Niagara Falls All Over Again
Elizabeth McCracken
Dial Press, 2002
Sticky and Ticklish
As was the case with Carl Hiassen's Stormy Weather, Niagara Falls All Over Again left my nightstand months before I started doing this anal retentive writing-a-review-of-every-crappy-book-I-read thing. Still, I cannot let 2005 disappear without giving Elizabeth McCracken's sticky, heart-warming novel a mention.
Sticky?
No, not like pocket full of melted candy. The characters and language of this novel have stuck with me even eleven months later. Immediately off the top of my head I fondly remember details from the life of Mose Sharp and his vaudeville partner Rocky Carter. Niagara Falls All Over Again proports to be Sharp's memoir, the character looking back on a life in the theater, on trains and ferris wheels. It is far more interesting and believable than many actual accounts. It's told with a rich voice that speaks clearly.
McCracken shares my hatred of clichés. Deader than vaudeville, for example. She's turned that one completely on its head. Following Carter and Sharp's travelling career, sharing their jokes and the physical humor of their act so clearly that it can be seen, this author has brought vaudeville back to life.
I've not seen that type of magic worked since Joss Wheedon made interesting again material as stinkingly stale and lifeless as vampires. It's like how Eugene McCabe crafted a monument from the worn old Irish stock of famine, religion, repression and child abuse.
Plot in ten words or less: Life, loves and times of Mose/Mike Sharp across the stage then into cinema, radio and television. Love, loss, wigs, marriage, a best-friendship, a cooling, World War II, New York, Iowa, California, Vegas.... OK, we're way past ten. There's so much to McCracken's novel that deserves a mention.
What could have been better about Niagara Falls All Over Again? The title's weak. First reaction: Niagara falls over? That's the lama-assed type of joke I would crack. In actuality, the phrase is a reference to a bit from an old movie. It's explained and suitable. Don't let a mistaken first impression put you off.
More substantial flaws.... This book would make a great present for your grandma, but there's enough sex in there to make you wonder if it's appropriate gift. Also the nostalgia's thick enough to be scraped off with the oar from any rowboat.
Critical Mick sez: So what? Granny wasn't born old, and who's not a bit of a sap when you dig down deep enough. Niagara Falls All Over Again is the type of read that gets in deep under your skin and stays there. Gets right into your heart.
Ye Verdicte: with so much laughter and sensitivity, reading Niagara Falls All Over Again is like being tickled. This is right up there with McCarthy's Bar as one of Critical Mick's best discoveries of 2005. Niagara Falls All Over Again is a novel I have given away as a gift, and probably will again.
Elizabeth McCracken, you rock!
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