A Part of the Main by Edward “Ted” M. Holmes (1976. University of Maine Press. ISBN 0-89101-031-9)
Ted Holmes is a writer of his place. His prose is so bound up in the salt air of the Maine coastline and the hardscrabble lifestyles of its people, to try to separate place from story would result in thin air. I picked up this fine collection of Holmes’s short fiction (he only wrote one novel, Two if by Sea) when my family was on a road trip from Minnesota by way of Canada to Bar Harbor, Maine. As I said in my reviews of books by Vermont writer, Howard Frank Moser, I love buying fiction, either novels or short story collections, when I am on the road. Fiction, to my mind, gives a reader a better sense of place and the people who inhabit that place, then nonfiction books and so, in an effort to understand the places I visit, I buy regional fiction from local booksellers. I picked up A Part of the Main one early evening in Sherman’s Books and Stationary in downtown Bar Harbor. I am glad I did.
Holmes writes in the dialect of his people. Though born in New Jersey, Ted Holmes spent his professional life teaching English in various colleges throughout the State of Maine. (See http://fenceviewer.com/site/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=41106:Edward%20M.%20Holmes&catid=969:obituaries&Itemid=142 for more about Ted). Sadly, he passed away in 2010 at the ripe age of 99!) There is much to be admired about the language, the dialogue, and the characters Holmes conjures up in these short snippets of make believe. We tag along as rough necked lobstermen and handymen and local elected officials go about their daily lives on the islands off, and in the tiny hamlets of, Maine’s Atlantic coast. Alternating between first and third person retelling of these tales, the author gives us the harsh reality of life lived out-of-doors, amongst the elements. “Drums Again” is an award winning piece. It lives up to its reputation. But there are so many other gems in this collection, including “Aunt Mae Lewis Comes Home”, the story of a senile old woman who, after decades, returns to claim her home on one of the off shore islands only to argue that the home she’s shown cannot possibly be the one she owns; and “Kneel Down”, a children’s reflection of Christmas spent against the brutal backdrop of Maine’s climate.
My only criticism of the collection and Holmes’s storytelling is that, with a few exceptions, the tales center around the men of the coastline and give short shrift to the women who live alongside those men. Oh, as indicated, there are a few tales here where a woman protagonist is given center stage (“Aunt Mae” being one), but, by and large, these are stories exclusively about men. That’s not a deal breaker because Holmes’s prose is so well crafted, you won’t get bored plowing through these very short and succinct pieces despite this deficit. Still, in the hands of a writer of Ted’s ability, a few more female protagonists would have made the collection more well rounded and complete.
A worthy introduction to a regional author who knew his craft.
4 and 1/2 stars out of 5.
You can visit Sherman’s Books and Stationary at: http://www.shermans.com/.
Peace.
Mark
