The Marrowbone Marble Company
In the annals of divine literary pronouncements, 鈥淢ake marbles鈥� ranks right up there with 鈥淚f you build it, they will come,鈥� for the initial 鈥渉uh?鈥� factor.
But that鈥檚 what the disembodied voice in his dream said, so that鈥檚 what orphan Loyal Ledford sets out to do. Only, instead of Iowa cornfields, the World War II veteran is surrounded by West Virginia mountains. And instead of a ball field, he鈥檚 trying to create a place where people can live and work together regardless of race. (When the dream voice tells him to name his youngest son Orb he does that, too 鈥� although that seems like taking blind obedience a little too far.)
Glenn Taylor鈥檚 debut novel, 鈥淭he Ballad of Trenchmouth Taggart,鈥� was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, and The Marrowbone Marble Company is a terrific follow-up, showcasing his high aims and impressive sentence-building chops.
Taylor announces his epic intentions from the start: He leads off with a sweaty, terrifying rendition of Guadalcanal, where Loyal becomes unmoored from his moral center.
Back at home and married to his childhood sweetheart, Rachel, heir of the Mann Glass factory where Loyal works, he drinks too much and gambles with his war buddy, Erminio Bacigalupo, a budding hit man. (Taylor has an ability to name things that鈥檚 almost Adam-like, but he might have considered changing Erm鈥檚 last name, since John Irving just used it for his main characters in 鈥�Last Night in Twisted River.鈥� But I guess 鈥渨olf mouth鈥� is just too evocative to resist.)
A progressive preacher named Don Staples introduces Loyal to civil rights. After realizing he鈥檚 not going to be able to integrate the glass factory 鈥� or its softball team 鈥� Loyal sets out to found a new company. (The scene where Loyal, standing alone like Charlie Brown on the pitcher鈥檚 mound, cuts off the last 鈥渘鈥� on his Mann softball uniform is a rare instance of Taylor pounding his soapbox a little too hard. Most of the time, thankfully, he鈥檚 too busy storytelling to preach.)
He, Rachel, and the kids head for his family鈥檚 homestead on Bonecutter Ridge. 鈥淭he Bonecutters lived on these five hundred West Virginia acres for 150 years. They were hard, proud people who prospered some times and went hungry others. They witnessed love and murder, fire and flood, until only two remained. It was left to them to hold on to the land. They did so with the sure grip that hill people possess.鈥�
Marrowbone Cut isn鈥檛, at first glance, paradise found. 鈥淢ostly, the hills of Wayne County were the color of mud, and it rolled down their inclines uncontained by streambeds. The mines had opened up new punctures, and folks had grown accustomed to what spilled forth.鈥�
And the residents, apart from the two remaining Bonecutters 鈥� Dimple and Wimpy 鈥� aren鈥檛 terribly excited to have a civil rights commune in their midst. Really, Loyal should have just grabbed a lance and aimed for the nearest windmill. Instead, he fires colorful children鈥檚 playthings that catch the light and the imagination.
With him, Loyal brings Don and a former employee of the Mann Glass factory, an African-American GI named Mack Wells whose valor was only appreciated until V-E Day.
鈥淭he Marrowbone Marble Company鈥� spans the civil rights era, as Loyal, Don, and their followers stand firm against crooked politicians and bullying deputies and set up a factory, church, and community center where everyone is created equal 鈥� or at least the men are.
鈥淭he Marrowbone Marble Company鈥� is one of those books where the womenfolk don鈥檛 have a whole lot to do besides be supportive. Wife Rachel 鈥� whose money finances the entire experiment, but somehow doesn鈥檛 give her equal billing 鈥� conveniently decides that she really didn鈥檛 like being a nurse and would rather have babies. We don鈥檛 hear much about what this former rich girl thinks of her isolated mountain existence. (Lizzie Wells, Mack鈥檚 wife, is allowed a qualm of concern that her husband is risking their lives and taking her away from her family by hitching his star to a crazy white guy, but she鈥檚 soon presiding over barbecues beside Rachel and her mother-in-law.) Mary, Loyal and Rachel鈥檚 daughter, gets the role of active observer 鈥� recording the goings-on with her Bolex 19mm. And there鈥檚 plenty to film.
While Don, whose promise to never give boring sermons must have won his parishioners鈥� hearts, teaches nonviolence and reads from the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.鈥檚 sermons, the novel builds inexorably to a showdown that isn鈥檛 going to be resolved by a sit-in. 鈥淭he Marrowbone Marble Company鈥� is a novel about one man鈥檚 mountaintop idealism, but written in so earthy and sweat-streaked a way that it never runs out of oxygen.
Yvonne Zipp regularly reviews fiction for the Monitor.
