Test Pattern: A Novel

By Marjorie Klein

Book Overview

Brilliantly recreating the innocence and energy of the '50s, "Test Pattern" is a tour de force of imagination showing how a new TV set forever changes the lives of the Palmer family in 1954.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0060959533
• ISBN13: 9780060959531
• Release Date: January 2001
• Publisher: Harper Perennial
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.0" x 0.6" x 5.3"

Customer Reviews

Are the stars out tonite ooh ooh cha wa che wop

This book is the work of a clever, witty, intelligent and imaginative writer with a wicked sense of comedy, one quite dark in the instant case. Set in a mid-50's Newport News, Virginia, blue-collar shipyard community, it recounts the story of a young girl, her delusional yet determined mother, and her "resigned to a life of quiet desperation" father as they co-exist in a family grown dysfunctional over time. What once was an intersection of needs and desires has devolved into a "slow motion train wreck" that continues to spiral increasingly out of kilter. The child, eleven year old Cassie, bears witness to the lurching mid-life crisis of her mom juxtaposed to her father's confidence losing persona, a continuing casualty in the fight against his life's travails. As her dad makes his world smaller and more set in its ways, her mom dreams of a dancing career just as she enters into the 38-44 year old mid-life crisis zone, "what have I done with my life" age. As mom plots to get on Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts show and with Dad nurturing his own internal grievances, Cassie discovers she can see into the future by looking into the test pattern of their new, "content-scarce", Magnavox television set. The sanest player in the story is, of course, the young daughter Cassie. She watches as her mom has a tryst with the mailman, a former high school crush, whose cousin is a talent scout for Arthur Godfrey's show. Much is made of mom's efforts to perfect her dance routine, done to the tune of "Chattanooga choo-choo". This ongoing saga is compelling as a word picture and will illicit belly laughs from the drollest of readers. Other bit characters come in and out of the story, but the plot stays true to a denouement in the third act when Cassie averts a bad scene between her mom and dad by seeing into the future via the test-pattern, and subsequently changing the outcome through her prescience. The book ends with a shifting around of family members and friends as Cassie continues her life, only without her gift as a seer. The delight of the book, beyond the clever plot lines, can be found in the descriptive phrasing of Ms Klein and her wonderfully offbeat sense of humor. I, for one, hope to read more of her work in the future and as one reader averred, hope to see this story made into a major motion picture. The ability of Cassie to see the major historical events of the 20th-century before they occur is quite imaginative and entertaining. It isn't every day that one finds such a clever and imaginative author. Perhaps the sequel will have Cassie morphing into a modern day showbiz pop tart, the kind that so unnerves the over-40, middle age crazy, white guy, couch potato, Grammy watching set. It's my contention that Ms Klein could spin that into a pretty good yarn. Let us hope!

Klein skillfully controls transmission in delightful novel

Part satire, part social commentary, part coming-of-age, Marjorie Klein's captivating debut novel, "Test Pattern," is a terrific book. Told in chapters which alternate between a mother and daughter's point of view, the novel focuses on a disintegrating marriage between a deeply frustrated housewife and her increasingly embittered husband and an engaging, creative daughter who, incidentially, perceives the future through images gleaned from staring at a test pattern on her family's new television. Set in 1954, the novel captures the extraordinary (and subterranean) influence television exerts on American culture; Klein is at her very best in the numerous instances where she describes how television alters and redefines personal expectations, perceptions and, most alarmingly, identity. The grace of "Test Pattern" is its ability to treat very serious issues with extraordinary humor, delightful dialogue and a pitch-perfect sense of what blue-collar American was like in the so-called golden age of television.Klein has created two compelling characters in the repressed Lorena Palmer and her fascinating, sensitive daughter Cassie. It is clear the author carries considerable compassion for both: the mother, locked in a loveless marriage she initially believed was the embodiment of the American Dream, and the daughter, terribly conflicted over her family's disintegration and her "gift" of perception no-one else, less a bohemian artist, seems to respect, much less understand. Lorena is a fully-rendered character. She "weeps for lost dreams, repressed ambitions, for time rolling on without her. For her depressing past, her dismal present, and the possibility...of a future slapped down by the hand of fate." In circumstances as zany as any to which Lucille Ball gave comedic expression, Lorena's marriage and life spiral crazily out of control. Klein's treatment of female discontent, the evolving frustrations of housewife life, sexuality, friendships and marital infidelity are astoundingly right on key.The novel, however, belongs to Cassie, and it is through the child's eyes that we fully recognize the author's talents. The fissures, ultimately growing into yawning chasms, which lay bare the dissolution of her family weigh heavily on Cassie. She questions herself constantly, wondering if her gift of perception is really hereditary nuttiness, pondering why her friend's "weird" family is cohesive and loving while her "normal" family is painfully distorted, probing presciently into her father's morose loss of purpose and her mother's near infantile self-absorption. Cassie's introduction to sex, whether it be from her test-pattern visions of the late twentieth-century's blatant use (and abuse) of sexuality to her anguishing over her first bra are done with incredible wit and compassion. How Cassie introduces Michael Jackson's moonwalk to her Chattanooga Choo-Choo bound mother is literally sidesplitting.I hope "Test Pattern" finds the widest reading au

One for Baby Boomers and Retro!

A few steps above most light summer reading, this book is almost on the same rung as "She's Come Undone," which I enjoyed long before it became an Oprah selection. These days, I don't often finish reading fiction, unless I plan to write a review; often I drag myself reluctantly to the end, yawning all the way. But this book was a fast, fun, witty 2 hour joy. I read it as I sipped my caffe latte in a local bookstore, where I often explore books before making a purchase. I read the whole thing. The only reason I didn't buy this book was -- the price (full price in that particular store). It is wonderful, and if it had been in paperback, I would have snapped it up. If I was buying it for a gift, I would have invested in it, for it is sure to please the reader who enjoys nostalgia, good writing, and humor, all rolled into one!The story begins with the arrival, in the early 50's, of a black and white television set at the Palmer residence. With the tv comes the beginning of some major changes not just in that household, but in the lives of most of us.The talented Marjorie Klein demonstrates that by telling the story from dual viewpoints - mother and daughter. Lorena's view is written in third-person - she is a self-centered, talent-free mother and wife, who will do anything to be a star. Cassie, the 10-year old daughter of Lorena and her frustrated husband, Pete, speaks to us in first person, sharing her embarassment over her mother's behavior and her deepening understanding about what is happening. If you grew up in the 50's, you'll remember the television shows and stars that are woven through-out the novel. Lorena's disappointment of her life as a housewife and her twisted vision of herself as a star is fed by the shows she watches. As she changes hairstyles (never quite getting the right perm), practices her ticket to fame - a tap dancing rendition of Chattanooga Choo Choo - and seduces the mailman who's cousin "is in television," Cassie watches her mother and her *own* television shows.No one believes her when she describes what she sees, for everyone else sees only the familiar test pattern (for those of us who remember when television went off the air late at night!). Cassie sees funny dances called odd things like the twist and the monkey. She sees a movie star who is a president, and watches another president die, the Simpson family and war, right there on tv. She sees in to the future. To tell you this doesn't reveal the plot at all, for the real story is the entertwining of Lorena's fantasy, the unraveling of the Palmer marriage, and Cassie's vision of what the future can be. One of her friend's parents starts to believe her, and asks her gently, "is there anything you can do to change what happens?"For the most part, there is nothing she can do until one night, she sees something horrible about to happen in her own life -- can she do anything to change it?You'll have to read it for yourself and find o

Test Pattern

There aren't many books out there that can make me laugh (usually the humor is too predictable or too forced) but I found this book to be genuinely humorous. Very enjoyable reading!

Rod Serling meets Beaver Cleaver

They say a good book jacket catches the eye, even if the story doesn't. Well, I say because of the very unique cover they suckered me into picking this up, and boy am I glad I did. The novel that lies within this cover is not your typical Americana novel, but a highly charged realistic and fun look into teh typical family of the 50's. Then throw in the Twilight Zone.It is really interesting how the author tackles this tale. First off, all we know is that it takes place in the 50's with a simple cast of characters who delude themselves in believing that life portrayed on television is real and utopian. They all long to be like Ozzie & Harriet or the Nelson's, and quite simply their strive for this perfection only causes more problems in any nuclear family.Second, and refreshing, is that the chapters alternate (but overlap) between the perspectives of Cassie, age 11, and her star struck mother, Lorena. We see the motivation of Lorena's antics in one chapeter, then Cassie's take on the same event in the next. The chapters are relatively short, which makes this for easy reading and captures your attention much more readily.Third, without giving the 'magic' of the book away, Cassie has the ability to see snipets of the future through their new television. It's amusing to read an eleven year old girls takes on events that we think are the norm today, but totally outlandish back in the 50's, and God forbid she try to explain it to adults back then. They think she's a loon! But we know otherwise.Highly recommend this, and look forward to future titles from this author.