Deeply rooted in Jamaica Kincaid's quarter-century marriage to composer Allen Shawn, See Now Then is a chilling portrait of a failed relationship.
Mr. and Mrs. Sweet and their children live in a small Vermont village. From the opening pages we learn that Mrs. Sweet's husband, "the dear Mr. Sweet, hated her very much," comparing her appearance with "Charles Laughton as he portrayed Captain Bligh" and composing a nocturne called This Marriage Is Dead. In Mrs. Sweet's telling, her agoraphobic spouse is a "rodent" who "had not grown a half inch since he turned twelve." She takes refuge in her writing and her gardening, striving to preserve something resembling a normal family life. It's no surprise that at the climax of this brief novel, Mr. Sweet declares, "I love someone else and I will not give her up."
As its title suggests, See Now Then is best read as an extended reflection on the passage of time and the insistent tug of memory. The novel's long, looping sentences have a rhythmic, almost hypnotic, character, their images often arresting, as in the way Mrs. Sweet describes how she has been "unraveling various parts of the garment that had been her own life" or Mr. Sweet's claim that his wife is "like walking into barbed wire in the dark."
Despite its grim subject matter and raw, stream-of-consciousness style, See Now Then does have moments of beauty and pathos. It's most definitely not a novel for the casual or impatient, and those who've encountered and appreciated Kincaid's work will want to read it. --Harvey Freedenberg, attorney and freelance reviewer