The Rope, by Nevada Barr

          First, I would like to thank my friend Chris Cox for loaning me The Rope, by Nevada Barr. Then, I must turn right around and apologize to her for the fact that my dog Marigold chewed off part of the binding. I didn't know Marigold was such a book hound.
          One of the reasons Chris Cox likes Nevada Barr's books (but not probably why Marigold likes them) is that many of them are set in stunning geological locations. One of her books explores Carlsbad Caverns. Another takes the reader into the bayou of Louisiana. Barr's heroine, Anna Pigeon, is a park ranger and she changes settings/parks with each book. Barr really brings these landscapes to life--and there's always a mystery for Pigeon to solve.
          The Rope is set in the Glen Canyon National Recreational Area, specifically at Lake Powell, a body of water formed by a huge dam that filled in some of the most arid, rugged and beautiful canyon land in North America. So, this lake doesn't really have a bottom in the usual sense. The land forms that you see above the lake's surface are the tops of massive rock formations that extend far below in twisting canyons. I almost described it as a moonscape, but truly this landscape is uniquely Earthian--the constant remodeling of the planet by water, wind, plate tectonics and the human species is what makes continued life possible on our homeworld.
          I've spent so much time describing the book's landscape because the action (physical, mental, spiritual) is embedded in the geology. The settings of Barr's books are not random, like the Crosby/Hope "Road" movies (series in which the plot stayed the same but the backdrops changed). Her characters react to and with the landscape as much as with each other.
          The Rope is a prequel of sorts. It takes readers back into Anna Pigeon's life to see how she came to be a park ranger. Pigeon has come to Glen Canyon to do summer work in the parks. She is fleeing a painful life event in New York City which the reader finds out about only gradually throughout the book. Her job is to safely collect and contain human waste around Lake Powell. She's part of a team that tries to educate boaters of the need to "pack it out," in addition to her duties with a shovel and five-gallon bucket. Lake Powell has oddly located landing spots, little beaches, rock outcroppings, navigable inlets that narrow as you go. Park visitors have an unfortunate tendency to poop where they are and then leave it behind. But (butt?) this work takes Anna out to many areas around the lake.

          The plot unfolds in a series of horrifying criminal acts--most of them directed at Pigeon, who is already clinging onto life by the fingernails psychologically. This is a prime example of a book where the heroine becomes the chief victim. And Pigeon's ordeals are truly grueling.
          Pigeon is nearly raped, thrown into a pit to starve to death next to a corpse, bashed on the head, defaced with a knife, dehydrated, poisoned, left to freeze to death, drowned, left dangling over a precipice, flung off a cliff, and even almost choked to death with a barbell. This is Pigeon's healing process and leaves her feeling much happier. Really? And, she finds salvation through a baby skunk (who does spray one of the prime suspects) and decides to become a park ranger. I just don't buy it. And I don't like it. I don't believe that rape and torture are healing experiences. I don't think it is admirable to require that kind of toughness from a heroine. It's not believable. But, it is a great way to take me through the landscapes of the park.

          Barr says that this book is about obsession (see link below). I felt like it was about battering a woman for thrills and then justifying it by a false conclusion. You know, dear reader, that this is just my opinion. It violates the fundamental rules of mystery novels--the hero/heroine is a catalyst, not part of the reaction. I don't like it when the male star of a book suffers unreasonably either, but it seems to be mostly female characters that get this treatment.
          I don't begrudge the time I spent with this book. But I also don't think it is one of Barr's best. Chris Cox? What do you think?
LINKS
Nevada Bar is interviewed by the Christian Science Monitor about The Rope at: http://www.csmonitor.com/Books/chapter-and-verse/2012/0209/Nevada-Barr-The-Rope-is-fueled-by-obsession
Learn more about Lake Powell and Glen Canyon at http://www.utah.com/lakepowell/ and http://www.utah.com/nationalsites/glen_canyon.htm

SIDEBAR: Simple Model of Lake Powell
Imagine standing a set of chess characters next to each other on the bottom of a bowl. Then pour in water until only the tops of the kings and queens show. Below the surface is a maze of chessmen of different heights and angles. That's a drastically simplified model of Lake Powell. Further, imagine that you are pouring something opaque, like milk, in the bowl instead of water. Now there are unseen mysteries below the surface.