Book Description
As the North reels under a series of unexpected defeats during the dark first year of the war, one man leaves behind his family to aid the Union cause. His experiences will utterly change his marriage and challenge his most ardently held beliefs. Riveting and elegant as it is meticulously researched, March is an extraordinary novel woven out of the lore of American history.
From Louisa May Alcott's beloved classic Little Women, Geraldine Brooks has taken the character of the absent father, March, who has gone off to war, leaving his wife and daughters to make do in mean times. To evoke him, Brooks turned to the journals and letters of Bronson Alcott, Louisa May's father—a friend and confidant of Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau. In her telling, March emerges as an idealistic chaplain in the little known backwaters of a war that will test his faith in himself and in the Union cause as he learns that his side, too, is capable of acts of barbarism and racism. As he recovers from a near mortal illness, he must reassemble his shattered mind and body and find a way to reconnect with a wife and daughters who have no idea of the ordeals he has been through.
Spanning the vibrant intellectual world of Concord and the sensuous antebellum South, March adds adult resonance to Alcott's optimistic children's tale to portray the moral complexity of war, and a marriage tested by the demands of extreme idealism—and by a dangerous and illicit attraction. A lushly written, wholly original tale steeped in the details of another time, March secures Geraldine Brooks's place as an internationally renowned author of historical fiction.
Customer Reviews:
Pulitzer's Reliability.......2007-10-10
As usual, any book selected by the Pulitzer Committee is a reliable horrible read. Too boring to waste my time on. . . Alcott would be mortified!
An ingeniously crafted tale of terribly tragic times!.......2007-08-27
Geraldine Brooks has produced an ingeniously crafted tale of terribly tragic times and has successfully drawn some of her principal characters from Louisa May Alcott's classic, 'Little Women,' creating in the process an elaboration of the life of the Revd. Mr March, father of the little women, who, whilst being an aggravating and hypocritical Yankee clergyman, nevertheless leads an extraordinary life, both in Connecticut and in The South during the American 'Civil War' (or 'War for Southern Independence,' depending upon personal preference: I prefer the latter). The fact that the author cleverly introduces Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson and even John Brown (he of the body and the soul that marches on), all most effectively but without particular surprise in the context, is a tribute to her story-telling skill. The fact that Mr March learns a lot of the complications of that frightful conflict of 1861-1865 is a reflection of the author's fine research and scholarship. The fact that the mid-19th-century language seems to be 'spot-on' to one who reads and enjoys such stuff also reflects well on Ms. Brooks: she has produced another riveting tale, which I could not put down, and I congratulate her!
Sometimes a Good Man Is a Weak Man.......2007-08-11
March is told largely in the words of Mr. March, father of all those "little women," and it encompasses the year that he spent as a Union chaplain during the early part of the Civil War. Ever the idealist, one who at times refused to recognize the demands of the real world or to compromise his principles in order to better get along with others, March quickly managed to get on the bad side of both the men to whom he hoped to minister and that of his superior officers. As so often happens during war, March lived a lifetime during his one year of service, a year in which he learned more about himself than he really wanted to know. He came to realize that his ideals and principles did not necessarily come with the courage to do the right thing when to do so put him in personal danger. He ended his year a broken man, one barely alive and, more importantly, one who considered his year of service to have been a disaster for himself and everyone he tried to help.
Along the way, March unexpectedly finds himself revisiting a plantation he remembered from his days as a young traveling salesman trying to build the nest egg he hoped to invest for the remainder of his life. Some twenty years after his first visit, the home is now an emergency hospital for Union troops and life there is nothing like the one he remembered from before. But one thing has not changed. Grace Clements, the mulatto slave woman he was so attracted to on his first visit, is still there and he is still powerfully attracted to her. Grace Clements comes to be one of the two most important women in March's life, in fact.
Having so consistently irritated the troops to whom he was assigned, March is assigned to spend the bulk of his war at a cotton plantation teaching liberated slaves to read and write. This is my one quibble with the book. While, in fact, some southern cotton plantations were leased to northern entrepreneurs during the war so that much needed cotton could be brought to market for benefit of the North, this did not occur nearly so early in the war as portrayed in March. Despite the fact that the heart of the story takes place on this plantation, I could never completely forget just how unlikely it would have been for March to find himself on such a plantation during his particular year of the war.
But that's a minor thing because March has so much to offer. It is filled with the kind of period detail that marks the best historical fiction and fans of Little Women will very likely find it to be the perfect companion piece to one of their favorite novels.
This isn't The Year of Wonders.......2007-08-08
I read The Year of Wonders and loved it. I bought this book specifically because it's the same author, and with high hopes. Unfortunately, this book is boring and slow moving. It could not hold my attention at all, and I didn't get engrossed with the characters like in her other book. I would not recommend this book.
An absorbing read.......2007-08-06
Mr. March is often exasperating but always believable in this vivid Civil War novel. Not so much about battles as about how the hardship of war shapes families. Chapter 2 involving Grace the beautiful slave reaches near perfection. Longer review available on my website Impatient Reader. Also available at Impatient Reader: a chapter-by-chapter summary of March. See My Amazon Profile for URL.
Book Description
In one of the finest novels yet in Tapplys long-running series, Nervous Water explores the previously hidden past of his much beloved character, Boston attorney Brady Coyne. Contacted by an aged relative with whom hed long lost touch, Brady agrees to help his Uncle Moze with a sensitive family matter. Having received a diagnosis of terminal cancer, Moze is looking to mend fences with his only daughter. But the daughter seems to have simply disappeared, leaving no clues or hints as to her whereabouts. As Brady tackles the seemingly impossible task of finding his cousina case that looks less and less like a simple missing person caseit becomes clear that whatever is going on now is related to a dark, undiscussed episode in his familys past: the brutal, still unsolved murder of another of Bradys uncles.
Customer Reviews:
Nervous Water.......2006-12-25
"Nervous Water" is the 21st Brady Coyne novel by William G. Tapply whom I feel is one of the finest mystery writers working today. Brady is called by his Uncle Moze in Maine to try to find his daughter Cassie who has apparently disappeared. Cassie is actually Moze's niece, but he and his wife had raised Cassie as their own. Brady begins to search for his cousin and finds that most people who are close to her are not cooperative. Her husband Richard Hurley is not helpful to Brady and he wonders if Hurley knew something of her disappearance. When Cassie's former lover is killed, Brady knows that someone will stop at nothing to keep Cassie's whereabouts a secret. He even wonders if Cassie is still alive. When Moze suffers a heart attack, Brady knows that he needs to find Cassie. There is also a suplot in which Brady's girlfriend, Evie, is acting strangely. I gave this novel a 5 star because it is a fast paced and very suspenseful read. The only thing I felt was strange about the plot was the fact that Brady had not visited his uncle in 30 years, but I overlooked that and highly recommend this book.
Another page turner by William Tapply.......2006-06-15
William Tapply has written another winner in his Brady Coyne series. All books will stand on their own. I won't give away the plot. (Read the Amazon summary and other reviewers)
I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and read it in two sittings. Lots of twists and turns, there are some surprises and some---well you could guess whodunit. Great book for beach, poolside or plane.
First Brady Coyne novel I have read.......2006-03-22
I enjoyed this novel-an interesting and easy read. Storyline was intriging, plot twists convincing, and character development about as deep as a book of this length can provide. I could best describe the book as Greg IIles-lite.
A Dense Family Mystery That Doesn't Quite Make Sense.......2006-02-05
Brady becomes reacquainted with is favorite uncle from Maine, whom he hasn't seen or heard from in 30 years. Already you can see one problem with this book. That's an unlikely set of circumstances.
If you get past that one, Mr. Tapply throws you another unlikely event, Brady's uncle's daughter won't talk to her father and has gone missing. Uncle Moze wants Brady to be sure Cassie is all right and to get her to call Moze. Even if Brady can succeed in finding her, will she be willing to call?
Brady finds himself drawn to do something, especially after Moze has a heart attack. Brady isn't sure that Moze will survive without seeing Cassie.
Arriving at Cassie's house, Brady finds a family that seems to be pretending that nothing's wrong . . . but something clearly is.
As Brady checks out the alternatives by visiting with her family and friends, he seems stymied when a lead suddenly appears. From there the story takes many unexpected turns that will keep you turning the pages.
If you can buy into the story of Brady's connection to Moze and Cassie's relationship with Moze, you have a four or five star book on your hand. There are marvelous scenes of lobstering and fishing that make you want to head for Maine. The title theme of "nervous water" is nicely developed in the book. The mystery itself isn't all that mysterious, but it'll do.
There's an edgy backdrop of tension between Evie and Brady that adds a little personal touch to the story without advancing the plot very much.
After reading the book, I found myself wishing that Mr. Tapply had written this book as a case involving non-relatives of Brady's. I think the story would have worked better.
A glimpse into Brady's Coyne family.......2006-01-02
His uncle who he has not seen in thirty years contacts Boston lawyer Brady Coyne. It seems his Uncle Moze had a falling out with his daughter Cassandra and he has not seen her in a year and a half. Recently finding out that he has heart problems, Moze wants to make amends before it it is too late. The problem is that Cassie cannot be found. Moze wants Brady's help in finding Cassie. Is it a missing person or is it murder?
This is another fine entry in this underrated mystery series. NERVOUS WATER gives us a glimpse into Brady's family on his mother's side. There are a few skeletons rattling around on the old family tree. The story was well plotted and very engaging. In addition to the missing person case, there are a few sub plotlines that are interesting and keep the story moving forward. Brady is not the most dynamic of characters, he is a little to laid-back for that, but the character dynamic keep the pages turning....Brady and his girlfriend, Brady and his secretary, Brady and his dog. Tappley did a great job in setting the scene in small-lakeside town Maine.
Average customer rating:
- Intriguing beginning, disappointing end
- A page-turner that doesn't live up to its promise.
- A wonderful way to discover Barbara Vine
- Just a Phase?
- A Crowning Achievement for Barbara Vine (or Ruth Rendell)
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The Chimney Sweeper's Boy: A Novel (Random House Large Print)
Barbara Vine
Manufacturer: Random House Large Print
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The Blood Doctor: A Novel
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Grasshopper
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ASIN: 0375702938
Release Date: 1998-05-26 |
Amazon.com
Writing as Ruth Rendell, Barbara Vine has earned the Grand Master Award for lifetime achievement. In The Chimney Sweeper's Boy, Vine proves herself the equal of her alter ego and a master of the psychological thriller--as well as the police procedural--in this riveting novel. Why bestselling novelist Gerald Candless assumed a new identity years before his marriage and the birth of his two daughters isn't revealed until the penultimate chapter of the book, but the effect of his deception on his family drives Vine's deft character studies. In Gerald's wife, Ursula, and his daughters, Hope and Sarah, Vine has created three complex women in the thrall of an equally complicated and compelling man. As Sarah unravels the mystery of her father's deception, Gerald gradually becomes a more sympathetic figure. But Ursula, whose strange marital bargain with Gerald and whose distant relationship with her daughters tug at the heart, stays with the reader long after this distinguished, literary mystery is finished. --Jane Adams
Book Description
An unforgettable tale of mystery and obsession by Barbara Vine (pseudonym of Ruth Rendell, winner of the Mystery Writers of America Grand Master Award for lifetime achievement)
This is the utterly absorbing story of best-selling novelist Gerald Candless, whose sudden death from a heart attack leaves behind a wife and two doting daughters. To sort through her grief, one of his daughters, Sarah, decides to write a biography of her internationally celebrated father.
Within hours of beginning her research, Sarah comes across the first of what will be many shocking revelations. As her life is slowly torn apart, a terrible logic finally emerges to explain her mother's remoteness, her father's need to continually reinvent himself in his work, and a long-forgotten London murder.
From the Hardcover edition.
Customer Reviews:
Intriguing beginning, disappointing end.......2007-06-13
I love Barbara Vine. I think she is one of the most thought-provoking and edgy writers of our times. "A Fatal Inversion" is one of my favorite books, and a perfect example of a surprise-ending novel. But this title, "The Chimney Sweeper's Boy," fails to live up to the author's normally high standards.
This is the story of a man who was idolized by his daughters and resented by his wife who has been hiding a whole other side to his personality rarely glimsed by his inner circle. The journey that his daughter and others take in discovering this secret person is fascinating and well-crafted.
Unfortunately, the ultimate revelation of his deep, dark secret is disappointing, out-of-date, and predictable. Read this for the deft and incisive writing of Ms Vine, but do not hope for a stunning revelation at the end. This one will disappoint.
A page-turner that doesn't live up to its promise........2007-03-04
Yes, as the reviewer from Richmond, Virginia has mentioned, the book doesn't live up to its promise. But the sharp character studies, most especially Ursula, the wronged wife, are remarkable. I also enjoyed the titillating sexual love affair between Sarah and her sadistic boy-toy. By the end, however, I was terribly disappointed; I felt the book came to an abrupt halt, as if the publisher had given the author an ultimatum on how many pages they could publish. She set up some very tragic lives, and I wanted her to give them at least a parcel of resolution. I wanted a reaction from the two spoiled daughters when they learned the truth about their doting, proprietary father and to know that the light dawned in Ursula's mind and when she realized that Gerald had deliberately tried to make her believe that she was the problem in their marriage. And I wanted the girls to have, at least, an inkling of what their father had done to their mother. It was amazing, the damage his lies did to them all, including the girls. He basically stole them from their mother, and raised them to be empty, self-centered, vain, snobbish and cold. I hated Gerald Candless. What a rotten s.o.b. I wonder if Ms. vine modeled him after some insufferable, publicly-lionized British author or other celebrity she scorns. Though I was let down by the book's uneventful ending, I will continue to seek out her work. Compared to many contemporary writers, she does attempt to engage her readers in a deliciously entertaining manner - and with great writing to boot.
A wonderful way to discover Barbara Vine .......2006-01-27
I discovered Barbara Vine through this book while living in Hampstead this summer, a location that is featured in many of her other books. It was so compelling that having recently completed about 10 of her Barbara Vine novels (which I believe are superior to the Ruth Rendell novels by the same author), I read this book again. It is truly fascinating, and a total page-turner, stay-up-late-until-you-finish it experience. Having read almost all of her novels now, I think it holds up as one of the best. She writes almost cinematically, although the flashbacks would make it hard to transfer to the big screen. Her characters (even Gerald, who is primarily described through his disillusioned wife) is made to be sympathetic in the end. I highly recommend this book.
Just a Phase?.......2005-11-22
I "discovered" Ruth Rendell almost thirty years ago. I was overseas and books in English were hard to find and expensive when you could find them. From time to time, my mother would send me a carton of paperbacks that she had chosen from secondhand bookshops and library sales. She was guessing at what might interest me. The combination of her good judgment and my desperation for books of any kind meant that I usually read or at least started to read just about everything in the carton.
One carton included Rendell's One Across, Two Down. I didn't read much detective fiction or murder mysteries, but I had gone through an Agatha Christie phase in my teens, and later I would go through a similar Sue Grafton phase. Ruth Rendell's book was unlike anything I had read. There was no hero ("protagonist," the author in The Chimney Sweeper's Boy would correct me) in the conventional sense. None of the characters was particularly likeable. I couldn't identify with any of them. But I was fascinated by the odd story and couldn't stop reading until I had finished.
I continue to be a Rendell fan, but I prefer her Barbara Vine novels, the psychological thrillers with no hero. Inspector Wexford leaves me cold. This still leaves dozens of Rendell books for me to read and reread.
The Chimney Sweeper's Boy is a fine thriller. The characters are fascinating, the plot moves along like a pulp novel, and I really wanted to know what happens next. And like many thrillers and throw-away fiction, I didn't know what was going to happen until the author wanted me to know. I thought I knew several times, but I was wrong. Everything was tied up in a neat package at the end.
Unfortunately, The Chimney Sweeper's Boy doesn't bear scrutiny. As I stopped to think about the story after I was done, I became less satisfied. Real people wouldn't act like that, would they? And the shocking revelation didn't strike me as being quite as earth-shattering as the characters seemed to think it was.
After finding myself skimming the last third of Grasshopper and not even finishing The Blood Doctor, I began to wonder if I had come to the end of a thirty year Ruth Rendell phase? But her latest two, The Rottweiler and Thirteen Steps Down, have reassured me that Rendell is still the master of psychological suspense.
A Crowning Achievement for Barbara Vine (or Ruth Rendell).......2005-09-16
I have been reading my way through all the Barbara Vine books, and I've only got two left, so this one was my tenth or so. This book is a crowning achievement. It is certainly much more than a mystery. It is an extraordinary novel with real characters, a great plot and awfulness running through. As you read the book you know that something terrible is going to happen, but that does not prepare you for the shock of the ending! It all starts witht the death of a famous novelist, and from there we meet his family - a wife who he barely tolerates and two daughters that he adores. One of the daughters wants to write a story of her beloved father's life, but as she begins she finds ancient secrets and mysteries that no one in their family dreamt of. But even then she can't let herself get the whole story, but we the readers are given that story at the very end, and it's a deep and dark place that Ms. Vine takes us to. This is such a rich novel and it deals with some issues that are still kept in closets and behind closed doors. Ms. Vine hits us in the face with our prejudices and our pre-conceived notions, and she does it so skillfully. The book is compelling and totally un-put-downable. I dare you to read it!
Book Description
Anxiety rules Annemarie Zimmer's days—the fear that her relationship with the man she loves is growing stagnant; the fear that equestrian daughter Eva's dreams of Olympic glory will carry her far away from her mother . . . and into harm's way. For five months, Annemarie has struggled to make peace with her past. But if she cannot let go, the personal battles she has won and the heights she has achieved will have all been for naught.
It is a time of change at Maple Brook horse farm, when loves must be confronted head-on and fears must be saddled and broken. But it is an unanticipated tragedy that will most drastically alter the fragile world of one remarkable family—even as it flings open gates that have long confined them, enabling them all to finally ride headlong and free.
Customer Reviews:
If there are more in the series, I won't be reading them.......2007-09-26
I did not care for this book or the prequel. I felt like I was getting depressed, scattered and pathetic as I read the thoughts of the main character.
As a horse loving adult, I will read any fiction I can find featuring horses that is aimed at adults but these two did not make my keep shelf!
Anyone who rides will love this book.......2007-09-15
I read Sara Gruen's Riding Lessons and then her follow-up Flying Changes and I was amazed at how well the author understands horses, stable management, and eventing. The story was fast paced and as a 40 something women with a teenage daughter and horses...I could totally relate. I hope she writes a third book in this series...I will pre-order...
A Wonderful story woven around horses .......2007-08-28
My friend gave this book for my birthday. We are both avid readers and she knew that I had read Sara Gruen's "Riding Lessons". I really enjoyed that book and I was delighted to receive the sequel, Flying Changes. With eager eyes I sat down that evening and read the book (well almost, I finished it up the following evening). It goes without saying that Ms. Gruen is a wonderful storyteller and she continued that ability in this story. I'm not expert on horses, but I thought that in this book she created a moving story with well crafted settings and high emotions. Annemarie, the single mother, pain is just one example. There are already excellent reviews posted and I won't go into detail and spoil the story for you if you haven't read the book. I will add that I found I could easily relate to the story and the characters. The ending wrapped everything with no loose ends and there's never a dull moment in this moving story. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to all my friends.
Another moving story that is a real stunner in Women's Fiction is Gathering of Cans by Robert L. Saunders. The author heralds the relationship between husband and wife in this romance with a bit of mystery novel. In this warm and wonderful story you will travel with Zoie Baker, the heroine, on her quest to build a swimming pool by gathering aluminum cans. She feels right down to her bones that this is her destiny. Unique cans that she stumbles on, i.e., Nehi, Mountain Dew, etc., takes the reader on a glorious journey in the life of Zoie from World War II where she meets Nat, a Marine, at a USO Club, through the 1980's. This gripping story will keep you up to read just one more chapter. Don't miss this fantastic book. You too won't be disappointed! Kim.
Not rave but good.......2007-08-26
This book is a fast read, easy to follow and basically a good story. It is somewhat predictable; however if you love horses it will hold your interest.
Quick read, hard to believe.......2007-07-09
First off, let me say that this book is an enjoyable read - it goes by fast for the most part. I read it in a couple days and would call it a fun book, but not something I will likely pick up again.
That being said, there are a few issues with this book and story. As others have stated, it is hard to care for the main characters, Annemarie and her daughter Eva, as they are both immature for their ages, 40 and 16. Eva runs around like a spoiled 5 year old half the time. However, I would imagine a main reason for this is the complete lack of parenting skills on Annemarie's part. She is a mother without a backbone, unable and unwilling to discipline and stand up to her daughter. When Eva gets expelled from school, what does Annemarie do? Send her off to train with a top jumper trainer in the area. Yeah, what kind of punishment is that? The girl is in need of a good bit of discipline, and the character of Annemarie falls short as a mother. She is also useless as a girlfriend to poor Dan. She is whiny and self absorbed - it is hard to believe anyone would want to be with her. And when the idea of marriage comes up, she can't even discuss it with him? What kind of adult can't discuss this sort of thing with someone they want to marry? Perhaps she should do a little growing up first. Also, even though I did read the first book, Riding Lessons, it has been a few years since I did. The author alluded to events that happened in that story without explaining them ... that made it a little more difficult since I couldn't remember exactly what occurred in the last book.
Also, there were some equine related things that I could not get past. First off, if Eva loves horses so much, then why is she galloping around on frozen ground at dawn trying to jump paddock fences? And on an older horse too ... I can't even imagine allowing someone that irresponsible around my horses. Also, there is the whole issue of the Nokota horse. While I know Nokota horses are athletic and versatile animals, I have a very very very hard time believing that a top jumper barn would have one in their string of show horses. Hello ... warmbloods, thoroughbreds ... indian pony? I just don't feel that was a plausible thing in the book. My other main gripe is the whole Smokey Joe not letting anyone but Eva ride him ... and then she jumps on his back and starts doing canter pirouttes, passage, and advanced dressage moves. That is completely not believable to me as it takes YEARS of training to learn that sort of thing. And how is a horse who no one can ride going to get that kind of training? And how is this little girl of 16 who has never even competed before getting him to do these things? It is basically not believeable to anyone who has any sort of horse knowledge whatsoever.
If you can get past that, realize that the equine events are a little unbelieveable, and ignore the character flaws, then I would recommend this book. If you just want a good beach read, I would recommend this book. If you are looking for a book that is accurate and digs deep, I would recommend you look elsewhere.
Book Description
In her first work of fiction in more than a decade, award-winning novelist Hilma Wolitzer brilliantly renders the intimate details of ordinary life and exposes a host of hidden truths. The Doctor’s Daughter is a haunting portrait of a woman coming to terms with her family history and the fallibility of memory.
One morning, Alice Brill awakes with a sudden awareness that something is wrong. There’s a hollowness in her chest, and a sensation of dread that she can’t identify or shake. Was it something she’s done, or forgotten to do? As she scours her mind for the source of her unease, she confronts an array of disturbing possibilities.
First, there is her marriage, a once vibrant relationship that now languishes stasis. Then there’s her idle, misdirected younger son, who always needs bailing out of some difficulty. Or perhaps Alice’s trepidation is caused by the loss of her career as an editor at a large publishing house, and the new path she’s paved for herself as a freelance book doctor. Or it might be the real doctor in her life: her father. Formerly one of New York’s top surgeons, he now rests in a nursing home, his mind gripped by dementia. And the Eden that was Alice’s childhood–the material benefits and reflected glory of being a successful doctor’s daughter, the romance of her parents’ famously perfect marriage–makes her own domestic life seem fatally flawed.
While struggling to find the root of her restlessness, Alice is buoyed by her discovery of a talented new writer, a man who works by day as a machinist in Michigan. Soon their interactions and feelings intensify, and Alice realizes that the mystery she’s been trying to solve lies not in the present, as she had assumed, but in the past–and in the secrets of a marriage that was never as perfect as it appeared.
Like the best works of Anne Tyler, Sue Miller, and Gail Godwin, The Doctor’s Daughter is private yet universal, luminous and revelatory–and marks the reemergence of a singular talent in American writing.
From the Hardcover edition.
Customer Reviews:
worth the wait.......2007-06-07
Ms. Wolitzer has written a very good book about a woman who is trying to figure out which part of her life to heal first--her father's ailment, her marriage, her neglected spirit, her child's behavior issues. As we get to know her, we get to see ourselves and our own family's dynamics being laid before us.
Good Psychological Fiction.......2007-05-01
"The Doctor's Daughter" by Hilma Wolitzer is an intelligently written mystery of self-discovery. Ultimately, it is about a woman coming to terms with the person she has become.
In the beginning of the story, the protagonist, Alice Brill, has a strange, malignant feeling in her chest. The book takes us on a quest to find out what ails her. Is it breast cancer? Is it a failing in her marriage--a failing in her career? Why did her mother's literary career suddenly stop when she was a child? What seems to be dying inside her: Is it her body or her soul?
Both Alice and her husband are highly educated literary scholars who married with a lovely dream of supporting each other's successful literary career. But after more than two decades of marriage, Alice only sees herself as "a failed Scheherazade who couldn't keep anybody alive with her stories." Instead of creating literature, she earns her living as an editor, a book doctor. She buries her dream of creating her own works of fiction, instead she doctors others' works. Her husband also must bury his literary ambitions after the financial realities of their first child's birth make him take a position in his family's printing business.
The novel takes us on a journey of recollections through Alice's life. Along the way, we get to know her mother, the successful published poet who suddenly stops publishing. Why? We get to know her father, the brilliant, autocratic, narcissistic surgeon. All her life, Alice has a lived in the cocoon fiction of her parent's marital bliss. But is that true? She sees possibilities that all may not have been right with their marriage. Her father is now in a nursing home in the later stage of Alzheimer's, so he is little help in leading her toward the answers to her questions. There seems to be something important that happened back when she was a child that is somehow at the root of the blindingly white, bad feelings that keep reccurring. Along the path toward Alice's destiny with self-discovery, are subplots of therapy, lust, friendship, and marital infidelity.
"The Doctor's Daughter" is good, intelligent, psychological fiction. I look forward to reading more by Hilma Wolitzer. In my estimation, this author can rest assured that she is not, like her protagonist, "a failed Scheherazade."
I just don't get ..........2007-03-24
what happened with the mammogram? Must have had some meaning that went over my head - seemed like it had some importance but is never mentioned again after she misses her appointment. I enjoyed the book otherwise, although I agree with a previous reviewer that the timeline seems off.
Author should check a calendar before writing!.......2006-08-10
This book was just "all right" in my opinion. I had a nagging feeling in my chest, much like the main character, but for other reasons! The timeline did not make sense.
The character mentions finding an envelope postmarked November 18, 1963--her 10th birthday, meaning she was born in November 1953. Speed forward to the present where she is 51 years old and it's June. This would put us in June 2005. She mentions going to her mammography on Friday June 13th. This doesn't make sense to me because in 2005, June 13th was a Sunday!
It might be stupid to let this bother me, but I like novels to feel real. And this just left me unsettled, like the author didn't do her job to check dates.
Otherwise, this was an okay read.
Insulting to the reader.......2006-06-14
I must admit that I finished only 2/3 of this book, I just could not bear anymore, even as entertainment. It was that bad. But, from what I read, I advise that the plot is pointless and unrealistically laid down. The characters, especially the main character and her love interest, are very poorly developed. What is developed of the main character is unlikeable. The book has the tone of someone who is talking (i.e. writing), not because she has something to say (she doesn't), but because she likes the sound of her own voice. Wolitzer does know how to string words together well, but there is nothing upon which to hang those words, which is insulting to the reader.
I knew before I read the book jacket that Wolitzer much teach creative writing. It is obvious from the content of the book that she considers herself a literary giant and thinks that impressive. She should stick with that, her "novel" is beyond disappointing. I'm sorry but the comparison to Wolitzer to Anne Tyler is laughable.
Average customer rating:
- LOSERS ALL
- Meloy - Second Take on a Family
- Greatly enjoyed the book from a reader in Santa Barbara
- "carrying her private sense of disaster and chaos through an ad for light beer".
- History rewritten
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A Family Daughter: A Novel
Maile Meloy
Manufacturer: Scribner
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0743277678 |
Amazon.com
The Family Santerre, first introduced by Maile Meloy in her 2003 novel, Liars and Saints, is back again, inspected and reported on from another angle. This time, in A Family Daughter, granddaughter Abby is the narrator. She is left with grandmother Yvette when she is seven, suffering in equal parts from chickenpox and boredom. Her mother, Clarissa, is off trying to remember what it was to be happy. Feckless Uncle Jamie is called upon to entertain Abby. A bond is formed between them at that time that has far-reaching consequences.
This family is the most chaotic bunch of narcissists to come along in some time. Yvette and Teddy, matriarch and patriarch, are devout Catholics on whom some of their childrens' antics are, fortunately, lost. Jamie is another centerpiece of the novel: funny, charming, libidinous slacker that he is, he is temporarily irresistible to everyone. Abby hits a bad patch in college after the death of her father and Jamie is there to console, and sleep with her. The impact of this event (eight events, really) results in a book, maybe fiction, maybe true, that eventually has the whole family on its respective and collective ear.
Abby's Aunt Margot, exemplary wife and mother, on automatic pilot for thirty years, suddenly leaves home to find a former lover. Clarissa might be a lesbian, she isn't sure. Abby, now happily ensconced with her former T.A., Peter, is lured to Argentina by Jamie to help care for his libertine fiancee's mother's adopted child. And, that's just a peek at what's going on. Convoluted? Yes, but it all works. Meloy can write the socks off most authors. She maintains an ironic distance from her characters in prose that you absolutely cannot stop reading until you find out every last detail. The whole shebang culminates in a Christmas celebration with everyone present. Not your ordinary singing-around-the-piano event. May the Santerres continue to thrive in Meloy's imagination! --Valerie Ryan
Book Description
One of the most insightful novels about families to appear in recent years, A Family Daughter revisits the Santerre clan from Maile Meloy's highly acclaimed debut novel Liars and Saints. It opens in 1979, when seven-year-old Abby, the youngest member of the close-knit family, is trapped indoors with chicken pox during a heat wave.
The events set in motion that summer span decades and continents -- irrevocably changing the lives of the Santerres and those around them.
Download Description
"It's 1979, and seven-year-old Abby, the youngest member of the close-knit Santerre family, is trapped indoors with the chicken pox during a heat wave. The events set in motion that summer will span decades and continents, change the Santerres forever, and surprise and amaze anyone who loved Meloy's Liars and Saints. A rich, full novel about passion and desire, fear and betrayal, A Family Daughter illuminates both the joys and complications of contemporary life, and the relationship between truth and fiction. For everyone who has yet to meet the Santerres, an unmatched pleasure awaits.
Customer Reviews:
LOSERS ALL.......2007-08-27
This book gets 1 star from me and only because there's nothing less I can give it. "A Family Daughter" is a total waste of time. The characters are complete and utter LOSERS. They were, like most losers, extremely bored with absolutely everything and that probably had a lot to do with the fact that they were so boring themselves. The characters tried in vain to make themselves interesting by their outlandish behavior, but came off as completely selfish and hopelessly boring. I found absolutely nothing to recommend this book.
Meloy - Second Take on a Family.......2007-05-13
We return to the family of her first book. Some things are explained, some things are added, but the second look lacks the freshness of the first. A good book, but let's have a new family for the third.
Greatly enjoyed the book from a reader in Santa Barbara.......2006-10-10
Another great book from Meloy. Her style is fabulous and captivating. I will buy every book she writes.
"carrying her private sense of disaster and chaos through an ad for light beer". .......2006-04-22
An uncle who sleeps with his niece, a mother who won't commit to her daughter, and a matriarch who looks back at her family and wonders why they are all so eccentric, wayward and willful. In A Family Daughter, author Maile Meloy returns to the Santerres family, telling her story from the perspective of Clarissa's daughter Abby who is about to attend university in San Diego.
Beautiful, confused and sensual, Abby is also emotional and complicated. She visits a therapist to try and make sense of her life, and has a close relationship with Ben, her father. But when Ben is killed in a car accident, Abby is set adrift - her mother, Clarissa is too distant and self-involved to take that much of an interest in her. Shaken to the core, she falls in love with her Uncle Jamie, a supportive influence since she was seven years old.
Of course, there's a question over whether Jamie is really Abby's uncle, but they're so hot for each other that they begin sleeping together. Abby also begins to write a novel about a Catholic family keeping secrets from each other. It's ostensibly a work of fiction, but it's also a thinly disguised veil of her own family, and it allows the major players to seek out part of their pasts, each attempting to find their own way.
A Family Daughter is richly observed and multi-layered and it keeps constantly diverging, introducing characters existing in the periphery of the Santerres' lives; at one stage, the narrative even switches gears to Argentina. There's a spoilt countess, a devious Hungarian prostitute, and a calculating French lawyer, with Meloy always contrasting these points of view, exposing the miscommunications, disappointments and expectations of this family and the people that fall within their radar.
Teddy, the patriarch, with his ailing eyesight and declining health wonders why his family make the kind of decisions they do and choose to live errant lives. An old style Catholic father, his beliefs made him rigid - he wonders why Jamie hadn't settled down the way he expected, and that his daughters lives were not what he wanted for them, "we all knew in all of these cases that he hoped that things would turn out differently," Teddy represents the old guard, wanting what is understandable and morally unambiguous and not filled with strife, "to trust Go and sow faith and Love."
At the novel's end, none of the characters ever really achieve Teddy's wishes: Clarissa remains capricious and selfish, the bored Margot reconnects with an old flame and throws herself into an affair, handsome Jamie marries for convenience not love, and the lovely Abby remains baffled at her family's dysfunctions and contradictions.
While A Family Daughter isn't as tightly plotted and as realistic as its prequel Liars and Saints, the novel is still an unusual examination of a modern American family in crisis, "a crazy invented family." The problem with a second novel is that it must prolong the curiosity of the first, move the story along and also keep the characters from becoming dull.
For those who enjoyed Liars and Saints, this novel is certainly an excellent connection to past characters as well as bridging the gap to the next generation. The good news is that A Family Daughter also works as a stand-alone novel; it's a compelling portrait of a family where faith, God and logic sit uneasily side by side. Mike Leonard April 06.
History rewritten.......2006-04-09
Half the considerable charm of Family Daughter is the fact that Meloy revisits her earlier work, Liars and Saints, and deftly twists the plot points and characters, creating a brand new dish with the same ingredients.
Family Daughter realizes the potential that Meloy first displayed in Liars and Saints, a book that left me reeling, sort of like flipping through a photo album on warp speed. (In the space of a few pages, Clarissa is pregnant with Abby, Abby is born, grows up, and dies.) The characters blurred together in the finest soap opera fashion, and getting to the end of the book felt like winning a race: I'd covered a lot of ground but if there were roses to stop and smell, I hadn't glimpsed them.
So I appreciated Meloy's willingness to reintroduce us to Abby and to give us a chance to get to know this complicated, often confused, but ultimately insightful protagonist. Not only that, Meloy relaxes enough to have fun, introducing eccentric charmers such as the deliciously-named Saffron and devilish Uncle Freddie.
Having skimmed the other reviews, I can't sign off without addressing the negative comments I saw.
First, you want serious literature? Please, help yourself, put this book down and dust off the Tolstoy or Proust. Daughter was not written to be the foundation of your Ph.D. dissertation.
Next, the whines about the lack of congruency between Liars and Daughter. From my perspective, one of the coolest aspects of Daughter is that whole parallel universe thing. After Abby publishes her family novel, the reader is left wondering whether Abby's novel was actually Liars and Saints--there are hints that many of the key elements of Liars, notably the "who's your mama" mystery/scandal, were concocted by the family daughter. But if you spend too much time trying to figure out the chicken-and-egg relationship here, you may risk undermining your enjoyment of the book.
Bottom line: as refreshing as a lime spritzer and perfect for the beach. Meloy's found her pace with this one, and (as long as you try not to get too nitpicky) you will not regret the hours you spend with Abby and family.
Book Description
The lives of the talented Aubrey children have long been clouded by their father?s genius for instability, but his new job in the London suburbs promises, for a time at least, reprieve from scandal and the threat of ruin. Mrs. Aubrey, a former concert pianist, struggles to keep the family afloat, but then she is something of a high-strung eccentric herself, as is all too clear to her daughter Rose, through whose loving but sometimes cruel eyes events are seen. Still, living on the edge holds the promise of the unexpected, and the Aubreys, who encounter furious poltergeists, turn up hidden masterpieces, and come to the aid of a murderess, will find that they have adventure to spare.
In The Fountain Overflows, a 1957 best seller, Rebecca West transmuted her own volatile childhood into enduring art. This is an unvarnished but affectionate picture of an extraordinary family, in which a remarkable stylist and powerful intelligence surveys the elusive boundaries of childhood and adulthood, freedom and dependency, the ordinary and the occult.
Customer Reviews:
Intriguing characters, sparkling writing.......2007-08-11
This was my first encounter with Dame Rebecca West's writing, but it won't be my last. Nearly every paragraph stood alone, as a description to savor or an emotion remarkably described. The characters linger long after the book is closed. I believe that someone has suggested that they are somewhat Dickensian, with which I would agree. The plot conveys to the reader a deep understanding of the frustrations encountered by women whose lives are held in thrall by men who are indifferent to their wellbeing.
The only thing that keeps this book from being 5-stars in my mind are occasional spots where you want it to move more quickly. Its subtlety and richness make it a book well worth revisiting.
A general comment about the Classics series of the New York Review of Books. I am particularly pleased to have discovered this series for two reasons. First, because of the beauty of the books themselves; the cover art is of a very high quality and the paper, printing and binding is as well. The books themselves are pleasurable to experience. Second, the series is introducing me to literature that I would otherwise have never read. I just finished "A High Wind in Jamaica," have begun "Indian Summer" by William Dean Howells (and my middle-school introduction to "The Rise of Silas Lapham" would have predicted that I would never have picked up a book by Howells again, which would have been my loss - I might even tackle Silas Lapham again), and have ordered a few more. I recommend that readers explore some of these treasures.
Once Of My Favorite Books.......2006-11-07
to be savored - a real treasure.
This book is hard to classify because it is both densely written, and yet, it is like cotten candy. If you like to be transported to another place and time, and enjoy writers who know how to use the English language, this is a book for you!
My favorite novel of all time--and I've read thousands..........2005-01-10
The header says it all. If pressed, I will have to admit that this is my absolute favorite novel of all time. There is something so haunting and so human and so memorable about this book, I can't stay away from it--I must have read it 20 times, and I never grow tired of it.
Quite Simply One of the Best Books in English Literature.......2003-08-16
I had heard of author Rebecca West, mainly as the young woman who had a long term affair with a much older H.G. Wells and produced a child out of wedlock, back when things like this were considered shocking. I stumbled across a copy of this book and decided it might make an interesting read.
I never imagined that I had found a true classic, a book that uses the English language to a degree unsurpassed by any other author I have ever read. The story of is simple, that of a down on their luck family, living in London during the early 1900's. Their trials and tribulations are faithfully described, as are the multitude of characters they befriend. Actually to describe the plot, one might assume that not much really happens and to be honest, the plot is not the main attribute of this novel. But the language! I have often thought that I would some day like to write a novel but after reading this book, I would not even attempt it! This is how language should be used...clear and concise but also able to convey atmosphere and emotions. Page after page of luscious words, all combining together to create an unforgettable reading experience. If, like me, you wanted to read more, please note that the sequel, This Real Night is almost as good. A third book, Cousin Rosamund is much weaker since it was not completed at the time of the author's death.
Please do yourself a favor and read this book. I think this ranks with Pride and Prejudice and Wuthering Heights as books which define the best that the English language can offer.
Beautiful, wise, witty, and, yes, you guessed it, timeless.......2003-03-27
About two pages into this I realized I'd come across a sublimely intelligent and aware narrative voice -- that of a 12-yr-old girl in turn-of-the-century London -- and from that point on I read the rest of the novel in a page-turning fever of delight and pleasure. A fictionalized account of Rebecca West's real family, the story follows the lives of the narrator, Rose Aubrey and her twin sister Mary (both of whom are prodigies on the piano), their older sister Cordelia, who apparently stinks at the piano, but doesn't realize it (much to the chagrine of the rest of the family), their thoroughly unflappable and adored younger brother, Richard, a flautist, and their ragged, heroic mother who tries to keep the family above water while the father, a brilliant essayist and pamphleteer who is completely lacking in all matters of practicality, loses one job after another. It's a brilliant cast brought unforgettably to life by West's flawless prose and the intelligence, generosity, imagination and wit poured into it. When you close the book, you feel as if you had just remembered moments from a real family you'd known while growing up, but who you lost touch with because your family moved away. Truly wonderful. Please, if you love beautiful things, read this.
Average customer rating:
- Confusing, Boring, and a Let Down
- A book with much pondering
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Certainty: A Novel
Madeleine Thien
Manufacturer: Little, Brown and Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
Contemporary
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Thien, Madeline
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ASIN: 0316834998 |
Book Description
Madeleine Thien's stunning debut novel hauntingly retells a crucial moment in history, through two unforgettable love stories. Gail Lim, a producer of radio documentaries, is haunted by the mystery of her father's Asian past.
As a child, Gail's father, Matthew Lim, lived in a Malaysian village occupied by the Japanese. He and his beloved Ani wandered the jungle fringe under the terrifying shadow of war. The war shattered their families, splitting the two apart until a brief reunion years later. Matthew's profound connection to Ani and the life-changing secrets they shared cast a shadow that, later still, Matthew's wife, Clara, desperately sought to understand.
Gail's journey to unravel the mystery of her parents' lives takes her to Amsterdam, where she unearths more about this mysterious other woman. But as Gail approaches the truth, Ani's story will bring Gail face-to-face, with the untold mysteries of her own life.
Vivid, poignant, and written in understated yet powerful prose, CERTAINTY is a novel about the legacies of loss, the dislocations of war, and the timeless redemption afforded by love.
Customer Reviews:
Confusing, Boring, and a Let Down.......2007-05-24
I bought this book with much anticipation from the previous reviews I read. Boy, was I let down. It was an unfilling read, and very confusing. The time period jumps were not clear, and the book was just idle words without any meaning. If you asked me what the book was about, I would falter in giving you a clear description. There was no depth. Don't waste your money, more importantly don't waste your time.
A book with much pondering.......2007-04-22
Reviewed by Debra Gaynor for Reader Views (3/07)
It's been a year since Gail died. Ansel still remembers the warmth of her body next to his and cherishes the sound of her voice on tape. Gail had begun a documentary. It was important to her and it's unfinished. It is the story of her father Matthew Lim and an investigation of her grandfather's death. The story line begins in the future and travels to the past in a unique writing style.
Matthew's father had once own a rubber plantation in Malaysia but the Japanese army now controlled it. Before the war they had lived in a nice house. But the war had changed many things. The Japanese had taken over the school and now the students had to learn to sing Japanese songs. Matthew and his best friend, Ani, were only ten-years old, but they roamed the jungles. Years later Matthew and Ani meet again, and their love reawakens, but cannot overcome politics and the suspicions that Matthew's father assisted the Japanese. They quietly go their separate ways; Ani does not tell him that she is pregnant. Matthew goes on with his life moving to Vancouver. He marries Clara and cherishes their daughter Gail.
Each character in "Certainty" weaves in his, or her, own thread of the past. Each recounts their individual history in such a way that the story becomes a tapestry of many lives. The story flows smoothly. The characters jump off the pages and come to life. Gail is driven to find the truth. This is not a novel that I could pick up and read in one setting. The words must be pondered. The truth behind the words must be sought. Madeleine Thien is a talented writer and I believe we will be reading more of her books. I highly recommend this book.
Customer Reviews:
Who does she think she is?.......2007-01-12
This book was OK. She started off good and then I don't know what happen. It got kinda slow, but it was good.
Enjoyable Distraction.......2006-08-22
I must admit, Benilde let me down just a little with this book. I absolutely loved her first two books, and enjoyed her last book, but - and I can't quite put my finger on it - something just wasn't connecting for me with this one. Maybe it was the shock of my beloved Miles actually falling for, and committing to someone, or maybe it was Aisha, who I didn't really care for through much of the book (she was a little TOO much for me). The book did its job, which was to keep me distracted during my son's first weekend away at college, but it didn't draw me in the way her books usually do.
If you haven't read anything else by Benilde Little, don't make this your first selection (try Good Hair instead). She is one of my faves, but this just wasn't one of my favorite books.
Who Does She Think She Is.......2006-07-28
I love Benilde Little books, but this one was a disappointment. Kind of like she had to make some quota with the book publishers and just gave them something she was working on. If you wanna do some good Benilde Little reading, read "THE ITCH."
Quite astonishing!.......2005-11-18
Perhaps I'm just getting old and have absolutely no comprehension of the 20-something-year old women of today. I find it absolute madness that a young woman would trade in a wealthy, attentive man who adored her just the way she was, for a "pumpkin and zebra colored linens, raspberry Gerber daisies and coconut cupcakes" person. Personally, I believe that someone slipped the sistah a micky at her engagement party. Unbelieveable!!!
Nevertheless, this was a fun read.
A Tidy Fairy Tale.......2005-11-16
I must admit, in the beginning of this story, I didn't like the main character (Aisha) for obvious reasons. I suppose that's what makes the author a good writer. But as things unfolded, I had to give Aisha props for knowing what she didn't want & going after what she did want (money being no replacement for happiness). It was nice to see the mother (Camille) find her inner beauty thru developing a loving relationship with her deceased ex's 'hippie' mother (Abby); and finally it was nice for grandmother (Geneva) to finally loosen up & give everyone a break. The fairy tale came together in a neat package by the end of the book that left a smile on my face being the hopeless romantic that I am!
Amazon.com
In the same calm, revelatory manner in which he wrote The Bird Artist, Howard Norman begins Devotion by telling of an event and then moving forward and backward from it. On August 19, 1985, the day that David Kozol and Margaret Field return to London from their honeymoon, David and his father-in-law, William Field, are involved in a fracas that leaves Field in the hospital. Not until almost the end of the book do we find out the cause.
David's life began heading toward that moment when he first laid eyes on Margaret, traveling as a publicist with an orchestral ensemble, and fell instantly in love with her. They are married in a few months. David wants to write a book about his mentor, Josef Sudek, a Czech genius, and Margaret enjoys traveling with the orchestra, checking in daily with her father, who tends an estate in Nova Scotia owned by a Jewish couple, Stefania and Isador Tecosky, and the wounded swans who live there. After William is hurt, David takes over his estate duties but Margaret refuses to see him.
Norman brings these people and their disparate realities together by showing the real devotion that binds them to each other and to the swans. William and Margaret enjoy a strong filial bond, the Tecoskys are devoted to William and Margaret, and the swans provide the perfect metaphor for all the relationships: they have had their wings clipped so they cannot fly--and they mate for life. Norman is a born naturalist with an immense love for Nova Scotia, birds, and landscape combined with a towering literary capability to bring them all together in a quirky, interesting story. Valerie Ryan
Book Description
Fans of Howard Norman, the internationally acclaimed author of The Hunting of L and The Bird Artist and a two-time National Book Award finalist, will find in his latest novel -- an intense and intriguingly unconventional love story -- all the hallmarks of this masterly writer: sparkling yet spare language, a totally compelling air of mystery spread over our workaday world, and ability to capture the metaphorical heartbeat at the center of our lives.
Like many of Howard Norman's celebrated novels, Devotion begins with an announcement of a crime: on August 19, 1985, David Kozol and his father-in-law engaged in "assault by mutual affray." Norman sets out to explore a great mystery: why seemingly quiet, contained people lose control. David and Maggie's story seemed straightforward enough; they met in a hotel lobby in London. For David, the simple fact was love at first sight. For Maggie, the attraction was similarly sudden and unprecedented in intensity. Their love affair, "A fugue state of amorous devotion," turned into a whirlwind romance and marriage. So what could possibly enrage David enough that he would strike at the father of his new bride? Why would William, a gentle man who looks after an estate -- and its flock of swans -- in Nova Scotia, be so angry at the man who has just married his beloved only child, Maggie? And what would lead Maggie to believe that David has been unfaithful to her? In his signature style -- haunting and evocative -- Norman lays bare the inventive stupidities people are capable of when wounded and confused.
At its core, Devotion is an elegantly constructed, never sentimental examination of love: romantic love (and its flip side, hate), filial love at its most tender, and, of course, love for the vast open spaces of Nova Scotia.
Customer Reviews:
Limp.......2007-03-21
This is a slim story that doesn't quite qualify as a novel. As someone in my book group said, it's more like an idea of a novel. The voice is similar to the one in The Bird Artist although it is third person and the setting is similar. The device of the swans doesn't quite work. There are some interesting characters but a few to many times their actions aren't quite believable and too contrived. The main character is inexplicably lame as was the ending of the book.
Another good one........2007-03-09
If you like Norman you will like this one. Typical woman and locales.
A Swan Dive.......2007-03-08
In previous Norman novels and reminiscences, I have enjoyed the richness of interesting, well-developed characters doing wild things carefully. I have loved the uncompromising spirit of the author, and have counted him on my wish list, eagerly awaiting his next journey into the vast inner spacings of eastern Canada. It is, therefore, very sad for me to say that I feel I have lost a friend. I think the author has disappeared with a flight of wounded swans.
Devotion appears written with little distance from the main character. It appears written in drunken haste, ill-timed, in often stiltifed and forced prose. Norman wanely develops his Dosteyevskian 'idiot', places him in the anguishing half-light of passive resistance, makes him a voyeur to all but the swam, only with whom he can frolic in drunken embrace. But who cares. Not Norman nor I.
Firstly, the timing is off. Norman has lost, in the irony of the title, any 'devotion' he has had for the painstaking craftsmanship of his earlier works. The author of 'Northern Lights' and, of course his famous trilogy of exceptional prose, seems to have been forced to try to re-create his masterpieces for expedience's sake and for, I suspect, a whole kettle of yankee dollars. The book just does not work.
Two dimensional characters passionlessly embrace even before they are introduced. Who are these people seen only in half-light. Norman thinks he is still in control of his craft but he now writes with a flat, false pen. There is no drama, no pacing that can make important sequences come alive. Maggie's naked dance by the window is dull because Maggie is dull as is the voyeur David who is dull. Finally they touch, appear re-united in the car. This act, in a drama of people who cannot cause an action, should mean something to us.But Maggie, or is it David, or perhaps, Howard Norman who makes us feel one or both or all of them are holding a dead mackerel in their flaccid fingers?
There is greater passion about the swans. Its obvious Norman has given up on human contact. The passing mention of a woman who believes her swan to be a dead husband is more in keeping with this author's present passion. The only real scene in this story that masquerades as substance(and I suspect, like his character,was written with alcohol very close by) occurs when David wrestles with the swan and falls down drunk amidst swan dew. It is as close to drunken passion that the present-day Norman can affect.
Sadly, Norman obviously no longer cares. He is Roger Clemens trying to scratch out one more season well after his skills are gone His gifts are wilted.
Devotion, above all else, is a very dull read. Not until page 70 of this short work do we begin to see any movement. The plot,an accident...a misunderstanding in a hotel room, a punch in the mouth? Wow,oh my, what heart-stopping drama!. Like David, his protagonist, Norman now is now disappeared behind the camera lense. His prose, like his protagonist's actions; indeed, like all his characters seems irksome and stilted--forced and banal.
I need more, Howard Norman, if I am to pay twenty dollars to read you again. Where's your.....honesty, your.....devotion?
"I'll forgive and forget, but I'll remember.".......2007-03-05
Imagery is central to Devotion, the issue of communication couched in a broken romance. The novel begins with an altercation between David Kozol and his father-in-law, William. Suffering of late from the estrangement of his wife, Maggie, David has not quite ascertained how to rectify his marital predicament. It is assumed that some form of infidelity is at fault in the severing of trust, the two men possessing conflicting views in regards to the state of the marriage, David's father-in-law siding naturally with his disappointed daughter.
The fast-forward romance between the newlyweds is as passionate as their current distance is poignant, the attraction immediate and mutual from the start, two Canadians meeting by chance in London. Later, back in Nova Scotia after the accident, David's supposed misdeed hanging over the relationship like a dark shadow, the new husband takes over William's estate management duties. The estate is owned by an elderly couple and serves as a refuge for swans, the mute birds central to the story and indicative of the ambiguity of form and intent. For though they are majestic, the swans are ill-tempered and difficult, much like humans. These particular humans fumble through a tripartite relationship, where father serves as buffer for daughter, the lack of communication among the parties stunning. Clearly David and Maggie are victims of their impulsiveness; it is that same impetuousness that causes them to pull apart in adversity rather than come together in solution.
In eloquent prose, the author casts his characters in the picturesque Nova Scotia, the honking swans, the distance between the lovers accented by the haunting rural landscape. Love being more powerful than enforced isolation, David and Maggie eventually navigate the rocky ground of their fledgling marriage, toward a resolution of differences and a strong dose of forgiveness. Luan Gaines/2007.
Great for those who love this author.......2007-02-09
If you are a fan, do not hesitate, Norman's new book is beautifully written and very consistent with the unique point of view and perspective his narrators always provide. My only complaint is that it's a slim volume.
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- Taking Shots: Tall Tales, Bizarre Battles, and the Incredible Truth About the NBA
- VaultReports.com Guide to Mastering Accounting
- Microeconomics Demystified
- Advanced Marathoning
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan: A Novel
Suite Francaise
Water for Elephants: A Novel
Year of Wonders
The Glass Castle: A Memoir
