![]() It's his death that precipitates the nervous breakdown that costs Tom his job, and Savannah, almost, her life. ![]() There are enough traumas here to fall an average-sized mental ward, but the biggie centers around Luke, who uses the skills learned as a Navy SEAL in Vietnam to fight a guerrilla war against the installation of a nuclear power plant in Colleton and is killed by the authorities. Susan (a shrink with a lot of time on her hands) says to Tom, "Will you stay in New York and tell me all you know?" and he does, for nearly 600 mostly-bloated pages of flashbacks depicting The Family Wingo of swampy Colleton County: a beautiful mother, a brutal shrimper father (the Great Santini alive and kicking), and Tom and Savannah's much-admired older brother, Luke. Savannah, it turns out, is catatonic, and before the suicide attempt had completely assumed the identity of a dead friend-the implication being that she couldn't stand being a Wingo anymore. When he hears that his fierce, beautiful twin sister Savannah, a well-known New York poet, has once again attempted suicide, he escapes his present emasculation by flying north to meet Savannah's comely psychiatrist, Susan Lowenstein. Tom Wingo is an unemployed South Carolinian football coach whose internist wife is having an affair with a pompous cardiac man. It doesn't help that, as an occasional screenwriter, Rubin tends to sketch his scenes sparsely-mostly dialogue and gesture-as though awaiting a director to fill in the rest.Ī strong debut that remains steadily written, even as it drifts away from its best material.Ī flabby, fervid melodrama of a high-strung Southern family from Conroy ( The Great Santini, The Lords of Discipline), whose penchant for overwriting once again obscures a genuine talent. As Giovanni drifts from New York into Hollywood, then into politics, then into therapy, the novel starts to feel diffuse, as though Rubin wants to do too much. Rubin excels at detailing the specifics of impersonation, as when Giovanni breaks down what different gestures mean-“nodding while breathing out your nose (to express amused agreement), raising your eyebrows while suppressing a smile (mild scandal), or shaking your head while breathing in through the mouth (sympathy)”-or when he discusses “the thread,” the aspect of personality that everybody has and on which a great impressionist pulls to begin unraveling the subject (“the thread” is a masterful governing metaphor). But Giovanni is the center, and he’s a complicated figure: a man who, in his attempt to perfectly mimic the characteristics of others, ultimately realizes he has no characteristics of his own. This old-fashioned, show-biz quality is one of the more appealing aspects of Rubin’s novel-there’s even a love interest named Lucy Starlight (a singer, of course) and a villainous theater owner named Bernard Apache. Finally pushed into the spotlight by a talent agent named Max, Giovanni becomes, pardon the cliché, the toast of the town, and one imagines an old-timey montage from a 1940s movie: newspaper headlines twirling, champagne corks popping, and hammy impresarios introducing the great impressionist upon stage after stage. Location Global Group Focus Common InterestRubin’s debut novel tells an imaginative story of American emptiness.Įncouraged by his mother, Giovanni Bernini has nursed his gift of imitation since childhood, practicing on friends and teachers, always performing flawless facsimiles of those around him. We will not discriminate based on level of skill, or software used - in fact all software are welcome to contribute renderings of Sixus1 monsters - Poser 4, Poser 5, Poser 6, Poser Pro, Poser 2010, Poser 2012, even Poser Debut. ![]() We also encourage the discussion of Sixus1 products and content, ideas for improvements, tips, techniques, add ons, and questions. We encourage you to create and share images and artwork featuring your favorite Sixus1 creations, new or old. So feel free to jump in, post a render or two, and join the arcanum. This will also be a place for news and information on upcoming supplemental and supporting products for Sixus1 creations, as well as news and information as we can post it. All who were once members of the Sixus1 forums are welcome here, and though we can never replace those forums, we hope to someday have everyone back with us. Sixus1-Arcanum is a group intended as a meeting and gathering place of followers, fans, friends, supporters, and contributors of Sixus1 fine products for Poser.
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