Realistic slice of American life
Kamaldeep Kaur Toor

The Probable Future
by Alice Hoffman. Chatto and Windus, London. Pages 322. £ 6.60

THE novel tells the story of the interwoven lives of the members of a small community, Unity, Massachusetts over a period of three centuries. Alice Hoffman tries to create this small American town realistically by describing its atmosphere, its flora and fauna in microscopic detail.

The storyline is sketchy and the narrative seems laboured. The protagonists are the women of the Sparrow family who come from "a long line of bad luck and twisted genetics." At the age of 13, the Sparrow women develop a magical gift. It could be something unique like the ability to spot a lie, or know other people’s dreams. In the case of Stella Sparrow, the youngest of the family, the gift is the ability to see the probable future and death of a person. These special gifts cause a lot of pain and sorrow but must be borne as a burden forever. The book deals with the problems, the rebelliousness and finally the calm acceptance of destiny by the Sparrow women.

The novel abounds in powerful nature imagery. According to the author, seasons affect our moods, actions and consequently our destiny, thus changing our lives forever. Another symbol of strength is the Cake House (home of the Sparrows), so called because of the various layers added to it by successive generations.

Hoffman’s style is sometimes humorous but mainly gloomy. A sullen black humour pervades the narrative. The novel abounds in intricate descriptions, at the cost of dialogue, in tracing character development.

As mentioned earlier, the linear progression of the story is minimal but the characters achieve certain moments of illumination and Hoffman conveys them with great sincerity. For instance, she writes about people who are naturally disposed to act in negative ways, "Is this the way badness was formed? A cold pebble that begins as a tiny speck? An impulse that cannot be resisted? A desire that cannot be denied?" These rare moments of enlightenment are prominent, as each character becomes older, wiser and sufficiently mature to accept his/her sorrow and bliss gracefully.

However, the reader will perceive a slackening of authorial control in character development, which appears far-fetched and contrived. This is so because Hoffman tries to juggle many narrative strands — the past, the present and ‘the probable future’— all at once and this leads to ambiguity. The slow pace of the narrative at the beginning leads up to a hurried conclusion, thus endangering the credibility and coherence of the story.

The novel’s triumph lies in its vivid descriptions of locale and region. However, jerky character development and obscurity of the narrative might fail to retain the reader’s attention. Also, the novel has American elements and has little that an Indian reader can relate to. This novel is recommended for the avid reader or at best, for people interested in the development of American fiction.

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