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Critics' Opinion:
Readers' Opinion:
First Published:
Feb 2008, 272 pages
Paperback:
Jan 2009, 272 pages
Book Reviewed by:
Stacey Brownlie
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Meet Burt Hecker - a mead-drinking, tunic-wearing medieval re-enactor from upstate New York in Tod Wodicka's debut, a modern-day Arthurian quest that introduces one of the most winning oddball characters to come along in years.
Meet Burt Hecker: a mead-drinking, tunic-wearing medieval re-enactor from
upstate New York. He prefers oat gruel to French fries because potatoes were
unavailable in Europe before 1200 AD; and, at war with the modern world, he
enjoys hosting large-scale re-enactments at the Victorian bed and breakfast he
calls home.
But Burt has some serious problems. After an incident involving the New York
State police and an illegally borrowed car, Burt is forced to join a local music
therapy workshop to manage his anger. He gallantly accompanies the group to
Germany for a festival celebrating the music of the visionary saint Hildegard
von Bingen--but he has no plan to return home. His real destination is Prague:
he must find his estranged son Tristan, who, he believes, has lost his way in
the Bohemian city.
As we move between past and present, the tragic details of Burt's life are
gradually revealed: the recent death of his beloved wife; the circumstances that
separate him from his children; his complicated relationship with his
mother-in-law. And we begin to understand, with heart-wrenching clarity, Burt's
eccentric and poignant devotion to a time other than one's own.
Wildly inventive and mesmerizing, Tod Wodicka's debut is a modern-day Arthurian
quest that introduces one of the most winning oddball characters to come along
in years.
Chapter One
Dawn, or its German equivalent, cannot be far off. But here, at the top of the
hill, night still clogs the forest. Being sixty-three years old and sleepy, I
find it nearly impossible to differentiate now between the stray grapevines, the
trees, and the waist-high shrubs that I know surround me. They could all be wild
animals.
'Is everyone awake?'
Three days ago I imprisoned six middle-aged women and one pre-pubescent girl in
a tent on this hilltop. The time has come to set them free.
'Pray undo the lock,' an anchorite whispers. Then, sensing my hesitation, 'Did
thou forget the key?'
There is no key because there is no lock. My hand waits on the zipper. I stand
there in my dagged-edged taffeta tunic, my sandaled feet wet from dew. My bald
little head. My nose. Somewhere behind me sleeps the great stone Benedictine
Abbey St Hildegard, its vineyards cascading down the hill over Eibingen, over
Rudesheim, and into the river Rhine.
Zipper down,...
Despite light moments and clever demonstrations of culture clash, Wodicka's novel is not a light read. His themes are weighty, his research is thorough and his characters are burdened by their personal and familial histories. Readers may guess that the struggles described in the book's pages are a reflection of its author. Wodicka admits to creating Burt Hecker at least partially out of the need to purge himself of similar tendencies before the birth of his own child. Though Wodicka himself is not a historical re-enactor, he also acknowledges amassing an overwhelming amount of research in preparation for the novel, much if which he never included in the actual text. Only an extremely talented writer could make a success of the mixture of plot, characters and subject matter in All Shall Be Well. Wodicka's story is a rare and noteworthy one, a cautionary tale rooted in a singular, yet familiarly dysfunctional, family...continued
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(Reviewed by Stacey Brownlie).
Hildegard von Bingen
Hildegard von Bingen
(1098-1179), whose writings and music are integral to the novel, was trained by an
anchoress named Jutta and, in the book, is one herself. An anchoress is a female hermit – a woman who,
for religious reasons, voluntary shuts herself off from the world. Although
information on Hildegard confirms that she chose to emulate Jutta throughout her
life, it is not clear that she was an anchoress herself. In fact,
considering her achievements include founding two convents in what is now
Germany it seems unlikely she was. What she most certainly was though is a
woman of deep conviction and multiple talents - a
writer, composer, visionary and mystic. Although not ...
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