Picturing Will

by Ann Beattie

Picturing Will, the widely acclaimed new novel by Ann Beattie, unravels the complexities of a postmodern family. There's Will, a curious five-year-old who listens to the heartbeat of a plant through his toy stethoscope; Jody, his mother, a photographer poised on the threshold of celebrity; Mel, Jody's perfect -- perhaps too perfect -- lover; and Wayne, the rather who left Will without warning and now sees his infrequent visits as a crimp in his bedhopping. Beattie shows us how these lives intersect, attract, and repel one another with dazzling shifts and moments of heartbreaking directness.


From the Trade Paperback edition.

Genres: Fiction, Novels, Contemporary, The United States Of America, Literature, American Fiction

Hardcover

First published January 3, 1990

About the author

Ann Beattie (born September 8, 1947) is an American short story writer and novelist. She has received an award for excellence from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters and a PEN/Bernard Malamud Award for excellence in the short story form. Her work has been compared to that of Alice Adams, J.D. Salinger, John Cheever, and John Updike. She holds an undergraduate degree from American University and a masters degree from the University of Connecticut.

Reviews

[mark monday · Rating 3 out of 5]

Annie Beattie paints a pointillist portrait of the many lives connected, sometimes tangentially, to 5 year old Will: mother, estranged father, new father, mother's friend, new father's friend, estranged father's new wife, and many more. The author has a lovely way with words, a dispassionate perspective on human foibles, and is disinterested in providing carefully mapped narratives. I fell in love with her writing in college; the subtlety of her characterization and her minor note, almost placid approach to telling stories that are basically about major upheaval lurking just around the corner seemed like the ideal way to write about human lives and change. I appreciated the lack of melodrama in her nuanced studies of lives in flux. I suppose one could say she's a miniaturist. This novel was a good reminder for me about what I often like best in "realistic" literary fiction: characters who grow into themselves slowly and whose inner lives and the impact they have on others are revealed just as slowly, while not shoehorning those characters' lives into an easily digestible, straightforward narrative. Picturing Will does all of that, and also features an empathetic portrait of children that never lapses into mawkishness despite the many endearing examples of childlike behavior on display.

This would have been an easy 4 stars for me, except I completely resented the scene of some sort of NAMBLA love affair. I loathe reading about child molestation, and in this case I almost felt tricked into reading it, as it really came out of the blue for me. Ugh! And it didn't help that the predator in this case - an easily distracted, self-absorbed, bisexual eccentric with a love of the arts and fashion - was the character that I actually identified with the most. Ugh again! And so one star docked because apparently I am a petty bitch.

[Sara Gerot · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm just a sucker for the world that Beattie creates. I feel like she uses a filter that is common to my own experience. Some of the criticisms in the negative reviews are actually the things I like most about her work. The disturbing turn in the middle of the book? Never resolved? Good. I like that. It makes sense. Boring? Maybe to some but I loved the voices, and never felt bored for a moment. The shifting perspective? Super satisfying and indulgent. Really enjoyed this book!

[Claudette Dunk · Rating 1 out of 5]

The author lost me at page 50. I know the page exactly because that is where she inserted the first italic passage, interrupting the story line. These recurring italic passages contain platitudes on child-rearing which seem to bear no relation to what is actually going on in the preceding pages. At that point, Beattie seems to have lost her way permanently and the narrative never recovers. A friend tells me that Beattie is primarily known for her short stories and suggests she was trying here to expand a short story into a novel. That seems entirely plausible. If I were teaching creative writing, I'd hold Picturing Will up as a perfect example of a novel self-destructing after a promising beginning.

[Mindi · Rating 3 out of 5]

was so not ready for the situation with Spencer. Guess I should have been.\

[Pam · Rating 4 out of 5]

I hadn't read a book by Anne Beattie for many, many years. I had forgotten how much I enjoy her writing.

[Tim Nason · Rating 2 out of 5]

October 1999 – Point of view in Ann Beattie’s Picturing Will skips about like a hummingbird, stopping here for several pages or a chapter, flitting to someone else, dancing to a waitress in a restaurant, settling almost nowhere. From the title, I gathered that Picturing Will would be about Will, but he is almost an incidental character throughout the novel. The novel portrays a child’s experience from the points of view of those around him, yet who consider Will to be inconsequential and peripheral. Without Will, a child of seven, there would be no central force binding the stories of his parents, stepparents, friends, guardians, few of whom show much interest in their roles. The stories about these peripheral people, told in sequential chapters, with information weaving in and out, pivot around Will while he remains insubstantial – he is rarely described, rarely speaks, rarely does anything – yet without him there is no cohesion in the novel at all.

So whose story is this? If each character is central to a particular point of view, but remains peripheral in the overall scheme of the novel, then isn’t everyone peripheral? By the end, we realize it is very much Will’s story, but it’s a childhood story of which he knew little.

Perhaps it is Beattie’s view that a person’s life is not entirely one’s own. Perhaps she wished to redress the egocentric tendency we share, where our own story is paramount, where the lives of our parents and others are seen as unknowable and irrelevant. Shifts in point of view, I now see, would work very well to illustrate how events, or a person’s life, could be seen in many different ways. This approach would be in keeping with newer theories of how we should study history, how we should view the environment, how we should study the process of acquiring knowledge and expressing creative ideas.

[Carolyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't know why, I just can't seem to get engrossed in this woman's work. I have tried so many times to immerse myself in Beattie's work. I can't seem to. These work are slow going. Make sure you have an empty week before beginning her books. Like Raymond Carver she is very truthful about real life, but unlike him some of her characters are just vessels of dust. They are so void of character. There is very little plot or action in most of her stuff. Which can be okay if the characters make you love them, they don't. Rather than love them I merely knew them like one does the lowly sad clerk at ones favorite 24 convenient store. slow depressing work like her characters. Is the only way I can describe any of her works I've read so far. I've tried getting through her Chilly Scenes of Winter and only get to Chapter 4 before DNF. Her short story collection was a tad more interesting in a couple of tales. This Book Picturing Will had my interest about a photographer struggling to keep her life together with her career and her young son who seems a bit odd. Real life troubles with empty characters. Sorry I can't continue right now. I might re shelf and try again this summer if things get slow and dull in my life, but for now in this snowy cold winter I need more action and more fleshy characters. I haven't given up on Ann Beattie, but her work isn't keeping me awake at this time.

[Robyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Beattie provides expertly written narrative. I am using the generic word "provide" as many of the novels components could stand on their own, but they lacked the narrative to knit the pieces of the whole together, and the effect was quite disjointed. It took me a long time to finish this short book.

Beattie's strength is writing from a child's perspective. The passages with Will as a narrator were compelling and haunting at times. It's easy to forget how powerless we are as children and that life happens to us rather than being able to exert any control. I have read Beattie before. And while I didn't like this book in particular, I would read her again for her ability to transcend adulthood in writing from a child's perspective.

[rndgmoat · Rating 5 out of 5]

My second Ann Beattie novel, and one closer to the period of work for she is most critically acclaimed renders me a perma-fan. This is a great work of literary fiction; Beattie is a master prose stylist who uses her skills to give a series of cutting revelations about a cast of somewhat flawed but realistic characters in this novel about childhood and parenthood. It isn't cuddly or cute, as you might think from the cover and the blurb; instead, Beattie doesn't shy away from writing frankly about childhood trauma and adult sexuality. A very amazing and insightful book.

[Paul Dinger · Rating 2 out of 5]

It can be interesting at times. I read an article about how good Ann Beattie is supposed to be, but I have yet to find proof of it. This book was interesting at parts, but over all, not really. The main character Will really isn't a part of the story, he's in it, and witness to all kinds of bad behavior. The end of the book really dissolves into incomprehension.

[Grecia Ramirez · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not sure I'm made for these kinds of books that focus more on ruminations. I don't know that I developed an afinity for anyone here. Meh. Then again, there were some really fascinating scenes, some really sad ones. Not mad I read it.

[Sidney · Rating 2 out of 5]

Three part story: raising a child told through the eyes of (part one) the Mother, the Father (part two), and the Child (part three). Did not connect with these characters whatsoever. Hard working mother, philandering father, and a kid.

[Anemona · Rating 4 out of 5]

Una novela donde cada una de las partes corresponde a un miembro de la familia. La manera de narrar te lleva a los entresijos familiares y aunque hay partes más lentas, me ha gustado y espero leer más de esta autora.

[Catarsis · Rating 2 out of 5]

Muy interesante al principio, tiene una prosa magnifica que hace que se pueda prescindir de una trama compleja. Es justamente cuando intenta introducir problemas y traumas infantiles cuando me chirría todo. Es un libro que se puede leer, aunque me ha dejado mas bien indiferente.

[Terri C · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rated 7 out of 10

[Michaele · Rating 1 out of 5]

I did not like this book though I read it all the way through. It was waaaay to disjointed for me.

[Liza · Rating 4 out of 5]

I dont remember it, but I liked it at the time, so I am giving it 4 liza likes

[Renee Hysko · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book has so much potential but is scattered and, at times, difficult to follow. Very slow to start, second half picks up but then scatters. The ending is strange like a forced conclusion.

[Martín · Rating 1 out of 5]

Pequeños fragmentos excelentes regados dispersamente entre texto que me resultó irrelevante. No vale la pena la inversión en tiempo, para lo que se obtiene a cambio.

[Lucy · Rating 2 out of 5]

3 narcissistic people trying to raise a curious child. No one gets it right but the child survives.

[Erik · Rating 2 out of 5]

One of those books you can tell while reading that you'll never remember a thing about it. I already can't remember.

[Núria · Rating 2 out of 5]

Había leído ‘Postales de invierno’ de Ann Beattie y (a pesar de algunos defectos; básicamente un final demasiado feliz y forzado, y nada acorde con el tono general de la novela) me había gustado lo suficiente como para precipitarme a comprar el siguiente libro de la autora tan pronto como me enteré de que había sido publicado. Lo que me pasa siempre: compro de forma compulsiva y luego puedo dejar años sin leer estos mismos libros adquiridos en un frenesí consumista. No ha sido hasta ahora que me he animado a leer ‘Retratos de Will’ y la verdad es que me ha decepcionado mucho. Quizás es que me es más fácil identificarme con veinteañeros a la deriva que no con una madre divorciada indecisa y con un padre divorciado que no piensa más que en sí mismo. Pero me gustaría creer que hay algo más que falla.

Por más que la novela se titule ‘Retratos de Will’, lo cierto es que de Will poco se nos escribe; se centra más en sus padres. Yo creía que iba a hablar de cómo a Will le afecta el divorcio y cosas de este estilo, que por más que es un tema que nunca me ha interesado especialmente (quizás porque mis padres nunca llegaron a divorciarse), era un tema que bien tratado podía resultar interesante. En su lugar habla de treinteañeros al borde de los cuarenta que se encuentran en una encrucijada en sus vidas y que no saben por dónde tirar; algo que se nos ha contado mil veces. Cierto que este tema bien tratado también podía ser interesante, pero es que Beattie lo desarrolla de una forma que a mí me da la impresión que no aporta nada nuevo.

Es cómo si esta historia ya la hubiera leído muchas veces antes y mucho mejor. Encima, como parece que los dos personajes principales (padre y madre) no dan por un libro se meten personajes secundarios con sus historias secundarias que no consiguen en ningún momento interesarme. En general me parece todo muy tópico y previsible, sin la frescura y la vida que había en ‘Postales de invierno’, muy de “clase de escritura creativa” (no tanto por el estilo como por el tema y la forma de abordarlo). También me da la sensación que probablemente las historias hubieran quedado mejor en forma de relato breve, lo cual me hace pensar que cuando alguien se digne a traducir y publicar sus relatos yo otra vez me lanzaré de cabeza a comprarlos (supongo que de esto se puede deducir que, como lectora, o bien no aprendo nunca, o bien no pierdo nunca la esperanza).

Como he dicho, ‘Retratos de Will’ me parece mucho un “ejercicio de taller de escritura creativa”. Y por supuesto, en este tipo de ejercicios nunca puede faltar la escena gratuita de bizarros actos sexuales con menores. Y es algo que me molesta mucho. Digo que es gratuita porque parece está puesta ahí sin ninguna otra intención que chocar al lector, porque después nunca se no habla de las consecuencias ni de cómo se ha llegado allí más que superficialmente. Y es que sí, todo en esta novela me parece muy superficial, nunca va más allá de lo obvio, a veces incluso cae en el costumbrismo por el costumbrismo, así que los personajes nunca acaban de parecerme personas reales. Y no es que sea un libro horrendo (escena desagradable aparte), pero es tedioso, que muchas veces es aún peor.

[HeavyReader · Rating 2 out of 5]

Who are these people? What is the plot? Why am I reading this book?

I wondered all of those things while reading Picturing Will.
Ann Beattie’s writing style is very nice (which is why I'm giving it two stars instead of just one). While the reader doesn’t have to work too hard to get through her sentences and paragraphs, the writing is not fluff, the vocabulary not trite. This book is not a silly romance novel. However, nice writing was not enough to grab me and really make me care about this book or its characters.

Personally, I didn’t like any of the characters. I also didn’t love to hate any of the characters. I didn’t find any of them particularly interesting.

I found it annoying that the narrative voice kept changing. Parts of the story were told from the mom’s part of view, parts from the dad’s point of view, parts from the step-mother’s point of view, parts from the kid’s point of view. I guess the reader is supposed to identify with (or at least understand) each of the characters after seeing the world through his or her eyes. I simply found them all a bit annoying, the adults self-centered and immature, the kid very solemn and wise, unlike any real kids I run into.

A few chapters addressed the reader as if this were an advice book for parents. These chapters were just kind of weird and confusing and didn’t really seem to mesh with the rest of the story.

Not much happens in this book. There wasn't much action or even very much character development. The reader learns about the characters and their attitudes, but nobody grows or changes or learns. I kept waiting for the plot arc to begin. I mostly kept waiting for something bad to happen to the kid. The book conveys the feeling of impending doom, but all that was impending for me was boredom.

There is an unexpected plot twist near the end of the book that really excited me. Finally, I thought, something is going to happen. The plot twist not only didn’t actually make a lot of sense, it was never resolved (at least to my satisfaction).

I don’t feel like this book did anything for me except help pass the time.

[jeremiah]

"She didn't like that Wayne didn't want to pry into her past—an unusual attitude for a man, in her experience. What men always wanted to do was banish the other people—cap the lid on their existence, like one checker on top of another. Men wanted to make other men—of course men didn't care about your childhood friends, only about other men—into understandable cliches and then dismiss them, pick them up and take them off the board. You could help them by mentioning only the nasty one-liners, remembering only rainy days, producing a picture of the person in which the former beloved foolishly held up a fish not big enough to brag about, or one in which he was flanked by his friends, who had previously been described as villains"(143).

And I liked this:

"Children meant no disrespect; they just thought that whatever they discovered they could have. Girls usually grew out of that notion, but boys did not. Boys continued to think that the world was accessible, whether they went after what they wanted with scissors or with guns. Corky hoped that if she had a child, it would be a girl" (144).

[Oscar · Rating 1 out of 5]

No me ha gustado. Admito que compré este libro por ser de Ann Beattie, ya que la lectura de 'Postales de invierno' me entusiasmó. Pero en 'Retratos de Will' no he encontrado los personajes frescos y "vivos" que sí encontré en Postales. Son más bien anodinos. Beattie se pasa toda la novela relatándonos escenas costumbristas de algunas parejas, dando mucha importancia al oficio de ser madre/padre. Y hay algunos pasajes que me asquearon bastante y de los cuáles no voy a hablar. La prosa de Beattie sigue siendo igual de buena, pero lo que me cuenta me aburre sobremanera. No, no me ha gustado. Eso no implica que no vuelva a leer sus libros cuando se vayan publicando, porque seguiré buscando las sensaciones que me produjo 'Postales de invierno'.

[Jeanne · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is what I love about goodreads -- I'm reading along in a book and I'm kind of bored and starting to get creeped out. Is that the tired theme of an obviously gay (but somehow all the other characters miss it but the reader doesn't) child predator creeping into the plot? If so, I will not read another word. But some of the writing has been good chilly scenes of winter type stuff and I'm reluctant to put it down. I turn to the goodreads reviews and, yes, there are several reviews by people who felt like I did that they invested far too much time in too little. So thank you goodreads reviewers for saving me again. I got the book from a leave one take one at the train station and it will return there to await a more generous reader.

[Susan Emmet · Rating 3 out of 5]

This 1989 book reads a bit like a series of short stories rather than a novel.
The first half held up when the focus was on Will, Jody and Mel. Typical Beattie goodness and precision in detail and capture of scene and sense. Once the Havebud ("the fatuous neurotic") line kicks in fully with Will, I thought the novel's power fell, not because abuse disgusts me (although it does), but because its impact isn't resolved.
Nice to know that Will ends up an art historian and that he recognizes the deep love and egoism of his mother and the deep love and care of his stepfather.
I found one of the last sections, a letter from Mel (on top of years of other letters he'd written to him) profoundly moving.

[Vincent · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really liked the first half of this book, when the story centered on Jody, Will and Mel at their life, but then it drifted from Virginia, to New York and then Florida. Along the way, we meet other, not as prominent persons in Will's life and follow the misfortunes of Will's father and his family. In the end, we find out Jody becomes an absentee mother, attached to career, letting Mel, her now husband, to become the primary care giver in Will's life, but the reader is not shown this, but told in Mel's writing which Will is allowed to read twenty years later--but why?

[Suzanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Typically Ann Beattie, this book is a lyrical tale of a child from a very broken family, spending time with his beloved mother, distant father, and devoted step father. There is some disturbing sexual abuse early on that never is exposed, but otherwise we see how a potentially dysfunctional childhood is turned into a nurtured, loved and protected period, due mainly to his stepfather, whose reminiscences at the end tie the book together. I enjoyed it more and more, though it did take me a while to see where she was going with this.

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great one by Ann Beattie. I sort of picked this up without thinking, from the library, so didn't pay as much attention to it as I should have, and was a little Beattied out, so, but I enjoyed this. Beattie's "insight into the human psyche" is pretty great. This was sort of like Falling in Place light, maybe. Lots of being-a-parent stuff that bordered on the too-much, but again it might be that I'm Beattied out.