What do you think?
Rate this book
The Courts of Memory
Hardcover
Published January 1, 1954
26 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
January 10, 2024
The year was 1955 and William Faulkner swept the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize with his novel The Fable. Faulkner is an absolute titan of literature, so him winning both American awards is not a surprise, especially considering that the award was at the time considered a makeup award since Faulkner was “overdue.” But supposing a literary legend already buffeted by the winds of at least two classics-to-be decided to not publish a book in 1954, who else would be deserving of either prize?
One way to figure this out is look at the nominations for the National Book Award that did not win — the Pulitzer at the time was not doing runner ups — and I stumbled across this book and its horrible cover, a debut by Frank Rooney. With almost nothing written about this book online minus a vaguely positive Kirkus Review article, I had to dig through old newspapers to get a general idea of what this book was even about, and found a single, poorly written review that couldn’t share much more that what I already knew.
“Conservatives may take offense, but one must recognize sincerity and sympathy, if little discipline,” reads the last line of the Kirkus Review article. Not above offending conservatives myself, I finally decided to just buy the book myself and read it if that was going to be what it took to satiate my curiosity.
I now see why this book has been forgotten. Even the ancient copy that I purchased, not the edition pictured, but a different one, a former library copy - had 3 check-outs in its at least 30 year tenure in the Sacramento library system. So let this be the most thorough, modern review of this forgotten book online!
This book is a family chronicle. It follows primarily, Dick, the main character and youngest, Brace, the middle child and sister, J. R., the older golden child, Father, and Mother. None of them do anything interesting. The Father’s vague business (they’re always discussing what the do with “The Foundry” and insisting that the lumber yard runs itself — what other business activity they were doing to be relatively wealthy other than stewing in inheritance is unknown) keeps this privileged family afloat, and they’re always kissing each other. Dick (or Dickie-bird, as Brace nauseatingly calls him) starts the novel at 16 and ends in his 30’s, doesn’t make much of himself except for drinking, smoking, and then ending up in his father’s business. J. R., a tool, is an army brat, and only functions as a clone of his father, both domineering, stubborn, traditionally masculine men that look to give lazy Dick lessons on being a man, show him nude pictures of his wife (yup) and inevitably crashing down to earth once he can’t go to war no more. J. R. admits to punishing sister Brace when she was 13 for spying on him by letting two ravenous teenage boys have their way with her (this story is contradicted later by Brace, but she was likely lying). Mother, deliberately written fat and dumb, only gets a peel of a personality at the end, and that is one of worry and stress.
Brace is the only somewhat interesting character - smart, clever, has her (implied useless, but not specified) PhD by 26, yet is always described as annoyingly as possible. Unfortunately, she ceases being cool and unique as soon as the plot line where she can’t have children she so desperately wants is introduced. I feel like I’ve heard that one before. Then she’s just in free-fall, suffering until the end.
The racism is only in small parts of the novel, unfortunately it’s only at exactly the times when the rare non-white shows up.
Dick is a pretty hollow guy. Barely showing emotion at all, except for anger, and brief sadness at the prospect of divorcing his wife, he’s callous towards both his partner and his young child, just floating on, generally drunk and unhappy.
Rooney must think that dialogue is good for its own sake, as none of it really matters towards plot or the thin themes. In fact, almost nothing in this 500 page snoozefest matters. You could cut out huge chunks, even from pages close to the end, and lose nothing.
So why did I actually finish the thing?
Well, normally I probably wouldn’t have. The beginning is particularly rough. There are glints, like spots of mica on the beach, where he could really have had something. The leg injury, temporarily crippling him, also emasculates him to his family, where they never really treat him like the man they want him to be thereafter, coddling him. There might be something there about what makes a man. Brace is unfortunately described as too smart for her own good, which ruins her marriages as she’s never able to find someone that matches up well with her (probably doesn’t help that everyone gets married 15 minutes after meeting their partner). She ends up in a sanitarium, as all uppity women do. There could be some commentary there on the restrictions on the role of women in society. I think there’s legitimate strength in the way that Rooney describes first Grandfather’s then Father’s gradual loss of control over themselves and their own lives as they get older.
But that wasn’t it. It was because reading this book felt like having Friends, or Seinfeld on in the background while you do chores. You could miss a season while you’re in the other room but come back and nothing really has changed on screen except for a hair cut. It’s sort of like Courts of Memory was a pleasant, easy read about people falling apart. Nothing ever significant happens so I’m never that invested, it’s just written in an easy, cozy style that I’m just fine with continuing until it ended. Could have gone on for 10 more chapters or I could have skipped most of them in the middle and probably came away with the same impression by the end. The end, by the way, is far more abrupt than I would have expected.
At the end of the day, I can’t say I wouldn’t have rather read something else that wasn’t as tedious or unremarkable. Maybe the conservatives discussed in the Kirkus review would have been more upset about the adultery (perhaps the mild atheism or the lack of patriotism in the army) than anything else, because I couldn’t figure it out. Now, considering that the only copies of this book remaining on sale are $65+ you’re likely just going to have to trust me that it isn’t worth that price.
One way to figure this out is look at the nominations for the National Book Award that did not win — the Pulitzer at the time was not doing runner ups — and I stumbled across this book and its horrible cover, a debut by Frank Rooney. With almost nothing written about this book online minus a vaguely positive Kirkus Review article, I had to dig through old newspapers to get a general idea of what this book was even about, and found a single, poorly written review that couldn’t share much more that what I already knew.
“Conservatives may take offense, but one must recognize sincerity and sympathy, if little discipline,” reads the last line of the Kirkus Review article. Not above offending conservatives myself, I finally decided to just buy the book myself and read it if that was going to be what it took to satiate my curiosity.
I now see why this book has been forgotten. Even the ancient copy that I purchased, not the edition pictured, but a different one, a former library copy - had 3 check-outs in its at least 30 year tenure in the Sacramento library system. So let this be the most thorough, modern review of this forgotten book online!
This book is a family chronicle. It follows primarily, Dick, the main character and youngest, Brace, the middle child and sister, J. R., the older golden child, Father, and Mother. None of them do anything interesting. The Father’s vague business (they’re always discussing what the do with “The Foundry” and insisting that the lumber yard runs itself — what other business activity they were doing to be relatively wealthy other than stewing in inheritance is unknown) keeps this privileged family afloat, and they’re always kissing each other. Dick (or Dickie-bird, as Brace nauseatingly calls him) starts the novel at 16 and ends in his 30’s, doesn’t make much of himself except for drinking, smoking, and then ending up in his father’s business. J. R., a tool, is an army brat, and only functions as a clone of his father, both domineering, stubborn, traditionally masculine men that look to give lazy Dick lessons on being a man, show him nude pictures of his wife (yup) and inevitably crashing down to earth once he can’t go to war no more. J. R. admits to punishing sister Brace when she was 13 for spying on him by letting two ravenous teenage boys have their way with her (this story is contradicted later by Brace, but she was likely lying). Mother, deliberately written fat and dumb, only gets a peel of a personality at the end, and that is one of worry and stress.
Brace is the only somewhat interesting character - smart, clever, has her (implied useless, but not specified) PhD by 26, yet is always described as annoyingly as possible. Unfortunately, she ceases being cool and unique as soon as the plot line where she can’t have children she so desperately wants is introduced. I feel like I’ve heard that one before. Then she’s just in free-fall, suffering until the end.
The racism is only in small parts of the novel, unfortunately it’s only at exactly the times when the rare non-white shows up.
Dick is a pretty hollow guy. Barely showing emotion at all, except for anger, and brief sadness at the prospect of divorcing his wife, he’s callous towards both his partner and his young child, just floating on, generally drunk and unhappy.
Rooney must think that dialogue is good for its own sake, as none of it really matters towards plot or the thin themes. In fact, almost nothing in this 500 page snoozefest matters. You could cut out huge chunks, even from pages close to the end, and lose nothing.
So why did I actually finish the thing?
Well, normally I probably wouldn’t have. The beginning is particularly rough. There are glints, like spots of mica on the beach, where he could really have had something. The leg injury, temporarily crippling him, also emasculates him to his family, where they never really treat him like the man they want him to be thereafter, coddling him. There might be something there about what makes a man. Brace is unfortunately described as too smart for her own good, which ruins her marriages as she’s never able to find someone that matches up well with her (probably doesn’t help that everyone gets married 15 minutes after meeting their partner). She ends up in a sanitarium, as all uppity women do. There could be some commentary there on the restrictions on the role of women in society. I think there’s legitimate strength in the way that Rooney describes first Grandfather’s then Father’s gradual loss of control over themselves and their own lives as they get older.
But that wasn’t it. It was because reading this book felt like having Friends, or Seinfeld on in the background while you do chores. You could miss a season while you’re in the other room but come back and nothing really has changed on screen except for a hair cut. It’s sort of like Courts of Memory was a pleasant, easy read about people falling apart. Nothing ever significant happens so I’m never that invested, it’s just written in an easy, cozy style that I’m just fine with continuing until it ended. Could have gone on for 10 more chapters or I could have skipped most of them in the middle and probably came away with the same impression by the end. The end, by the way, is far more abrupt than I would have expected.
At the end of the day, I can’t say I wouldn’t have rather read something else that wasn’t as tedious or unremarkable. Maybe the conservatives discussed in the Kirkus review would have been more upset about the adultery (perhaps the mild atheism or the lack of patriotism in the army) than anything else, because I couldn’t figure it out. Now, considering that the only copies of this book remaining on sale are $65+ you’re likely just going to have to trust me that it isn’t worth that price.
Displaying 1 of 1 review