Ever Wished For a Different Name? Read Florence Knapp's Novel, The Names
- Melissa Gouty
- 6 minutes ago
- 4 min read
What's in a name, anyway?
When I was a young girl, I wished for a different middle name. My name is Melissa Ann, and I always felt like Ann was a fill-in name, something that a quarter of the women in America already had. Granted, it was my mother's middle name, which is its redeeming quality, but something flashier or more unique would have been my wish. (No, I don't have a particular name in mind, just a desire that my middle name wasn't Ann!)
What's in a name?
In his well-known tragic play, Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare wrote, "What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet." It's a quote often repeated four hundred years after The Bard penned them. Florence Knapp, a modern British author, however, argues against Shakespeare's "rose-by-any-other-name-theory" in her touching novel, The Names.
Let me warn you. This book rocked me. Purchased because I'd heard others say it was good, I thought the book would focus on how names change people. That, my friends, is not truly what the story is about. It's not about how names change people but about how domestic abuse changes outcomes and imprints on people's names.
There's no doubt that I enjoy books that have an unusual structure. Many novels are told chronologically, or maybe in flashbacks. Some are told through a dual timeline, or sometimes through different characters' points of view. But I have never read a book structured like this. The Names examines three different "what-if" situations that might have been depending on the name given to the child.
The driving force
It's 1987, and Cora is debating the names for her unborn child. Her husband, a prominent and well-respected physician has already declared that if it's a boy, the child will be named following the family tradition. His name will be Gordon after his father and grandfather.
Cora is not convinced that Gordon is a good choice. Her choice would be Julian, which means "sky-father," a name she pretends acknowledges the baby's biological father, but which she likes because it is NOT the familial name of Gordon.
Maia, the nine-year-old precocious sister of the new baby, wants to name him "Bear" because
"it sounds all soft and cuddly and kind...But also, brave and strong."
Florence Knapp takes these three proposed names for the new infant and creates stories of what the family members' lives would have been like if the baby had been named Bear, Julian, or Gordon, alternating stories between the three names every seven years.
Overlapping characters in The Names
One of the many great things about reading the novel, The Names, is how the characters change over the years: What each of them becomes. How they relate to each other. How they live their lives based on the events that have come before. In the "what-if" stories of Bear, Julian, and Gordon all have unique personalities developed by the outcome of the domestic abuse suffered by their mother.
Florence Knapp, the author, showed creative genius in the scenarios that resulted, the alternative stories, and the way the characters overlapped, allowing us to put together the biographies of each of the different boys: Bear, Julian, and Gordon.
Powerful. Painful. Phenomenal.
I don't know that I can do this book justice without giving away the "what-if" situations that propel the stories of Bear, Julian, or Gordon forward through the years.
You need to read this yourself if you want meaningful, memorable, out-of-the-ordinary literature.
As powerful and painful as the domestic abuse angle is, the book is also filled with beauty. There's a female friendship that endures for years. A grandmother from another country who changes her life to help her grandchildren, and a brother-sister relationship that is bonded in ways most of us will never know.
What the critics are saying about The Names
While I always take what the critics say with a grain of salt, I also look for a pattern of positive or negative reviews to get a clearer idea of my decision to buy a book. The number of positive reviews and glowiong blurbs didn't lead me astray this time.
I was not alone in my response to this novel.
“Dazzling. . . Its premise sets up a sort of thought experiment, but the novel is really a profound, deeply compassionate examination of domestic abuse. . . The Names is startlingly joyful and paced like a thriller. I raced through it and immediately read it again. . . Knapp brings an eye for precise detail to her descriptions of domestic spaces and the natural world. She writes with exceptional skill and passion about artists and artisans. . . Knapp tirelessly and beautifully replicates not just loss and grief but endless rebirth and delight, 'the glorious burn of being fully loved.'” —The Washington Post
“This noteworthy debut explores a sobering topic with creativity, cleverness, and care. . . the boldness and thoughtfulness of Knapp’s plotting add complexity and a welcome unpredictability. . . inviting the reader to think about not just the ripple effects of a single decision and the workings of an abusive family but also about a profound and classic concern of fiction: How things we can control in life interact with things we could never have seen coming.” —Kirkus (starred review)
and
“Compelling [and] emotionally wrenching. . . In clear, compelling prose, Knapp delicately builds a layered story about fate, free will, trauma, and hope. . . . Both devastating and hopeful, this novel and its characters will linger with readers long after they finish the last page.” —Booklist(starred review)
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