Title: Iniquitous Connections: The Dark
Author: J.D. Langston
Publisher: XlibrisUS
ISBN: 978-1-4771-2409-3
Pages: 552
Genre: Fiction / Historical
Reviewed by: J.W. Bankston
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Pacific Book Review
Like tragic headlines and grim news stories, some novels serve mainly to remind us of our blessings. This appears to be the primary role of “Iniquitous Connections: The Dark,” an often bleak but generally realistic novel by J.D. Langston. “The Dark” is an appropriate subhead. Much of this story is unleavened by humor or anything resembling hope. Indeed, while Corinthians 13:13 promises that “Three things will last forever –– faith, hope and love,” for the first third of the book these blessings remain in short supply.
The novel opens as World War II veteran, Craig Lewis attempts to manage the care and feeding of his two young daughters during wife Claire’s illness. He’s challenged at every turn by simple but unfamiliar tasks including dinner prep and dish washing. Indeed, for the first few pages I reimagined the book as a “Greatest Generation: Mr. Mom.” Instead, Craig’s present day struggles are interrupted by the first of many flashbacks. A medic during fierce combat in Italy, Craig witnessed death and agonizing injuries up close. He even suffered a serious wound of his own. Back home, his wounds are more of the psychic variety. Craig’s default coping mechanism comes out of a bottle.
As Claire is hospitalized, the tragedy becomes even more acute. It is revealed that Craig felt she’d put on too much weight during her second pregnancy. He “helped” her diet by supplying injections of amphetamines using syringes stolen from the lab where he works. Unfortunately, the Atlanta research facility has been seeking a cure for hepatitis. Even more unfortunate, the needles were improperly sterilized. Claire slowly dies, while Craig’s guilt and alcoholism escalate. The author has helpfully opined that “If only he would have looked to Providence for his help instead of a bottle, his life and that of his daughters’, would have turned out differently.” While I will concede that turning to a “higher power” may have helped him battle alcoholism, his decision to transform his wife into someone skinny enough to fit into the latest fashions was the choice of a sober psychopath.
For Craig, Dora is the one bright spot in his dark recollections. The nurse who brought him back to health in Italy also lives in Georgia. Not long after burying his wife near her family home, he begins seeing her. Meanwhile, his daughters Susie and Karen Ann are shuffled between relatives and a Catholic boarding school. This is quickly revealed as the preferable option. Whenever the girls visit Craig, the book shifts into the sad terrain of “Bastard Out of Carolina” –– detailing his escalating physical abuse of Karen (along with the sexual abuse Susie suffers at school.) Iniquitous means unjust or grossly unfair. The connections in this book definitely qualify.
Although the girls eventually find a better home, the relentless focus on grim and disturbing material makes it a tough book to read. Yet the author clearly has compassion for her characters. Sometimes writers choose a story; more often the story chooses the writer. This seems to be the case here. My main criticism is that the novel seems unbalanced. The first half of the book is devoted to the events of just five years, while the remaining 200 pages or so takes us to the present day. While I truly believe our adult lives are informed by our childhood, I would have preferred some judicious culling in the earlier sections. Still, its documentary style approach will greatly affect readers. Anyone who enjoys books by Jodi Picoult or Gayle Forman will find much to savor with “Iniquitous Connections: The Dark”.
