Good Reads / Community Library Notes
A Live Coal in the Sea
Madeliene L'Engel
Review by Priscilla Comen
A Live Coal in the Sea
Madeliene L'Engel
Review by Priscilla Comen
A Live Coal in the Sea, by Madeliene L’Engel, is the story of Camilla, AKA Dr. Dickenson. As she awaits her medal for work in astronomy, her children and friends watch proudly: her son, Taxi, his wife Thessaly, Camilla’s daughter, Frances, and Camilla’s grand daughter, Raffi. Taxi does “soaps” but hasn’t had a bit in two years. The students all want his autograph even after all this time. Camilla walks home, feels appreciated and recognized by the accolades. But Taxi made her feel guilty, and she still misses Mac, who died years back.
Author L’Engel describes Camilla’s house and the mementoes from Mac and her in-laws. She looks at a photo of Taxi and Frankie sitting on a Florida sand dune when they were children.l
Raffi comes for breakfast and asks Camille, “Are you my grandmother or not?” Is Taxi, Camilla’s son, really her father? Raffi asks about a man named Red Grange, and so it starts, the long story, truth or not, that Camilla tells.
As a senior in college, Camilla met a young man. She’s crying and he takes her to a room and brings her a cup of coffee. The coffee is terrible in a chipped mug, but she feels confident enough to confide in him. Her mother Rose, is sleeping with Camilla’s favorite astronomy professor, Grange. Her mother had been beautiful, and a painting of her hangs at the MOMA. Her mother had slept with other men, but never one from Camilla’s life. She has promised never to do it again.
When Raffi leaves, she finds a copy of TV Guide in her box. Her father, Taxi, is on the cover. He’s gorgeous, was named after a Greek general. Raffi’s mother is Taxi’s third wife; she disregards his volatile temper. Frankie calls from Seattle to say goodnight to Camilla. Taxi calls and says he’s lonely. He asks “Who am I?” Why had he called?
The next day in Professor Grange’s class Camilla looks closely at him: red hair, a good teacher. Mac has coffee again with Camilla and gets her to express her feelings about her mother. Mac is assistant minister at the college’s church. He is a counselor for the students. Grange’s daughter, Nicole, is in the group at Sunday School, as is her brother, Andrew, who attends the college. Andrew stutters badly except when talking about things he likes.
Camilla and Mac see each other two or three times a week, and love the same music, especially Debussy. She helps him with the students. Camilla’s best friend, Luisa Rowan, breaks in on them one afternoon. They are old friends, although tension is in the air. Mac walks Camilla back to her dorm, but there is a rift between them because of Luisa. Mac leaves for Kenya suddenly. After six weeks she receives a letter that closes with "Love, Mac." In the library, she reads that in Korea there had been a lack of loyalty and of morale. What does this have to do with Mac?
Dr. Rowan (Luisa) is Raffi’s therapist. She asks about her grandfather. She says Mac has changed a lot, and Camilla, on the other hand, is a dragon fighter. Camilla has found a small apartment for the following semeste, and shared Luisa’s house for the summer. Luisa’s brother Frank arrives for a visit. He and Mac had been in Korea together. Frank talks about himself at first, how he teaches natives to read and write like a missionary. They are all poor, hungry, illiterate. Frank and Mac had been prisoners of war there, accused of being collaborators. But they received honorable discharges, and love each other like real buddies.
Noelle comes to see Camilla at the Church House where Camilla talks and listens to troubled teens. Did Noelle know her father had played around with Camilla’s mother? Noelle feels Camilla has helped her to understand her own mother who has problems. When Camilla shopped with her mother, the salespeople gushed over how young she looked, surely she was Camilla’s sister. Her mother loved that; Camilla hated it. Camilla goes back to her small apartment, later confronts her professor, Grange. She tells him she wants the affair to stop.
After Mac returns from Kenya, Camilla is invited to visit Mac’s parents in Nashville. Mac’s father shows her portraits of their Greek relatives. Mac’s real name is Macarios. Mac asks her to marry him, and gives her his grandmother’s rings. She feels acceptance at their house. They go to the church where Mac’s father, Art, is pastor. She and Mac’s mother, Olivia, cook dinner. Olivia tells Camilla a metaphor for marriage: it’s full of cracks and patches, but they’ve held together in spite of the glued together cracks. Everyone in their family is working hard at their marriages. Dr. Rowan tells Raffi this is true for her grandparents, and for her parents.
Mac gets a job as Rector in a small church in Georgia. Rose and Rafferty are in Paris. Camilla has a professor who compares Scripture to astrophysical theories. She is pleased with this information. When Mac and Camilla move to Corinth, Georgia, she feels as if she’s moved to another planet. The place is alien, the women odd. But when she went to Athens and met Dr. Edith Edison at the University, she obtained a teaching fellowship, and loved it. When the parish women came to visit, she tried to explain the theory of stars and centrifugal force, and how everything interacts with everything else. Including the clothes dryer. The women didn’t get it. They expected the children to study the Bible, not the Universe.
Camilla is pregnant, and her mother, Rose, is too. The doctor says Rose will be all right even though she’s in her forties. Her husband Rafferty, is ecstatic. Mac’s father has been made a Bishop of North Florida. When Camilla loses the baby, the kids from the church group bring her a kitten. She names it Quantum because it made quantum leaps. Nicole and her brother Andrew come to visit Camilla. Andrew stutters when he talks about seeing Camilla’s mother in Chicago. But he’s all right when he talks about animals and pets the kitten. The author jumps ahead to memories Camilla thought she had come to terms with.
An auto accident in Paris kills Rose, but her baby lives. Mac and Camilla take the baby, a boy, and name him Taxi, after he’s a few months old. Camilla’s and Mac’s baby is born and named Frances. Taxi calls her Frankie and they play like puppies together. Mac has a premonition about secrets. Someday Taxi will have to know the truth of who his father was. Taxi doesn’t resemble Rafferty at all. He has red hair. Author L’Engle weaves a subtle but strong plot and we don’t find out anything until the end.
After Grange and his new wife reveal Rose’s letter telling who the father is, they go to take possession of Taxi. What happens later? Does Taxi stay with Mac and Camilla forever? How do Luisa and Andrew figure into this complex story? Dr. Rowan says being an actor is Taxi’s way of coping by having adoring fans. Find the exciting denoument in author L’Engle’s book collection in the fiction room of the Mendocino Community Library.
Author L’Engel describes Camilla’s house and the mementoes from Mac and her in-laws. She looks at a photo of Taxi and Frankie sitting on a Florida sand dune when they were children.l
Raffi comes for breakfast and asks Camille, “Are you my grandmother or not?” Is Taxi, Camilla’s son, really her father? Raffi asks about a man named Red Grange, and so it starts, the long story, truth or not, that Camilla tells.
As a senior in college, Camilla met a young man. She’s crying and he takes her to a room and brings her a cup of coffee. The coffee is terrible in a chipped mug, but she feels confident enough to confide in him. Her mother Rose, is sleeping with Camilla’s favorite astronomy professor, Grange. Her mother had been beautiful, and a painting of her hangs at the MOMA. Her mother had slept with other men, but never one from Camilla’s life. She has promised never to do it again.
When Raffi leaves, she finds a copy of TV Guide in her box. Her father, Taxi, is on the cover. He’s gorgeous, was named after a Greek general. Raffi’s mother is Taxi’s third wife; she disregards his volatile temper. Frankie calls from Seattle to say goodnight to Camilla. Taxi calls and says he’s lonely. He asks “Who am I?” Why had he called?
The next day in Professor Grange’s class Camilla looks closely at him: red hair, a good teacher. Mac has coffee again with Camilla and gets her to express her feelings about her mother. Mac is assistant minister at the college’s church. He is a counselor for the students. Grange’s daughter, Nicole, is in the group at Sunday School, as is her brother, Andrew, who attends the college. Andrew stutters badly except when talking about things he likes.
Camilla and Mac see each other two or three times a week, and love the same music, especially Debussy. She helps him with the students. Camilla’s best friend, Luisa Rowan, breaks in on them one afternoon. They are old friends, although tension is in the air. Mac walks Camilla back to her dorm, but there is a rift between them because of Luisa. Mac leaves for Kenya suddenly. After six weeks she receives a letter that closes with "Love, Mac." In the library, she reads that in Korea there had been a lack of loyalty and of morale. What does this have to do with Mac?
Dr. Rowan (Luisa) is Raffi’s therapist. She asks about her grandfather. She says Mac has changed a lot, and Camilla, on the other hand, is a dragon fighter. Camilla has found a small apartment for the following semeste, and shared Luisa’s house for the summer. Luisa’s brother Frank arrives for a visit. He and Mac had been in Korea together. Frank talks about himself at first, how he teaches natives to read and write like a missionary. They are all poor, hungry, illiterate. Frank and Mac had been prisoners of war there, accused of being collaborators. But they received honorable discharges, and love each other like real buddies.
Noelle comes to see Camilla at the Church House where Camilla talks and listens to troubled teens. Did Noelle know her father had played around with Camilla’s mother? Noelle feels Camilla has helped her to understand her own mother who has problems. When Camilla shopped with her mother, the salespeople gushed over how young she looked, surely she was Camilla’s sister. Her mother loved that; Camilla hated it. Camilla goes back to her small apartment, later confronts her professor, Grange. She tells him she wants the affair to stop.
After Mac returns from Kenya, Camilla is invited to visit Mac’s parents in Nashville. Mac’s father shows her portraits of their Greek relatives. Mac’s real name is Macarios. Mac asks her to marry him, and gives her his grandmother’s rings. She feels acceptance at their house. They go to the church where Mac’s father, Art, is pastor. She and Mac’s mother, Olivia, cook dinner. Olivia tells Camilla a metaphor for marriage: it’s full of cracks and patches, but they’ve held together in spite of the glued together cracks. Everyone in their family is working hard at their marriages. Dr. Rowan tells Raffi this is true for her grandparents, and for her parents.
Mac gets a job as Rector in a small church in Georgia. Rose and Rafferty are in Paris. Camilla has a professor who compares Scripture to astrophysical theories. She is pleased with this information. When Mac and Camilla move to Corinth, Georgia, she feels as if she’s moved to another planet. The place is alien, the women odd. But when she went to Athens and met Dr. Edith Edison at the University, she obtained a teaching fellowship, and loved it. When the parish women came to visit, she tried to explain the theory of stars and centrifugal force, and how everything interacts with everything else. Including the clothes dryer. The women didn’t get it. They expected the children to study the Bible, not the Universe.
Camilla is pregnant, and her mother, Rose, is too. The doctor says Rose will be all right even though she’s in her forties. Her husband Rafferty, is ecstatic. Mac’s father has been made a Bishop of North Florida. When Camilla loses the baby, the kids from the church group bring her a kitten. She names it Quantum because it made quantum leaps. Nicole and her brother Andrew come to visit Camilla. Andrew stutters when he talks about seeing Camilla’s mother in Chicago. But he’s all right when he talks about animals and pets the kitten. The author jumps ahead to memories Camilla thought she had come to terms with.
An auto accident in Paris kills Rose, but her baby lives. Mac and Camilla take the baby, a boy, and name him Taxi, after he’s a few months old. Camilla’s and Mac’s baby is born and named Frances. Taxi calls her Frankie and they play like puppies together. Mac has a premonition about secrets. Someday Taxi will have to know the truth of who his father was. Taxi doesn’t resemble Rafferty at all. He has red hair. Author L’Engle weaves a subtle but strong plot and we don’t find out anything until the end.
After Grange and his new wife reveal Rose’s letter telling who the father is, they go to take possession of Taxi. What happens later? Does Taxi stay with Mac and Camilla forever? How do Luisa and Andrew figure into this complex story? Dr. Rowan says being an actor is Taxi’s way of coping by having adoring fans. Find the exciting denoument in author L’Engle’s book collection in the fiction room of the Mendocino Community Library.