Alligator

ALLIGATOR

by Lisa Moore

 

Nominations: Dublin Longlist 2007, Women's Prize Longlist 2007

 

Date Read: June 2, 2022

 

Alligator almost reads like a series of vignettes with characters whose lives intersect in various ways. None of these characters are particularly likeable or relatable, in my opinion. What they have in common is that they all live in St. Johns, Newfoundland. I had really looked forward to reading this and was somewhat disappointed.

 

Madeleine is working on a film that she is obsessed with. She wants to show the early history of Newfoundland in a manner and style that hasn’t been seen before. She wants it to have spiritual depth and spectacle. Divorced but still in close contact with her ex, Marty, she speaks with him almost every day and often regrets leaving him. Madeleine has come to the end and knows it. Her doctor advised against shooting the film because she has severe heart problems and it becomes a race to see what finishes first – her or the film.

 

Beverly is Madeleine’s sister. Her life seems to have come to a standstill after her husband, David, died. She remembers their life together as idyllic and she is adjusting to living life on her own and raising her daughter solo. Beverly is unsure if she loves Colleen, her daughter, let alone if she likes her. Colleen is indeed a handful.

 

Colleen is working through an adolescent diversion program for early offenders for pouring sugar in a bulldozer to save an endangered bird. Working on her own, she wasn’t sure this tactic would even work (it didn’t). She fumbled the entire endeavor by leaving her backpack behind with all her contact information. Colleen has been acting out for quite a while, doing drugs, drinking, giving blow jobs to random school mates. Aside from losing her stepdad, I can’t figure out what makes her want to run so wild.

 

There are other peripheral characters and I was never quite sure how much they all mattered or what the exact point of this novel was. Moore undoubtedly has a gift for observation and narration, observing the minutest detail and knowing those small quirks are what make us each individuals. I am glad she was recognized for her efforts here but it was just a miss with this reader.

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