Tuesday, February 8, 2011

The Village


The saying is, it takes a village… well David Mamet borrows that title.  The Village in his first novel written in 1994 to describe the people who reside in a sleepy Northeastern town.  There is a dark foreboding element throughout the brief 230 pages of text.  The story is very episodic, giving brief glimpses into a few different characters at a given moment in time.  There really isn’t a main character and in fact the story is really painting a picture of the village rather than truly developing characters or a story line.  The reader enters the life of a hardware store, a local diner, the gas station attendant, a state trooper, and a few hunters.  There are a few deaths that occur through “teenage play” on a rock quarry, being attacked by a bear, and an abusive marriage.  Mamet paints a clear picture in the low-mid class society of the village and the mundane life that occurs. One gets a clear feeling on this particular type of village within our midst, no glamour, economic struggle, and the grit that is felt in anywhere USA that our media does not portray.  Having driven through many of the small towns of Vermont, New Hampshire, and Connecticut, I have no doubt that this place exists and to be honest, I would never want to stop by and meet these people, who seem satisfied with this life, or maybe, they know no other life out there.  For those interested in a very different life in the US, this may be for you.  For me, I want to stay away from this village….    

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