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Mirabilis (review)

Mirabilis (review) and his mother have become and how little sympathy may exist in VUleneuve, and her overflowing between them. She disappears, and is left wondering how relationships milk supply proves sufficient to feed the entire vUlage. has no sense of seU-worth. She does years later her son stül has no idea where she might be, why she left or whether she is stül aUve. The reader discovery. Early in the novel, Bonne not challenge the townspeople's Mirabilis is really a story of self- that are supposed to be the bedrock of our lives can simply dissolve. This coUection is fuU of treasures, rejection of her, though she beUeves that the persecution of her mother was unfau. Bonne herself bore an from the masterful representation of guUt repressed and its tragic consequences in "A Little Something to Remember Me By" to a hUarious conversation about "moshing" in "Burn book of short stories this year, make it illegitimate child, and though she did not particularly enjoy its conception, she begins to question the condemnation of female sexuaUty by her society and her religion. A pivotal moment comes when she sees with Me." If you invest in only one Among the Missing. (AKB) Mirabilis her own face clearly for the first time. As a poor woman, she has never had access to a looking glass, and her intimacy with her rich employer opens up doors to herself that she by Susann Cokal BlueHen/Putnam, 2001, never knew existed. Cokal turns a medieval woman 320 pp., $24.95 Susann Cokal's first novel, into a modern heroine of grace and strength. By the end of the novel, Mirabilis, is a fictional hagiography of St. Bonne LaMere, a medieval saint. In fourteenth-century France, in the small town of Villeneuve, Bonne makes her Uving as a wet-nurse in the shadow of her mother, Blanche's, Bonne is a powerful, self-aware, sexual being. Rich historical detail lends authenticity to the story. Cokal incorporates many elements typical of a medieval fable--a jester, a noble ascetic, a wicked priest--and turns them all to her own design. She removed from and strikingly similar to the world of postmodern fiction. Questions are left unanswered, positions are insecure and the novel memory. After being physicaUy levitated by the Holy Spirit, Blanche was worshipped by the townspeople until her pregnancy with Bonne proved her impurity. Eventually the town officials burned Blanche and creates a world at once distinctly seems to end just as the "real" story other notorious sinners in the church, is beginning. But Cokal is not inter- people of VUleneuve neither condemn Bonne nor fully accept her. She lives simply and unnoticed until she is hired as a wet-nurse by Radegonde Putemonnoie, the richest noblewoman leaving twelve-year-old Bonne to make her own way in the world. The ested in the official story. She is looking for the truth that may or may not have existed behind the facts of Bonne LaMere's life. Mirabilis is an intensely personal tale from start to finish, exhausting, brutal, beautiful, and, ultimately, timeless. (KB) The Missouri Review · 205 http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png The Missouri Review University of Missouri

Mirabilis (review)

Ball, Kim
The Missouri Review , Volume 24 (2) – Oct 5, 2001
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Publisher
University of Missouri
Copyright
Copyright © The Curators of the University of Missouri.
ISSN
1548-9930
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Abstract

and his mother have become and how little sympathy may exist in VUleneuve, and her overflowing between them. She disappears, and is left wondering how relationships milk supply proves sufficient to feed the entire vUlage. has no sense of seU-worth. She does years later her son stül has no idea where she might be, why she left or whether she is stül aUve. The reader discovery. Early in the novel, Bonne not challenge the townspeople's Mirabilis is really a story of self- that are supposed to be the bedrock of our lives can simply dissolve. This coUection is fuU of treasures, rejection of her, though she beUeves that the persecution of her mother was unfau. Bonne herself bore an from the masterful representation of guUt repressed and its tragic consequences in "A Little Something to Remember Me By" to a hUarious conversation about "moshing" in "Burn book of short stories this year, make it illegitimate child, and though she did not particularly enjoy its conception, she begins to question the condemnation of female sexuaUty by her society and her religion. A pivotal moment comes when she sees with Me." If you invest in only one Among the Missing. (AKB) Mirabilis her own face clearly for the first time. As a poor woman, she has never had access to a looking glass, and her intimacy with her rich employer opens up doors to herself that she by Susann Cokal BlueHen/Putnam, 2001, never knew existed. Cokal turns a medieval woman 320 pp., $24.95 Susann Cokal's first novel, into a modern heroine of grace and strength. By the end of the novel, Mirabilis, is a fictional hagiography of St. Bonne LaMere, a medieval saint. In fourteenth-century France, in the small town of Villeneuve, Bonne makes her Uving as a wet-nurse in the shadow of her mother, Blanche's, Bonne is a powerful, self-aware, sexual being. Rich historical detail lends authenticity to the story. Cokal incorporates many elements typical of a medieval fable--a jester, a noble ascetic, a wicked priest--and turns them all to her own design. She removed from and strikingly similar to the world of postmodern fiction. Questions are left unanswered, positions are insecure and the novel memory. After being physicaUy levitated by the Holy Spirit, Blanche was worshipped by the townspeople until her pregnancy with Bonne proved her impurity. Eventually the town officials burned Blanche and creates a world at once distinctly seems to end just as the "real" story other notorious sinners in the church, is beginning. But Cokal is not inter- people of VUleneuve neither condemn Bonne nor fully accept her. She lives simply and unnoticed until she is hired as a wet-nurse by Radegonde Putemonnoie, the richest noblewoman leaving twelve-year-old Bonne to make her own way in the world. The ested in the official story. She is looking for the truth that may or may not have existed behind the facts of Bonne LaMere's life. Mirabilis is an intensely personal tale from start to finish, exhausting, brutal, beautiful, and, ultimately, timeless. (KB) The Missouri Review · 205

Journal

The Missouri Review – University of Missouri

Published: Oct 5, 2001

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