Art and Marion Fowler, hapless victims of the Recession of the early 80s, are desperate people. Too young for Social Security, both laid off their jobs, their retirement funds eviscerated by the market plunge, and facing foreclosure on a house whose mortgage is so far underwater that it might as well be located in Atlantis, they have maxed out their credit cards and liquidated everything possible for one final shot at redemption, via the clattering roulette wheels of a Canadian casino at Niagara Falls.
This portrait of two people who are too battered by circumstance to even put up a good fight for a marriage that has simply run out of steam, lies at the heart of O'Nan's small and beautifully-written novelette. Over Valentine's Day weekend, the couple re-visits the site of their honeymoon as they prepare for their casino challenge at its heart. There's really not a lot of action here -- they eat in various restaurants, wait in line for attractions that turn out to be over-hyped or unavailable, and generally tread emotional water while waiting for the moment of truth. But where this work glows is in its finely-wrought and dead-accurate portrait of a marriage slowly running out of steam. There's no big cathartic battle and no soaring rededication to their relationship, even though a hopeful final scene suggests they just might make it as a couple.
The backup plan is for divorce -- as much a financial maneuver as an emotional one; though "while Art saw the divorce as a legal formality, a convenient shelter for whatever assets they might have left, from the beginning she'd taken the idea seriously, weighing her options and responsibilities -- plumbing, finally, her heart." And as they move through the weekend, it becomes clear that Art desperately wants the marriage to survive, and he's clearly wooing a woman who mostly just wants everything settled so she can begin arranging the rest of her life. Both are carrying baggage from past infidelities, though it's never really clear that Art is as aware of Marion's dalliance as she is of his. There's no real dislike here, but there's a ton of ennui, and there are probably few long-married readers who won't recognize themselves in one scene or another.
Go ahead -- spend the weekend with the Fowlers -- odds are you'll be glad you did.
This portrait of two people who are too battered by circumstance to even put up a good fight for a marriage that has simply run out of steam, lies at the heart of O'Nan's small and beautifully-written novelette. Over Valentine's Day weekend, the couple re-visits the site of their honeymoon as they prepare for their casino challenge at its heart. There's really not a lot of action here -- they eat in various restaurants, wait in line for attractions that turn out to be over-hyped or unavailable, and generally tread emotional water while waiting for the moment of truth. But where this work glows is in its finely-wrought and dead-accurate portrait of a marriage slowly running out of steam. There's no big cathartic battle and no soaring rededication to their relationship, even though a hopeful final scene suggests they just might make it as a couple.
The backup plan is for divorce -- as much a financial maneuver as an emotional one; though "while Art saw the divorce as a legal formality, a convenient shelter for whatever assets they might have left, from the beginning she'd taken the idea seriously, weighing her options and responsibilities -- plumbing, finally, her heart." And as they move through the weekend, it becomes clear that Art desperately wants the marriage to survive, and he's clearly wooing a woman who mostly just wants everything settled so she can begin arranging the rest of her life. Both are carrying baggage from past infidelities, though it's never really clear that Art is as aware of Marion's dalliance as she is of his. There's no real dislike here, but there's a ton of ennui, and there are probably few long-married readers who won't recognize themselves in one scene or another.
Go ahead -- spend the weekend with the Fowlers -- odds are you'll be glad you did.
