The Cinderella Waltz by Ann Beattie, 1979
The magic trick:
The light touch of the present tense
I don’t want to be cynical and obnoxious, but I fear my instinctive reaction to this story is both cynical and obnoxious.
In 1979, I suspect a story about a woman navigating the aftermath of her marriage by befriending her ex-husband’s new (gasp) husband with patience and warmth might strike a certain audience as endearingly urbane and progressive.
To me today, it feels embarrassingly smug.
But, again, I’m sorry – I’m a pretty cynical and obnoxious person. I really can’t help my reactions.
Anyway, the story is written in the present tense, which gives it a light touch, like the narrator is talking to us on the telephone.
And that’s quite a trick on Beattie’s part.
The selection:
It would be an understatement to say that I disliked Bradley at first. I was actually afraid of him, afraid even after I saw him, though he was slender, and more nervous than I, and spoke quietly. The second time I saw him, I persuaded myself that he was just a stereotype, but someone who certainly seemed harmless enough. By the third time, I had enough courage to suggest that they come into the house. It was embarrassing for all of us, sitting around the table—the same table where Milo and I had eaten our meals for the years we were married. Before he left, Milo had shouted at me that the house was a farce, that my playing the happy suburban housewife was a farce, that it was unconscionable of me to let things drag on, that I would probably kiss him and say, “How was your day, sweetheart?,” and that he should bring home flowers and the evening paper. “Maybe I would!” I screamed back. “Maybe it would be nice to do that, even if we were pretending, instead of you coming home drunk and not caring what had happened to me or to Louise all day.”
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