Prairie Schooner

Physics are embedded with grand thematic effect in Elizabeth Dewberry's latest novel when the lives of two women are strung together—on either side of a socially constructed divide—by a common theme of self-alienation. Juxtaposing string theory's claim of the connectedness of the universe, Dewberry examines the division between her narrator Ellen Baxter and the late Princess Diana by revealing the filmy human rituals that define and separate them. Dewberry also quite effectively reveals the problematic division between her female characters' image and identity within an overly prescriptive society.

That Ellen Baxter is mistaken for Princess Diana at the novel's opening provides the first similarities between them: blonde hair and black Mercedes. Crazed paparazzi are mistakenly trying to photograph the princess of Wales, who is nothing more than an image perpetuated for mass consumption. Diana the woman is trapped within the image of princess by her duty to help perpetuate it; as a result of the demand, Ellen Baxter gets trapped inside a black Mercedes swarming with paparazzi yelling "Lay Dee Dee Lay Dee Dee." The scene introduces us to the novel's main conflict, between image and identity, and Dewberry's clean descriptive language provides a view of the scene as if witnessed through the polished front window of the Paris Ritz, where both women are staying on the day Diana is killed.

Contemplating the death of the princess, Ellen becomes aware that her life is nothing more than a series of appearances as Nobel Laureate Lawrence Baxter's "lovely wife," in the same way that Diana's life was entirely defined by her marriage to the Prince of Wales. As we explore Ellen's past and experience her growing anxiety, we shift between two possibilities: Ellen herself (or similarly Diana) is either incapable of satisfaction in a marriage, or has simply married the wrong man. [End Page 197]

Ellen's behavior is depicted as a product of causality, of her ex-Miss Alabama mother's hard-nosed attempts to set Ellen apart as a child beauty queen; according to her mother, "life is a pageant . . . and the girl who gets the best husband, wins." The death of Ellen's father when she was a child also appears to contribute to her insatiable need for a man's love, but also to the fact that she has no idea what that love ought to be like, which perhaps justifies her superficial attraction to a photographer she meets at the site of Diana's car crash.

Diana begins to "speak" to Ellen from the grave, in a series of stream of consciousness monologues. The author provides a distinct voice for the princess, and a personality that is witty and heartbreakingly funny. When Diana reflects on the scene of her memorial, all the flowers and tokens from admirers were "going 'round what I was convinced was a giant ice cream cone . . . which struck me as a bit odd. Touching, but odd, given what a favorite ice cream had been during my bulimia." Here again, Dewberry's unadorned language provides a clear view into Diana's mind that draws us to devour her juicy confessions as if she were really speaking. The authenticity of the voice is reminiscent of Marilyn Monroe's in Joyce Carol Oates's Blonde, and of Oates's similar depiction of a woman's struggle with image and identity through a seamless blend of fact and fiction.

The author with evident research employs theories of science to explain Ellen's connection to Lady Di, but also to question the nature of Ellen's spiritual existence—as in the scene where she goes to dinner with her husband and two other physicists. At the table the three scientists discuss string theory and wormholes. As Ellen understands, string theory posits "the fundamental elements of the universe . . . aren't waves or particles, but strands of vibrating energy, most of which are shaped like impossibly tiny strings." The possibility of the connectedness of the universe by "strings," as opposed to everything being made of separate individual particles...