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Correction of Drift
Explores the lives behind the headlines of the Lindbergh baby kidnapping, evoking anew the scope of tragedy through the vision of literary fiction.
It was called the crime of the century, and it was front-page news: the Lindbergh baby kidnapping. Correction of Drift: A Novel in Stories imagines the private lives behind the headlines of the case, and examines the endurance—and demise—of those consumed by the tragedy.
Every character brings a different past life to the event, be it a life of celebrity, or of misfortune and obscurity. There is Anne Morrow Lindbergh—daughter of a millionaire, the shy poet who married a national hero; Charles Lindbergh—the rough-and-tumble Minnesota barnstormer, who at age twenty-five made the first transatlantic flight, bringing him world-wide prestige; Violet—the skittish family maid with a curious attachment to the boy and a secret life that lapses into hysteria and self-destruction; and the kidnappers—an assembly of misfits with their own histories of misery. All are bound by the violence, turmoil, and mystery of the child’s disappearance as it becomes evident that each life has been irrevocably changed. Patterns of bereavement and loss illuminate these stories: despair at the death of a child; the retreat into seclusion; the comfort and the desolation of a marriage. But the heart of this novel is the far-reaching nature of tragedy, and the ways the characters go on to live—or end—their lives.
It was called the crime of the century, and it was front-page news: the Lindbergh baby kidnapping. Correction of Drift: A Novel in Stories imagines the private lives behind the headlines of the case, and examines the endurance—and demise—of those consumed by the tragedy.
Every character brings a different past life to the event, be it a life of celebrity, or of misfortune and obscurity. There is Anne Morrow Lindbergh—daughter of a millionaire, the shy poet who married a national hero; Charles Lindbergh—the rough-and-tumble Minnesota barnstormer, who at age twenty-five made the first transatlantic flight, bringing him world-wide prestige; Violet—the skittish family maid with a curious attachment to the boy and a secret life that lapses into hysteria and self-destruction; and the kidnappers—an assembly of misfits with their own histories of misery. All are bound by the violence, turmoil, and mystery of the child’s disappearance as it becomes evident that each life has been irrevocably changed. Patterns of bereavement and loss illuminate these stories: despair at the death of a child; the retreat into seclusion; the comfort and the desolation of a marriage. But the heart of this novel is the far-reaching nature of tragedy, and the ways the characters go on to live—or end—their lives.
189 pages, Paperback
First published January 15, 2008
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
August 31, 2017
Check out my review here:
http://www.brooklynrail.org/2008/02/b...
http://www.brooklynrail.org/2008/02/b...
April 9, 2022
I never knew the details of the famous kidnapping of the "Lindbergh Baby"--taken from his second story nursery, dropped by the kidnappers as they fled down a ladder, his rotting body in a nearby field---while Charles Lindbergh (first to fly nonstop from NY to Paris) and his socialite wife, Anne, are lead on a ransom-note chase for the return of their already-dead son. The players in this collection of inter-related pieces tell the tale with accuracy, details, and gravitas. I read it twice now....and amazed by the fine writing and unfolding of events.
April 23, 2022
This haunting tale of the kidnapping of America’s most famous baby will take hold and keep you reading. Gorgeous language, even in its horrifying details. Unforgettable.
March 15, 2008
About the Crime of the Century! The Lindbergh Baby kidnapping! Aren't you interested in the Lindbergh Baby Kidnapping?!?
extremely beautiful and attentive writing in this short story collection (billed as "a novel in stories") sometimes stilted due to the iconic nature of its subject, written around the kidnapping and murder of the then Most Famous Couple's firstborn.
[which, maybe today, would be the equivalent of shiloh pitt. pause to imagine the parallel sound and fury.]
precise and sustained attention to detail. the opening chapter has the layered density of absalom absalom. what's most cool is the atmosphere achieved of depression-era america. it's in her verb choice. not just the repeating of archaic brand names and gone places, but those acts and habits that people used to do and now do no longer...
but part of the challenge i think of writing this type of historical novel is getting away from the textbook narrative. it's the somewhat contradictory act of hanging your book on the peg of history but making a reader forget that this is capital H History and rendering a more lowercase h personal history... so i liked the stories best that dealt with the more minor characters--the maid, the wife of the kidnapper bruno hauptmann character--where there was room for the author to move outside the iconic. in these chapters Ryder allowed herself to imagine interior lives, pasts, and the narrative gets more momentum going. in fact the real pleasure of the book for me was simply in fully entering german-american immigrant life in 1930s nyc. in contrast, in the chapters devoted to lindbergh and his wife, the two are somewhat reduced to their roles of action hero and socialite, and we're left, somewhat stalled, at the surface of history.
(plus, since roth's THE PLOT AGAINST AMERICA i'm sort of ruined, unable to really see lucky lindy as anything more than a fascist antisemite, a george W prototype--and this aspect of the guy interestingly comes up zilch in the book.)
still, an enormous care is taken with the writing, always elegant, never purple and truly gorgeous at times. one to watch.
extremely beautiful and attentive writing in this short story collection (billed as "a novel in stories") sometimes stilted due to the iconic nature of its subject, written around the kidnapping and murder of the then Most Famous Couple's firstborn.
[which, maybe today, would be the equivalent of shiloh pitt. pause to imagine the parallel sound and fury.]
precise and sustained attention to detail. the opening chapter has the layered density of absalom absalom. what's most cool is the atmosphere achieved of depression-era america. it's in her verb choice. not just the repeating of archaic brand names and gone places, but those acts and habits that people used to do and now do no longer...
but part of the challenge i think of writing this type of historical novel is getting away from the textbook narrative. it's the somewhat contradictory act of hanging your book on the peg of history but making a reader forget that this is capital H History and rendering a more lowercase h personal history... so i liked the stories best that dealt with the more minor characters--the maid, the wife of the kidnapper bruno hauptmann character--where there was room for the author to move outside the iconic. in these chapters Ryder allowed herself to imagine interior lives, pasts, and the narrative gets more momentum going. in fact the real pleasure of the book for me was simply in fully entering german-american immigrant life in 1930s nyc. in contrast, in the chapters devoted to lindbergh and his wife, the two are somewhat reduced to their roles of action hero and socialite, and we're left, somewhat stalled, at the surface of history.
(plus, since roth's THE PLOT AGAINST AMERICA i'm sort of ruined, unable to really see lucky lindy as anything more than a fascist antisemite, a george W prototype--and this aspect of the guy interestingly comes up zilch in the book.)
still, an enormous care is taken with the writing, always elegant, never purple and truly gorgeous at times. one to watch.
August 26, 2008
I was really looking forward to reading this book because I know next to nothing about the subject. After reading it, I still feel like I know next to nothing. I guess I'm not smart or deep enough to understand the author's writing style. Some chapters I really liked, while others, I found myself just trying to get through them. A really interesting style of book, and I'm still not sure if I gave the right rating. I'm still debating...
April 5, 2014
I finally finished this! I don't remember when I started it. I read most of it, and got bogged down somehow...don't know. But I wanted to finish it and I did.
I like the premise of this quite a bit. It is based on the Lindbergh kidnapping and presents many scenarios from different perspectives. The writing is quite good and it is formally interesting.
By the time I finished it, I had forgotten a lot of what came earlier, but overall I enjoyed it.
I like the premise of this quite a bit. It is based on the Lindbergh kidnapping and presents many scenarios from different perspectives. The writing is quite good and it is formally interesting.
By the time I finished it, I had forgotten a lot of what came earlier, but overall I enjoyed it.
April 8, 2022
To call Correction of Drift a so-called "historical novel" is to overlook the music of the book. Pamela Ryder writes some of the most beautiful sentences in English. The narrative unfolds like a song, and Correction of Drift will leave the reader both satisfied and haunted.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews