I suppose I cheated when I read Jennifer’s Haigh’s third book, THE CONDITION, first. I say this because had I saw her name attached to a novel called Mrs. Kimble—about three women who, miraculously, married the same husband—I would have been reluctant to pick this up, if only because its premise sounds like a romance novel. But, as I’ve come to learn with Jennifer’s writing, what sounds like a simple story is never simple.Mrs. Kimble begins in the 1970s with Birdie, a single mother whose husband has just left, never to return. With her, he’s left his two young children—Charlie, a seven-year-old, and Jody, who’s still in diapers. We learn of Birdie’s drinking problem and how, because of her husband’s absence, it is starting to affect her home life. She can’t seem to get out of bed, she can’t seem to take care of her children, and she can’t seem to muster the effort to find a job. Surprisingly, the only thing she can do is drink—wine, which stains her teeth blue and leaves purple splotches on the floor.Fast forward around ten years later. Here, we meet Joan, who has survived breast cancer and everything that has come with it. With one breast gone, she often feels like an incomplete woman, forced to wear a fake breast in order to feel like a normal woman. It is here—in Florida, as she’s living in her father’s house—that she meets a man named Ken Kimble, at a dinner party. He’s her friend’s daughter’s fiancé, but he’s about to become much more than that.Fast forward, once more. Here, we meet Dinah, who—in the earlier parts of the novel—we met as the Kimble’s babysitter. She, like Joan before her, will meet Kimble in a twisted mix of fate. A near-miss car accident leaves her with a broken ankle, and a chance meeting with Ken Kimble that, eventually, blossoms into full-blown romance. He wants to make her beautiful, he says, after her apartment is ransacked and her tenants leave for fear of their unborn child. He wants to help her achieve the things she’s always dreamed of.Mrs. Kimble is a novel of family—not just one, but three. Throughout this book, we live the lives of three different women, and we learn of the turmoil that a single man can cause. Through her powerful use of the English language, her incredible grasp on human emotion, and her literary composition of dialogue, Jennifer Haigh weaves a tale of drama, of hope, and of false love that can only be described as Mrs. Kimble. Five stars for an amazing novelist, for an incredible debut work.
Despite the title, this is a portrait of three women (Birdie Bell, Joan Cohen, and Dinah Whitacre) who all end up marrying Ken Kimble, and the stories of their children, especially the oldest, Charlie Bell. To Mr. Kimble, perhaps, the women are all alike, filling a role he needs someone to play. For us, however, getting to know them in their strengths and heartbreaking frailty is the reason to read the book, and it's an excellent reason. They are both individuals and types, and among them they span a lot of the possible roles for women in the era (the 1960's and 1970's, at the time they meet and marry the man)...although I have to say that none of them is like my mother. She was stronger and less dependent, and she married in 1954! Kimble is a human McGuffin, a plot device to take us from South Carolina to Florida to Washington, DC and into the lives of the main characters. That being said, he is too much of a blank even for the role that he plays. Where did he come from? How did he get the skills to be a successful minister and youth leader in one place and a real estate developer in another? Most of all, what made him a smooth liar, a wheeler-dealer, a man who could leave one life behind and begin another at will, a workaholic and an amasser of expensive things, yet apparently someone who took no joy in anything he did? The author seems to sense the thinness of his character herself. Several times, a Mrs. Kimble or a son asks, "What kind of man would...?" There is never any answer. He dies in the prologue to the book, so I am not spoiling the plot by telling you that he dies without ever revealing himself. To me, this was the only unsatisfying piece of a novel I would recommend highly.
What do You think about Mrs. Kimble (2005)?
Okay, this is a 3.50 stars. I couldn't commit to four. I have mixed feelings about this book. The author is very talented and does a wonderful job telling the story of this con man who takes advantage of his 3 wives in different stages of his life. However, I hated some of the characters and I felt so badly for his children, my heart would literally ache for them. I just wanted to scream "Wake up and smell the coffee, you idiots!" I guess Haigh does a wonderful job in making us detest some of the characters and feel sympathy and compassion for others. It was a good book, but angered me so many times!
—Yvette
I can't believe this author recieved writing accolades for this mediocre piece of writing. It is understandable that she is attempting to write about the aftermath and ill effects of loving a con man and to show that even women you'd never suspect would get sucked in by someone like that do. It happens all the time in real life and in real life it's easier to understand these bad choices women make to stay with men who are bad for them because you can see their many faceted character traits which did not exist for these women in the novel. They were all so flatly written as stereotypes. A big problem I had with the novel is that it paints Mr. Kimble as a despicable villian but once again villians are not one-sided and in order for the premise of three women's lives in ruins because of one man it is necessary to understand this man's motivations and desires too. Not just why they stayed with him but why he chose them in the first place. Adding Charlie and Jody as grownups in the end was a smart choice and perhaps that should have been her initial angle of entry into this story. I cared about them. They were believable. I don't think it was particularly well-written. It wasn't poetic, it lacked consistency in character development, there wasn't much of a plot, the pace was unbalanced, it lacked tone. I would stay steer clear of this one.
—Lori
This book looks at women's lives and why they seem to think they are not whole until they are married. No matter how smart or independent they are, it all comes down to "get married". Is it how we have been socialized? If you are quiet, good, and pretty you will get a man. That is the prize. If you are smart, it is best to hide it so you don't intimidate a man. This book is the story of how one ordinary man - not necessarily a failure or success story - but how this ordinary man can talk three women into marrying him and it sets them all on a path of destruction. They fall for him because he is different. He is narcisstic and charming. And that is all each of them know about him but yet they are taken in. He dies alone with the only thing he really every cared about - money (not a spoiler - you learn that at the first of the book). This was our book club pick for January 2015. it amazes me that we really do not evolve. We stay the same over the centuries.
—Kathy
