A Writer's Take On A Writer [Book Review]

The part that shamed Cheever - the part he sometimes took pains to conceal - was a dreadful suspicion that his family had become poor and outcast not as a result of some stylish revolt against “piss-pot” respectability, but because they were, at bottom, strange and vulgar people.

It is difficult to recommend a book this long. The writing is very good but not necessarily on the level of the best literary non-fiction writers like Robert Caro. The narrative contains only modest tension and the supporting characters are less well-developed. The Susan Cheever, which this reviewer has met, seems different from the Susan on the page. Perhaps because of the focus on Cheever’s writing, including some excellent criticism, there is less space for the historical context. Yet the small, chronological chapters, in chunks of a few years, can be read as self-contained short stories. This is definitely a book you can sample and not feel guilty.

The story of Cheever’s life cycles between art and chaos: great artistic decisions and poor personal decisions. He was driven by insecurity and the fear of ending up a failure like his father. That art can arise from apparently infertile ground is amazing.

As Frederico [his youngest son] pointed out, their father’s talent ‘emanated from the conflict in his soul, and it really isn’t anything he would have wished on anyone else’.

Blake Bailey will be appearing at this year’s Texas Book Festival in a panel called, appropriately, “Writing About Writers”. You can find the complete schedule on their web site.