End of the Empire
Denise Ohio
From Publishers Weekly
If the contrived symbolism in this self-consciously allusive second novel (after The Finer Grain ) fails to hit the reader over the head, then the glaring predictability of its ending will compensate for the missed blow. In the small town of Cascade, Ore., the four main characters work together at a majestic but decaying movie house. Dante happens upon her former lover, Jewel, when she breaks from her motorcycle travels to take a job at the Empire. Jewel, who runs the concession stand, rekindles her affair with Dante. Meanwhile, Donnie, the projectionist and an aspiring artist, discovers his muse in Jewel and pursues her vehemently. Virgil, the Empire’s owner/janitor and a religious zealot, decides his erotic obsession with Jewel is a manifestation of a sacred temptation ritual. But despite evocative details used to individuate these characters–an eye patch for Dante, family ghosts for Jewel, a previous marriage for Donnie, a bout with a lightning bolt for Virgil–their personalities remain largely undeveloped. Their names epitomize the novel’s lack of subtlety: Jewel is, of course, a ‘gem,’ objectified by the men and sought as treasure, while the freight-train impact of a wanderer named Dante who encounters a Virgil needs no further comment.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. –This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Library Journal
Ohio ( Finer Ground , Naiad Pr., 1988) perches this novel on a precipice between love and suffocation, desire and fear, staying and fleeing. Of the four main characters, who all work at the gaudy Empire movie theater, three (one woman and two men) are in love with a woman named Jewel. Dante, a female equivalent of James Dean who wears an eye patch to cover her lost eye and drives around town on a motorcycle, is the only one who doesn’t have to obsess over Jewel from afar. Virgil either peers at his love object through a hole in the supply closet or loses himself in mopping floors, while Donnie gazes at Jewel through the window of her trailer. Yet all three are angst-ridden enough to keep a staff of psychiatrists busy. Fire–whether in the form of consuming passion or the heat and light of soul searching–is the elemental driving force until the final conflagration. A haunting book, sure to make readers take notice. For most public libraries.
– Lisa Nussbaum, Euclid P. L. , Ohio
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. –This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Details
| ISBN | 031210975X |
| Genre | Romance; Suspense |
| Publication Date | May-94 |
| Publisher | St Martins Pr |
| Format | Trade Paperback |
| No. of Pages | 150 |
| Language | English |
| Rating | NotRated |
| BookID | 3526 |
