JOHN DOLLAR

by Marianne Wiggins ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 20, 1988

Dolphin into sailor, lady into free spirit, schoolgirls into cannibals: transformations, both lyrical and appalling, are the stuff of this strange new work from Wiggins (Separate Checks, 1984; Herself in Love, 1987). Charlotte Lewes is a young, grief-stricken English war widow, who in 1917 sets sail for Rangoon, Burma, there to teach the daughters of Empire. The East awakens Charlotte from spiritual death; she goes native, dressing Burmese-style and smoking the local tobacco. One moonlit night she takes a magical ride on the back of a dolphin; then the dolphin vanishes, to be replaced by a lusty sailor, John Dollar. John and Charlotte become lovers. Both are involved in an expedition to rename Marco Polo's Island of Our Outlawed Dreams in honor of King George. There is a ceremonial landing; that evening, turtles swim ashore to lay their eggs, which are then devoured by the men of Empire. The next morning, one of the ships is awash in blood, passengers and crewmen gone. A tsunami materializes; Charlotte's eight girls are washed ashore. One of them, the half-Indian (and much despised) Menaka (known as Monkey) discovers John, paralyzed and unconscious; much later she will find the temporarily blinded Charlotte. The children watch as cannibals bring their fathers ashore, burn them and eat them; the two oldest girls turn cannibal themselves, eating John Dollar, burning another girl to death. All the girls die horribly, except Monkey--the embodiment of selfless love--who for 60 years will be the crazed Charlotte's companion. It is as hard to reconce this novel's two halves as it is Charlotte's eyes (one green, one blue). The first contrasts Charlotte and pompous Empire-builders with playful irony; the second, dealing with children in extremis, lies in the long shadow of Lord of the Flies. What we are left with are some brilliant moments, and a babel of voices, from a gifted writer who has not found the structure to accommodate them.

Pub Date: Feb. 20, 1988

ISBN: 0671039555

Page Count: -

Publisher: Harper & Row

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 1988

Categories: FICTION