship is going to be a part of your new life, likely source of bitterness that could poison every aspect of being together, supposedly the big bonus to the change. The nameless narrator of Brownrigg's short novel Morality Tale is in that position, as a second wife and stepmother. Her life and her marriage are not what she expected them to be; her husband has changed, stressed and irritable, ground down by ceaseless demands from his ex-wife. Then she meets a man who seems to be a kindred spirit, the new representative of the company which supplies envelopes to the stationery store where she works in San Francisco.
Marriages are complicated things, where outsiders don't know enough to understand the dynamics properly while the insiders are too close, often unable to see the wood for the trees. It is not surprising that unhappy marriages have been a staple of literature at least as far back as the ancient Greeks. - Agammemnon and Clytemnestra, Jason and Medea, or even Zeus and Hera. (And I will refrain from quoting Tolstoy.) Morality Tale is firmly in the tradition of novels analysing problems in a relationship, with the twist that it is the previous relationship which is causing the strain. The novel could be described as one which is about the relationship between two relationships - and potentially a third, and the problems in her marriage lead the narrator to consider starting again with another man. Although she doesn't make the connection, the descriptions she gives makes it clear that the narrator thinks that Richard is like her husband when they first met, which shows something about her, or her taste in men, which she doesn't even appear to realise - a clever touch.
In Brownrigg's earlier novels, the protagonists have been intellectuals: a philosopher, a student, and a psychiatrist. The narrator here is a much more normal person, with no university education, working as a shop assistant. Occasionally, this doesn't quite ring true, but generally Brownrigg's portrayal is convincing. In fact, the slight inconsistencies in the narrator's self-portrayal are probably deliberate parts of the author's artistry, suggesting that there is more going on in the story than is apparent in the surface, that the storyteller is not the naive innocent she makes herself out to be. Even so, being narrator strongly loads the dice in her favour: the most sceptical reader will still find themselves blaming her husband for making her unhappy, rather than feeling that she is at fault for starting a romance with another man who calls her his angel. Only on reflection do you start to wonder about the way the husband is portrayed, a combination of neglect and rampant jealousy, as well as the changes after the marriage due to stress. Even those of us who do not work as marriage counselors know that problems in a marriage tend to have faults on both sides; it's one reason why they are such complex relationships. Viewed from a different angle, the narrator has destroyed one marriage - her husband left his former wife when he met her - and now wants to move on to someone else after she realises that the marriage is less than perfect.
There is obviously a reason for naming the novel Morality Tale, but it is not obvious on the surface. Taken literally, it would suggest that the various characters are allegorical virtues and vices, as in the medieval morality plays, and this doesn't seem to happen. There is a parallel between the plot and the usual plots of these plays: in tte plays, the protagonist often meets the vices, who tempt him from the paths of virtue; in the novel, Richard tempts the narrator to leave her marriage. However, the division between virtue and vice is not as clear cut in the novel, particularly given the doubts over the self-knowledge of the narrator. Brownrigg obviously wants the reader to think about what might have caused the problems in the marriage, and I suspect the point is that novels are about people, morality tales about allegorical beings, and the latter are by their nature one dimensional; but that does not prevent morality being discussed through the medium of the novel.
Brownrigg is a writer I really like, and I enjoyed Morality Tale while thinking it the least of her novels so far. Even so, there is a lot more to the novel than the surface might suggest.
If someone divorces their spouse in order to get together with you, then you are expected to be happy about it. But one of the problems with divorce is that the old relationship is going to be a part of your new life, likely source of bitterness that could poison every aspect of being together, supposedly the big bonus to the change. The nameless narrator of Brownrigg's short novel Morality Tale is in that position, as a second wife and stepmother. Her life and her marriage are not what she expected them to be; her husband has changed, stressed and irritable, ground down by ceaseless demands from his ex-wife. Then she meets a man who seems to be a kindred spirit, the new representative of the company which supplies envelopes to the stationery store where she works in San Francisco.
Marriages are complicated things, where outsiders don't know enough to understand the dynamics properly while the insiders are too close, often unable to see the wood for the trees. It is not surprising that unhappy marriages have been a staple of literature at least as far back as the ancient Greeks. - Agammemnon and Clytemnestra, Jason and Medea, or even Zeus and Hera. (And I will refrain from quoting Tolstoy.) Morality Tale is firmly in the tradition of novels analysing problems in a relationship, with the twist that it is the previous relationship which is causing the strain. The novel could be described as one which is about the relationship between two relationships - and potentially a third, and the problems in her marriage lead the narrator to consider starting again with another man. Although she doesn't make the connection, the descriptions she gives makes it clear that the narrator thinks that Richard is like her husband when they first met, which shows something about her, or her taste in men, which she doesn't even appear to realise - a clever touch.
In Brownrigg's earlier novels, the protagonists have been intellectuals: a philosopher, a student, and a psychiatrist. The narrator here is a much more normal person, with no university education, working as a shop assistant. Occasionally, this doesn't quite ring true, but generally Brownrigg's portrayal is convincing. In fact, the slight inconsistencies in the narrator's self-portrayal are probably deliberate parts of the author's artistry, suggesting that there is more going on in the story than is apparent in the surface, that the storyteller is not the naive innocent she makes herself out to be. Even so, being narrator strongly loads the dice in her favour: the most sceptical reader will still find themselves blaming her husband for making her unhappy, rather than feeling that she is at fault for starting a romance with another man who calls her his angel. Only on reflection do you start to wonder about the way the husband is portrayed, a combination of neglect and rampant jealousy, as well as the changes after the marriage due to stress. Even those of us who do not work as marriage counselors know that problems in a marriage tend to have faults on both sides; it's one reason why they are such complex relationships. Viewed from a different angle, the narrator has destroyed one marriage - her husband left his former wife when he met her - and now wants to move on to someone else after she realises that the marriage is less than perfect.
There is obviously a reason for naming the novel Morality Tale, but it is not obvious on the surface. Taken literally, it would suggest that the various characters are allegorical virtues and vices, as in the medieval morality plays, and this doesn't seem to happen. There is a parallel between the plot and the usual plots of these plays: in tte plays, the protagonist often meets the vices, who tempt him from the paths of virtue; in the novel, Richard tempts the narrator to leave her marriage. However, the division between virtue and vice is not as clear cut in the novel, particularly given the doubts over the self-knowledge of the narrator. Brownrigg obviously wants the reader to think about what might have caused the problems in the marriage, and I suspect the point is that novels are about people, morality tales about allegorical beings, and the latter are by their nature one dimensional; but that does not prevent morality being discussed through the medium of the novel.
Brownrigg is a writer I really like, and I enjoyed Morality Tale while thinking it the least of her novels so far. Even so, there is a lot more to the novel than the surface might suggest.
October 8, 2008
I keep buying sylvia brownrigg's books out of a vain hope that she will write another sweet novel with lesbians, like 'pages for you', and out of an obligation to a writer i really like. her last book, 'the delivery room' was fine, but not particularly my cup of tea. expecting a similar situation with this book, i was pleasantly surprised (after the oddly clunky first few pages) to find it a very emotion-producing read. right. now i remember what drew me to brownrigg in the first place (besides the lesbians). that incredible way of crafting a moment that possibly you yourself have been in, making it familiar yet unfamiliar but oh so beautifully painful to go through again. watching the parents fight was a particularly sharp stab i haven't felt in ages. as was the entire cheating revelation. and i feel like i got a large pile of insight into my stepmother.
April 30, 2009
I would've rated this 5 stars, but the beginning was hard to get into. It starts out a sad story about a woman whose husband caught her in an affair. This man and wife are not happy, and neither is his first wife (who he cheated on with this narrator), nor their two sons (who alternate weeks between households). On top of all this sadness, there are financial strains and job security issues.
In the beginning I was judgmental and didn't like this sour family stuck inside their plaid livingroom set. But in the end I loved them and Brownrigg's gorgeous descriptions of San Francisco's bay and ferries. She made the marriage hilarious, and the object of the wife's affections endearing enough to keep me reading, and most of all, I love a good story about redemption.
In the beginning I was judgmental and didn't like this sour family stuck inside their plaid livingroom set. But in the end I loved them and Brownrigg's gorgeous descriptions of San Francisco's bay and ferries. She made the marriage hilarious, and the object of the wife's affections endearing enough to keep me reading, and most of all, I love a good story about redemption.
December 16, 2017
Clever writing, some good lines, a little lightweight.
December 31, 2018
Excellent. New husband still caught up in the life of his ex-wife.
August 31, 2009
I'm surprised this book has such a low average rating.
Something of a stream-of-consciousness look at marital infidelity (and what that term itself means), Brownrigg's writing style is not as event-focused as most novels I read are. Rather, we are reading Pan's thoughts (yeah, Pan...a nickname??? or directly related to the meanings of Pan in mythology?)--of the past, of her present actions, of her feelings as the "other woman" who split up her husband's first marriage, and of the ex-wife and kids.
Not a topic I have any direct experience with myself, but fascinating and very believable. Makes one think.
A good, quick read.
Something of a stream-of-consciousness look at marital infidelity (and what that term itself means), Brownrigg's writing style is not as event-focused as most novels I read are. Rather, we are reading Pan's thoughts (yeah, Pan...a nickname??? or directly related to the meanings of Pan in mythology?)--of the past, of her present actions, of her feelings as the "other woman" who split up her husband's first marriage, and of the ex-wife and kids.
Not a topic I have any direct experience with myself, but fascinating and very believable. Makes one think.
A good, quick read.
September 24, 2009
This is the kind of book I envy, because the writing is so sharp, visual and brimming with bittersweet truth. I'll keep this book on my shelf forever, and I'll return to it time and time again to immerse myself in some of the best writing I've ever had the privileged of reading.
As for the story, well, it's timely for someone like me who can relate to the main character. I know all too well the woes of a divorced father. So given that, this book burrowed all the more closer to my heart.
As for the story, well, it's timely for someone like me who can relate to the main character. I know all too well the woes of a divorced father. So given that, this book burrowed all the more closer to my heart.
July 26, 2010
This was an odd book to me and I guess that it was an OK read. The main character was both totally identifiable in more scene and then turned around to be a person I could not relate to at all. The story was set in a very, very brief moment in time - but the author took the entire book to let this unravel and it really wasn't an interesting unfolding of facts or points. I did like the truth that the writer hit on in a few spots throughout this 'short story' -but as I said, it wasn't that great of a book and the style it was told in made it even harder to connect with.
August 31, 2008
There was much to like in this novel (I'd probably give it another 1/2 star if I could), but it was also somewhat disappointing. The revelation at the end was not satisfying enough, esp after the buildup. I did enjoy the way the themes and insights were rendered along the way (there is much wit here) and the way the characters were presented (with many warts but with affection), but ultimately I felt something was lacking.
July 31, 2008
What I liked about Sylvia Brownrigg's first three books were their subtle observations and fascination for language. Before writing this, I googled "genre of morality tales" and I didn't find very much that could change my initial lack of appreciation for this novel.
to be continued.
to be continued.
August 12, 2008
Humorous but honest look at a modern second marriage, complete with a raging ex-wife, teen-age stepsons and an ambivalent husband. At the center is 'Angel' who follows the course of her chosen life until a jolly envelope salesman becomes the center of her personal universe.
December 1, 2008
A good read, reminding me of books like The Dangerous Husband by Jane Shapiro.
September 17, 2009
Kind of painful...persevered and thought the last couple chapters were the best.
March 17, 2012
A beautifully written book about the anatomy of a marriage. Thought-provoking, honest and different.
February 23, 2013
A book written from the soul and it certainly touched mine.
February 2, 2014
Very well done
August 8, 2008
amusing
November 11, 2008
Simply told, very believable story. Enjoyed every page.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews