“Lark and Termite” takes a few sentences from one of my favorite authors. It borrows from William Faulkner and “The Sound and the Fury” for one of its three epigraphs: “Because no battle is ever won he said. They are not even fought. The field only reveals to a man his own folly and despair, and victory is an illusion of philosophers and fools.”
The comparison with Faulkner does not begin or end there--the story is moving and sad, complicated and simple. Lark is 17, living with her aunt and her half brother Termite, a boy who is profoundly developmentally disabled. Her mother shot herself upon being widowed in the Korean War. She discovers that her father is the ex of her aunt--that her mother has conspired to provide them with a child they could not have themselves--they no longer have each other (such acts carry consequences) but they share Lark.
At the beginning of the story there is a flood, one that disrupts all the characters lives in the story in different ways, and leads them on different paths, with different knowledge than they had before the water rose. Great story telling and great imagery permeate this highly recommended book.
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