 Word On Books
with Jeremy Fenton
Too Close to the Falls
By Catherine Gildiner
Published by Flamingo
 In between practicing psychology and raising a family, Catherine McClure Gildiner has been writing for years – but Too Close to the Falls is her first book.
With a 1950s childhood in the United States' Lewiston, the town apparently made famous for inventing the cocktail, a father who was chosen by her class as a "present-day saint", and a mother who refuses to take interest in the things that other mothers care about (such as 'food, Cathy's exact whereabouts, and bedtimes'), Gildiner's subject matter is rich in period detail and comic potential.
I don't know if eccentricity is an essential ingredient to successful memoir – but one could certainly be forgiven for thinking it so. The list of eccentric authors (or authors with eccentric families) to have put pen to paper is virtually the same length as the inventory of exceptional memoirs. Perhaps it's just that behind every family façade there lies a hotbed of strangeness?
The words "laugh out loud" are used far to often in appraising books, but in this case the phrase genuinely fits. There are moments on virtually every page that call for loud vocal responses: whether it's the family doctor's prescription for Cathy's hyperactivity at the age of four (full time work in her father's pharmacy), or asking why it's a sin to see Elvis below the knees, the book is bursting with witty and memorable moments.
As an author, Gildiner's comedic timing is impeccable; that she has chosen to tread a literary path uncluttered with sentimentality or tragedy is even more impressive. That it's all true (or at least as factual as memory allows) makes it all the more funny.
Several critics have pointed out that the only real fault with Too Close to the Falls is that it ends too soon – thankfully Gildiner is currently working on a welcome sequel. A talent like hers is too good to leave idle.
Buy, beg, borrow or steal this book – it's worth it!
- Thank you to Book Warehouse in Keen Street, Lismore, for supporting this column.
jeremy@wordonbooks.com
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