Catherine McCarthy's Reviews > Tethered

This novella was a page-turner, read over two sessions. Both narrators, father and son, have strong, distinct voices and I found myself empathizing with both points of view. It was easy to connect with the characters and their individual motives, easy to find myself thinking, I know someone just like that.
The book is so well written, with many poignant moments but also humorous ones, ‘The Boss’ being a perfect example.
The novella felt autobiographical, though I have no idea whether or not this assumption is correct.
There were many thought-provoking moments which exemplified the father's instability and how swiftly his thoughts and emotions changed.
A few favorite moments included the nail polish incident, “Joy stripped away with each furious swipe." Also the A&E incident - a perfect example of the father’s conflicting emotions. And another, the pet coffin story, which shows how the father hates his son being so upset, how he sees it as a sign of weakness, yet at the same time the making of a tiny coffin is his way of showing he cares.
Being brought up in a working class environmental, raised on working class ethics, I really understood where the father characteristics hailed from: those mixed messages about what makes a man, the inability to overcome his need to dominate, the inability to learn from his own childhood and do better by his son. Yes, you ‘get’ where he’s coming from but his behavior is still inexcusable.
There were clever metaphors and imagery throughout, too, for example, the swimming pool incident and this particular line, “I let him pierce me with his spikes, deflating into his arms like a punctured ball.” And another, the argument scene, “the volcano blows its stack. We’ll be buried in his hot ash for days, if not weeks.”
I loved the scenes which re-visited rough play. These scenes were a great way of letting the reader witness the son mature, how his physical and emotional strength grows with him, until he becomes a match for the father. Surely autobiographical because the level of detail was astonishing, such as the description of the vein on the father’s forehead becoming more pronounced until it was, “... a petty victory sign.”
I adored the flash list, ‘Things my Dad Taught Me’. Rang so many bells! Some examples were hilarious (the Tracy Chapman one and the one about hitting a transvestite in particular).
As the novella progresses, the pieces grow more reflective, more melancholic. You sense how the father changes with age, how he softens. Wallpapering Over the Cracks is a perfect example of this.
Although this novella is about a father/son relationship, it also reminds you of how enabling the mother can be in these situations.
All in all, thoroughly enjoyable. I will definitely be reading more of this author's work.