Now and On Earth: A gritty slice-of-life novel
Reviewed by Denise Noe
Jim Thompson is probably best known for his hard-boiled crime stories. “Now and On Earth,” a semi-autobiographical novel, is not a crime story. It is a gritty and realistic slice-of-life novel in which he unflinchingly conveys the bleak lives of a financially strapped extended family during the WWII era. Told in the first person, the book centers around protagonist James Dillon and his extended family of a wife, three children, a sister, and his mother, all living together in cramped quarters and counting every penny.
Dillon is a writer but has not been able to make enough money on his chosen profession. He is working in a factory that makes airplanes. It is not work that feeds the soul: “Most of the day I went around on my hands and knees chipping up plaster.” When he comes home, he frequently finds things in disarray and a squabbling family.
The special problem child is four-year-old Shannon, an energetic and rebellious little brat who appears impervious to discipline. In an early scene, she bites her mother, Roberta, hard on the leg.
However, Thompson builds up sympathy for nasty Shannon when he reveals that the pregnancy that led to her was unwanted and James and Roberta made repeated unsuccessful attempts to abort it. Shannon came into the world and they did their best to care for her but were unable to show her the automatic, natural affection that the other two children received.
Thompson pulls no punches in his depiction of James and Roberta as parents. In one scene, Shannon announces that she must go to the bathroom. An exasperated Roberta says, “She’s just trying to make me get up, Jimmie. I never sit down for a minute that she doesn’t think of something.” When Shannon repeats that she has to go, her mother says, “Well do it in your pants then” and a sensible Shannon replies, “Hurt bottom.” She asks James to take her and he begins to but stops when Roberta objects, “No, don’t you give in to her now, Jimmie.” The child heads for the bathroom by herself, going into the dark house with some fear. After awhile, James follows her to find her on the toilet “grinning toothlessly to herself” and saying, “Stink the biteys. Stinkem to def.”
The story is dreary but the characters are sympathetic even with all their flaws so Thompson is able to draw the reader into their lives and make us care about them. There is not much plot to the book but it hardly seems to matter as it is primarily a study of the effect of financial stress and crowded conditions on family dynamics.
“Now and On Earth” is a worthwhile read.
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