Who Would Have Thought It? is the first book written by a Mexican-American woman in English. And it is a spoof. Published in 1872, it ridicules the attitudes of New England puritans and mocks politics and religion in Civil War Washington, D. C.
It begins with two Presbyterian ministers, Rev. Mr. Hammerhard and Rev. Mr. Hackwell, on their way to the train station to pick up Dr. Norval, who is returning home after five years away on a geological expedition. The jokes these two tell seem oddly inappropriate, but we aren’t yet to know that they, especially Mr. Hackwell, are going to grow in importance and wealth through their chicanery.
Dr. Norval brings home a surprise—a ten-year-old Spanish girl he has rescued from a Southwestern native tribe. Although he tries to explain that her skin has been dyed black and that she is pure Spanish and wealthy and although Mrs. Norval is supposedly religious and an abolitionist, she insists on calling Lola names, like darkie, and treats her with abhorrence. She is also appalled that her husband has promised the girl’s dying mother to raise her as Catholic until her father can be found.
The Civil War breaks out soon, and Dr. Norval is forced to leave the country because although he supports the Union, his opinions get him in trouble with the government. By this time, Lola is almost grown and she and Julian Norval are in love. Dr. Norval has observed his wife’s attempts to get her hands on Lola’s fortune, so he makes Julian promise not to marry until he returns. Then he goes to Africa. During this time, for some reason or another, very little effort has been made to find Lola’s father.
While he is gone, the Norvals spend Lola’s money like crazy, only Mrs. Norval aware that it is not theirs. Mr. Hackwell has risen in the Union army principally through running away from battle, and when the family receives a report that Dr. Norval is dead, Hackwell is already romancing Mrs. Norval. But actually, he is after Lola, still very young but now beautiful and of course, rich.
There are some positive characters in this novel, including Dr. Norval, Julian, and Mattie Norval (Dr. Norval’s sister), and Lavinia and Isaac Sprig, Mrs. Norval’s siblings. But the two Reverends and the Cackle family, who all owe their success to early help from Dr. Norval, turn out to be first-class grifters, and Mrs. Norval is horrible.
This novel is melodramatic but also funny and zips along in a quite modern way. I started it thinking it was a doorstopper but finished it very quickly.
What? Me Read? 