The LAW of ENCLOSURES

Want to read this on your NOOK? Request as NOOK Book from the publisher

Thank you for requesting this book as a NOOK book from the publisher.

More About This Book

Overview
Editorial Reviews
Product Details

Advertising

Overview

The Law of Enclosures is the harrowing story of Beatrice and Henry, who have two children, Susan and John, the protagonist of Martin and John. The Law of Enclosures charts the tortured relationship of Beatrice and Henry in chapters that alternate between the early days of their marriage and their last attempts, forty years later, to salvage a lifetime of accusations and recriminations, mistrust and betrayal. At the heart of The Law of Enclosures is Dale Peck's own family memoir, which becomes the lens through which we view Henry and Beatrice. This moving portrait of the artist himself transforms a simple account of marriage into a universal story that offers a profound perspective on cycles of growth and disintegration.

From the highly acclaimed author of Martin and John comes an unforgettable portrait of a marriage, set in the framework of two narratives: a novel entitled Red Deer and a short series of autobiographical prose poems called "Lamentations."

Editorial Reviews

Kate Moses

In his lavishly praised first novel, Martin and John, a series of variations on the theme of gay love and alienation in the age of AIDS, Dale Peck overcame writerly missteps with the sheer force of his passionate observations -- made concrete with astonishingly fresh imagery -- and by his refusal to ignore or pass easy judgment on emotional collusions. True, sometimes his images were too astonishingly fresh (how could one keep a straight face while the dewy-eyed narrator rhapsodized over the smells of morning coffee and his lover's underwear "mixing in his nose"?), and his narrative technique of giving the same proper names to different characters could, with a less confident stylist, have become a confusing gimmick. But so deep and original was Peck's vision that his palimpsest of anguished vignettes revealed the universality of loss and hope.

Unfortunately, Peck seems to have misapprehended what worked in his first book (his compassion for his characters, his uncommon imagination) and what didn't (the workshoppy structure). The Law of Enclosures is a mystifying and relentless catalogue of clichés and hackneyed, TV movie shticks designed to portray the essence of heterosexual marriage. Tiresome domestic tragedies are perpetrated by (and upon) cartoonish ciphers rather than characters in whom the reader can muster much interest, let alone empathy. The plot is propelled solely by the same-name ruse: the ubiquitous parental figures from Martin and John, Beatrice and Henry, are now our protagonists, although here they appear as just two unlikable couples, one young and newly married, one old and married far too long. Gratuitous cruelties (broken furniture, fistfights over babies, infidelities, namecalling) mount quickly, all in retaliation for psychic disappointments never articulated to the reader. So shallowly imagined are these characters and their plight, in fact, that even the connived moments of self-realization and reconciliation are laughable.

Of the myriad lowlights in Peck's sophomoric analysis of marriage, my personal favorite has to be the thoroughly unironic allusion to O. Henry's corny "Gift of the Magi" -- I kid you not! -- during the novel's wedding scene. It might have been interesting if Peck had written about how people come to hate each other's guts; instead, he's described how people act when they hate each other's guts -- something we already know.

Only the explicitly autobiographical middle section of the book, sandwiched inexplicably between the two hollow "fictions," demonstrates the originality and generosity evident in Peck's earlier writing. One wonders why Peck felt compelled to publish such an unrealized book when his own true story has all the juice. -- Salon

Publishers Weekly

This lyrical and boldly constructed novel contains a powerful 50-page childhood reminiscence by a narrator named Dale Peck wedged into a bifurcated portrait of a tortured marriage. In his first novel, the well-received Martin and John, Peck used incandescent prose and idiosyncratic narrative shifts to tell a story about family dysfunction and the scourge of AIDS; he goes many giant steps further here. The Dale Peck passages tell searingly of a violently displaced upbringing-abusive father, mother dead when he was only three; three successive stepmothers, each increasingly bizarre. This apparently autobiographical narrative is surrounded by two accounts of a marriage. Each concerns a couple called Henry and Beatrice, and each is set in the 1990s. But one deals with the couple's early years in Long Island, while the other relates their retirement in the Finger Lakes region. The juxtaposition of these two narratives allows Peck to say much about love, boredom, desire and betrayal. This is writing not as entertainment or an attempt to capture experience, but as an effort to surmount experience, to overcome memory and the lack of it in order to be free. Though the book's fractured structure may frustrate readers looking for a controlled exposition, it seems the only form true to the harrowing emotional landscape it encompasses. The "law" of the "enclosures" of the title suggests two interpretations: the breaking of the rules of family trust, and the flouting of the conventions that dictate the form of most novels. Not only an unblinking look at the dark chambers of the human heart, this is also, and above all, a brave artistic gamble-one that, ultimately, comes up spades.

More Reviews (1) Fewer Reviews

Nancy Pearl

As he did so dramatically in his first novel, Martin and John, Peck once again challenges our perception of what a novel is. Disdaining a linear narrative, skipping back and forth in time and place, and offering us differing versions of events, Peck limns the vicissitudes of Beatrice and Henry's difficult and damaged 40-year relationship as the two meet, fall in love, marry, and grow old together. These stories, or variations on a theme, enclose a long autobiographical section about the horrendous childhood of a young man named Dale Peck, a childhood that included his mother's death, three abusive stepmothers, and a hard-drinking and violent father. Peck's talent is undeniable, and readers willing to take on an unconventional novel will find much to admire. It is filled with powerful writing, unforgettable sentences (for example, "That night Beatrice stumbled over death, but it was dark, and she was tired, and she believed she had stumbled across love." ), and perceptions on love and betrayal that are so painfully acute it is hard to believe Peck is only in his late twenties.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780374184193
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Publication date: 1/1/1996
Edition description: 1st ed
Pages: 320
Series: U Ser.
Product dimensions: 6.34 (w) x 9.34 (h) x 1.05 (d)

Customer Reviews

Be the first to write a review

( 0 )

Rating Distribution

5 Star

(0)

4 Star

(0)

3 Star

(0)

2 Star

(0)

1 Star

(0)

Your Rating:

Review Guidelines

Tell the world what you think of this product.

Add Recommendations

Your Name: Create a Pen Name or Leave Anonymously

Barnes & Noble.com Review Rules

Our reader reviews allow you to share your comments on titles you liked, or didn't, with others. By submitting an online review, you are representing to Barnes & Noble.com that all information contained in your review is original and accurate in all respects, and that the submission of such content by you and the posting of such content by Barnes & Noble.com does not and will not violate the rights of any third party. Please follow the rules below to help ensure that your review can be posted.

Reviews by Our Customers Under the Age of 13

We highly value and respect everyone's opinion concerning the titles we offer. However, we cannot allow persons under the age of 13 to have accounts at BN.com or to post customer reviews. Please see our Terms of Use for more details.

What to exclude from your review:

Please do not write about reviews, commentary, or information posted on the product page. If you see any errors in the information on the product page, please send us an email.

Reviews should not contain any of the following:

- HTML tags, profanity, obscenities, vulgarities, or comments that defame anyone
- Time-sensitive information such as tour dates, signings, lectures, etc.
- Single-word reviews. Other people will read your review to discover why you liked or didn't like the title. Be descriptive.
- Comments focusing on the author or that may ruin the ending for others
- Phone numbers, addresses, URLs
- Pricing and availability information or alternative ordering information
- Advertisements or commercial solicitation

Reminder:

- By submitting a review, you grant to Barnes & Noble.com and its sublicensees the royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable right and license to use the review in accordance with the Barnes & Noble.com Terms of Use.
- Barnes & Noble.com reserves the right not to post any review -- particularly those that do not follow the terms and conditions of these Rules. Barnes & Noble.com also reserves the right to remove any review at any time without notice.
- See Terms of Use for other conditions and disclaimers.

If you find inappropriate content, please report it to Barnes & Noble

The LAW of ENCLOSURES

Overview

More About This Book

Overview

Editorial Reviews

Kate Moses

Publishers Weekly

Nancy Pearl

Product Details

Customer Reviews

Rating Distribution

5 Star

4 Star

3 Star

2 Star

1 Star

Your Rating:

Your Recommendations:

Barnes & Noble.com Review Rules

Reviews by Our Customers Under the Age of 13

What to exclude from your review:

Reviews should not contain any of the following:

Reminder:

Recommend other products that relate to your review. Just search for them below and share!