Living to Tell: A Novel

by Antonya Nelson

After spending five years in prison for killing his beloved grandmother in a drunk driving accident, thirty-three-year-old Winston Mabie is returning to his Wichita, Kansas, childhood home and the sisters and parents he left behind. Though the surroundings are familiar, Winston's return suddenly forces the five Mabies to reexamine one another. Will they learn to talk of clean slates and new beginnings? As the Mabies wrestle with pregnancy, broken hearts, obsession, redemption, mortality, and forgiveness, Antonya Nelson weaves a rich and true tapestry of family.

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary, Grief, Book Club

320 pages, Paperback

First published June 5, 2000

About the author

Antonya Nelson is the author of nine books of fiction, including Nothing Right and the novels Talking in Bed, Nobody’s Girl, and Living to Tell. Nelson’s work has appeared in the New Yorker, Esquire, Harper’s, Redbook, and many other magazines, as well as in anthologies such as Prize Stories: The O. Henry Awards and The Best American Short Stories. She has received a Guggenheim Fellowship, an NEA Grant, the Rea Award for the Short Story, and, recently, the United States Artists Simon Fellowship. She is married to the writer Robert Boswell and lives in New Mexico, Colorado, and Texas, where she holds the Cullen Chair in Creative Writing at the University of Houston.

Reviews

[Katherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the second Antonya Nelson book I have read. I like her character development and prose style. This is the story of a dysfunctional family, the same old story, of course, but with a few twists...a retired professor, a son returning from five years in prison, two sisters, all of whom live in the family mansion. The narrative structure is worth noting, as the characters are introduced in point of view chapters. The chapter that introduces the mother, whose vision is deteriorating, begins to incorporate multiple points of view. I also liked Talking in Bed, and I am reading Nobody's Girl now.

[Daphne Atkeson · Rating 5 out of 5]

A quiet book that sneaks up on you. An ensemble story of a family including adult children who live together. Inciting incident is the return from prison of the son who killed his grandmother drunk driving. Subtle growth and changes among all family members. Delicate, delicious twists and a lovely ironic ending. Sure voice and this author has earned the designation of a top American writer. Remarkable effort.

[J.I.]

A staggeringly powerful book that begins with a son returning home after five years in prison for accidentally killing his grandmother in a drunk-driving incident. Told at first in chapters inhabiting a character's head and then sliding into an alternating omniscience, it is a story about people with their own lives living in proximity to one another and trying to fit the pieces together. They obsess about how they are living their lives and what is going on in the lives of others. They have their own petty thoughts, their judgments, their annoyances, their loves, their hopes, etc. What must it be to have these questions and to not ask them, or to ask and have them answered in a way we deem insufficient? This is a book that explores that, it touches on the reaches of family and love, acceptance and grief and a wonder of the bond of family.

This was a book that I had to keep putting down, so much did it overwhelm me, but I was constantly wanting to pick back up. I don't think I could recommend it more highly.

[Michele · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyable but not necessarily a book to fall in love with...you can definitely tell she's a short story writer (and both the good and the bad that come with that are rampant)...all in all a pleasant park slope stoop find.

[Robin · Rating 1 out of 5]

The story sounded like it would be interesting but I was only annoyed by each of the characters and how self-involved they all were.

[Elise · Rating 1 out of 5]

I did not make it past the first 100 pages of this book. The plot moved so slowly. Every time I would pick it up to read, I found myself looking forward only to the scene descriptions of my native Kansas. Otherwise, I didn't care about the characters, and I definitely didn't care about the horrific accident that landed the central character in prison, which in my time reading the book, the author hinted at multiple times, but didn't get around to fully describing, so I lost interest.

I'm kind of wondering if I am beginning to dislike stories about dysfunctional families, but it might just be because in my recent experience, these books are so in-your-face with the dysfunction.

Since this was a two-fer in my 2017 book challenge, I'm going to have to read another librarian recommendation and also another book set in Kansas. On to In Cold Blood!

[Andrea · Rating 3 out of 5]

I grew up in Wichita but just didn't see a lot of the Wichita I knew in this. Some place names, yes. But I felt like this intergenerational story could have been set anywhere. So I just kind of felt indifferent to this story.

This is very much a character driven story and the two sisters were complex and well drawn but the others lacked much depth and were kind of one note. There are a few non-family members in the story but most of the characters just revolve around themselves and it felt inauthentic. I found myself skimming paragraphs, knowing that more was written than I needed.

I was reminded of Hard Laughter, which I also read recently but which grew on me more than this one did.

[Rebekah Carter · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Nelson's writing style. Hers is one that makes me go back & read sentences, or even paragraphs, again just because I love the words (& their meaning) so much. Her characters are complex & believable. This is definitely not an easy read due to the serious nature of the themes in the story (alcoholism, death, abortion, cancer) but it is well worth the read. And it manages to have some humorous scenes that help cushion the harder ones.

[Fayette · Rating 3 out of 5]

Three adult children living with their parents in an 8500 square foot home; one of them unemployed, one underemployed, and another divorced with two children (so seven people total in the house.) It's depressing how much trouble they get into and the extent of their bad habits and disfunction. Still, an underlying thread of family and love holds them together.

[Donna Halloran · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not for me. The story ended up being ok but seemed crazy slow. The most frustrating part of was the retelling of parts of the story. For example, the book contains a hated dog. Each time the dog had a significant part in the story, the author would rehash why the dog was hated... I get it, move on. I would have given a 1star but the ending really was very powerful

[stacy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this book but wasn't crazy about the end.

[Sleuthfullyours · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. Was annoyed that I could not get it on kindle but I found the author insightful. It was a beautiful story of family life!
All of the family living in the same house.

[Jean · Rating 2 out of 5]

My second star goes exclusively to the first chapter, which really drew me in--a precise, concise, humorous account of Winston Mabie's flight home to Wichita after his release from prison. He had always been afraid of flying, and five years in prison hadn't changed his fear, even though he was flying home to freedom. The writer detailed each dip, bump, whine, and various ordinary in-flight events; all of which caused feelings of fear and intimidation in Winston's mind. His tender gleanings of survival were overshadowed by the coming reunion with his father and readjustment to family life. The Mabie family, including three thirty-something adult children (including Winston) and two grandchildren lived in an 8500 square-foot mansion in Wichita. Head of the household was retired Professor Mabie and his wife--two parents who had enabled the unfocused, unfulfilled lives of their grown children.

The first chapter would have made a fabulous stand-alone short story, and the writer should have stopped there before plunging into the rest of this chaotic novel that failed to pursue the story of Winston's future and reconciliation with his father, whose mother he'd killed in a drunk-driving accident and for which he'd served the jail term.

I wouldn't have minded some diverting trails exploring this uniquely quirky Mabie family, if the writer had kept on track with Winston's story. The resolution of his story, if it can be called that, was a lame after-thought at the very end of the novel. The story devolved to focus on the extremely messed-up lives of Winston's two sisters, who seemed consumed with alcohol, drugs, and sex. Their only redeeming characteristics were a love of animals and the two children in the house.

Also degrading was that the mother of the family had no identifiable name other than "Mrs. Mabie." I felt sorry for this woman who seemed almost invisible and who longed for a second chance at motherhood with her grandchildren.

On a positive note, I credit the writer with a lovely job of delineating the characters and behavior of the very young children in the story-- four year old Roy and 8-month old Petra. I was impressed with how fully she portrayed the character of the not-yet verbal baby girl.

[Marguerite Hargreaves · Rating 4 out of 5]

A beautiful story about the ways families disappoint and love one another. All of the characters in this novel are flawed and scarred. Emily, Winston, and Mona Mabie are all living in their parents' home again, despite being adults, but all are broken: Emily by divorce, Winston by a drunken driving accident that sent him to jail for five years and Mona by her bad choices in men and fragile psyche. Their parents might function better, but they have issues, too.

Things come to a head after Winston is released from prison. All of the Mabies are self-absorbed and determined to keep one another in familiar, decades-old pigeonholes. Events force them to reconsider and find new ways to relate to each other.

Antonya Nelson writes beautifully. But the first chapter, detailing Winston's flight home, is a throwaway. The dynamics there aren't revisited. At times, they seem at odds with the character Winston as he evolves over the course of the novel. None of the characters is employed, either, but that jolt of unreality bothered me less than the lack of continuity.

"Emily slid out of bed and crossed the floor, resentful of the creaking boards beneath her feet, the fact that she was walking on the ceilings of her mother and sister, who no doubt lay awake below her, wishing they could do something to help her out. So many feelings, loose in the house, so many misconceptions, missed cues, hopeless misunderstandings never to be set right."

"She did not feel victorious. She felt lonely. She'd felt that then, too, the secret marital paradox nobody told you about in advance, the way you could be desperately, suicidally lonely, and yet have not one shred of privacy."

"It was not her vision alone that seemed to be failing Mrs. Mabie. Her self, she sometimes thought, was turning inward, collapsing in the way of other life-forms, container no longer robust, insides going hollow."

Worth a look-see. I'm not sure about crossover appeal for Nelson's short-story fans. There's something unfulfilled in the long haul of this novel that might be less an issue in a shorter work. But it didn't bother me enough to stop reading.

[Andrea · Rating 2 out of 5]

Living to Tell by Antonya Nelson was just a bummer of a read. Like, have you ever read a book that was just really, really sad? That was this book times a million. The story starts with Winston Mabie being released from prison five years after being jailed for the drunk driving accident that killed his beloved grandma. He returns home to Wichita, Kansas (Side Note - I wanted to read this because it was sent in Kansas) to his family unsure of where he now fits since his time away. He has two sisters back home, and their stories are contributing factors for the bummer nature of this book as well as his parents. The story is well-written, but I really just found myself looking forward to it being over because I was so saddened by all the tragedy (literally, all the damn tragedy) that kept impacting this family. Ultimately, I actually wanted more Winston. I was intrigued by the premise, but after the first chapter, his story was barely mentioned. Instead, it was about his family and again, sad, sad, sad stuff. Y'all, this was just all-around too much.

[Deidre · Rating 1 out of 5]

Antonya Nelson. Living to Tell. New York: Scribner, 2000.

Again, Nelson is better with short stories than a novel. (See comments for Talking in Bed.) A significant portion of this book I read in another book of hers as a short story. Sigh. I have several other books I ordered of hers and I suspect I’ll have the same observation again and again.

Page 91: “People were always telling you what a joy grandchildren were: restored children – without the worry. But Mrs. Mabie missed the worry. She couldn’t love her grandchildren the same way, that intensely fearful way that kept her up at night and sent her visiting their beds as they slept, that made her cry with complicity and fullness . . . She simply couldn’t claim fullness in the case of her grandchildren Their time away from her did not plague her as her own children’s had; she forgot about them for hours in a row . . . It quite frankly was not the same.”

[Katherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

After reading Nelson's latest short story collection and thoroughly enjoying it, I picked up a copy of one of her novels at the library. Although I am enjoying it, my sense of indignation has been aroused. Chapter 8 of this novel is almost exactly the same as the story "Party of One" in Nothing is Right. I don't know why this bothers me so much, but it seems to be cheating somehow. Oh well. Here are some quotations I like:

"Loving grown-ups proved challenging to Mrs. Mabie. They were big, they had their own ideas" (95).
"Kojak did not like Guido. The bird scared him. Hanging above his head when he visited his favorite human's room, the bird kept scritching about, mysteriously, ominously. Every now and then he would give the dog a command: 'Shut up!' or 'Sit down!' Without exception the dog would startle and compy. A being hated its instincts, sometimes" (161).

[lola · Rating 2 out of 5]

Point: My great-grandmother, the matriarch of my family, is finally eroding at the age of 98 and the rest of us matriarch-to-bes--my grandmother, my mother, and myself--have been deathbed-side for a month or so now as she goes. On Sunday morning she grabbed my grandmother's hands, whispered "Forgive me" in Spanish and then went completely under.

Counterpoint: Some white people who live in a big house and nobody else cares about them. They do mean things to each other but don't really discuss why and the most interesting character in the book dies before the plot starts.

[Joyce · Rating 2 out of 5]

This starts out as the story of a family reunion - son returns home after spending five years in prison because he was driving drunk and had an accident which resulted in the death of his grandmother who was his passenger. It winds up focusing even more on the man's sisters, both of which have plenty of their own problems to contend with - bad love affairs and illness. Plus their mother is going blind and their father is going deaf. There are a lot of interesting threads, but they fail to come together in a pleasing tapestry.

[Jane · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my second time reading and it is even more wonderful. Convinces me that rereading is the way to go. The story of a wonderful, loving, dysfunctional, falling apart family. The arc of the story is extraordinary. I kept wondering this time how Nelson pulled it off. It's a book to live with and learn from, whether you are a writer, a reader, a parent, a grandparent, a child, an addict, a recovering addict, a perfectionist, a survivor, a romantic, an ex-con. Do you get it? There is something for everyone. And every sentence is dazzling.

[Carola · Rating 2 out of 5]

I finished this novel, which I was surprised about. It started off good but then ended slow. But there are some nice moments of togetherness in here-- those kind where the world (in the book) kind of forms a perfect circle and you wish you'd written it.

[Virginia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nelson's short fiction is some of my favorite. This novel is strong as well. It has the feel of a short story trying on its father's suit--in a good way. You can see it in there under the layers. And those layers are entertaining--comical at times, sad at others.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

favorite line: "Her music, as usual, was a frightening discordant presence, terribly at odds with the flowers and birds and blue sky, as if someone were throwing razor blades into the air."

[Donna]

Wonderful portrait of a family trying to come together as betrayals, broken hearts and other tragedies threaten to pull it apart.

[Jenn · Rating 4 out of 5]

loved the characters, how they all have their quirks and flaws and the secrets amongst families.

[Monte · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another story about a family with secrets, myths, lies, sex and no videos

[Leslye · Rating 4 out of 5]

the closer to the end of the book, the slower i tried to read it.

[Anna Odegaard · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was engaging to read, but I didn't just fall in love with it like some of her other books. If you want to check out this author, read Talking in Bed or Nothing Right, because they're fabulous.

[Mariya]

NO

[RUSA CODES · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was one of the 2001 RUSA Notable Books winners. For the complete list, go to http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/rus...