Innocents and Others
Dana Spiotta
[Scribner]
“When stories were told, revelations were made,” writes Dana Spiotta in her deftly crafted fourth novel Innocents and Others. The book is certainly not short on intrigue. Its plot follows the changing friendship and fortunes of Meadow Mori and Carrie Wexler, who meet in a film class at a performing arts high school in 1980s Los Angeles. Meadow and Carrie are passionate about movies, though their interest takes them in different directions: Meadow devotes herself to making indie documentaries that explore themes of manipulation or abuse of power (e.g. the 1970 Kent State shootings, children of the Argentines who “disappeared” during the Dirty War), while Carrie directs women-centred updates on classic comedy. The protagonists’ changing relationship drives the story, while the identity of a mysterious crank-caller or phone phreaker nicknamed “Jelly” gradually becomes a major plot device.
Innocents and Others is, in some ways, a typical tale of young people growing up, then growing apart. However, Spiotta’s detailed descriptions of the filmmaking process – arguably unnecessarily technical for lay readers like this reviewer – set the book apart from similar novels. Spiotta writes clearly, but is unafraid of introducing atypical styles and formats (interviews, essays, phone calls, internet forums) to change the rhythm and form of the story. These techniques could easily come across as glib, but the author’s compelling writing and character construction hold our interest throughout. The Meadow persona is particularly well drawn, and her increasingly mercenary nature provides an interesting contrast to the more vulnerable side of her that emerges. At one point, we see Meadow criticising one of her own films, calling it “too contrived, too forced, too cheesily consequential”. Certainly, the protagonists enjoy success that sometimes seems too unrealistic and easily attainable. There is also a sense that the novel perhaps wraps up slightly too neatly, but this is mostly a testament to the author’s narrative drive and storytelling ability. Indeed, the reader finds himself genuinely wanting to see the fictional films detailed so thoroughly in this novel. Spiotta must be doing something right.
Words: Stephen Cox
