In Clara Callan, Richard B. Wright takes a typical sister story — the unbreakable bond between the responsible sister and the irrepressible sister — and creates something vibrant and original. In the fall of 1934, Nora Callan sets off to New York to find work as an actress. Older sister Clara is left alone in the family home, mourning her father, missing her sister, and wondering who she is without the people who have left her behind. The book unfolds in a series of journal entries and letters.
This sort of story of two sisters is hardly a novelty but Wright creates such vivid characters that the cliche is only a framework on which real people rest. Nora is flighty and artsy and not always astute, but she is also aware of her flaws and oblivious to her strengths. Clara is studious and concerned with appearances, yet she is the one who finds herself in untoward situations over and over again, trapped by her own pride. The understanding we gain of these characters is extraordinarily deep, particularly our understanding of Clara. By the book's end, I felt as if I knew Clara better than I know myself.
Wright's an insightful and elegant writer. He knows when to be casual about the brutality of life, when less is more, and when little things need to be treated with a glut of detail. The honesty of the writing most comes across in how it shows the subjectiveness of truth. We see how lovers might see an event differently, remember it differently, without either one being wrong, yet with each being rightfully furious with the deceits of the other. It also shows the small, honest lies we perpetrate upon ourselves. When Clara writes to her sister, she is different than when she writes to their mutual friend, Evelyn, and different again from when she writes in her journal. Clara defines herself by writing things down, but the definition changes each time the pen hits the page.
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