The Mineral Palace - Softcover

Julavits, Heidi

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1860499171 ISBN 13: 9781860499173

Publisher: Virago, 2002

Synopsis

Bena Jonssen believes in omens, good and bad. She has come to see her destiny in the simple arithmetic of everyday life - every random arrangement of numbers (on road signs, calendars, number plates) holds the power either to condemn or console. But Bena's life has been anything but simple since she arrived in Pueblo, Colorado - a bleak, dusty town caught in the grip of the Great Depression. At home, she measures her ailing baby with a tattered hair ribbon - and watches as her marriage crumbles around her. From her office window, she sees a pregnant prostitute with an enigmatic cowboy - and begins to question her deepest beliefs about good and evil. And in the depths of a decaying monument to the local mining industry, she confronts a terrifying secret - and finds that the things she can't measure are the most frightening of all . . .

About this title

Review:

Like many first novelists Heidi Julavits attempts to pack a big punch in her debut, The Mineral Palace. The plot revolves round the fate of Bena Jonsson, a young mother who moves with her doctor-husband and infant son in 1934 to the depression hell-hole of Pueblo, Colorado, to begin what the couple hope will be a new life. But the signs are ominous. En route from Minnesota, Bena encounters Bonnie, the famous lover of gangster Clyde, who presses a medallion into the young mother's hand. There is little room for optimism when the couple reaches Pueblo, which seems full of corrupt townspeople hiding many secrets and indulging in much bad behaviour.

Unfortunately, there is simply far too much happening in this novel and what might have been a compelling tale spills over into melodrama. Bena befriends a cowboy named Red who is, in turn, involved with Maude, a pregnant prostitute who was also his childhood friend. He supplies Maude with laudanum and sympathy but cannot prevent her from perpetuating terrible, violent retribution against the townspeople who have abused and ridiculed her. Unfortunately Maude's character is so incredible and her crime painted in such garish strokes that it taints some of Julavits' stronger and more sympathetic characters. It is also hard to take Julavits' portrait of Pueblo in the 1930s as an accurate historical backdrop as the character's behaviour seems suspiciously contemporary. Bena, with her baby son only weeks old, heads off to become a journalist on the local newspaper with her breast pump in her bag and the blessing of her husband.

By the novel's end, there seems to be corpses littered everywhere as the seemingly innocent Bena and her husband, begin their own cycle of hiding horrors in their freshly constructed closet. Despite a few lovely touches, this is a debut that suffers from an overly ambitious plot and far too much gratuitous blood. --Julie Wheelwright

Review:

A magician with language (PUBLISHERS WEEKLY)

A compelling debut by a strong new voice in fiction (ELLE)

A novel of daring imagination (VOICE LITERARY SUPPLEMENT)

Like many first novelists Heidi Julavits attempts to pack a big punch in her debut, The Mineral Palace. The plot revolves round the fate of Bena Jonsson, a young mother who moves with her doctor-husband and infant son in 1934 to the depression hell-hole (Unfortunately, there is simply far too much happening in this novel and what might have been a compelling tale spills over into melodrama. Bena befriends a cowboy named Red who is, in turn, involved with Maude, a pregnant prostitute who was also his child)

About this edition

• Publisher: Virago
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 1860499171
• ISBN 13: 9781860499173
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 336