The Thumbnail Book Reviews
by John Q McDonald --- 2 March 2012
by Ann Beattie
The 1970s wouldn't have been the culturally complex and somewhat trashy era they were without the corrupt collapse of the Nixon administration. It was one of the greatest embarrassments to the nation and to the presidency (though not its greatest crime, if our recent presidents are any indication). Behind the scenes, behind the president, there stood his wife, Pat Nixon, who was silently supportive throughout success and failure. Starting off from the fact that Pat Nixon was one of only a couple modern first ladies not to publish her memoirs, novelist and short story writer Ann Beattie gives us an intricate and imaginative essay on the nature of writing fiction while speculating on the hidden qualities of Mrs. Nixon's life behind her infamous husband. This isn't a traditional narrative and, though it is based on extensive research, it is not an attempt to write a biography, fictional or otherwise. Beattie is speculating on small points of Mrs. Nixon's character, and uses these speculations as jumping-off points for an extensive exploration of the nature of fiction writing, with numerous examples given by some of the greats in the genre, like Chekhov and Cheever. What results is variously successful. The fictional snippets of Pat Nixon's life are not as compelling as the author's thoughts on writing itself. She reveals the professorial nature of her day job (teaching at the University of Virginia) in the portions of the book that read like an off-beat text for a graduate level writing class. But Beattie never backs away from a real passion for the art of writing. Along the way, she ponders the mystery of a woman whose life was given over to the destiny of her famously flawed husband. How did she see her own life? How did she deal with her own disappointments and abandoned goals? The fictional passages are inventive and interesting, but the reader may wonder about the point of some of the shorter, weirder entries. It is a good book for writers and aspiring writers. Beattie knows her craft very well, and how the tricks of writing relate to real life stories. But there are moments in which one asks what is going on here. Mrs. Nixon's story doesn't feel complete. Beattie's considerations on writing don't feel entirely complete. It isn't a biography, or fiction. It isn't a memoir. Nor is it a writing textbook. It is some odd combination of all of these, idiosyncratic and somewhat mysterious. A complex writing exercise.
See Also: [On Writing by Stephen King]