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Delia became the lead singer in the band, Mud Dog, and had a child by its lead singer, Randall. Delia receives a frosty reception from a town of citizens who mostly think of her as a bad wife and mother, and who have sympathy for her husband Clint (who never granted a divorce), who's dying of cancer. And the book would lack an underlying logic without it. But few novels do it as subtlely as Cavedweller.
She accepts help when she really needs it, but she is also not going to apologize for things that were not mistakes. In the end, her success is far from complete, but it's a real success, not a fake.Among the memorable things about this book are Delia's two best friends: Rosemary, a black woman with whom Delia co-wrote songs in Los Angeles; and M.T., her best friend in Cayro, who has carved out a life as the town's most alluring woman. It makes sense to do it, given the importance that rock music has in contemporary life. Fronting Mud Dog was the thing that Delia did best in her life. Gradually, Delia rebuilds her life through a series of penances -- to Clint, to the daughters she abandoned, and so on.
Everything she agrees to do, she does on her own terms, such as caring for the dying Clint and raising her three daughters. Delia escaped from a bad marriage to an abusive husband when she jumped aboard a traveling band's bus, thus abandoning her young children in her hometown of Cayro, Georgia. Even though the novel begins with her having put Mud Dog and the rock-n-roll life behind her, it clearly gave her a confidence and strength that helped to see her through the challenges she faced in rebuilding her life. Delia's daughters are a bit cliched.
"Cavedweller" is among a number of contemporary novels that effectively incorporate rock music as a major theme. The book is powerful because Delia maintains her strength and dignity, despite her many weaknesses and mistakes. She doesn't give in. And she's not going to put on a good public face (i.e., pretending to be religious) unless it's true. Delia's decade-plus in California was eventful: Mud Dog had its heyday and then broke apart; she left Randall; and then he died in a motorcycle accident. Amanda is a church fanatic who marriages a pastor (and then starts to experiment with sin); Dede is a beautiful but crazy-dangerous blonde who falls for the boy next door; and Cissy is an uptight tomboy who will need to escape town to reach her potential.Finally, the atmosphere in the book is often well-sketched, from Delia's hurtle across the country back to Cayro, to the church encounters early in the book, to caving expeditions by Cissy, to the warm and safety of Delia's hair salon. The interesting thing is that rock is not the primary force in the book -- at least on the surface -- but it has been the salvation for Delia, the main character.
It's a rich portrayal of a small town, showing that there's actually far more going on than meets the eye."Cavedweller" is my first exposure to Dorothy Allison, and, based on the reviews I've seen online, it's not her best work. It also gave her an aura of fame that awed and intimidated the people of Cayro when Delia returns to the town more than a decade later, with her third daughter (child of the Mud Dog's lead singer) in tow. That accident was the spur for a recently sober Delia to take her young daughter Cissy back to Cayro and to try to make amends. Each demonstrate versions of what I call the "strong woman," a woman who impresses and intimidates everyone around them. But if this is second in line, I'm really looking forward to reading more that she's produced.
Overall, it was a big disappointment.The novel is about a woman who leaves an abusive husband and her two daughters to run off with a rock star. This book is poorly conceived. The plot is fragmented, the writing awkward, and the characterization is superficial and contrived. The rock star dies and she returns to the small Georgia town she left in order to reconcile with her children.I recommend reading Bastard out of Carolina: (Plume Essential Edition) by Allison instead of this. 'Bastard Out of Carolina' is a fine book that is beautifully written.
400+ pages and only allusions to sex. Just when I thought we were getting to the good stuff.
I sort of struggled through it, forced myself to finish it. The first thing I noticed was all the characters' personalities kind of melted together, the dialogue did not provide them with individual voices, poor character development.
I am a first time reader of Dorothy Allison, and I was not at all impressed with this novel. And so many important scenes of real ACTION were left out and just referred to.
The girls as children spoke just the same as the adults - clearly not age appropriate language. New characters continually appeared, which made me stumble.
And lastly, the novel could be dirtier. Please.
Bought this on a clearance rack and can now see why it hadn't sold. I've never read any of Allison's other novels, but after reading this one, I don't think I'll jump on the chance. The characters were unexciting, and the story dragged on and on. I read 4 books while having this one unfinished on my night stand. Dede was the most interesting character, and even she couldn't keep me involved.
Another "Top of the list". The first 50-75 pgs were a little slow, but then I didn't want to put it down.The way the story weaves the lives of Mom and daughter, leaving the life they knew in CA behind, to search the two daughters left behind in GA. is sad, intriguing, cryptic and dynamic all in one.Recommended, just to see how the lives of the women of Cayro, Georgia come out on Top, together.
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