Ultraviolet: A Novel

by Suzanne Matson, Karen Peakes (Reading)

"Capacious, unsentimental, and yet forgiving, Ultraviolet brings us both the intimacy of women's lives and their trajectories across continents and generations. This is Suzanne Matson at her wisest and deepest―wonderful." ―Gish Jen, author of The Girl at the Baggage Claim

Suzanne Matson’s engrossing and intimate new novel, Ultraviolet, centers on Kathryn―the daughter of Elsie and mother of Samantha―while illuminating the lives of three generations of women, each more independent than the last. Their stories open in 1930s India, where Elsie lives with her authoritarian missionary husband and their children. Returning to the American Midwest as a teenager, Kathryn feels alienated and restless. When she loses her mother prematurely to a stroke, she escapes to Oregon for a fresh start. Disappointed that her education was cut short by her father, and dreaming of becoming a writer, she supports herself as a waitress in wartime America, dating soldiers, then meeting and marrying Finnish-American Carl. A construction worker sixteen years her senior, he is an unlikely match, though appealing in his care-free ways and stark difference from her Mennonite past. But Kathryn ends up feeling trapped in the marriage, her ambitions thwarted. Samantha, who’s grown up in the atmosphere of her mother’s discontent, follows her own career to teach at a university in faraway Boston, where she maintains a happy family of her own.

When Kathryn starts to fail, Samantha moves her mother near her to care for, and then to watch over her deathbed, where “something in the room―the spell, the cord knitting them together―is cut. Or no, that can’t be right, either.” Ultraviolet is a lyrical novel of great emotional depth. Suzanne Matson recognizes both the drama that is within every existence and the strengths and fragilities of our relationships with others. She shines a brilliant light on the complexities of marriage, motherhood, aging, and the end of life.

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, India, Family

Audio CD

First published September 4, 2018

Reviews

[Angela M · Rating 4 out of 5]

I often enjoy quiet stories about ordinary people and their every day lives because most of the time they are not just ordinary stories, but ones that depict some poignant, realistic things that represent what many of us know or have experienced. Nothing earth shattering seems to happen for the reader but the things that happen always seem to be life altering for the characters. This is a story of three generations of women, of their relationships, but mostly about a woman named Kathryn, daughter of Mennonite missionaries who is raised in India. The narrative begins with a short Coda from Boston in 2015 in a scene near the end of her life with her daughter. Then Kathryn’s story begins back to India in 1930 . The novel moves forward to Chicago in 1942 and then in spans of years as Kathryn moves to Portland, Oregon to forge her own way, her own identity. She marries a man sixteen years older, moves around before their marriage to Los Angeles, then later to a Seattle and Boston. This is a short book and the description on Goodreads gives more information than I would have liked so I’ll leave out details. While this is not a perfect four stars, it depicts sometimes that quiet desperation when life happens, when secrets of the past affect marriage, how children can be impacted when marriages fail, while parents care for their children, and the children care for them as they age, mother-daughter relationships. If you’re looking for an action packed read, this isn’t it, but if you enjoy a quiet, meaningful, realistic story, I’d recommend it.

I received an advanced copy of this book from Catapult through Edelweiss.

[Diane S ☔ · Rating 3 out of 5]

India, 1930's, Elsie takes her young daughter Kathryn to a doctor for an ultraviolet treatment for her eczema. She is married to a domineering man and wonders why everyone listens to him, but not to her. They leave India and move to the Midwest in the states. Soon the story belongs to Kathryn, as she tries to find her place, wanting just to belong to something. She seizes on marriage to an older man, but he has secrets, things that will impact their marriage, though she too will have a daughter.

Three generations of women, mothers and daughter, each trying to find themselves against an ever changing country. Writing generational novels can be tricky, especially if done in a relatively small amount of pages. I enjoyed Elsie's story, her time in India, her thoughts, but her story ends to soon.
Kathryn, soon called Kay, I had a harder time with. After she marries, it seems as if nothing could please her, she complains much, and is a rather cold character. Though her journey through life was interesting, warts and sll. The Samantha's story, never really got a handle on her separate from her mother, her story the shortest and least fleshed out.

So a mixed read for me, connecting more with the first half, than the second. Usually I think most novels could be shorter, but this one could have been longer.

ARC from Edelweiss.

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Here’s another under read and underappreciated author that reminds me of Kate Southwood. These books Catapult are publishing are really charming me.

Ultra Violet is a quiet, beautiful multi-generational story that leaves you understanding, at least a little, how things turn out for some women who didn’t marry for love, who didn’t fulfill any dreams, whose small lives consisted of resentment, child-rearing, regret, domesticity and lack of choice. Maybe that’s the main one. Choice. They didn’t have it when it came to marriage, when it came to getting pregnant, when it came to if/when they could work. And then we see, as the story moves forward, how a daughter of one of these bitter, empty women fares, and how poisonous the relationship becomes. Everything unspoken. Everything full circle.

[Jessica Woodbury · Rating 3 out of 5]

The novel that follows mothers and daughters across generations has been popping up more and more lately and I still haven't had my fill of them. The epic generational novel has been around for so long, that these slimmer, more specific versions still feel new and fresh to me, especially as you watch the way women's choices change or stay the same over time. (They stay the same more often than you expect.)

In ULTRAVOILET I got really sucked in to the story of Elsie, the wife of a missionary in India, and then her daughter Kathryn who pulls away from the overprotected world she was brought up in to discover a new life for herself. The writing is lovely, the characters and settings are interesting. But I started to stall closer to the end. Kathryn began to fade from the story and I didn't feel as grabbed by her daughter Samantha and the relationship didn't quite meld for me. But it's still a worthy entry to the mothers-and-daughters novel.

[Fazia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't know how to rate this book at first. Beautifully, hypnotically written, it draws you into the lives of three generations of women, beginning in 1930's India with a Mennonite missionary woman and her family. But reading it hurt.

Not because it was badly written! Oh, no, not at all. Like I said, it's beautifully written with places in time that pop off the page like old photographs.

It hurt because it kept hitting so close to home.

I picked this up because I saw "child in 1930s India" who then later met a Finnish-American. My Dad's from India and Mom was from Finland - any combination of that piques my curiosity. And while these characters have wildly different backgrounds, lives, and motivations than my own parents, there were so many moments that I could feel strongly because of similarities in time periods, relationships, and experiences:

The constant doctor visits for Kathryn when she was young. One of her parents dying when she was young and the profound effect it had on her decisions. Her discomfort around Carl's extended relatives. Samantha's role as caregiver and helper to both her parents. Paul and Samantha knowing when mom was depressed and learning how to deal with it. Vera's quiet "respectability" hiding someone who had been highly politically active when younger. Kathryn's dissatisfaction.

My mother passed away just two months ago. When I read the opening pages I had to put the book down and cry it so vividly and accurately described a certain moment. The same thing happened near the end of the book when Samantha gets to do something for her mother that I sadly never did - and then makes some observations that I know I would have as well. It's the first time I've had to put a book down that close to the end, recover a bit and then finish reading.

These moments might not affect you quite as profoundly, or even stand out to you if you're not in quite the same place in life as I am, but the writing is nevertheless wonderful. Flowing gently, it pulls you in firmly and keeps you there, presenting sympathetic, if unflinching and complex, portraits of everyone.

[Amy Grimm · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a lovely book. The author's style is both intimate and unsentimental as she describes the lives of three generations of women. I found myself drawn in slowly, even thinking about the characters when I wasn't reading the book. There is as much said in the silences here as in the dialogue and descriptions. Some passages were heartbreaking, and others were laugh out loud funny, as in this description from an Alaskan cruise: "Kathryn wears her new Inside Passage map T-shirt, so Samantha can consult their current position by gazing at her mother's flattened chest.....Most of the passengers seem to be sporting their port purchases, so that they have become a vast, place-labeled herd, as if no one can remember their location unless wearing it."

I feel unready to begin my next book, because this one has taken over my heart - always an indication of a great read. Highly recommend!

[Jeanette · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hmmmm! This will be a super brief review.

I actually rounded it up to equate a 3 star. The first 100 pages were a full 3. I was invested to Kay's narration and her experiences for having the Indian childhood and then the Midwestern rural transfer. And just post war WWII periods are also rather intriguing to the nuance of her men choices and contacts from so much transitory change. But even then I felt Kay was detached, weirdly cold too to having her own onus. Almost as if she let things "happen to her" rather than strive "towards". And not just in partnerships or relationships either. Jobs, places of lodging contexts too. And always running "from" as opposed "to" much of anything.

Then I thought the last 1/2 of the book barely surpassing a 2. Too much time passed without enough characterizations criteria and core for me. Ordinary people leading lives with minutia and nuance of many features- none of which really delved far from the surfaces, IMHO. Samantha especially. And I also found the female inter-relationships in all the generations holding one instance or another instance but not being deep or lovingly inclusive to an unconditional love. Much more of just skirting societal "norm" appearances.

This is a mistake in trying to do this length of time and 3 or more generational connections. It wasn't entertaining in the latter generations for me at all. For me it would be categorized solidly in the chick lit. genre. I wouldn't do another by this author. Too jumpy and flashback prone for the skill level of the word craft, on top of it. MEH!

[Donna · Rating 4 out of 5]

I struggled to rate this book because there were parts of it I really loved and other parts that seemed slow. It is a quiet book built around relationships. The character sketches in it, and the capturing of a time period that was not particularly exciting were done very well. Carl, the father, is quite interesting, and I enjoyed the contrast of his self assured, but easy going nature relative to the women in the story. It felt like the book was not quite long enough to allow full development of the characters over 3 generations, so the author had to carefully choose what to include. Many of them are masterfully done, and convey a lot of meaning in small vignettes from the character's lives. In the end, I decided to give it a 4, rather than a 3, because of how well the best parts were written and the final relationship developed between Kathryn, the mother, and Samantha, the daughter. We are left knowing the least about the grandmother, who probably had the most interesting life of the three because she spent much of it as a missionary in India. I wanted to know more about her and how she influenced Kathryn. Kathryn, who was born in India and spent most of her childhood there, becomes a rather cold person who, after her interesting train ride to leave her missionary father and strike out on her own, seems to leave things to fate for most of her life. She is not so much an interesting character as an unhappy, embittered woman that the daughter tries to figure out. In the end Kathryn seems to come to terms with her life, and Samantha provides loving care and a steady presence while she looses touch with reality. The ending with the POV from the very aged Kathryn is masterful. Part of the beauty of the novel is the reality that most relationships are not perfect, even as we wish them to be.

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Compelling and Epic Generational Novel.
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I enjoyed this book. It slowly drew me in. I found the writing was lovely! I really enjoy generational novels, specially mother-daughter ones.Thoes relationships are always so intimate and complex which makes them so engrossing. This book follows three generations of women through their lives.
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I liked the plot, but for the characters I definitely enjoyed Elsie's storyline the most. A missionary in India in the 1930's. And her daughter Kathryn who struggles to belong once moving back to the US after a childhood in India. Then Samantha her daughter I enjoyed the least. I felt her character was lacking.
I think this book could have been been longer as well. To give the characters more time.
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All in all I did like this one. If you like generational novels and or reading about mother-daughter relationships give this one a go.
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Thank You to the publisher for sending me a finished copy. I love this cover too. 😍

[Paltia · Rating 3 out of 5]

At first I was puzzled by this book. It read like a purging of sorts. Then I decided that wasn’t fair and contemplated what had kept me reading. A story that is somber and relatively bland in content. There are certainly big events but Matson tells of them with such restraint and calm that they barely register or indicate any difference from the hum drum of daily living. The book lacks intensity. Yes, I think that’s it. It is deceptively flat line like and can lull the reader into a similar state. Nonetheless, I found it surprisingly moving and melancholy. A tale of how time passes and leaves one in that state of aloneness. I have great respect for the author’s gentle treatment of what read, at least in part, as a memoir.

[Teri · Rating 3 out of 5]

title doesn't make a ton of sense.....young girl in india has eczema and goes to hospital to get treated
parents are missionaries from US. she eventually comes back to US and marries a much older guy and has a son and daughter but divorces late in life. Husband's family is Finnish. it was ok, not great

[Elba · Rating 3 out of 5]

This novel is beautifully written but very slow. The author follows three generation of women throughout their lives. I love the complex relationships of mothers and daughters and how similar their choices are through the decades. An enjoyable read.

[Nelda Brangwin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I consider the ability to take ordinary people and make their lives interesting in a book shows the skill of an author. Spanning nearly a century from a young girl growing up as a Mennonite missionary child in India, leaving the faith and moving to Oregon where she finds a rather dubious love match, which she makes work, the story continues with that of her daughter. Many readers will recognize the problems faced by these women.

[Jerie Green · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book twice, the first time as a straight-through novel which I loved but found frustrating because there were jumps from one era to another. Then I realized that each chapter stood on its own as a short story but all were about the same people through an 85-year arc. Still a greatly satisfying read the second time, but different!

[Ann · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was a good story, but I found it very slow. It took me awhile to read. I tried to put it down a few times, but I wanted to find out what happened at the end. I had to skip a few chapters.

[Virginia · Rating 5 out of 5]

In artfully rendered, well chosen moments, the inner lives of three generations of women are revealed. The opening chapter in India is perhaps the most striking, but each chapter stands on its own as a fully wrought portrait. Beautifully written!

[Mark Bennett · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not my normal type of book by a long shot, but I liked it a lot. Made me think of new things that I wouldn't normally thing about, which I enjoyed. Sounds like it wouldn't be that interesting but it is very well written, and characters are very believable.

[Carol Gabel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Three generations—three mothers, the older the mother to the next generation. An amazing closeness between mother and daughter. Beautiful language.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

An intimate portrait of mothers and daughters. A fast read.

[Mom · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hmm. What to say.....

Ultraviolet, started as a beautiful lyrical description of life in India in the 1930s. I was entranced. And then the book jumped forward 12 years, to Chicago and wartime. It was a disorienting jump. And then it jumped again (not just in time, but in style).

Those uncomfortable jumps are the product of a novel told episodically, jumping often 10 years with each chapter. The main characters are three women: Elsie, an American married to a Mennonite missionary in India, Kay, her daughter raised mostly in the United States and often frustrated and unhappy, and Samantha, Kay's daughter.

It felt as if there were three different books. The first and most intriguing concerned the family in India -- beautiful, lyrical, and much too short.

The second "book" follows the family in their return to the United States , where Kay feels detached and alienated. She eventually marries and has a daughter Samantha. This part was ho-hum.

And then the very final "book" describes in loving detail how Samantha takes care of her aging mother. Samantha is with Kay as she dies, meditating thoughtfully on death and exploring the emotional effects of women's changing roles through history. Mostly interesting.

After finishing the book, I googled the author and discovered that this is her family's story (somewhat fictionalized).

[Carol · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoy “coming of age” stories as well as those dealing with relationships. This book unfolded over three generations of women; grandma, mother, and daughter, and was all of that. What’s missing from this book is a plot twist or big issue for any character to battle or overcome. It’s simply a journey alongside these women on their day to day and how they dealt with life and the curveballs it throws.

It begins in India, proceeds to the Midwestern United States, journeys to the West Coast and then ends up all the way back on the East Coast. I kept wanting something to happen – but really, there never was a “big” culmination of events. I truly felt that this was a simple story, missing all the drama – but missing none of the details. It was the details that wove the story together so beautifully.

The majority of the book centers around Kathryn who breaks free of her childhood life and delves into another world from the deeply religious one she grew up in. Some of the internal battles she fights include her sexuality, her worth as a woman, infertility and miscarriage, depression, and being stuck in an unfulfilling marriage. This book touches on so many different commonplace issues for women at all ages of life.

I did feel a few pangs of irritation for Katheryn as the story unfolded. It seemed she was constantly longing for what she didn’t have and was never really happy when she got what she wanted and her resentment kept her unhinged. Her daughter summarizes it well while they are in Las Vegas on vacation. But, at the same time, I felt her feelings on various subjects were spot-on and I could relate very well to her on some things. I guess I just wouldn’t make the choices she did.

In summary, this quiet, unremarkable story was really quite enjoyable. I’m probably missing a major message from the author tucked into the story lines, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.

[Marvin · Rating 4 out of 5]

No real through plotline here, just a series of beautifully rendered scenes from an ordinary life, that of a woman, Kathryn, born to Mennonite missionaries in India in 1922, who, after spending her teenage years in Peoria, IL, becomes a “modern” woman on the West Coast (Portland & LA) after the war before becoming a fairly typical 1950s suburban (Portland) mom. It offers visions of the context of a white lower middle-class woman’s life from 1922 to 2015. The context is very important, but Kathryn remains a real character, not just a stand-in for her place & time. There are scenes focused on her mother, her sister-in-law, her daughter, but the import of those scenes comes from their relationship to Kathryn. There are many opportunities to congratulate ourselves on our superiority: mothers smoking while they’re pregnant; a child on his knees between his parents while in the car; a birth while out with a general anesthetic; etc. It reminds me of novels by Carol Shields. Nicely done.

[Lesley Goldthorpe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ultraviolet is a thoughtful, character-focused story about family, especially the complicated relationships between mothers and daughters. The novel follows three generations of women and slowly shows how their choices, struggles, and ambitions affect each other over time.

What I liked most about this book is how real the characters feel. They’re messy, imperfect, and sometimes frustrating in ways that feel very human. The story digs into things like motherhood, career ambitions, aging, and the expectations women place on themselves and each other.

The pace is definitely on the slower side, and the book is more about emotions and relationships than big plot twists. But the writing is reflective and immersive, and it does a great job exploring how family history shapes who we become.

[Christine · Rating 5 out of 5]

This beautiful novel reads like a hot mic on the unspoken between mothers and daughters and its impact on both. Author Joan Wickersham described what rises from the pages well when she wrote, ". . . in the silences between vivid moments, we see how years pass, how lives pass. . . " Suzanne Matson's lyrical prose vividly captured the moments and events that speak without words and the desperation of aging for the aged as well as those witnessing the process unfold. Aunt Vera was one of those characters I wish I could meet in person, just to hear her wise voice over her beloved cup of Sanka.

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent read spanning three generations of women, from 1931 India to modern day America. Lots of little reminders for me about how life was in the fifties and beyond, at least. I enjoyed this examination of two mother/daughter relationships, especially its sensitively handled insight on aging, The maturity of the final daughter in the story as she came to grips with, and forgave her mother the emotional hardships to which she had subjected her family, instead becoming her caregiver during her final years, was sensitively and beautifully portrayed.

[Traci · Rating 3 out of 5]

I struggled with this one. It was very slow, and I set it aside several times wondering if I'd even pick it back up. I did, and I'm glad I did because it was a nice story, but I can't get past the fact that I labored to finish it. I will say I think this style of book is not something I tend to read, and I feel like I know many readers who love just this sort of thing. So, 3 stars for me, but I think others will enjoy it much more than I did.

[Eyehavenofilter · Rating 3 out of 5]

I just wanted to eat candy bars and peeps after reading this it was so depressing! This century long story follows a family staring in India as they work as missionaries. They then move to the Midwest. The daughter the resettles near the west cost, where she becomes unhappy and unfulfilled. Her daughters then seem to suffer with various forms of depression, and bemoan their disappointment with everything lacking in their lives.Gaaaaaaaaaaaa!

[gale]

“…the thought of liver actually sounds good. She’ll buy enough for the two of them, its bloody iron steeling them both for their maternity: the struggle, the holding on, the surrender.”

“You needed to take a great love when it was offered, and make room in yourself for its immensity. Not everyone was capable of becoming so defenseless. Not everyone could open the door and let the stranger in, and let the stranger stay, until he was no longer strange, but part of you, even after he had to go.”

[Beth · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just couldn't stay with it due to the slowness of the plot. I liked being inside of the life of a wife of a missionary to India in the 1930's - after that there was nothing compelling. I just felt that nothing ever happened. Just too slow for me. I skimmed the 2nd half to find out what happened and was still disappointed. I do like the writing - just needed more plot.

[Hillary · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story has a long arc, and skips easily across generations, sometimes missing details I want to know. But then it dives into another fascinating, clear image. The story paints Mennonite and former Mennonite families in a familiar form, and the intergenerational legacy--what's said and unsaid--will feel eerily recognizable to those from Mennonite families.