I'm currently reading A Changed Man, by Francine Prose. It got a lot of attention in newspaper reviews, as it's about a neo-Nazi who has a change of heart and flees to Brotherhood Watch, run by a renown Holocaust survivor. His stated goal: "to help keep guys like me from becoming guys like me" (fortunately, he knows how cheesy a line that is). For the head of the organization and his adoring development director, this is a miracle that can get them the publicity (and money) they've been needing. So our divorcee development director takes him in.
A little far-fetched, I admit.
We are treated to in depth looks at the minds of Vincent, the former racist; Meyer Maslow, world-famous but narcissistic survivor; Bonnie, his acolyte; and Danny, her teenage son. Prose is brilliant at showing the constant mental dialogue that runs through all of our doings and interactions with others. The characters are, like most of us, incredibly perceptive about some things, and utterly oblivious to others. They become intensely real.
I find myself rooting for these characters. But I'm suspicious. I'd like to have a happy ending, but I don't really see that happening. How can it? How cliche? And yet... wouldn't it be something for even "serious" fiction to be light-hearted about its endings from time to time?
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