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Ramona and Her Mother

"Ramona and Her Mother" involves a meltdown.

Both Quimby parents are now working--Mr. Quimby hates his job--and this arrangement is only half-functional on a good day. Change the system, and things fall apart.

If your one and only car needs repairs, then shit will hit the fan. (We have all been part of a rickety structure. We know what this is like.) Mrs. Quimby gets to the repair shop after work and of course the car isn't fixed on time, and this causes Mrs. Q. to miss a bus, and the next bus is late, and by the time all Quimbys are shuttled back home, Mrs. Q. is royally pissed.

One straw can break a camel's back. Mr. Quimby makes a cheerful, irritating reference to his wise, dead grandmother--"Self-reliance! Every kettle must rest on its own bottom!"--and Mrs. Q. can't help but lash out. The tension between the two Quimbys grows and grows--there are choice words about pancake batter--and eventually one isn't speaking to the other. Ramona--who is just a kid, remember--believes that she is maybe witnessing the apocalypse.

One of Beverly Cleary's great gifts is for detail; there is so much seemingly casual sensory detail in each scene, you feel you're watching a documentary. (Well, maybe.) As Mr. Quimby reflects on his hatred for his grocer job, he specifies precisely what is irritating: (1) If you're working express checkout, inevitably people try to pass off eleven items as ten items, (2) On Wednesdays, all the produce prices change, and you're expected to memorize (instantly) the new numbers, (3) People accost you as if you yourself are responsible for the increased prices. Yes! That would be annoying.

The other thing I admire so much about Cleary is the way she sees tiny gears interlocking. No one is an island. Mr. Quimby's professional irritation leads to Mrs. Quimby's increased stress--which leads to Ramona twitching her nose, like a bunny, as an act of self-soothing--which leads to a phone call from school and a climactic misunderstanding. I sometimes feel like I'm reading Agatha Christie (but with more emotional depth.) I'm not sure Cleary's gift for smart plotting always gets the attention it deserves.

Well, I loved this book. It's the middle of the series, where things get dark and deep. (Cleary takes a major turn as soon as Mr. Quimby loses his job.) I hope to read a few more Klickitat volumes before Cleary's big birthday.
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