Paula Fox's Desperate Characters is a beautifully crafted tale of second chances. The story follows Sophie and Otto Brentwood who have recently moved to Brooklyn for Otto's position in a law firm. Both of them detest their marriage, no longer willing to talk to one another in order to fix their problems. Instead they slip into patterns of extreme dishealth and mutual isolation. Sophie even gets bitten by a feral cat and refuses to treat the wound properly until she becomes extremely ill. She's holding on to the delusion that she's powerless to change her situation, so she lives with this constant reminder of dishealth.
Fox sets her book in the 1960s, a time of political change and upheaval. More significantly, however, given Fox's age, this is the time she would have been engaging in her first romantic relationships. Doubtless there's an extremely personal element to her tale -- lessons previously learned here written to help those who may be similarly struggling. Her moral is simple: be powerful. Protagonist Sophie's constant downfall is her unwillingness to take charge of her situation and to accept responsibility. Like a child she pretends her problems don't exist, rather than owning them. When she does finally admit her imperfection and seek medical attention for her cat bite, she also talks to Otto for the first time in a while. They agree to try harder to know and honor one another. Thus a tale of redemption, Fox is telling readers that they can similarly accept responsibility in whatever dilemma they find themselves. There is power in honesty. More importantly health comes from correctly discerning the truth about oneself and one's circumstances.
