Good Reads / Community Library Notes
The Photographer
Mary Dixie Carter
Review by Priscilla Comen
The Photographer
Mary Dixie Carter
Review by Priscilla Comen
The Photographer, by Mary Dixie Carter is the story of Delta Dawn, a photographer of young children. She’s good at it because she brings out the joy in them through making friendly balloon animals. Today she’s at the elegant home of Fritz and Amelia, photographing their daughter Natalie’s birthday party of several young girls. Most parents want images of their children as happy, spirited, intelligent. If they don’t turn out that way, Delta uses Photoshop. At the last minute Fritz and Amelia beg her to stay while they go to an important dinner party. Their babysitter has canceled. She doesn’t want to but agrees to stay.
Delta and Natalie eat the leftover lasagna together in the kitchen that has every tool and appliance but they are never used. Natalie plays the cello for Delta. Her parents have a recording of her recital since they couldn’t be there. Delta investigates the rooms and spies a paper in the office that reads “due date” and another page of birth mothers.
She goes to Natalie’s room and takes photos of her sleeping. Her room has a theme of unicorns that appear everywhere. Delta had lived at Disney World in Florida and imagined herself with the perfect parents. When Delta gets home, her apartment appears drab and ugly and flat. She uses editing tricks on a photo of her son Jasper, giving him a smile instead of a sneer. He lives with his father in Florida.
In the darkroom, she super-imposes a photo of her body next to a photo of Fritz, his lips close to hers. She scrolls through photos of Natalie’s birthday party and puts a photo of herself eating birthday cake with Amelia, making them intimates. She prints 8 x 10 photos and frames them, hanging them in her foyer. In her work, she has always observed the rules for serving the ruling class and was able to fit into their space, although she’d been born into white trash.
Delta is asked to baby-sit again and helps Natalie with her math homework although she's is smart enough to do it herself. They create a diorama of a park for a contest. Delta grew up around carousels and can picture each horse in detail. Natalie wishes the horse could ride away with her as in Mary Poppins.
After Natalie goes to bed, Delta explores the Straub’s bedroom and lavish bathroom with a marble and bathes in the huge tub. She puts on Amelia’s bright red lipstick. After the Straub's return, Delta says the dog threw up on her, and Amalia gives her permission to use the washing machine and shower.
The following day, Delta goes to her next client’s house. Boris, the birthday boy, doesn’t want a party and doesn’t want her. His friends arrive then Mack the Magician. Delta couldn’t get happy photos of Boris, so she created the party by editing. The next day she has dinner with a man, Ian Walker, arranged by Amelia. Ian shares information about the Straub's personal and business lives. She shows Ian the photo of her son Jasper with a surfboard she has created. Delta offers to photograph Ian’s mom’s apartment to get it on the market. The following day she eliminates all the clutter and knickknacks and uses angles, lights, and mirrors to make it look grand. An illusion is created.
The Straubs are out of town for two weeks and Delta goes there several times to water plants then checks on the apartment behind the house. Ian takes her to dinner as thanks for the photos she’s taken of the apartment that helped generate two offers.
Delta frames the best prints of Natalie’s party and wraps five of them. The next time she’s at the Straub’s, Felix says Amelia is missing. When she shows up, she says she's found a surrogate mother for them, a young unmarried woman named Lucia. Amelia is excited, but Felix is hesitant. Delta is disappointed because she wanted to be the surrogate mother. Natalie knows she’ll get even less time with her mother when another child is in the picture. The tension builds. Delta can’t understand why Felix and Amelia don’t see her as a good surrogate mom. Because Natalie doesn’t want secrets about their family, she tells Lucia things, such as their religion, and what she likes to draw. Delta takes many shots of Lucia when Delta goes over to the Straub’s. She knows that Lucia’s baby is not the right one, but Amalia tells Delta she can help by “keeping her mouth shut.” Delta is hurt by this.
Later at home, Delta looks at the photos of Lucia and in the darkroom makes them look sexy so Lucia’s boyfriend Ron will see them and want to claim her and his baby before someone else does. Ian tells her the Straubs are going to go ahead with the adoption.
Weeks later, Delta goes to their house and Lucia is there saying her boyfriend wants her back now, that he loves the baby, his baby. Delta feels responsible. Amalia offers Ron a lot of money to give up the baby. Natalie asks about Jasper, and Delta visualizes him surfing in California with his father. He has golden skin, large dark eyes, and a wiry body. He’s Delta’s creation.
Amelia is going down hill as she worries about Lucia’s baby. Delta gets their attention with her offer to be a surrogate mother. Amelia is elated, Natalie wants to live elsewhere. They offer the apartment to Delta, exactly what she wants. Ian meets her for coffee and guesses she doesn’t have a son. “Who are you," he asks. He says she should have a baby with him if she wants one, but she downplays that idea.
What happens to Delta and the dream world she has created in her darkroom? Do Amelia and Fritz get another baby? And as Natalie grows up, does she learn who her parents are? Does Jasper come onto the scene in later years? Find out on the new fiction shelf of your local library.
Delta and Natalie eat the leftover lasagna together in the kitchen that has every tool and appliance but they are never used. Natalie plays the cello for Delta. Her parents have a recording of her recital since they couldn’t be there. Delta investigates the rooms and spies a paper in the office that reads “due date” and another page of birth mothers.
She goes to Natalie’s room and takes photos of her sleeping. Her room has a theme of unicorns that appear everywhere. Delta had lived at Disney World in Florida and imagined herself with the perfect parents. When Delta gets home, her apartment appears drab and ugly and flat. She uses editing tricks on a photo of her son Jasper, giving him a smile instead of a sneer. He lives with his father in Florida.
In the darkroom, she super-imposes a photo of her body next to a photo of Fritz, his lips close to hers. She scrolls through photos of Natalie’s birthday party and puts a photo of herself eating birthday cake with Amelia, making them intimates. She prints 8 x 10 photos and frames them, hanging them in her foyer. In her work, she has always observed the rules for serving the ruling class and was able to fit into their space, although she’d been born into white trash.
Delta is asked to baby-sit again and helps Natalie with her math homework although she's is smart enough to do it herself. They create a diorama of a park for a contest. Delta grew up around carousels and can picture each horse in detail. Natalie wishes the horse could ride away with her as in Mary Poppins.
After Natalie goes to bed, Delta explores the Straub’s bedroom and lavish bathroom with a marble and bathes in the huge tub. She puts on Amelia’s bright red lipstick. After the Straub's return, Delta says the dog threw up on her, and Amalia gives her permission to use the washing machine and shower.
The following day, Delta goes to her next client’s house. Boris, the birthday boy, doesn’t want a party and doesn’t want her. His friends arrive then Mack the Magician. Delta couldn’t get happy photos of Boris, so she created the party by editing. The next day she has dinner with a man, Ian Walker, arranged by Amelia. Ian shares information about the Straub's personal and business lives. She shows Ian the photo of her son Jasper with a surfboard she has created. Delta offers to photograph Ian’s mom’s apartment to get it on the market. The following day she eliminates all the clutter and knickknacks and uses angles, lights, and mirrors to make it look grand. An illusion is created.
The Straubs are out of town for two weeks and Delta goes there several times to water plants then checks on the apartment behind the house. Ian takes her to dinner as thanks for the photos she’s taken of the apartment that helped generate two offers.
Delta frames the best prints of Natalie’s party and wraps five of them. The next time she’s at the Straub’s, Felix says Amelia is missing. When she shows up, she says she's found a surrogate mother for them, a young unmarried woman named Lucia. Amelia is excited, but Felix is hesitant. Delta is disappointed because she wanted to be the surrogate mother. Natalie knows she’ll get even less time with her mother when another child is in the picture. The tension builds. Delta can’t understand why Felix and Amelia don’t see her as a good surrogate mom. Because Natalie doesn’t want secrets about their family, she tells Lucia things, such as their religion, and what she likes to draw. Delta takes many shots of Lucia when Delta goes over to the Straub’s. She knows that Lucia’s baby is not the right one, but Amalia tells Delta she can help by “keeping her mouth shut.” Delta is hurt by this.
Later at home, Delta looks at the photos of Lucia and in the darkroom makes them look sexy so Lucia’s boyfriend Ron will see them and want to claim her and his baby before someone else does. Ian tells her the Straubs are going to go ahead with the adoption.
Weeks later, Delta goes to their house and Lucia is there saying her boyfriend wants her back now, that he loves the baby, his baby. Delta feels responsible. Amalia offers Ron a lot of money to give up the baby. Natalie asks about Jasper, and Delta visualizes him surfing in California with his father. He has golden skin, large dark eyes, and a wiry body. He’s Delta’s creation.
Amelia is going down hill as she worries about Lucia’s baby. Delta gets their attention with her offer to be a surrogate mother. Amelia is elated, Natalie wants to live elsewhere. They offer the apartment to Delta, exactly what she wants. Ian meets her for coffee and guesses she doesn’t have a son. “Who are you," he asks. He says she should have a baby with him if she wants one, but she downplays that idea.
What happens to Delta and the dream world she has created in her darkroom? Do Amelia and Fritz get another baby? And as Natalie grows up, does she learn who her parents are? Does Jasper come onto the scene in later years? Find out on the new fiction shelf of your local library.