The Shingle Weaver’s Picnic
A mourning girl summers in a town that’s caught in cycles of abuse in the shocking historical novel The Shingle Weaver’s Picnic.
In Patti C. Smith’s haunting historical novel The Shingle Weaver’s Picnic, a devastating murder shakes life in a small town.
In the summer of 1942, seven-year-old Cricket reels from the loss of her father, who died during the attack on Pearl Harbor. She takes her annual trip to her grandparents’ home in Everett, Washington, and reconnects with her summer friends, whose parents know Cricket’s. When a thirteen-year-old girl is raped and murdered during the Fourth of July picnic, Cricket’s life is thrown into further disarray.
Its pace slow at first, the story dips into the past for context about each person who might be involved with the girl’s murder in addition to covering Cricket’s past and life in Everett. The social topography of the town is well detailed, following a web of abusive relationships featuring sexual violence to show that Everett is caught in a cycle of abuse. A litany of cruel men commit evil acts; these blend together, though, resulting in the impression that more bad men exist than good ones. The few good men in the story include the sheriff and Cricket’s grandfathers, but they are dimensionless personifications of virtue.
The book’s sharp sensory descriptions and fleshed-out women vivify its pages best in the slow build-up to the murder. In Everett, a place where “the air [is] filled with the fragrant scent of freshly milled wood,” Cricket’s grandmother is a wise and wry presence, defining “credit” as “a boil on the nose of personal integrity.” And Cricket’s summer friend Mary Frances is free-spirited—an indulged only child whose outlook on life is often hilarious. Cricket herself, though, is a more generic presence, if a sweet one. She loves her family, wants to be good, and prays each night, worrying about topics like whether her new baby brother will take up all of her mother’s love.
Heavy-handed foreshadowing and cliffhanger chapter endings are the primary vehicle for suspense throughout much of the book. As it continues, though, surprising connections are revealed, leading to edifying realizations. However, the build-up to such disclosures is belabored. The girl’s murder occurs quite far into the book, at which point the storytelling becomes more active and tense, following as the townspeople try to piece together what happened. The conclusion is grim but satisfying.
In the dark historical novel The Shingle Weaver’s Picnic, a gruesome murder leads to questions about why people commit acts of evil.
Reviewed by
Leah Block
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