About the revival of the joy of life after a break-up – and a fox’s life
The story
Mary had a break-up with Mark some time ago. He had to leave the house, she stayed. Yet Mary is disoriented, does not know what to live for, has no new partner. When seeing the family life of her neighbours, she feels alone, and attracted by their baby. On a (terrible) barbecue party in the neighbours‘ garden, she is content with the baby’s company. (By the way, this is the most beautiful baby ever described in a book: Sweet and honey-like, and never ever crying.)
Then a fox comes into Mary’s life from the wilderness in her backyard. The fox brings her gifts, they start to lay together in the sun. Finally the fox brings the baby of her neighbours who was left in the garden by the sleepwalking mother. The mother does not believe anything, the relation to the neighbours deteriorates. The neighbours fetch a Fox Fixer to catch and kill the fox.
Mary’s ex boy-friend Mark has rented a flat near to her house, and keeps on stalking her. He repeatedly tries to persuade her to let him come back to her, but he obviously has no sense for her needs but only for his needs. Disgusting scenes: Once he almost managed to install himself in her life and house again.
Finally, Mary locks herself up in her house with the fox, whom she simply calls Fox now (after having tried some unsuitable names). Her neighbours leave their house for good, and Mark is rejected on his final attempt to reclaim Mary’s love. Mary and the fox live completely alone in a house with closed shutters, with absolutely no contact to the outside world, for an uncounted number of days.
After they have overcome the neighbours and Mark, they leave the house again. Now, the fox is poisoned by Mark who knew from Mary that her fox likes eggs and where his hiding place for them is. In a dramatic scene, the fox is dying. Though sad this is, it draws a line and makes Mary’s joy of life coming back. But in an unattended moment, the fox’s body suddenly vanishes. Therefore, Mary doubts her previous understanding of friendship with the fox: Did he betray her by a feigned agony? But finally she lets him go, dead or alive, since true friendship does not tell the other what is good for him.
Meaning
Obviously, the whole book is about the feelings after a break-up, the loneliness, the disorientation, about true friendship and being played by a „friend“, and about feeling depressed or joyful again. The fox seems to be a symbol of closing yourself off from the world, and becoming eccentric and outlandish for others, while at the same time, the life with the fox is a kind of school for Mary to learn about true friendship. All these feelings and teachings are deeply human, and Mary learns a good part of what often is called the „human condition“.
The story’s iridescence
On two occasions, the story pretends to be iridescent and that it would not be clear what really happened. First, how the baby came to Mary’s back door. But here, it is absolutely clear by the story itself that the fox did it, and that the baby’s mother left the baby outside while sleepwalking. Nothing is unclear, here. Second, the vanishing of the fox’s body after his death. There is no explanation here, yet the fox’s agony is very real. Also very real is his poising by Mark with all its details (eggs, poison from Mary’s cupboard). And what is more, if the fox should be understood merely as a symbol, there is no motivation why the fox should vanish at this moment. There was no inner turn in Mary’s life, the turn came after the fox was dead. – The fox is not only a symbol but to be understood as a reality. A reality which symbolizes something. But it cannot be reduced to a mere symbol. The fox has his own life.
A fox’s life
The book is very strong in picturing a fox’s life: How important a fox’s scent is, how he listens and smells and watches at several sensual impressions at the same time, how he found his area of living, how he fought for it with an other fox, how he found a fox girl-friend, about the fox’s dreams of food and family, how his pregnant fox girl-friend died being overrun by a car: Very very sad. The fox suffers from loneliness, too. And he behaves with dignity. This fox is a real Gentleman. – The book shows several times the „thinking“ of the fox, and it is always excellent: The animalistic and highly reactive and associative „thoughts“ of a fox are portrayed very convincingly in human words. It is almost poetic.
Citations to be remembered
„F*** Neanderthal hipsters.“ (p. 140).
„He won this country two summers gone, after his first mate passed, and he smelt a vixen here that he liked. Musky and fruity. That was her scent. For all the blackberries she ate.“ (p. 155)
Bewertung: 5 von 5 Sternen.
(Erstveröffentlichung auf Amazon am 16. Dezember 2018)
