Book Review: Fragile Beasts by Tawni O'Dell

Tawni O'Dell first came to prominence with her first book, Back Roads, which became an Oprah Book Club pick. After Coal Run and Sister Mine, she returns once again to western Pennsylvania coal country with Fragile Beasts, released in March 2010. O'Dell's voice has matured over the years, and while the book has some flaws, Fragile Beasts is an excellent read.

The Best of Fragile Beasts

Tawni O'Dell's best skill is in creating deeply flawed, yet believable characters. She continues that streak with the supporting characters of Fragile Beasts. The main characters are perhaps a little flatter than in her previous novels -- Kyle, an artistic teenager undervalued by his family, his baseball star brother Klint, and Candace Jack, the elderly heiress to a coal fortune. While they are interesting and well fleshed out, they aren't terribly unique characters. In contrast, the supporting cast - the manservant Luis, Candace's socialite sister-in-law, Klint and Kyle's mother and aunt - are all memorable. Klint's baseball buddy Tyler provides an interesting perspective on "working for the Man," and Manuel is colorfully depicted as a flawed bullfighter who died dramatically at the peak of his career.

O'Dell's ability to delineate characters with a brief physical description has only improved.

There are two very specific physical species of women common to this part of Pennsylvania. I like to think of them as the cow, and the hardscrabble chicken. The second category can be identified by their darting movements, their screechy voices, their beady predatory eyes, and their scrawny corded necks.

The acerbic observations mixed with a touch of grim humor keep the reader entertained while creating an instant visual. The author knows her characters and sketches them as skillfully as Kyle creates caricatures.

Finally, O'Dell's descriptive ability has become more complex. She successfully intertwines the story and flavors of Spain, incorporating some of the rhythms of well known Spanish writers into Luis's narrative. The book is worth reading just for his discussion of American sports and the need to win. Her sense of place is stunning; the image of the black bull roaming the estate will stay with the reader. For the first time in Fragile Beasts she explores upper class and foreign living, and it rings as true as her descriptions of her home state.

The Worst of Fragile Beasts

While Tawni O'Dell continues to mature as a writer, there are a few weak spots in Fragile Beasts. There is an incident of sexual abuse that seems gratuitous, as it seems to be in many bestselling novels. The parallels between Kyle's art and the artistry of bullfighting are heavy-handed, as are the parallels between the brothers and the young bullfighter Rafael. Finally, the ending, while satisfying, is too neat and sentimental, and comes off as contrived.

Fragile Beasts: Worth a Read

Despite the weaknesses, Fragile Beasts is an excellent read. For those interested in well developed characters and the intermixing of cultures, the book provides a great trip into the minds of a middle-aged Spanish immigrant, an elderly heiress, and an artistic high school student. While the plot is occasionally contrived, the people Tawni O'Dell created for Fragile Beasts are worth getting to know.

Tawni O'Dell, Fragile Beasts