Indelicacy

INDELICACY

by Amina Cain

 

Nominations: Center For Fiction Finalist 2020, Rathbones Folio Finalist 2021

 

Date Read: March 21, 2023

 

Indelicacy is a timeless tale of a woman searching for her own truth and purpose in life. Vitoria’s dilemma as a woman could have happened last century, last year or tomorrow. She is a poor woman, cleaning a museum for a living with no prospects for upward mobility. The one thing she does have is her mind; she’s an avid writer and appreciator of the artwork she is surrounded by.

 

One of the patrons of the museum essentially sweeps her off her feet. He is wealthy, older and aware of her circumstances. She is never quite clear if she truly loves this man, but the math definitely works out. Vitoria goes from rags to riches – from working herself to the bone to a woman of leisure. She tells her husband she is afraid of growing bored because he does not want her to take classes or be consumed by anything that would distract from him.

 

Vitoria’s husband clearly holds all the power in their relationship. The only place Vitoria takes the lead is in the bedroom. While her husband seems to enjoy sex, she takes the lead in all their sexual encounters. Over time, she stops initiating sex and her husband takes the lead in pursuing her. She rebuffs his advances.

 

For Vitoria, her entire life is a measured equation. Her passion is writing and she tries to write every day, although she has to hide it from her husband. She also enjoys going to the museum and writing about art. The only person she ever shares her writing with is her stepdaughter, who she becomes quite close to. While she lives a fulfilled life outside of her marriage, she and her husband essentially live as strangers to each other.

 

She realizes she can’t remain married to her husband but she also knows she cannot return to her previous life now that she has lived a life of privilege. She decides to throw their maid at her husband, a woman who has never come to like Vitoria. She tells the maid her intentions and, as is reasonable, the maid is horrified. Yet, Vitoria comes home early one evening to find her husband banging the maid.

 

Indelicacy is a classic tale, yet distinctly unique. These characters of opaque and difficult to know, yet uncomfortably familiar. Everyone involved is looking for their own piece of happiness, yet they all go about it in their own ways. The characters of ruminative, searching. The prose is sparse and dry. Yet it all comes together in a gooey, messy and haunting confection.