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The More I Owe You (2010)

by Michael Sledge(Favorite Author)

3.53 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

1582435766 (ISBN13: 9781582435763)

languge

English

genre

Historical Fiction

publisher

Counterpoint

review 1: This carefully researched novelization of the life of the poet Elizabeth Bishop and her time with Lota Soares in Brazil paints an intimate portrait of the two women and their obsessions, passions, and emotional challenges. While their passion for each other was unmistakable, their different interests and perspectives constantly pulled at them. From Elizabeth's health issues and alcoholism, to Lota's strong political leanings, we see a relationship drawn to the brink, but pulled back together, although not without consequences. The novel provides a depth of historical detail that adds to the telling of their story. This was a wonderful debut novel, and I had the fortune of meeting the author at the Tucson Festival of Books. I look forward to his future w... moreorks.
review 2: The title of this book comes from a lines by a Portuguese poet--“The more I pay you, the more I owe you.” It’s not addressed to a credit card company; it’s about emotion, attachment, love and lives lived fully, flaws and all. I wouldn’t call this novel a love story, though, because that might suggest a too-familiar pattern I suppose you might (perhaps unjustly) call it a fictionalized biography of American poet Elizabeth Bishop. Many of the characters go by their names in life, I’m guessing all but one of them, in fact. It also seems accurate in its facts and in the way is portrays the personalities involved, even in the way it captures different aspects of Brazil where much of the book is set. (Sledge mined her collected letters and her poems.) Elizabeth’s lover–you come to feel you have a first-name friendship with her– is Lota, a real-life Brazilian woman deeply involved in Brazilian life, cultural and politics. She’s a character as fully developed as Elizabeth herself, as if the novel is as much about their love as it is about either of them alone. If this novel is partly a fictionalized biography, it is also much more. At the time open Lesbian lovers were totally unacceptable in Brazil, but Elizabeth and Lota live openly as a couple without fanfare. They have sex, but sexual preference plays no role. It is natural to them and, unless you are asexual or a homophobe, it will seem natural to you as well; they love each other, it’s that simple– and that complex, because their love, like everyone’s, is highlighted by their flaws. You will also enjoy probably enjoy their love, more, not less, because of those flaws: they are real people. I don’t want to leave the impression that the book is one-dimensional. The characters are wonderfully developed. I suppose Sledge was much helped in that respect by his careful use Elizabeth’s letters and poems. But I doubt that his source could be entirely responsible for his fine depiction of a wide range of people in Brazil, of Brazilian politics, and of the lush jungle with its own personalities such as Uncle Sammy, the Toucan at Lota’s jungle house who can eat an unlimited number of bananas. The book’s humor is sometimes understated, but real. Sometimes it comes in the form of Elizabeth’s acerbic language; sometimes it is a character who surprises us by her reaction. Lota and Elizabeth are awed by a stone carving of the prophet Isaiah. Then, after the awe settles, Lota says she still doesn’t like Isaiah. I’ve mentioned before my encounters with readers who must have constant movement, drama, cliff-hangers and physical action in their novels rather than nuance or carefully developed characters who actually have thoughts and express them. I actually like both, myself, but if you want only high action and plot, this book might not be for you. For instance, there are a number of passages, mostly short, in which Elizabeth’s process of writing, even some of her thoughts about what she wants to do with a poem. I liked these passages as well as almost everything in the book, but they aren’t cliffhangers. I formed a desire to read this book when I and 100,000 other Tucsonans attended the 2011 Tucson Festival of Books two or three weeks ago. Michael Sledge was among the authors I chose to hear because he was addressing the topic of writing fiction about foreign cultures, this case Brazil (where he went for this book, very profitably, I’d say, since his Brazilian scenes are colorful and real.) I hadn’t heard of Sledge or Bishop, but I left with a desire to read his book, and I’m glad I did. Others should not wait for a book festival to read this novel. less

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