Ladies of the Rachmaninoff Eyes

by Henry Van Dyke

A lost midcentury classic—the farcical misadventures of a queer Black teen sharing a house with two adoptive mothers, a lascivious cook, and a reticent ghost.

In a small Michigan town, in the late 1950s, the widow Etta Klein—wealthy and Jewish—has for more than thirty years relied for aid, comfort, and companionship on her Black housekeeper Harriet Gibbs. Between “Aunt Harry” and Etta, a relationship has developed that is closer than a friendship, yet not quite a marriage. They are inseparable, at once absurdly unequal and defined by a comic codependence.

Forever mourning the early death of her favorite son, Sargent, Etta has all but adopted Aunt Harry’s nephew, the precocious, gay seventeen-year-old Oliver, who has been raised by both women. Oliver is facing down his departure to college—and fending off the advances of Etta’s cook, Nella Mae—when the household is disrupted by the arrival of a self-proclaimed “warlock,” one Maurice LeFleur, who has convinced Etta and Harry that he might be able to contact Sargent in the afterlife . . .

Ladies of the Rachmaninoff Eyes was the debut of the extraordinary Henry Van Dyke, whose witty and outrageous novels look back to the sparkling, elaborate comedies of Ronald Firbank and forward to postmodern burlesques like Fran Ross’s Oreo . There is nothing else quite like them in American fiction.

Genres: Queer, Classics, Fiction, LGBT, Literature, American, Audiobook

192 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 1966

About the author

Henry Van Dyke (1928 - 2011) was born in Allegan, Michigan, and grew up in Montgomery, Alabama, where his parents were professors at Alabama State College. He served in the Army in occupied Germany, playing flute in the 427th Marching Band. There he abandoned his early ambition to become a concert pianist and began to write. In 1958, after attending the University of Michigan on the G.I. Bill and living in Ann Arbor, he moved to New York, where he spent the rest of his life. Henry taught creative writing part-time at Kent State University from 1969 until his retirement in 1993, and was the author of four novels, including Blood of Strawberries, a sequel to Ladies of the Rachmaninoff Eyes.

(Source: https://www.mcnallyeditions.com/henry...)

Reviews

[♑︎♑︎♑︎ ♑︎♑︎♑︎]

I was overwhelmed by its relentless wittiness. Reading it is like being in a steam room, or on a roller coaster, wow, this is so exhilaratingly good, and exactly where I want to be, but eventually my mood changes to ‘get me outta here’

[WndyJW · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another excellent book from McNally Editions. I tagged this book lgbtq and race issues, but that’s not what the book is about, in fact the most remarkable thing about this unusual story is its unremarkable inclusivity. Written by a Henry Van Dyke, a gay Black man, and published in 1965, the Civil Rights era in the U.S., I expected there to be bridge building or insights into race in America, but there’s really none of that. The fact that Oliver, from whose pov the story is told, is a gay Black teenager and that his Aunt Harriet’s employer, Mrs. Klein, is a wealthy, White Jewish woman, aren’t important to the story of a week in the life of this dysfunctional, functioning family of sorts.

The humor comes from the 30 year, oddly co-dependent relationship of the two old widows, Aunt Harry and Mrs. Klein, Oliver’s de facto mothers, who bicker, banter, battle, support and praise each other, they are each other’s most loyal confident and the bane of the other’s existence all in the same conversation.
The other characters, Mrs. Klein’s son Jerome, his wife Patricia Jo, and the sex crazed cook, Della, who cannot understand why she fails in her attempts to seduce the poetry loving Oliver, bring added humor as the supporting cast.

When the two old women invite to the house Maurice le Fleur, a self-styled warlock, to conduct a seance in order to contact Sargent Klein, the beloved elder son who five years earlier committed suicide in NYC, Oliver alone is determined to protect the women, Della included, from this obvious con man, which lands Oliver in some outrageous situations.

I recommend this book, it’s touching, funny, a little heartbreaking, but mostly it is very entertaining.

[Dan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Full disclosure: The author was once my creative writing professor and briefly mentored me as I wrote my first novel. That being said, I can't believe it took me so long to read his first novel, published two years before I was born. It's not an easy book to find in print, and I think that's a real shame, because this is an important book.
It mixes tragedy and comedy deftly as it follows Oliver, a young man struggling with his identity as a black man and his sexuality. He lives with two widows-- his aunt Harry and her former employer and now companion Mrs. Klein, a wealthy Jewish woman. Neither woman is handling the suicide of Mrs. Klein's son Sargent at all, but this makes the situation ripe for a con artist who claims to be a "warlock" and offers to conduct a séance to commune with the dead son. Chaos ensues, of course.
I highly recommend this book.

[Jesse · Rating 5 out of 5]

A genuine delight, & one of my favorite literary discoveries of the year. Delightfully written—Van Dyke is a master comedic stylist—it whirls through an ostensibly frivolous story that, like the great screwball classics of old Hollywood, withholds its true emotional weight until the last act.

One of the most remarkable, albeit subtle, aspects about Van Dyke's story & style is how lightly it negotiates so many weighty topics swirling just outside the frame of the the text itself. As a queer black American man writing at the height of the Civil Rights Movement, the pressure to produce a realist novel with Social Purpose must have been enormous—even in more carefree contexts situating oneself directly within the high camp tradition of Ronald Firbank & Oscar Wilde is often regarded with deep suspicion.

Which is not to say that Van Dyke ignores these factors; indeed, the more the story progressed I felt like he was acutely aware of them. Like Wilde, he inverts expected behaviors & social expectations for satirical purposes & comedic effect, carefully accumulating little absurdities until it threatens to destabilize entire social hierarchies. For me the unexpected (unrealistic?) racial dynamics between these characters living in the mid century American South only drew my attention to them all the more. A similar strategy is employed re: sexuality, as most of the sexual situations teenage Oliver finds himself entangled in are heterosexual, with his implied queerness is primarily signaled instead through his snobbishness & intense Francophilia.

Also a special shoutout to the household cook Nella Mae, a deliciously bawdy character who initially operates as comedic relief but whose trajectory, like all of these characters, eventually turns deeply poignant. I kept thinking about her a lot, & hope things turned out okay for her in the end.

[Afterward I also read the continuing adventures of Oliver, 1969's Blood of Strawberries , & loved it as well.]

"'When you get older'—and before she finished I wanted to protest; I was pretty sick of that old chestnut, dropped by the aged (Benson, Aunt Harry, and now Patricia Jo) whenever they were in a tight spot; it was a dirty ploy, this more-experienced-than-thou weapon used by elders to win the game when they were losing—'you'll understand that one has to believe a little bit in almost everything.'"

[Cody · Rating 5 out of 5]

Baroque, recursive dilettantism filtered exquisitely through the outlying force multipliers of the Black Arts Movement. If the ‘movement’ had needed its Henry James, and Henry James been one frightfully funny sonofabitch, it would’ve been Van Dyke. But it didn’t and he wasn’t. As it stands, that leaves Van Dyke as an absolute singularity in letters.

[Victoria · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really unique premise with such vibrant characters. Just as humorous as it is emotional

[Minnia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Picked up this new McNally Editions - which are just a beautiful tactile experience to hold and read, by the way - on a whim, intrigued by the premise of a gay black teen growing up with his black housekeeper aunt and an old Jewish widow. It’s one of the most original plots I’ve come across, and all the characters are compelling, with dialogue that draws you in. All in all it was a delightful reading experience - funny and moving at the same time.

[Iris Zhao · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really should stop buying books simply because the covers are pretty 😅

Ladies was so intriguing conceptually—the way Van Dyke shrugs off topics like queerness and racial hostility with nonchalance, how it was camp over tragedy/satire. Yet, all that was promised fell short because of major structural issues. Plot spent ages building up to something but said“plot twist” did not land. And the lightness over substance didn’t speak to me. Like it was trying too hard to dilute the emotional weight of its own themes.

Looking back at the blurb from The New York Times: “His debt to Truman Capote, James Baldwin, Tennessee Williams…”Hmmm, big overstatement.

UPDATE: I was ready to give this 4 stars until I reached the last third and people started randomly dying

[sweet sugar · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[leslie · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a strange but fascinating novel. It did not go where I was expecting it to, but that's not a bad thing. A couple awkward transitions here and there, but overall, I really liked this book! Van Dyke's prose is lovely, and there's a host of great, odd characters in here that made it easy to stay engaged.

[Ivan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I will read this again. I'll give this to friends. I ordered a hardbound edition for my library. This book made me weep. 16-year-old Oliver resides with his Aunt Harriett and her companion/employer Mrs. Klein, elderly ladies who bicker and fuss, they are haunted (figuratively) by Mrs. Klein's gay son - a suicide. There is a libidinous cook, a deaf gardener, a suspect medium and a seance. There is wry humor, arresting prose and, finally, pathos. I found each character unique and endearing. I've read the last thirty pages three times. Why isn't Henry Van Dyke better known? Bravo McNally Editions for bringing this back out.

[Meg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very Truman Capote, midwestern gothic, tragicomedy vibes that leans a lot more on the comedy than the tragedy. This was super reminiscent of Other Voices, Other Rooms to me— a queer teen coming of age while also discovering the histories and complex interior lives of the eccentric elderly relatives who are raising him.

McNally Editions are quickly becoming a go to for me for curating undiscovered (by me) modern classics.

[Minna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Omg just realised I can log this book because it’s a rediscovered classic so therefore PUBLISHED. I’m humiliated by the state of my reading challenge but I would like to say this is the 13th book I’ve read for work since I started two months ago. Rose says they shouldn’t count because I’m paid to read them but I counter that I have read half of them not during work hours. I’ve already written my report so I can’t really be bothered to rehash my thoughts but it was a fun read, very novel to have come out of the 1950s, but ultimately light on substance, a little weak on structure and really could have been funnier. 3.5.

[Lola Post · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Ann Arbor and gay people!!!

Good book, took me a minute to like it in the beginning but as I kept reading I didn’t want to put it down. Super lighthearted plot and it did end up getting sad in the ending but overall very good. Also it was written by a Michigan alumni!!! (That’s why I chose to read it tbh). I was shocked to find out it was published in 1965 because it was definitely opposite of the stereotypes at the time.

[Ella · Rating 4 out of 5]

What is it about Michigan and surprisingly good 20th century forgotten gay novels?

[☽ · Rating 4 out of 5]

actually obsessed w this... gentle & piercing satire abt race and queerness and also astrology from 1965... the peacock chapter had me very emotional!

[Joey Lukner · Rating 5 out of 5]

A phenomenal comedy about a narrator who is wise beyond his years. The entire premise of holding a seance to communicate with the dead is so good, and the climax of the book is perfectly done. I would not change a single thing. I love the characters’ love for each other and the amazing representation of ethnicities, sexuality, and gender

[Marcus Todd]

Trying to keep it cool in this restaurant. I need a hug. They told me this book would be funny!!

[Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not really a "review" per se, but I think this book ties very neatly together, and the third part is excellent. I wasn't quite expecting this book to wind up as much of a coming-of-age-wake-up-call as it turned out to be. However, I thought that direction suited the novel. And, of course, the closing line will live with me for a little while, I suspect.

[Max · Rating 4 out of 5]

Started off very "light-decadent," as promised on the back cover. I liked the clear, simple characters. But the ending was suddenly too sentimental.

I'll probably try to read The Dead Piano soon.

[G · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's interesting that so much of the marketing and many of the reviews and even the introduction discuss this as a witty, irreverent novel where American race relations weren't much considered. It IS a witty, irreverent novel! But if you go into it expecting a light comedy I think you'll be surprised - and there are quite a lot of observations about race, actually, in some devastating and subtle, and not so subtle, ways.

See: Jerome treating Oliver like "his mother's toy," a charity case to prove her enlightened bona fides. See: Bella the town courtesan flirting with Oliver yet reacting with alarm when he attempts to take her up on it, because she's never actually slept with a Black man before and doesn't intend to start. See: "Della ... had always proclaimed me white, and though I knew better, I never thought of being any color, or rarely, and now that [Belle] had put it this way, given this reason, placed this obstacle in front of what I deemed an easy seduction, I felt not pain or dismay but a curious loss."

See: Aunt Harriet and Mrs Klein are so close it goes beyond friendship, so codependent they quite literally can't survive without the other, are the heart and soul of the novel - and yet, in her greatest moment of stress and grief, Mrs Klein calls Harriet the worst thing she can (yes, that word) and it's a betrayal Harriet attempts to forgive, but forgiveness doesn't change the fact of the betrayal, and in a way it kills them both.

It's not a polemic. It's hopeful! Etta Klein and Harriet really are each other's lives. Oliver really does look to them both, his aunt who's Black and Mrs Klein who's white and Jewish, as beloved mother figures. He really did grow up in such an atmosphere of acceptance (mostly) that he can think of himself as not "being any color" (until he can't). Harriet really is as much Sargeant's mother as Etta - certainly we think of her relationship with him, and with Etta, much more than we ever think about the fathers and husbands. And there's plenty to laugh at. The old ladies getting plastered on rum in the pantry, Jerome's drunken escapades. A fake warlock gets beaten half to death by two old women in a field. Della's determination to bed Oliver and then work in a Chicago brothel. But it's not haha laughter, exactly. It's laugh so you don't cry laughter. Sargeant laughed himself to tears just before he slit his wrists.

There are reflections on homosexuality - Oliver's terror at what the facts of Sargeant's death mean for him, ABOUT him - and being Jewish - Jerome will never be able to supplant his dear dead brother in his mother's heart, even if Sargeant was gay, because Jerome is not some saintly half-mythical figure far away but your average slob with a drinking problem and a goyisch wife.* And the novel covers all of this in a snappy, deceptively light style with an interesting use of repetition and a plot that starts at the end and Fibonacci's around.

Also, as the blurb mentions, I can see the influence this had on Oreo, another unfairly overlooked classic having a well-deserved return to the public eye.

*Her scene weeping with Oliver, and Bertram's scene realizing Mrs Klein is nearing her end, gave such depth in so few words to these minor characters! taking aggressive notes

[Pascale · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unusual and amusing. Told from the point of view of Oliver, an academically gifted Black teenager, the book tells the story of the last months of 2 widows, Etta Klein, who is Jewish, and her Black housekeeper and bosom friend Harriet Gibbs. Both ladies are still in mourning for Etta's son Sargeant, who died by suicide, and have transferred all their love to Harriet's nephew Oliver. Strangely enough, Etta's surviving son Jerome has adapted to the situation and doesn't resent Oliver's status in his mother's household. Jerome has a Goy wife, Patricia Jo, and 2 sons who are barely mentioned in the narrative, which starts dramatically with Harriet dropping dead of a heart-attack while giving chase to one Maurice LeFleur. Oliver then recounts how Etta and his aunt invited the self-styled warlock LeFleur to come and hold a séance in the hope of elucidating the reason behind Sargeant's suicide. From the moment LeFleur sets foot in the house, Oliver sizes him up as a charlatan and makes every effort to prevent him from stealing Etta's most valuable jewelry. Initially, he believes that Jerome and his wife are on his side, but then he realizes that they also intend to attend the séance. When the séance is finally held, LeFleur hardly plays a part in it as Harriet seizes the opportunity to reveal all she knows about Sargeant's homosexuality and his disastrous passion for a Black boy. Jerome pays LeFleur for his services and asks him to leave. LeFleur obliges but decamps with Etta's jewelry, which Oliver cannot understand since the only people who knew the hiding place were Etta, Harriet and himself. After Harriet's death, Etta's health declines fast and Jerome chooses to have his mother buried next to her. What's special about this book is the flippant and downright madcap way in which it deals with heavy issues of closeted gay lives, suicide and inter-racial relationships.

[Bel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great McNally Editions reprint that took off at a sprint and wound down soberly. It made me feel so many things and I finished with a lingering quietness and a hollow inside that complicated books often leave me with. It was a comedy yet also, a deep contemplation. You don’t know how meaningful seemingly mundane interactions with the people in your daily life can be until they’re no longer with you.

It’s even more meaningful for me when I read about the author’s background including his love of playing the piano and Rachmaninoff. It would have been nice for him to have had more recognition for his novels during his lifetime and I wonder how it might have been to be a student in one of his creative writing classes.

• ”…those eyes so like old pictures of Rachmaninoff’s eyes.”
• ”…to educate me, buy me Chesterfield coats, English tweeds, first editions of dull classics.”
• ”Mrs. Klein said, like la dame aux caméllias (chubby-style), ‘Must we?’”
• ”Her hands flew up from the Louis Quinze and made fist clinches in the air, a gesture that seemed monstrously dramatic and not at all suitable for her metabolism.”
•” She slapped salad dressing on the tongue sandwich with bravura and with a fascinating inefficiency.”
• ”…but the brief and violent activity proved too much for him: he fell forward to his knees, then to his face, on the stones of the patio. He lay there in squalor and bliss.”
• ”From deep within the back of the house came Della’s voice: ‘How long, how long, have that evenin’ train been gone…’ It was barely audible, less so than the sound of the clock, but the pain of it could reach the heart.”

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Van Dyke’s irresistible 1965 novel revolves around the “violent kinship” between Etta Klein and her former housemaid and longtime housemate Harriet Gibbs, aging widows tippling rum, laughing, crying, bickering and bantering in some “diabolical jest” poised between love and hate. Long haunted by the suicide of her bachelor son Sargeant, Etta contracts the services of one Maurice LaFleur, a seedy charlatan billing himself as a “Warlock, Psychic Reader and Spiritualistic Consultant,” who moves into their house to pick up emanations and case the joint. All of this is related with a charming mix of ingenuousness and droll wit by Harriet’s young nephew Oliver Eugene, privy to confidences of the whole eccentric family even as he dodges the emphatic advances of their lubricious maid, Della Mae. The farce comes to a hilarious and heartrending climax on the night of the séance, raising unexpected spirits that point the way to a poignant denouement. With brilliant comic writing and dialogue evocative of Capote, McCullers and Waugh, Van Dyke’s delightfully unproblematized story of a Black queer youth’s coming-of-age feels decades ahead of its time.

[Beverly · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've been schooling myself to not finish books I am not enjoying (overcoming sunk costs I think). Those I don't review, so this one can't be all that bad. But it was a bit of slog all the same. I wasn't engaged with the story or the characters, or the situations they find themselves in. Once I put the book down to do something like wash dishes I was in no great rush to get back to find out what was happening. When I finished the book I looked at the blurb on the back, from New York Times: "His debt to Truman Capote, Carson McCullers, Tennessee Williams..is perfectly obvious..." Aha - authors I don't enjoy, writing about times and places I don't get. It all seems insular, over-heated and pointless. Don't decide to skip this book because it didn't speak to me - others find it quite wonderful. Tastes differ.

[Stephanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this book at the wonderful, independent McNally Jackson bookstore in NYC. The bookstore has an imprint and this is one of the 30 or so books they have published.

"Ladies of the Rachmaninoff Eyes" is a slice of life story set in the 1950s South, centering around a handful of co-dependent characters. Aunt Harriet is the longstanding housekeeper/confidant/friend/enabler of wealthy Mrs. Klein. Oliver, Aunt Harry's nephew, is the first person narrator and is about to go to college, thanks to Mrs. Klein's pocketbook. Add to this trio Della, the actual maid who does the housework while yearning for the "Nasties" with any male in sight. Mix it all up with a shady visiting clairvoyant and you have both comedy and pathos.

[Ruhi · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved the first one-and-three-fourths parts of this book. It was so witty and hilarious, I was laughing to myself at the narrator’s I-am-superior-to-everyone tone. The characters were entertaining the bickering between Mrs. Klein and Mrs. Harry was fun. I was ready to give this book five stars and buy a copy for my personal library. But suddenly, someone was gay and a certain person knew and wanted to one up another person by spilling the beans but disguising it as love and then people started randomly dying. I felt like the ending didn’t fit at all with the beginning of the story. I get the premise and everything follows - it just was unexpected and not in a good way.

[Lana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ladies of the Rachmaninoff Eyes- A quirky and fun summer read set In Michigan following Oliver. A 17 year old boy who is taken care of by his cantankerous adoptive aunts Harriet and Mrs. Klein. The two ladies share a close relationship full of witty banter and overall silliness. A “warlock” named Maurice Lefleur is summoned by the two old ladies to perform a seance, and rom there a wild story. I had a lot of fun reading this one, while it’s an egregious story, its one that provokes emotions in its readers. It’s definitely a perfect read for a hot summer day!

[Brenda · Rating 3 out of 5]

What an interesting novel for when it was written. It had a very Tennesse Williams-ish feel to the characters and setting. I didn’t love it, because it made me feel that sense of waiting for a payoff feeling that never quite materialized.

But I loved the last paragraph. The whole novel was worth it for that last paragraph - everyone who has ever been grief stricken, a teenager, a freshman, nervous, alone or set adrift can relate to that last paragraph.

[Jeesoo Yoon · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was an absurd story but worth a read. Picked it up at the library because I thought the cover was pretty, and though the bildungsroman aspect and the big plot twist felt maybe just the slightest bit forced or artificial, I felt that I could envision each character and reasonably understand how they came to be the way they are throughout the events that transpired. The character I liked the most ended up being the main character - the narrator.