The Revenge of the Radioactive Lady by Elizabeth Stuckey-French

Published by Doubleday on February 8, 2011

Comedy, like so many things, is a matter of taste: some people laugh at slapstick, some at dry wit, some at cross-dressing British comedians. Not everyone will find The Revenge of the Radioactive Lady funny. My sense of humor must mirror Elizabeth Stuckey-French's because I found myself smiling, chuckling, and often laughing out loud at her quirky characters and offbeat plot.

Its title notwithstanding, the novel is less about revenge than it is about a family dynamic -- yes, it's yet another story about a dysfunctional family. Ava (who loves Elvis and flirts with the notion of being the next America's Top Model) and Otis (who is trying to build a nuclear reactor in the tool shed) both have Asperger's syndrome. Their neurotic and depressed mother, Caroline, is nearly always in a foul mood, in part because she's approaching fifty and feels her best years (such as they were) are behind her. Caroline's husband, Vic, obsesses about hurricanes. Vic has detached himself from the family and has more than a passing interest in the parson's sister. Caroline's father, Wilson Spriggs, is a retired physician who suffers from Alzheimer's; having outlived his wife, he lives with Caroline's family. Only the middle child, Suzi, seems to meet societal expectations of normalcy (she's bright, beautiful, and popular), yet she gets herself into deeper trouble than her less advantaged siblings. While all of this sounds like the foundation for a tragedy rather than a comedy, laughter (as they say) is the best medicine, and Stuckey-French finds ample opportunity to inject humor into the family members' woeful lives.

The radioactive lady to whom the title refers is Marylou, who in 1953 became an unknowing participant in a government-financed experiment. While visiting a clinic for prenatal care, Marylou was given a drink containing radioactive isotopes as part of a study overseen by Dr. Spriggs. She attributes her daughter's death from childhood cancer to the radioactive liquid. It is for this that Marylou has vowed revenge and, having found Spriggs in Florida fifty-three years later, she plans to kill him -- or at least to disrupt the lives of his family members. I know, it still doesn't sound funny, but dark comedy is necessarily about dark subjects.

The main characters are recognizable (maybe even as members of our families) without becoming stereotypes. Some of the minor characters (like the lecherous pastor and his goth daughter) are a bit more formulaic, but they nonetheless seem real. The story moves quickly, reflecting a writing style that is comedic rather than literary. Despite its dark side, an underlying sweetness shines through. The novel teaches familiar but nonetheless worthwhile lessons: (1) vengeance, like radioactive particles, can spread in unexpected ways, touching innocent people and causing unforeseen effects; (2) forgiveness heals more effectively than revenge; (3) even if you can't be perfectly happy, perhaps you can be happy enough; and (4) we're all weird in our own ways. Sometimes the weirdness has a label: autistic, obsessive, neurotic. Other times it doesn't. "Some of us," Stuckey-French writes, "are more 'typical' than others, that's all."

Whether you read this novel for laughs or for its lighthearted life lessons, you're likely to be satisfied -- assuming your sense of humor is tickled by the story I've described. If it's not, this probably isn't the novel for you.

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