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Fiction
Time's Fool
Terra Ziporyn
Xlibris
231 Pages
ISBN 1-4010-0487-3, Trade Paperback, $21.99
ISBN 1-4010-0486-5, Hardback, $31.99
e-Book, $8.00
Dec 01, 2001
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Galton Morrow is a prominent, married Boston doctor with a thriving practice
in the early 20th century. For all his success, however, he is consumed with
questions about his parentage.
His father and mother were acolytes of the utopian missionaries of the
cult-like Oneida Colony, an upstate New York sect that in the mid-19th
century was dedicated to serving the Almighty. The elders, of course, wielded
the power, including determining who would mate with whom and when. It was a
"scientific experiment": a belief that by mating the finest and
fittest among them, a crop of morally, intellectually, and physically
superior progeny would result.
What makes the story so compelling is that it’s told through diary entries —
from Galton’s writings, circa 1907 and long gone from the colony, to Josiah,
who in 1867 may or may not have fathered him. There, in fact, lies the
problem: Josiah clearly loved the woman who became Galton’s mother, but the
elders refused the match, attempting unsuccessfully to force separations
between them and compelling all involved to procreate with others. Thus the
ambiguity surrounding Galton’s parentage.
Along with those diaries, meanwhile, is a young woman who catches Galton’s
fancy. Now he, too, is caught between his wife, who he loves, and a younger
miss who could easily be his mistress. The story, therefore, comes full
circle: the travails of a 19th century quasi-religious sect on one end, its
aftermath on the other.
Throughout the book, the author displays an unfailing and often phenomenal
attention to detail, from sentence syntax, period vocabulary and idiomatic
misspellings to subtly crafted moments that ceaselessly carries the narrative
forward. If it’s one of the leanest novels ever written it’s forgivable,
since character is never sacrificed — quite the opposite. The extensive
bibliography also testifies to the author’s commitment to accuracy.
Unlike such similar works as 84 Charing Cross Road, Time’s Fool
burrows deeper: At stake is Galton’s very identity. As he moves through each
diary, painstakingly translating them from the secret code in which they were
written, he reflects upon his own life choices — a childless, if loving,
marriage; his devotion to treating women with sexually transmitted diseases.
In the end, not only can he forgive his forebears, but also at last he can
confront the object of his affections and make a choice that the reader, at
the start of the book, would never have imagined him capable of doing.
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