Still Life
Spanning four decades, this novel begins in 1944 as Allied troops liberate Italy. British soldier Ulysses “Temps” Temper meets middle-aged art historian Evelyn Skinner to salvage paintings with the Monuments Men. Over wine, they discuss the beauty and purpose of art. Years later, their lives will intersect.
We shift to grey, postwar East End London, as Temps returns to the pub and his unfaithful wife, Peg, who is the least sympathetic character: selfish, probably mildly depressed and, by her own admission, a poor mother. Temps takes on rearing Alys, Peg’s daughter by an American serviceman, Eddie. We encounter a motley crew for this ensemble novel, which is character- rather than plot-driven.
In a work of such length, I kept waiting for something to happen. Winman’s uneven style takes perseverance. Her prose runs the gamut from sparse, blunt naturalism to philosophical poetry. Entire scenes are dialogue, and Winman eschews quotation marks, so it is not always clear who is speaking. Things pick up when Temps inherits a home in sunny Florence, thanks to a simple act of kindness. The scenes describing life and art in Florence saved the book for me. Wise Old Cressy, Temps’ father’s mate, lovingly nurtures both people and the Japanese cherry tree in his life. He becomes a friend/surrogate father to Temps and Peg. His blue Amazonian parrot, Claude, not only quotes Shakespeare, but his antics also provide much needed humor and comic relief.
There are complex relationships, same-sex couples, and Alys’s coming of age. As the novel unfolds, this disparate collection of characters becomes a family. Though the protagonist is named for a winning greyhound, I see a reference to the Greek hero, Ulysses, who encounters obstacles before arriving home: “So, time heals. Mostly… winter moves to spring, swallows return. Beauty does what is required. Loneliness becomes a mere Sunday. But still life in all its beauty and complexity.”
