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Kirkus starred review:
If you don't laugh yourself sick over this gloriously absurd new novel from the author of
1994's Louisiana Power & Light (to which it's a partial sequel), you're probably just plain unentertainable. It's Dufresne's version of A Midsummer Night's Dream, set in Louisiana swamp country, where the inhabitants of Shiver-de-Freeze (a place name mangled from the original French) are getting themselves ready for the Wedding of Ariane Thevenor and Grisham Loudermilk. Things get complicated right away, because devilishly handsome Grisham can't deny himself one more fling (if not several) with former girlfriend Miranda Ferry (who wroks as a "chicken sexer"; don't ask), and Ariane can't resist the adoration of impulsive Adlai Birdsong. Meanwhile, good-looking widow Earlene Fontana considers the attentions of morose Varden Roebuck, occasionally thinking to fret about her precocious 11- year-old Boudou, who can't decide whether to deliver up his superhuman memory for scrutiny at a nearby scientific institute, or his virginity to the femaile "conjoined" twins known as "tous-les-Deux," who have eyes (and other shared body parts) for him. These are all basically likable folks: not just the aforementined, but even hypocritical souls like the sex- obsessed Father Pat and born-again Durwood Tulliver and hellfire and damnation preacher Alvin Lee Loudermilk, as well as miscellaneous gossips and rednecks and snake-handlers. grisham and Ariane do swap vows, and their ceremonials include th eperformance of a hilareously deranged playlet, Evangeline as Performed by the Mechanicals of Shiver-de- Freeze (oh, and there's a werewolf in it). And when Dufresne wraps everything up, the metafictionaist in him (who's been chatting with the reader at odd intervals throughout the book) makes several peeks at his characters' futures, in a garralous Epilogue and a mock- scholarly Appendix. You'll be pleased to hear that Boudou's formidable brains get put to good use.
Probably the most enjoyable comic novel since Vargas Llosa's Aunt Julia and the
Scriptwriter. A certifiable hoot.
Publishers Weekly starred review:
Imagining John Irving, William Faulkner, Flannery O'Connor or Max Shulman (or all of the
above at once) on peyote juice only begins to evoke the dimension and energy of the seriocomic fantasies of Dufresne at his freewheeling frenetic best. In his latest, a sequel (of sorts) to his 1994 debut novel Louisiana Power & Light, this talented writer vreates rambunctious fun tinged with mealncholy as he revisits the oddball and grotesque characters and exotic trailerpark and plantation landscapes of the Louisiana baous and byways. Conceived the day his daddy Billy Wayne died in1988, Boudou Fontana, short for Bergeron Boudeleaux deBastrop) has an eidetic memory and the knowledge that he's the last of teh Fontana line. His mother, hillbilly songwriter Earlene deBastrop Fontana is a cousin of Grisham Loudermilk, who is marrying Ariane Thevanot at Paradise, the family plantation in Shiver-de-Freeze (cheval de frise), a small political subdivision of Monroe, LA. Grisham, seeking one last carnal fling of bachelorhood, engages in a boozy, lusty coupling with nomadic, free-spirited Miranda Ferry, who then hitches up her Airstream trailer bound for destinations unknown, but only gets as far as the town park near Paradise. Meanwhile, Earlene's cousin Adlai Birdsong, 21 and still living with and cooking for his mother Benning, and Alzheimer's-stricken father, Royce, is starved for love. Ariane, resenting Grisham's cavalier behavior, slips into Adlai's bed, and chaos erupts. Other over-the-top characters inclde a priest who--enamoured of Ariane's mother--is having second thoughts about celibacy, a pair of Siamese twin girls (actually one body with two heads) who take a shine to Boudou and a veritable menagerie of other outre bayou denizens. memory, fidelity and destiny are paramount themes as Dufresne sheds warm light on the caprices of the heart and mind. The all-out quirkiness of Dufresne's sparkling second (sic) novel may put some readers off, but others will surely think this talented writer's time has come. |
