The Thumbnail Book Reviews
by John Q McDonald --- 16 December 2014
by Emma Donoghue
San Francisco, 1876. Eight years from what was, for that century, the Big One, the 1868 earthquake on the Hayward fault. It is an era we don't usually see depicted in the history of that city. Usually, we hear about the Gold Rush or the 1906 quake. Here, in this meticulously researched novel, Emma Donoghue brings to life a vibrant city at the height of its lurid Barbary Coast era, and in the depths of a smallpox epidemic. All of it is told from the point of view of Blanche, a French burlesque dancer and courtesan. She has come to San Francisco with two men she has known since she was a teenager, as a young performer in a Parisian circus. Now, she performs on the stage and in the beds of well-heeled customers of a Chinatown burlesque stage. She lives in a domestic menage with her compatriots, men who more or less share her favors. Blanche unapologetically enjoys the pleasures of the flesh, occasionally explicitly and vividly described here. Her engagement in her performance, and with her men, fill her life with a youthful energy and exuberance. On her way home to the rooming house she owns, she has a collision with a young woman on a "high-wheeler" bicycle, a woman scandalously, and illegally, dressed in men's clothing. Jenny is a free-spirited frog catcher, providing frogs to the city's restaurants and mirth to other denizens of the street and readers of the newspapers. Early on in the book, we learn that Jenny has a dark destiny after her encounter with Blanche. Parallel stories are told, two different timelines separated by just a few weeks. Blanche has a small awakening in the glare of Jenny's curiosity. Her relationship with the two men, Arthur and Girard, falls into doubt. Meanwhile, Jenny reveals small details of a difficult and adventurous life. A murder mystery unfolds, as well.
Donoghue's work is meticulously researched, as these figures are real characters in an obscure corner of San Francisco's history. Jenny was a well-known character, and her story lingered in the press for years. Intrigued by the mystery, the author has opened a window on the time and the place. She has created a lively and authentic portrait of a city in the grip of smallpox, rebellion against immigrants, corruption and, of course, the sexual politics of its day. Yellow flags fly against buildings fumigated against smallpox. Bachelors eat frog legs at streetside stalls. Chinese laborers work to make a footing in the city. Eventually, Blanche rebels against Arthur. Girard resents everything about her. Jenny wants Blanche to find freedom from being used by these men. And, like a heart string through the novel, Blanche also has an infant son, Arthur's son, who she has treated with ambivalence and neglect. Her motherly instinct, too, is revived by her friendship with Jenny. The reality of neglected children, the treatment of the very young, is cringingly described. We romantacize that era, but it was a bleak and difficult place to be, relieved only by the entertainments and addictions of the day. The book is compelling reading, energetic, busy and fast-moving. Donoghue vividly portrays the lives of these women, the positions they find themselves in, by choice or by fate. Their lives are not entirely their own, and they are paid back in brutality when they try to lay claim to their own fates. It is a dark tale, but lively and brisk, unflinching in its erotic and gruesome detail. A bold book. And, yes, full of references to the helpless lives of San Francisco frogs.
See also: [Erotic City by Josh Sides]