I saw this title on
the Costa Awards shortlist for best novel and then learned that the author was
raised in Canada, so I just had to read it.
I’m glad I did.
The protagonist is
Pinch Bavinsky, the son of a world-renowned artist, Bear Bavinsky. We meet Pinch at the age of 5 and it is
immediately clear that he worships his father.
In fact, throughout his life, Pinch craves his father’s attention and
approval, always making choices that he hopes will bring him closer to
Bear. His artistic endeavours come to
naught, and he ends up teaching Italian at a language school. Only later in life does he try to escape from
his father’s shadow.
Bear Bavinsky is a
character who cannot be ignored. Like
his huge paintings, he dominates a room with his presence. His talent and charm make him the centre of
attention at social gatherings. But
behind that charm hides the truth: he is
a supremely arrogant narcissist. He
rails against those who do not recognize his talent and allows his canvases to
be purchased only by museums and art galleries, not individual collectors,
because he believes his work should be seen and admired by everyone. “Bear destroys paintings that he deems unfit”
because he cannot let the public see anything that would not show him in the
best light.
As a father, Bear is
best described as “a deadbeat dad who flew the coop.” He is a womanizer who has several wives and “Several
of Bear’s families overlapped, including a few wives.” One of Bear’s seventeen children warns Pinch,
“’Everything’s always about his art . . . He doesn’t actually care about his
actual creations. . . . The human ones.’”
At one point, Bear leaves Rome for work in New York but “Pinch finds out
only after his father has left.” Even
Bear describes himself as “a lousy sonofabitch.” Once Bear has moved on to another wife,
Pinch writes to his father “with all sorts of questions” but Bear may not
respond for months and then his letters “rarely connect to his son’s questions.”
Pinch does become Bear’s
favourite child, but there’s a price.
Bear wants someone who sees him as he sees himself, someone who confirms
his opinions. One of Pinch’s siblings
summarizes, “’He loved us when we were cute, right? Not so much when we developed opinions.’” And Pinch realizes, “Total allegiance is what you demand, with the hint that one of us might
become your favorite. And, Pinch
realizes with self-disgust, I won that
contest. Few of Dad’s other kids are
even allowed his private phone number.
But I kowtow. I’m his servant. So I was chosen.”
Pinch is a foil for
his father. He is shy and insecure. He is socially inept and has difficulty
making friends. His romantic liaisons
are few. It is heart-wrenching to see
Pinch try so hard to connect with his father.
A girlfriend describes him as “a grown man who acts like a worshipful
little boy around his father.” His
artistic tastes are just imitations of his father’s: he “revered Caravaggio because his father does.” Pinch
tries to paint and though his mother begs him to keep his work, he does as his
father does: “Bear destroys paintings
that he deems unfit, however, so Pinch must do the same.” After Pinch finally shows his father one of
his paintings, Bear tells him, “’So I got to tell you, kiddo. You’re not an artist. And you never will be.’” After this rebuke, Pinch decides he will
study art history and write his father’s biography: “What .
. . if I wrote the biography of Bear Bavinsky? A rush of optimism as he foresaw Dad’s
approval, not to mention the hours they’d talk and debate. What if
I even become famous for it?”
Pinch eventually
realizes that “this life has hardly been his own” and “If he had been born to
another father, they would consider Pinch’s achievements perfect
respectable. But relatives are judged
relatively.” I found myself hoping that
Pinch would finally move beyond his “needy ambition.” He is eventually left in charge of Bear’s
legacy and he feels “that makes him almost important,” and he doesn’t want to
sell his father’s paintings because “If he cedes control, what has he got?” I cheered when he finally decides to leave his
individual mark on his father’s legacy in a very original way! One critic comments that “’Bear redeemed
himself in the purest way: through art’”
but it is actually Pinch who redeems his father and himself.
Though the focus is on
the father-son relationship, there is also a mother-son relationship. Natalie is a single mother for most of Pinch’s
life. He admits to her that “’When I was
growing up, you were by far my closest friend.’” Unfortunately, Pinch’s obsession with his
father means that he relegates his mother to the background. He spurns her, “never explaining the source
of his anger: that she had encouraged
him, had adored his painting, had stoked his hopes, telling him, “You are really very good.”’” Pinch dismisses her opinion because it doesn’t
match his father’s. Natalie struggles to
be a ceramicist but Pinch disregards her efforts: “Yet he does not praise Natalie, instead launching
into a silly dance to draw her attention, an intrusion he’d never have
contemplated when Bear was painting.”
Later, he thinks, “She has skill and knows her craft. But he wishes she would stop hurting herself
in this attempt to be an artist. It’s so
effortless for Bear, so beyond her.” It
is tragic that the one person who loves Pinch without reservation is the one
whom he avoids.
The novel also has a
lot to say about the art world. Who
decides whether a piece of art is worthy of esteem? Pinch “supposes that this is how culture
works: The taste-makers call something important
until it becomes so, making themselves important in the process.” Gallery owners also manipulate. Pinch’s actions at the end can be interpreted
as a type of vengeance on the self-serving art purveyors and art critics.
I loved this novel. The characterization is outstanding and the
twist at the end provides added satisfaction.
It is very deserving of the Costa Award.
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