Spelling Mississippi

by Marnie Woodrow

From an acclaimed short-story writer, a blazingly intelligent and humorous debut novel that is set in New Orleans and tells the story of two strangers whose paths first cross on the remarkable banks of the Mississippi.

Cleo, a Canadian on holiday in New Orleans, is sitting alone in the French Quarter late one night, dreamily watching the river’s lazy progress. Suddenly, a woman clad in full evening dress, from rhinestone tiara to high heels, takes a running leap off the wharf into the Mississippi. Cleo watches, astonished, then turns and runs, mistakenly assuming the jumper is dead — a suicide.

But Madeline, it turns out, is not bent on suicide. She is irresistibly drawn to water, as is Cleo, who was conceived during the great flood in Florence in 1966. Perhaps it is this shared obsession with the murky depths that fuels Cleo’s determination to find Madeline. She pounds the quaint streets of New Orleans, city of cheap bourbon, rich turtle soup, the scent of magnolias and A Streetcar Named Desire .

Spelling Mississippi is filled with all the bristling energy of Fall on Your Knees . Told with great humour and affection, it is a seductive, liberating story about ties that bind and those that simply restrain, and a lesson not in spelling but forgiveness.

Genres: Fiction, Queer, Lesbian, LGBT, Canada

400 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2002

Reviews

[Bonnie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read a few years ago but recall that I really enjoyed it - a lot! I have since purchased my own copy, and plan to reread -- when, well, that's a tough one.

Highly recommend reading, and would gladly loan to friends!

[Magdelanye · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a first novel that could have benefited from some skillfull editing, and even more if it could have made up its mind what it needed to be. Let out into the world too soon, perhaps, this wobbly, unweildly narrative attempts to cater to all tastes,and the omniscient narrator not only has access to the thoughts of the protagonists but also anyone the author favors with brief forays into the psyches of random characters in abrupt and distracting flashes.

The beginning is strong but the initial resonance created by the confusion of the protagonist regarding the dramatic opening event,and the readers slight confusion trying to enter the story, faded quickly. I felt no rapport or sympathy with either of the two main characters, their mysterious traumatic,difficult lives notwithstanding.

The story unfolds in New Orleans, with frequent referances and flashbacks to Italy.The book was published a few years before Hurricane Katrina and the detailed accounts and significance of the flood in Florence to one of the main characters is eerily dissonant.

Although MW does seem to lavish a lot of sympathy with her characters, they never really came to life for me,more pastiche assembled out of a list of extreme traits than belivable personalities. When MW finally zooms in on Johnny V it broke the last straw of sympathy I had for his wife. Johnny V was a nice guy! So what if he was a bit of a dud, bewildered but GGG, willing to go that extra mile to please...when he wasn't out drinking with the boys. What will they say when they find out his wife of 19 years has left him for another woman?

Spelling Mississippi aspires to lift soap opera into penetrating social commentary, touching on two important issues with similar questions. Just what is normal? Has society pathologized all exuberance, all 'spirited' expression, to our detriment? What is truly crazy? And how fluid or fixed are our gender identities? Do we create ourselves or allow or forbid our selves to express our innate sexual or indeed any preferance?

These issues are of interest to me, but I did not find the characters or the plot held together well in any convincing way.Even the names of the characters were annoying.Several times I almost bailed, feeling my credulity unduly strained. I was also somewhat miffed that the true nature of this heady romance was so coyly and tediously drawn out.

Others more tolerant, prepared, or in the mood, might disagree and perhaps some might find it as "funny, wise, erotic...full of intelligence, humor and passion" as some of the reveiwers quoted on the very first page. There are flashes of these qualities but not consistently enought to sustain my interest.

[Ruthie · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is a good story here, but the book is way too long!

[Luís · Rating 5 out of 5]

Without a doubt one of the best books I ever read. Re-read a few times. Convinced friends to read it. Gave it as a gift, etc. Why? Everything is good: the characters, the plot and, most importantly, the writing. Challenge to anyone who hasn't read it: read the first page and tell me if you can put it down.

[Lisa Sandberg]

Den här boken får mig att tänka på att man nog bär med sig en hel del av sig själv i mötet med en bok. Jag minns att jag lånade den på biblioteket för… ja, det måste i alla fall vara mer än 15 år sedan. Utan att veta något om den, bara en sådan bok som tycktes falla ur hyllan av sig själv. Jag minns att jag blev förtrollad och älskade den. Efter hand föll detaljerna ur minnet och allt jag mindes var att New Orleans verkade spännande och att det handlade om en ung tjej som föll för en vacker äldre kvinna som spelade piano. Det var så klart en fascinerande slump att just en sådan bok föll i mina händer när allt jag tänkte på var att jag saknade en viss vacker äldre kvinna som spelade piano.

När jag nu läste om boken var jag fullt beredd på att bli förtrollad igen, så självklart blev jag besviken. Tog det så lång tid innan Madeline ens började spela piano? Tog det så lång tid innan de två träffades, och fanns det inte mer… gnista?! Det är ju fortfarande en bra bok och ganska intressant men den är också ganska seg, och själva tonen i berättandet är märkligt lättsam som om författaren inte kan bestämma sig för om hon skriver ett drama eller en komedi. Jag blev inte förtrollad och jag antar att jag stött på många bättre romanser under åren som följde.

Jag kan inte låta bli att undra hur många vackra berättelser som inte håller för en omläsning.

[Alison Cummings · Rating 3 out of 5]

What I enjoyed most about this book were the descriptions of New Orleans.


**Spoiler alert:** I just couldn't buy the relationship of Madeline and Chloe. Actually, it creeped me out as I thought Chloe was too young and inexperienced. And I didn't think the unselfish cold side of Madeline could suddenly revert to a caring, sensitive woman.

[Trasie Sands · Rating 5 out of 5]

As always, Marnie Woodrow paints a painfully romantic picture of love, longing, and healing. Again, I was up way past my bedtime on several occasions and again, I find myself longing for another story.

"In the world of lovers there may be nothing quite as powerful as the ongoing ache of four simple words: what might have been."

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Now I want to run away to a strange city to drink coffees in cafes and find myself.

[Lester · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really good and well written story. Jumping forwards and backwards in time makes one stay at attention!!
Life..ahhhhhh....

[Karen · Rating 1 out of 5]

Story too slow.

[Nikki · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5*

[Allison · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's written like a screenplay. Just okay.

[Molly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Spelling Mississippi, written by Marnie Woodrow, is a enchantingly written story surrounding the amazing city of New Orleans and the relationship between two dynamic women who find themselves swept up in the excitement, lust, and food that New Orleans has to offer. Cleo is a young Canadian tourist whom is looking for a new direction to take in her life. Unhappy with the life she has left back home, she realizes how much she has longed to visit the mysterious Southern city of New Orleans and sets of on an adventure that will leave her both breathless and drunks in love with every situation she encounters. Meanwhile, Madeline is a women who lives in New Orleans and is depressed to say the very least. Unhappy with her crumbling marriage and constantly questioning her role in the world, Madeline's world is turned upside down when a mysterious, youthful, beautiful Canadian tourist pays her hometown a visit. While this book would be considered an ideal character sketch, certain elements within the pages make this book all the more interesting. For that reason alone, this is one of my new favourite books of all time.Romance, tragedy, comedy, and mystery are the four main components of Spelling Mississippi leaving all who read this book both satisfying and mesmerizing throughout the entirety of it. What I personally found so enticing about Spelling Mississippi is the way in which Marnie Woodrow is so elegantly able to write such strong imagery that makes the reader feel as if they themselves are in the wonderful city, sitting alongside the Mississippi river. Along with that, strong symbolism can be found throughout many of Woodrow's pages, allowing the reader to feel a better connection to the characters, settings, and situations this book brings. In the end, Spelling Mississippi is a book I plan to tell all those who I run into about, from my teacher to best friend, this is a book that will leave you wanting more even after the final sentence is read.

[Susana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Spelling Mississippi is Marnie Woodrow's first novel, and it is a brilliant and entrancing book about letting go of a traumatic past and trying to conceive a future that may possibly involve love. Madeline and Cleo, the two main characters, came to New Orleans trying to escape their pasts. Starting from the accidental meeting of Cleo and Madeline in the beginning of the book, we follow both protagonists separately as the narrative shifts between each woman, showing us why they've avoid dealing with their past - "No point thinking about the past, that old swamp of bad memories and foolish notions" - why their past still haunts their present, and how they finally begin to deal with it. Woodrow plays with the notion of fate and inevitability so that it seems obvious to the reader that they were always meant to meet. So, when they finally find each other, the love story between Cleo - who doesn't plan to fall in love - and Madeline - who thinks her heart has been removed from her life - comes as no surprise.

Central in the book's imagery is water, with its constant presence and its various symbolic meanings in both main characters' lives: freedom, possibilities, forgetfulness, disaster, love, grief. When they finally meet, Cleo quotes W.H. Auden to Madeline in a fundamental phrase within the novel: "Thousands have lived without love, not one without water."

Also important in the book is the setting. This book is also a confession of love for New Orleans, and the city is almost treated as a character as Woodrow writes on Cleo's connection to New Orleans "It's the smell of it, and the light. It's the way it seems utterly female in character (…)", and of New Orleans haunting people when they leave.

This book will stay with you long after it is finished, haunting you like Cleo and Madeline haunt each other's thoughts at the end of the book. Very highly recommended.

[Katie · Rating 2 out of 5]

The whole book seems like a prelude to the real story...which we only get to imagine.
"First novel by an acclaimed short-story writer", eh? That might explain the slow start and the meandering story line so far. I'm not sure why I'm supposed to care about these characters. Unfortunately the two-dimensional characters are all the reader has to work with, as the plot is pretty thin.
As the pages piled up, I got weary of having the author plot-tease us by having her two protagonists repeatedly cross paths while she refers to a map of the French Quarter for reference. Woodrow seems reticent to engage with the sexual attraction between the women in this book and that makes it difficult to take their obsession seriously. I'd enjoy it more if it was written as comedy or as a short-story in which the women "meet cute" in NOLA. Or, even better, if the entire book was condensed into the prologue to the eventual reunion (only hinted at here) and relationship that they build up over the years that follow. But relationships are hard work, and so is novel-writing.
I couldn't truly enjoy or identify with the quirky-cutesy characters and the ridiculously contrived coincidences that drive the plot. Why would an absent father show up after twenty years and be so concerned with his daughter's welfare? Why would her parents even be in communication with each other if their divorce was so fractious? And the reveal, near the end of the book, about Cleo's mother's demise was just too much of a downer for these lightweight players to carry.

Glaring Error Department: The angels are in the mud of Florence, but the devil's in the details. A good editor would have let the author know that a child conceived in 1966 would not have been three years old in 1973.

[Elaine Burnes · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was terrific. A quiet, slow story set in New Orleans, so that kind of matches the pace. Cleo is on vacation from Toronto. Madeline lives in the city with her husband. The lives of these two women, and their pasts, their connections to their mothers, have been running separate courses but are fated to merge. Sort of like a braided stream—more so than the mighty Mississippi of the title. All these parts are connected yet separated. Then they come together. The writing is first rate. And for writers, the POV is omniscient, and done well, though it took a bit to get used to. I got a little confused between the two women’s stories at first. Lesbian stories might not be the best place for omniscient POV. With male and female main characters, it’d be easier to keep track. I really connected with these characters, all of them. I had no idea how this would turn out. This is not lesfic, and I wasn’t familiar with the writer. Could I trust her not to throw the lesbian storyline under the bus for straight readers? She held out to the bitter end, but it ended very satisfyingly. Another masterful debut novel.

[CaseyTheCanadianLesbrarian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Marnie Woodrow’s 2002 novel Spelling Mississippi begins with an extraordinary event: Cleo, a Canadian in her late twenties visiting New Orleans, witnesses a striking older woman jump headfirst into Mississippi river in the middle of the night, wearing full evening dress including a tiara and high heels. Cleo, assuming the dive is a suicide, is momentarily stunned and then runs panicked from the scene. This initial encounter between Cleo, a traveller in search of meaning and belonging, and Madeline, the diving diva who it turns out is not suicidal but seeking the exhilaration of danger, is the catalyst for a moving love story. Although at first terrified to face the consequences of what she saw, Cleo becomes obsessed with the mysterious midnight swimmer once she discovers that the woman is still alive...
See the rest of my review here: http://caseythecanadianlesbrarian.wor...

[Katy Daily · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got this book off the $1 shelf in Powell's (great finds sometimes - will miss it and Cameron's $.33 books dearly) so maybe I wasn't expecting much. The story drew me in and went into a different direction than I had first thought it would. Overall I guess I'm giving it 4 stars for the price for performance - it probably deserves more of a 3.5 stars rating :-)

[Tricia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book !! The characters are still with me, although I read it about a year ago. It's one of the books that pull you in, you live their lives along with them, and you'll never forget them. Although I've never been to this part of the South, I feel like I have now. Great book.

[Caroline Gerardo · Rating 5 out of 5]

What connects us? A violent moment, witness a woman taking her own life. Then salvation and the story unfolds. It is a love story. Intertwined with the endless flow of the river. I ordered her new book at my local bookstore and convinced them to buy a couple

[Sondra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Loved the descriptions of New Orleans and of those who frequent the region.

[sedge · Rating 4 out of 5]

Certainly *very* strong, but I remember being disappointed, if only because I like to believe that Woodrow hung the moon. I'll reread soon.

[The Sassy Bookworm · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good Book!!

[Jess]

I don't remember a whole about this book. It does a pretty neat picture of New Orleans and the characters that live there.

[Olena · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very well written and characters are quirky, believable, and very well developed.

[Kennedy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Slow moving book with interesting characters. Can appreciate and understand the family the dynamics.