White
by rob mclennan
The Mercury Press, 2007
reviewed by Paula E. Kirman
White is a post-modern work of fiction that often teeters the line between prose and poetry. Written in quick vignettes, it tells the story of P, a young woman who has recently married a quiet, often unavailable, and occasionally violent man she barely knows. Her retreat into isolation leads to searching out and coming to terms with her past as well as her present.
mclennan chooses his words carefully; at first the approach seems minimalist but there is a plot that builds swiftly. The story is not the most original premise – a woman feeling trapped in a marriage – but mclennan’s stylistic approach works in giving the novel a unique twist and delves into the issues of identity and self-realization.
The influence of poetry can be read in the brevity of each part of the story, full of symbolism and imagery. “There is the cigarette, and then there is the dream of the
cigarette,” reads one passage upon one individual page.
White is a slender volume that is deceptively profound.
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ISSN 1494-6114.
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