Margarettown — Gabrielle Zevin
Miramax Books
2005
Rating:


"Margarettown" is a modern fable as told by Charlie Kauffman. The narrator of this beautifully original story is known only as "N" as he relates his courtship with Maggie Town. Maggie has trouble sleeping atop her seven mattresses, and N discovers that an old Bic pin is creating a lump beneath them, like a modern spin on "The Princess and the Pea." N and Maggie's courtship is filled with such small, memorable moments: N tells Maggie he loves her and, proving her response isn't a knee-jerk reaction, she calls him six hours later to reciprocate; N ties a piece of twine on Maggie's ring finger to remind him to propose to her; they share twin mattresses that often create a literal gap between them in a basement apartment; and they share a waterbed and pretend to be lost at sea.

Once they sort of, kind of become engaged, it's time to go to Maggie's home town of Margarettown to meet the family: there's the 77-year-old matron Old Margaret, 7-year-old May, 17-year-old Mia, 35-year-old Greta and 52-year-old Marge. Of course, none of these women are actually Margaret's relatives, they're just versions of Maggie. The split happened when Old Margaret's jealous aunt placed a curse on her so that only a man worthy enough to love her through the ages would finally have her. That's a lovely, imaginative way for a man to truly prove he loves a woman and will always love her.

This seems to be the central conceit of the story, but the story's second half takes on even more fable-like narration while the story being told sounds more like "We Don't Live Here Anymore" than "Princess and the Pea" as it shifts focus to N's daughter Jane. By the end, the story becomes even more obsessed with duality than Krzysztof Kieslowski and this heavy-handed emphasis becomes the story's most rigid shortcoming. Though it's entertaining to note the doubling in a graduate thesis kind of way, the characters are prevented from learning from the similarities and seeking redemption.

Yet, there's no denying the extraordinary uniqueness of this story. Its ambitious narrative and metaphor for loving a complete person through time is one that's not easily forgotten.

Posted Sunday, July 3, 2005

Link to this review:
http://filmzeus.pressbin.com/book/gabrielle.zevin/margarettown