I've enjoyed a quiet summer over here, and that has offered me the chance to read more. I finished 9 books in July, one of which was the novel Mrs. Kimble by Jennifer Haigh. This is a book that I wish I'd written. I love intersecting narratives and stories that are carried over years and locations. Mrs. Kimble tells the story of a man (Mr. Kimble) from the perspective of the three women he marries, as well as his oldest son.
We meet the first Mrs. Kimble (Birdie) in the 1960's, in the wake of her husband's disappearance. She knows he was unfaithful, but in the standard of the times, she was willing to overlook anything as long as the bills were paid and the car maintained. Suddenly, she is forced to take on the roles of Mom and Dad to her two young children, something she is ill-prepared for. Birdie tells how she met her husband, the early years of their marriage spent living in a house with his parents, and she shares how the man changed over time. Ultimately, Birdie sacrifices her suburban dream and returns to her childhood home, where she lives with her step-mother and near her childhood love.
The next Mrs. Kimble (Joan) couldn't be more different from Birdie. She is an independent woman, a journalist in a male-dominated field, more interested in covering riots in Paris than nurturing a home. But then she finds cancer in her breast and the subsequent treatment sends her reeling. In the aftermath, she meets Mr. Kimble, and in a reversal, decides it's not too late to have a family. A few years into the marriage, she finds the man who once intrigued and flattered her to be cold and secretive. Her interest in having a family with him never materializes and soon she finds another lump, which ultimately takes her life.
In the late 70's, the final Mrs. Kimble appears in the form of Dinah, the Kimble's former babysitter. 10 years after her initial crush on Mr. Kimble, she finds herself falling in love with the man, and ignores the disapproval of her family or anyone else who finds their age difference distasteful. By now, Mr. Kimble has become a wealthy man, from the inheritance of his deceased wife and his new career in real estate. The Kimbles have a child and Dinah abandons the path she was on before meeting her husband.
What is revealed in these different places and stories is a man who is a chameleon, who carries no sentiment or memory of his past as he moves on to a new wife, a new home, a new experience. What his wives have in common is finding this man when they are weak, when they are desperate for love and companionship, when they are easily seduced by an attentive man. They each make Mr. Kimble what they need him to be, although ultimately his private nature keeps them at arm's length, so that each Mrs. Kimble experiences loneliness in her marriage. I found the book to be well-written and intriguing, even as I despised Mr. Kimble for the emotional collateral he left in his wake. It has a voyeuristic appeal in the story as we are offered glimpses behind closed doors and inside aching hearts.
