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Bedrock by Lisa Alther. New York: Knopf,
1990, 336 p. hardcover, $19.95, or free
from a library.

Reviewed by Birdie MacLennan

As a recent transplant to Vermont, I
picked up a copy of Lisa Alther's latest
novel, Bedrock, with the vague intention of
finding some perspective, however fic-
tional, on life, the human dilemma, and
perhaps a bit of the local subcultural hap-
penings around Vennont, all from some-
one who had been here for a while. Recall-
ing Alther's wit and compassion in her
previous novel, Other Women, I was also
looking for a good, fluid read.

Alther did not disappoint, although
admittedly, I skimmed the first few pages
of Bedrock with some trepidation — an
initial fear that the story might revolve
around yuppies and real estate speculators
amassing in the Vennont countryside:

"An ivory BMW with two pairs of skis
on the roof descended a long hill, granite
cliffs spiked with fir trees rising up on
either side of the road. The driver, Turner
Shawn [and] his wife Clea, sat...studying
Roches Ridge, Vennont."

Gratefully, these fears are allayed as

 

lcome to

 

the novel evolves, rather quickly, into the
life of the central character, Clea Shawn,
and the transition she is about to undergo
when she lands herself in Roches Ridge.

Bedrock is a novel of transition,
change, coming to terms with the forces
that be, and the attempt to grow older grace-
fully. If Clea Shawn were twenty years
younger, Bedrock might read as the saga of
a woman in search of self — another mun-
dane portrait of an artist overcoming angst
and passing into adulthood. But Clea is
already an adult, and has lived and full and
adventurous life; she is the type of woman
who has had and done it all: a successful
career as a free-lance photographer, a
comfortable and very open marriage to a
successful corporate career man, two
grown children (both doing well in upscale
colleges), travel, many lovers in many
comers of the globe.

An urban woman who is as compul-
sive as she is passionate, Clea falls in love
with Roches Ridge when she is passing
through it on a ski holiday, and decides to
buy a house there. Friends and family
members who are well aware of Clea's
fleeting affairs wait on the sidelines, be-
lieving that her fixa-
tion on Roches

ook Review

      

She documents Roches Ridge as "the town
that time forgot" in the latest of her series of
ever popular and pretty photography
books.

Just as all this upper middle class
euphoria is beginning to wear thin, the
bathtub in Clea's newly purchased home
falls through the floor, the snow begins to
melt in the backyard and reveals a trash
heap left by the previous owner, and a
strange assortment of noisy neighbors and
quirky townsfolk begin to make their idio-
syncrasies known. The tedious boredom of
Clea's jet-set existence and the picture-per-
fect, self-contained images of a quaint New
England town are blown apart by the phan-
tasmagoric phenomena of Roches Ridge.

This is where Alther's lively imagina-
tion, abundant sense of humor, and eye for
human character and contrasts come into
play. As the narrative shifts from Roches
Ridge to a series of flashbacks in which
Clea scrutinizes the meaning of events in
her life, a heavy veil lifts, and the superfici-
ality of much of her existence is revealed.

Central to this process is the constant
reccurrence of Clea's close friendship with
a New York sculptor and holocaust survi-
vor, Elke — the one presence from her pre-
Roches Ridge existence who has continu-

restaurant (where the specialty is spam
burritos). Shortly after discovering some
tepees on the creek below her house, Clea
asks Loretta about them and learns that
there is a group of lesbians li ving there.
Says Clea, "I didn't realize you had lesbians
up here." To which Loretta responds, "We
got everything you got in New York City
and then some."

True enough. In addition to the lesbi-
ans, there is the Marsh family next door.
whose family members are named after
synthetics (Dacron, Orlon, Rayon, Polly.
and Esther); the narcissistic hairdresser
(continued on page 19)

GOLDEN THREADS

a Contact publication for lesbians
over 50 and women who love
older women.

Canada and U.S. Confidential, warm, reli-
able. For free information send self-ad-
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stamp it). Sample copy mailed discreetly,
$5.00 (U.S.S)

P.O. Box 3177, Burlington, VT 05401

 

16

Ridge will pass and ally touched beyond Clea's outer surface to

pROpERTy that she will eventu- a core of honesty and truth in art, love, and

all return to her friendshi . The emotional com lexities in

MANAGEMENT . cofrlifortable life in what dravgs the two women toggther, sepa-

MN NTENANCE cARpENTRy New York City. rates them, and keeps them coming back to

HOME SECURITY Clea, however, is each other over a twenty year period can

lNTER|0R PNNTWG charmed by the only be fully realized in Roches Ridge.

MWOR HOUSEHOLD REWR5 countryside and de- In contrast, and as a humorous break

yARDwA”:"%r\lCT(g\,{lE,?’[l'\éCé5 terrnined to redis- from Clea's internal fluctuations and emo-

cover the small- tional self-indulgence, we are offered the

town life she left as Roches Ridge social setting, which might

2SS?E§;!8BAKER WE  an adolescent in best be summed up in Clea's conversation
Poplar Bluffs, Ohio. with Loretta Gebo, owner of Casa Loretta's —