Having done well during the Depression, the Caskeys prospered even more thanks to the Second World War. While Elinor leads the clan with a gentle and firm hand, Frances, her youngest daughter, gradually discovers her true nature: “He said, ‘Black water. That’s where you come from. Black water is where you will return.” Apart from these too rare scenes where the author plunges the reader into a world of horror and fantasy, the fourth volume of Blackwater marries the somewhat snoring rhythm of the tribulations of this unusual family from Perdido, Alabama. Even the aftershocks have lost their pizzazz. Is the fascinating saga running out of steam? As for the supernatural component, it seems to have been completely evacuated – there is barely a mention of the ghost from the guest room who terrorizes Frances. Let’s hope that Michael McDowell, who deals implicitly with the emancipation of blacks and speaks cryptically of homosexuality, has some surprises in store for the last two volumes. To be continued…
To see in video