Three in One

Three Junes is really not one book - it is three separate novellas, which are grouped together into what is called a book. As long as you understand and accept that, you'll enjoy it. Otherwise, you're going to be like most of the members of my book club and think it was confusing, disjointed and unsatisfying. It made for a good discussion at our meeting yesterday since there were only a couple of us who said we enjoyed the book. It is a story revolving around a Scottish family and focuses, at different times, on different members of that family. Paul McLeod,patriarch, and Maureen,matriarch, and three sons: Fenno is the eldest (quietly and unobtrusively gay) and twins, David and Dennis, (both straight and very much married) complete the clan. Paul is a reticent, wealthy publisher who regrets that none of his sons wants to carry on the family's business and who married 'beneath his station' when he chose local barmaid, Maureen, as his life's mate. Realizing Maureen isn't comfortable in the social circles he's used to, Paul buys an estate (Tealing) in the country so Maureen can indulge in her passion: raising registered collies. After producing three sons and heirs, Paul and Maureen's life seems to just drift along in day-to-day sameness. No arguing or ugliness just existence in the same house.

Reading the book jacket synopsis reveals why it bears the title Three Junes since each of the three novellas at least start in the summer of different years. The first section tells of the recently widowed Paul's trip to Greece and his infatuation with a much younger girl, Fern, he meets there. In the second section we get to know Fenno who has left the Scottish land of his birth and now lives in New York City where he owns and operates a small store selling books and birdwatching gear, befriends some interesting people, has some 'adventures', makes repeated trips back to gather with the family and is, to me, the most important character in the whole book. The third section feels very much like an add on and has Fern (remember the girl Paul met in Greece back in section one?)now in New York City and pregnant by her landlord's son meeting Fenno in a bizarre weekend at a fabulous Long Island seaside residence owned by a mutual friend. I can't recall whether Fenno and Fern ever realized they had any past connection (via Paul) ... maybe if they had, the final section of the book wouldn't have seemed so added on and unnecessary.

That's the book. Three sections, three summers, three years and lots of characters. It certainly isn't the Great American Novel - but it is a look at life, family, death, homosexuality, love, happiness, sorrow, travel, work, play ... and Julia Glass does a great job of developing and filling out the important characters. There is a lot of flashback and jump ahead where it might take you several paragraphs before you realize who is 'on stage' and where you are ... but that really wasn't annoying to me (though it was to some of the aforementioned book club members).

Fenno, my favorite character, is well aware that his family has a difficult time not only accepting his sexual preferences but also his leaving his roots and becoming a New Yorker. At the in-Scottish-house(estate) memorial service after the death of the father (Paul) the other children arranged for "...a piper in full ceremonial dress steps out of the house (a complete surprise to Mr. Yet Again Out of the Loop)", thinks Fenno. He always feels he's missing something and "...feeling left out, you will have noticed, is second nature to me."
We get to see many sides of Fenno's complexity and inner strength. His devotion to eccentric, worldly, Mal, his best friend (not lover) who also happens to be gay and who is terminally ill with AIDS is touching. His quaint little shop (named Plume) would be one I'd enjoy going to and will probably actually look for the next time I'm in NYC...that's how 'real' it seems in the story. I'm just sure it's on a street in the village.

There are many parts where humor shines - Ms. Glass has a great way with descriptions so that 'you are there' ie: at a dinner party "I slip into the nearest empty chair--empty, I see too late, because it's in a spot most people would likely avoid: between a woman one might size up as a lonely aging bore and an alarmingly elderly man who must devote what little energy he has to getting the vichyssoise, unspilled, to his mouth." There are also times when poignant thoughts "Time plays like an accordion in the way it can stretch out and compress itself in a thousand melodic ways. Months pass blindingly in a quick series of chords; and then a single melancholy week may seem like a year's pining, one long unfolding note." make you stop and reach for a kleenex!

Thinking back over Three Junes I'm very glad I read it and will look forward to Julia Glass' next book.