This story was on offer as a March Prime read, and I could not resist since it was written by Isabel Allende. Two young lovers are found sleeping (oneThis story was on offer as a March Prime read, and I could not resist since it was written by Isabel Allende. Two young lovers are found sleeping (one completely nude, the other in a wedding dress) at the Guggenheim Museum. The detective who is assigned to investigate the "break-in" finds his job a bit puzzling. Quite a fun read and just the right touch of magical realism to make the story enchanting and not run me off. After all, love can be magical....more
Another Henry James novel scratched off my list, and perhaps the last. I might like to re-read The Turn of the Screw at som3.5-stars, rounded down up.
Another Henry James novel scratched off my list, and perhaps the last. I might like to re-read The Turn of the Screw at some point, but I don’t think I will tackle another. This one is quite adequate in both the story and the characterization, but I suspect I read him more because he was admired by Edith Wharton (I keep trying to discover what she found), than that I fully appreciate him myself.
This is a shorter novel, which I think contributes to its being one of his better works. When he writes shorter pieces, he maintains a kind of discipline and focus that he seems to lose in his longer ones. Catherine, our heroine, is an interesting female character. She is a bit naive when the story begins and remarkably stubborn in the face of her father’s strong dislike of her choice of beaus. As it would happen, we know almost immediately that her father is right, but that does not make his treatment of her palatable in the least.
Her second family member, Aunt Lavinia Penniman, is even worse, in my estimation. I cannot remember when I have disliked a character more. She is thoughtless, self-centered and manipulative; and it delights me that Catherine does not make a model of her behavior.
James is adept at character studies, and Catherine is both interesting and unusual. Like Wharton, he knows the New York upper-crust and I suspect does not like them very much. At least he fails to think their money is their salvation and he knows the dangers that threaten the heart when money becomes the motivation....more
I read this book for IRL book club, and I admit had it not been for that reason I would have bailed very e2 very painful, oh my God let it end, stars.
I read this book for IRL book club, and I admit had it not been for that reason I would have bailed very early on. Definitely not the kind of material that appeals to me. In fact, I think it fails on almost every level. I did not find the characters realistic enough to be engaging, I found elements of the story preposterous, and while the blurb regarding the author lauds her meticulous research, I felt she dealt so little with any historical details that she might have gleaned the facts from a very cursory examination of a school textbook that included life in an early 19th century mill town.
Where it fails the most egregiously, for me, however, is in its understanding of Christianity and God. Our main character, Lily, begins the story set upon seeking retribution from the textile industry that has replaced her father’s farm. She does this with the full conviction that God has sent her to exact punishment. In this endeavor, she sets a fire and is responsible for serious injury to a fellow worker. She never confesses her part in this, but she nurses the injured girl and admits to herself that she must seek God’s forgiveness for what she has done. That apparently makes it okie-doakie. Ah, were it only that simple!
There are numerous bad men in the tale, none of which receive any punishment sufficient to their crimes. In fact, one of them is given a promotion and a chance to leave his wicked ways, and immediately does. But, who among us could believe after all the evidence of his lack of remorse, his predatory attitude and his abuse of power that he would go straight with only a minor talk by some church elders?
Oh well, I could go on, but you get the idea–this is a book for the very young and naive, who can still believe that the good are nearly perfect and the evil are only waiting for the right moment to be inspired to mend their ways. I like my characters to have depth, my religion to have complexity, and my history to have allure. ...more
Stepping into the world of Guinevere Pettigrew is like stumbling upon a county fair when you were on your way to the dentist. You forget all about youStepping into the world of Guinevere Pettigrew is like stumbling upon a county fair when you were on your way to the dentist. You forget all about your obligation because you are having too much fun on the ferris wheel. I only meant to sample the book to see if I wanted to join the buddy read, and I stayed on the ride until the operator said, “sorry, but we are closing for the night.”
Miss Pettigrew lives for a day and we live right along with her, laughing as we go, and hoping she doesn’t get some rude awakening. I imagine Winifred Watson was told one too many times about the things “ladies do not do”; she convinced me we should try them all at least once in life, even if we think we are too old! She gave us a jewel in the person of Miss Pettigrew....more
I love reading Susanna Kearsley because she transports me to another world, just as she does her time-traveling characters, and I spend my time there,I love reading Susanna Kearsley because she transports me to another world, just as she does her time-traveling characters, and I spend my time there, forgetting this world of mine exists. Her books, like the philosophy of her characters, bring you full circle; they give you a sense that there is order and balance in the world and that what we do not achieve in this one, we might achieve in the next.
”It’s all rather like a circle, you know,” she went on, “Life is. You start off in one place and choose your path and when you finish up you find you’re right back where you started from.
I would not argue with anyone that this is light reading, nothing substantive that bends your mind or makes you twist in a knot for meaning–but don’t we need that too? And, I will confess, the past is a place I dearly love to go.
In the words of William Faulkner "The past is never dead. It's not even past." In the words of Susanna Kearsley, If you don’t go looking for the lessons of the past, then the past will come looking for you.
This is not my favorite of her books, and I have read enough of them to have figured out the twist long before it came, but that matters not a whit, because this was a break from life, from the unrelenting pressures of my days, and I could cry over someone else’s problems and not my own. In fact, it was uplifting to know this would have a happy ending, a happily-ever-after for someone, and a chance to fix the past, something the rest of us will never have. Then I find I have reached the last page, and I am back in my own world again, which is as it should be.
The past can teach us, nurture us, but it cannot sustain us. The essence of life is change, and we must move ever forward or the soul will wither and die....more
“We all leave one another. We die, we change–it’s mostly change–we outgrow our best friends, but even if I do leave you, I will have passed on to you “We all leave one another. We die, we change–it’s mostly change–we outgrow our best friends, but even if I do leave you, I will have passed on to you something of myself; you will be a different person because of knowing me; it’s inescapable.”
I was struck by the truth of this; the way each person we care for in life leaves their indelible mark on us and influences the way we react to or think of the next person.
This book transported me back to my own twenties and my first real experience with love. Mine was nothing like Kate’s, but I think each and every one of us has this experience and we never forget it. The first time we love with heart and soul, and the first time we feel the heartbreak that comes with loving the wrong person.
I would have loved these books had I read them when I was in my early thirties and only slightly distanced from this world of men and searching. I think Edna O’Brien has done a marvelous job of capturing that time of a girl’s life. I felt very nostalgic while reading. I also felt grateful, because I know what Kate and Baba do not yet know–there is life after those years of angst, and that life can be splendid.
I will finish the trilogy next month and see if the girls have a happy ending. No doubt a lovely way to start the year.
“Hewey Calloway tries to live a life that is already out of its time. He attempts to remain a horseback man while the world relentlessly moves into a “Hewey Calloway tries to live a life that is already out of its time. He attempts to remain a horseback man while the world relentlessly moves into a machine age. He tries to hold to the open range of recent memory even after that range has been cubed and diced and parceled by barbed wire. He lives in an impossible dream, trying to remain changeless in a world where the only constant is change.” - Elmer Kelton, Introduction
The way Hewey saw it, the Lord had purposely made every person different. He could not understand why so many people were determined to thwart the Lord’s work by making everyone the same.
Hewey Calloway is a man out of time. He is a cowboy in a world that is rapidly becoming infested with automobiles. He likes to believe his way of life is indestructible, but he looks around him and sees fewer men like himself and more like his brother, Walter, who has succumbed to the lure of a farm and responsibilities of a family.
This novel is written in a light and humorous tone, and there is much to laugh at in Hewey. He is marvelously candid and logical, and I found myself rooting for his survival.
He had never seen any harm in an occasional small liberty with the facts, provided the motive was honorable.
I always liked God better when I found Him outdoors. He always seemed too big to fit into a little-bitty cramped-up church house.
Lots of people talk about what the Lord wants. Wonder how many has ever asked Him.
Looks to me like if they want people to pay attention to the rules, the rules ought to make sense.
Therein lies the problem, because the only life that makes sense for Hewey is a free one, and all he sees around him are ways in which men’s freedoms are curtailed. None of the joys of the town can usurp the pleasures of the range for Hewey. He still breaks mustangs, and in many ways he is one.
Despite the humor, there is a current of sadness that runs through this novel for me. It is the sadness of loss. If we are honest, each of us who lives a long life will see our way disappear to make room for whatever changes the future brings. I have felt it myself with the advent of technology. I live with it, even relish parts of it, but I know in my heart that I would trade it in a heartbeat to go back to that world in which a book could only be found at a library, a bookstore, or a drugstore paperback rack; when summer meant pedaling all over town on bicycles with your friends and an occasional milkshake at the pharmacy lunch counter; when Sundays were for church and dinner at Grandma’s and excitement was bag lunch day at school.
The world moves on, and if you do not move with it, it will leave you behind. But, there are worse things than being a “good old boy”, worse things than being an anachronism, provided you can manage to keep the part of you that makes you who you are....more
A romantic and predictable little story from a writer who is able to make it sing. Sometimes we would like to think life can be a fairytale, roads canA romantic and predictable little story from a writer who is able to make it sing. Sometimes we would like to think life can be a fairytale, roads can be retaken, hearts can be mended, messages can pass between hearts beyond years of separation. Alice Hoffman is able to make you a believer in such things, a rare talent indeed....more
This started out a bit slow for me, establishing the characters and the setting took a little time, but it is a Virago Classic, so I knew it was goingThis started out a bit slow for me, establishing the characters and the setting took a little time, but it is a Virago Classic, so I knew it was going to take off eventually–and it certainly did.
The principle story revolves around the children of Albert Sanger, a musical genius who lives a very Bohemian lifestyle, along with his six children from two marriages and his mistress and their daughter. His home is open to visitors who come and go at will, among them another, younger, musician, Lewis Dodd.
Dodd is beloved by all the children, but is particularly adored by the fourteen year old, Teresa (Tessa). With her he has a special bond that is based upon both an unspoken connection that both feel and an abiding love on Tessa’s part. Tessa is the constant nymph of the title. She nurses her love and believes she and Lewis will be together when she is old enough…but, there is a sudden twist of fate and her beautiful and charming cousin, Florence, arrives on the scene.
The situation and Tessa’s life become quite complicated from here and, as the love triangle develops, we witness the struggles of each of these characters to sort out their lives, their feelings, and their willingness to adapt and sacrifice for the other’s needs. Perhaps I should have found these characters unlikable for unsavory, but I did not. I found them hopeful, misguided and pitiable.
If I had any complaint against Margaret Kennedy’s construction, it would be that there are a number of characters in which a great deal of time is invested who then are dismissed far too casually and completely for my taste. I felt I had nurtured relationships and then been told, “oops that isn’t where this story is going after all.” It is a minor complaint, in truth, but it did keep me from giving this the full 5-stars.
This is my second Margaret Kennedy novel. I found them both interesting and compelling, so I will gladly tackle a third someday soon. Her works are not perfect, but they are worthy.
It’s funny how easy it is to make people believe what they want to believe or what they are most afraid of.
The Ballad of Tom Dooley is a song by the KIt’s funny how easy it is to make people believe what they want to believe or what they are most afraid of.
The Ballad of Tom Dooley is a song by the Kingston Trio which probably caught the imagination of everyone who heard it in the late 1950s. It is based, very loosely, on a true story, but if you try to make sense of it from just the lyrics of the song, you will be destined to failure.
What Sharyn McCrumb has done is research the events and subsequent trial of Tom Dula, the actual man hanged in North Carolina for the senseless murder of Laura Foster, and reconstructed a version of the story that makes sense from the known facts. She is convinced that she got it right, and she well may have.
The story is character driven, and McCrumb, herself, compares it to Wuthering Heights, with Ann Melton and Tom Dula easily seen as Kathy and Heathcliff-like lovers. I have heard it said that one person always loves a little more, and perhaps that is true. In this case, maybe sadly so. This novel explores what can happen when a psychopath, a narcissist, a handsome layabout and a promiscuous girl become entangled in too close quarters and the results are manipulation and tragedy.
For the last few days, I needed a break from any reading that required close concentration or careful thought, and this book filled the bill. It was very enjoyable, like reading a murder mystery, but much more centered upon the psychological aspects of the characters themselves. We knew Tom Dula would be hanged at the outset, so this book was much more about the journey than the destination. I will not hesitate to read McCrumb again, right now I have got to try to stop singing.
“Hang down your head, Tom Dooley, hang down your head and cry. Hang down your head, Tom Dooley. Poor boy, you’re bound to die.”...more
How fragile our lives are anyways. How quickly things can change forever.
This is a splendid book, full of human trial and victory, and singing witHow fragile our lives are anyways. How quickly things can change forever.
This is a splendid book, full of human trial and victory, and singing with love and endurance. I developed a deep respect and admiration for Sarah Prine. Living in the Arizona Territory in the second half of the 19th Century would have been a challenge that not everyone could survive. In fact, Sarah herself says
Anyone who hasn’t got some backbone has no business trying to live in the Territories.
I am pretty sure that there is no one who reads and appreciates this book who doesn’t end up in love with Captain Jack Eliot. He is the kind of man who would not escape the adoration of a woman or the approbation of a man. He is an enigma and an awakening for Sarah, and we are so privileged to see him through her eyes, for we recognize his wonderful character while she is still discovering it. His superb characterization is what makes this book a 5-star read. Like Sarah, I found myself always peering into the distance, waiting for Captain Eliot to return.
Captain Elliot has this recklessness about him, and a way of holding on that you don’t know he is holding on, and a way of laughing that is like he takes pleasure in the act of laughing itself. He is better to have around in a scrap than a trained wildcat, though.
All the secondary characters, Sarah’s mother, Jack’s father, Savannah and Albert, the brothers, the children, the myriad of people who pass through Sarah’s life, are painted with exacting care. We are given every sort of strength and weakness, tenderness and meanness alive in the human race, and it was hard to imagine the hardships and tribulations these people, particularly the women, endured.
I marked dozens of passages to remember, for Nancy Turner puts words of wisdom into Sarah’s diary entries that even Sarah does not wholly grasp the sageness of. In fact, one of the most appealing things about Sarah is that she is often still so innocent and naive for a woman who has had such a harsh and serious life experience; and that she has that ability of children to see right into the heart of things and people.
A few of my favorites:
…this has hurt my heart and spirit more than all the other trials, for being forsaken is worse than being killed.
The likes of her isn’t going to listen nor be changed in the mind just from hearing sense. Some people sense is wasted on, and that’s purely a fact.
After a couple of hours the children began playing. They just cannot be sad too long, it is not in them; as children mourn in little bits here and there like patchwork in their lives.
Sometimes I feel like a tree on a hill, at a place where all the wind blows and the hail hits the hardest. All the people I love are down the side aways, sheltered under a great rock, and I am out of the fold, standing alone in the sun and the snow. I feel like I am not part of the rest somehow, although they welcome me and are kind. I see my family as they sit together and it is like they have a certain way between them that is beyond me. I wonder if other folks ever feel included yet alone.
It seems there is always a road with bends and forks to choose, and taking one path means you can never take another one. There’s no starting over nor undoing the steps I’ve taken.
It fascinated me to think that Nancy Turner based this upon an actual diary left by her own ancestor, and that there was an element of truth to Sarah's experiences.
I am happy that there are two more books featuring Sarah to follow this one. I enjoy Nancy Turner’s writing style and her beautiful descriptions and characterizations. I do not, however, expect the next two will be able to hold up to this one. It is so hard to make lightning strike twice in the same place–let alone three times, and this book is pretty darned perfect to me. And, for anyone who has read it, there is an obvious reason to not expect the same delight can carry through.
My sincere thanks to my friend, Lori, for recommending this book to our little reading group. I am excited that there will be discussion of it and I will not have to let go of these people or this place quite yet....more
In this, Maggie O'Farrell's second published novel, our narrator, Lily, meets Marcus and falls immediately, and somewhat foolishly, in love. She knowsIn this, Maggie O'Farrell's second published novel, our narrator, Lily, meets Marcus and falls immediately, and somewhat foolishly, in love. She knows little or nothing of him before she is swept into being his flatmate, replacing his ex-girlfriend, Sinead, by both occupying her room and becoming his lover. She thinks this should be ecstasy, but somehow the girl before her haunts every inch of the flat and her life, and Marcus is more than a little evasive about what happened between them, how long they were together, and what happened to Sinead in the end. The other flatmate, Aiden, is just as silent on the subject, but Lily sees Sinead in every room and Sinead seems to want to tell her something.
She turns away. The flat seems sticky with Sinead’s fingerprints. She doesn’t know what to do.
As the story unfolds, it seems to be Lily’s story, but, the way Rebecca is about the first wife and not the current Mrs. de Winter, this story rapidly becomes Sinead’s story, not Lily’s.
As I read, I kept asking myself what this novel was really about, beneath the plot, where Maggie O’Farrell always hides the gold. This novel might be about infidelity, impulse, compulsion, an inability to see someone else clearly or maybe it is about our need to cling to the image we have created of someone vs. the person they really are. It might also be about the way we can overlook what is good around us by reaching for a perfection that isn’t there or even possible. But I decided this is what this book is really about–the points of collision.
There are always points of collision–moments at which it is possible to say, yes, if I had done that differently or I had been standing slightly to the right or I had left the house two minutes earlier or if I hadn’t crossed the road just then my life would have taken a completely different course.
Each of the characters here, Marcus, Lily, Aiden and Sinead, experience moments that seem careless or unimportant, but which define their lives and influence their futures. If you think about your own life, you will realize it is littered with such points. When I was setting out on my career, I was offered a choice of jobs in San Diego, Dallas, or Washington D.C. I chose D.C., met the man I was to marry, and had a life I could never have expected. The reason I chose D.C. was based on a chance remark a friend made to me the night before I turned in my decision...up until that moment, I had planned to accept the position in Dallas.
This is Maggie O’Farrell’s second novel and the only one of hers I have read that shows a slight need of polish. It is quite good, and held my interest throughout, but I believed the attempt at the ending to project the future and put a bow on was a mistake. It could have been left without the last section, allowed the reader to decide, and profited from the decision. I think the Maggie O’Farrell writing today would have done just that.
I’m glad I read it. It completes my voyage. I have read all of the novels and now have only the memoir left to me. I will be excited every time a new novel is penned from here out. I will be anxious to hold them in my hands and sail off with her again. A rare and wonderful writer.
When I began this novel, what struck me right away was how little I knew about 1979 Kurdistan. I wonder if I even knew Kurdistan was a place or the KuWhen I began this novel, what struck me right away was how little I knew about 1979 Kurdistan. I wonder if I even knew Kurdistan was a place or the Kurds a people back then. I imagine my mind would have still been focused on Southeast Asia and the sorrow of coming out of the Vietnam War.
Gian Sardar draws on her own intimate knowledge of the place and the people in writing this novel, which follows the trip of an American girl, who is a photographer, on a visit to the country with her Kurdish boyfriend, ostensibly to attend a family wedding. It is a frightful place to be at this time, and the fright I felt for her and for this family was quite real. You could tell the story was grounded in actual experiences and memories, some of them Gian’s own, and some those of her own Kurdish father and her American mother.
It isn’t a perfect novel. At times it is too slow, and at other times too repetitive in its efforts to impress upon us the danger that is around every corner. There were moments in the book that didn’t feel quite real, or maybe the right word would be genuine. Most of those had to do with the romantic angle. I am not a fan of romance novels, however, so this might have worked perfectly for someone who is. What did work marvelously was Sardar’s connection to the area itself. The descriptions of the terrain and the culture were beautifully written and often fascinating. The Kurdish characters felt very real to me, as did the fear and the sense of foreboding that were present from the moment the couple landed on Iraqi soil. I have one other objection, but it would be impossible to account for it here without a spoiler, and I try very hard never to ruin a book for any future reader, so I will just count that one silently.
The point in selecting this novel was to read something outside my normal reading preferences. This was a different culture, a different genre and a different time period than I usually choose, so it filled the bill. It was a perfectly satisfactory read, and earns a 3.5 star rating, which I rounded down....more
Whenever I read Elizabeth Taylor, I am struck by how her books are about nothing. They are about the mundane, everyday lives, of everyday people. And,Whenever I read Elizabeth Taylor, I am struck by how her books are about nothing. They are about the mundane, everyday lives, of everyday people. And, then, suddenly you realize they are about everything–for they are about human interaction, love, loss, deception, self-deception–all the things that make up our own everyday existences.
When we first meet Harriet and Vesey, they are eighteen years old, with the rushing hormones and confused feelings that are easy to recognize in that age, if you have been there. They play hide and seek with the younger children and slip away into barn lofts, where they are timid and uncertain with one another; they share a first kiss; they try on adult feelings and do not know what to do with them. When they part company, there is too much unfinished business and imagination in the spent summer, and you can feel that this will be a summer that influences lives.
Harriet soon meets and marries another man, Charles, who has suffered his own heartbreaking rejection. When he discovers she has mementos of Vesey, he latches onto that and allows it to breed a jealousy in his heart. He imagines her always loving another man. She imagines what life with Vesey might have been, versus the reality of life with Charles.
“For it was Vesey who had undermined their life together, the idea of him in both their heads.”
Needless to say, Vesey re-enters the picture and what transpires is what makes this book so poignant. There is a daughter to Harriet and Charles, a sixteen year old, who also figures into the equation, and the misunderstanding, miscalculations, and utter confusion are so realistic they make you wonder if any one of these people knows the least thing about one another or even about themselves.
“Our feelings about people change as we grow up; but if we are left with an idea instead of a person, perhaps that never changes. After every mistake Charles made, I suppose you thought ‘Vesey wouldn’t have done that.’ But an idea can’t ever make mistakes. He led a perfect life in your brain.”
I love Taylor’s penchant for understatement and her ability to weave a tale that seems at times to be going nowhere specific, when she has, in fact, a very specific destination in mind at all times. I did not find any of these characters overly likable, but I found all of them exceedingly real and truly pitiable. Taylor seems to say that we are all struggling for happiness and fulfillment, but we are so flawed, along with the others around us, that we can never recognize it when we find it, nor can we ever hold on to it for long.
I would probably give Elizabeth Taylor the “least appreciated great author” award. At the very least, I know she would be in the running. ...more
Donald Ross is a pilot, trained by the Royal Air Force and then polished and honed flying the northern route in Canada after the war. A no nonsense maDonald Ross is a pilot, trained by the Royal Air Force and then polished and honed flying the northern route in Canada after the war. A no nonsense man, raised by a school-marm aunt, always capable and infinitely trustworthy, he is hired by an Oxford don, Mr. Lockwood, to pilot an archaeological expedition to Greenland at an ancient Viking settlement called Brattalid. Mr. Lockwood has an overbearing daughter who insists on accompanying her father on the trip, and it becomes immediately evident that she and the pilot will make up the most interesting part of this story.
This novel is not very like the Nevil Shute’s I know so well, even though it is written in his easy-going, detail-rich, captivating style. It contains a bit of magic realism, although when it was written that phase had yet to be coined. I was okay with that element, but it did seem to turn the novel from one kind of story to quite another. The transition seemed somewhat abrupt, as up to that point, the book was stark realism and detail. The extraordinary details of the flight and the obstacles of the trip, in fact, made me feel as if I were flying with this company of travelers. So, while the first 3/4 of the book worked well for me, the ending seemed weak.
An Old Captivity isn’t Shute’s best work, although it is completely adequate. It is obvious Nevil Shute understood the mechanics involved and also the mental and physical strength necessary to pilot under these conditions, and the sort of person who would be willing to take on such an adventure. I cannot help admiring the courage of those who would undertake such a potentially perilous journey in search of knowledge for mankind.
While I hope to keep reading his books until I can say I have read them all, I keep hoping there is just one more of his true masterpieces out there that I haven’t touched yet, but despairing of such a discovery. ...more
How did I get to this ripe old age of mine and never hear of Gertrude Bell? I knew about Lawrence, of course, and had a vague 3.5 stars, rounded down.
How did I get to this ripe old age of mine and never hear of Gertrude Bell? I knew about Lawrence, of course, and had a vague idea that the middle east was parceled out by a small group of Englishmen that included Winston Churchill, but never any inkling of what really happened in an Egyptian hotel that changed the shape of the world and created the fractional and dysfunctional Middle East we see today.
Agnes Shanklin is an American schoolteacher, whose entire family has died in the influenza epidemic of 1918. (Russell's descriptions of the epidemic and the feelings it engendered were somewhat eerie in light of our own recent history). Agnes' sister, Lily, had known T. E. Lawrence before he achieved his fame, and when Agnes meets with him in Egypt, Lawrence invites her to share time with him and subsequently with the diplomats who are carving out the Middle East after WW1.
Agnes, as a friend of Lawrence, is intimate enough with the group to be included in some sensitive conversations, but remote enough not to be personally involved and have an outsider's view. Enter a German by the name of Karl Weilbacher, and you have someone to provide a romantic interest, a reason for Agnes to discuss the progress of the conference, and a person to provide another point of view from which to evaluate the proceedings.
There is a good smattering of descriptions of the holy land and Egypt, both the physical terrain and the social environment, and this is excellently done. I felt at times that I was taking a personal guided tour, and could hear the bustle of the marketplace and feel the crowding at the holy shrines. I experienced the discomfort of riding a camel across the desert to see the pyramids, and in fact, my rear end still aches from the bouncing.
I am a huge fan of Ms. Russell, and her inimitable style is certainly present in this novel, but there were also things that kept me at an arm’s length from our main character and at least one device that really bothered me. A short way into the narrative, Agnes drops that she is telling this story from beyond the grave, and I really did not care for that approach. The story would feel immediate and then Russell would remind us that Agnes was not alive, and somehow that would take something away from the reading for me. I could not see how this added anything to the novel other than providing Russell an avenue for her last chapter, and I felt that such an accomplished writer could have found another way to include this information or might have done just as well to save the “beyond the grave” surprise for the end. The story is well-told and the historical background very interesting, but I never cared enough for Agnes, so there was no sense of urgency on her behalf at any stage of reading.
What this book did inspire me to want to do is to rewatch Lawrence of Arabia. I saw it moons ago, and realized while reading that there is actually very little of it I remember beyond the sweeping cinematography for which it is famous. I will take advantage the next time it airs to revisit a film which is a known masterpiece and see how much of this “unknown” history I might have already been aware of if I had been paying attention. ...more
“Love is not changed by death and nothing is lost, and all in the end is harvest.” Julian of Norwich
I was prepared for this not to be Maggie O’Far“Love is not changed by death and nothing is lost, and all in the end is harvest.” Julian of Norwich
I was prepared for this not to be Maggie O’Farrell at her best. After all, it is her debut novel and she is bound to have gotten better over the years…right? Nope. She started out her writing career a full-blown amazement and never faltered afterward.
This novel starts off with a bit of a mystery. Alice sees something while visiting her home in Scotland that makes her run back to London, and we do not know what it is she saw. She is plunged into a coma immediately thereafter, so we must wait for the details of her experience to emerge. Just the desire to know what she saw would have been enough to propel me to the end, but there is so much more to this novel than that.
There is romance, but I would not label this a romance novel. There is humor, but it is tempered with foreboding. There is tragedy, particularly of the kind family members inflict upon one another. There is the reminder that our capacity for forgiveness should be equal to our capacity for love and that time is a limited commodity.
Written in flashbacks, while Alice lies in a coma, the details of Alice’s life come with clues that slowly unravel and reveal not only who Alice is but the secrets of those who touch on her life the closest. As the story progressed, my affinity for Alice grew, until I felt like I was living in her skin.
Maggie O’Farrell has rapidly become a favorite author for me, and I am convinced that her understanding of the human condition makes it unlikely she will ever fail to leave me in awe of her writing. I have hopes of reading all her books before I am through. Maybe 2022 will be the year of O’Farrell for me. ...more
There is a Great House at Allington, occupied by Squire Dale, a bachelor lord, and there is a Small House at Allington, that he has given to the use oThere is a Great House at Allington, occupied by Squire Dale, a bachelor lord, and there is a Small House at Allington, that he has given to the use of his brother’s widow and her two girls. I very much like Squire Dale, who tries to do well and be fair to everyone and gets too little credit for it, particularly from those for whom he has so provided. He is awkward and insecure when it comes to expressing his emotions toward his nieces, as might be expected from a man who is a confirmed bachelor and has no children of his own, but this awkwardness leads sometimes to a very unfortunate misunderstanding of the man.
The girls in question, Lily and Bell Dale, are privileged in many ways and poverty stricken in others. They are proud, but also quite naive, particularly when it comes to love and marriage. Enter a group of young men, Adolphus Crosbie, Bernard Dale, Johnny Eames and John Crofts. To say the path of true love never did run smooth is an understatement. No one gets a smooth ride in this novel. There are also the worldly considerations of position and career and the practice of maintaining appearance at whatever cost, themes that Trollope always addresses so beautifully.
Trollope is a witty writer, often making me pause to laugh; and he is an astute writer, often making me stop to think. He reminds me that the more things change the more they remain the same, for his Victorian characters, in the way they feel, could be easily found today.
I could give you the names of some of these people:
Oh, deliver us from the poverty of those who, with small means, affect a show of wealth!
And, heavens I hope this is true, for it often appears that people get away with the unkindness and evil they sow.:
Those who offend us are generally punished for the offence they give; but we so frequently miss the satisfaction of knowing that we are avenged!
And bits of wisdom regarding how the heart works:
It is the view which the mind takes of a thing which creates the sorrow that arises from it. If the heart were always malleable and the feelings could be controlled, who would permit himself to be tormented by any of the reverses which affection meets? Death would create no sorrow, ingratitude would lose its sting; and the betrayal of love would do no injury beyond that which it might entail upon worldly circumstances. But the heart is not malleable; nor will the feelings admit of such control.
This is one of Trollope’s best, although I cannot find fault with a single one of the books in this series. I have the final installment to read and I am hoping that Trollope will have something to say about the future of a few of the characters in this book.
In England, I imagine there are months devoted in history classes to the reign of Charles I and the rise of Oliver Cromwell, Parliament and Puritan ruIn England, I imagine there are months devoted in history classes to the reign of Charles I and the rise of Oliver Cromwell, Parliament and Puritan rule--The English Civil War. In the States, it is almost a passing mention in an attempt to cram all of World History into a single year of study. I love the way a historical novel such as this one can help to painlessly fill the gaps in a wanting education.
Then, there is Cornwall. My ancestry is almost exclusively English, I have found through my genealogical research, and if asked I would swear that there is something planted in my DNA that links me to Cornwall. I love it that much. Of course, it might just be my choice of authors, among them Daphne du Maurier, who manage to take you there and make you feel it is home.
I have seen the shadows creep on an autumn afternoon from the deep Pridmouth Valley to the summit of the hill, and there stay a moment, waiting on the sun. I have seen, too, the white sea mists of early summer turn the hill to fantasy, so that it becomes, in a single second, a ghost land of enchantment, with no sound coming but the wash of breakers on the hidden beach, where at high noon, the children gather cowrie shells. Dark moods too, of bleak November, when the rain sweeps in a curtain from the southwest. But quietest of all, the evenings of late summer, when the sun has set, and the moon has not yet risen, but the dew is heavy in the long grass.
The magic of Daphne du Maurier is that she can take what would be a romance in the hands of another author and turn it into such a deeper, more meaningful tale, without losing one bit of the fire, passion or mystery. The King’s General is nothing if not romantic. On its surface, it is the story of two star-crossed lovers who lose their chance at happiness but are never willing or able to lose one another. I think it is no mistake that Richard Grenvile’s love should be named Honor Harris, however, for the importance of truth and honor is at an understanding of his heart and the heart of the novel.
Where I am from we despise the memory of Tucumseh Sherman, but he did say something very wise and true, “War is hell”. He probably wasn’t the first to say it. Many men who have watched the unnecessary loss of life and property in many a war must have said it, if only to themselves. It takes a particular kind of man to make a good soldier and only a very select group make great generals. The King’s General, Richard Grenvile, was such a man, and those kinds of men operate on honor, duty, and a willingness to do whatever must be done to win. Sherman burned Atlanta to the ground, Richard destroyed everything he should have held dear; both did it in the earnest belief that the cause they championed was the right one, the only one.
There are so many serious questions one encounters during the course of this novel. There are questions of love, what it should or can overlook in the beloved, what causes it to bloom and what keeps it alive, and if it is true, can it ever die? And what of bonds between fathers and sons? What does one owe the other? What is honor and can any act of contrition clear a dishonored man? What is strength? Physical prowess, mental sharpness, the willingness to die for something you believe in, the willingness to put everything you love at risk?
Daphne du Maurier answers some of these questions and leaves us pondering the others. In the process, she creates a host of characters that are unforgettable and gives us a glimpse of a war and a time that is all but forgotten. History is never so real as when you can put an individual experience to it, when the man hanging on the noose has a name and a smile, when the tomb that is sealed has a person inside and not just a name and dates on its stony surface.
Paulette Jiles has become one of my favorite and most trusted authors. So, it is with a great deal of surprise and regret that I say that I simply couPaulette Jiles has become one of my favorite and most trusted authors. So, it is with a great deal of surprise and regret that I say that I simply could not connect with this book. Simon, himself, was a fairly bland and uninteresting character, or perhaps just one that didn’t ever develop a distinct personality for me. I wanted to care for him, but truthfully never did. I had the same problem with his love interest, Doris.
There is nothing objectionable about the writing style or the scene Jiles sets for us. I enjoyed the historical elements and the immediate post-Civil War era is always one of interest. It was also a clever device to allow us to view this world through the eyes of a musician, who would have access to a variety of places and social strata that an ordinary discharged soldier would not have. I kept having the nagging feeling that much more could have been done with this.
Jiles does, obviously, know music, but I also wondered if her penchant for including musical details might have slowed the book in places where movement was needed. I also know a little about music, and I found it hard to imagine the “lovers” learning a song together in a crowded room and still being able to trade whispered endearments without being detected.
In fact, my major complaint about this book would be the romantic thread that runs through it and makes up the bulk of the plot. It is unrealistic. Jiles does not persuade me that this is a possible two-sided infatuation. Too much also depends on just the right outcome, when the wrong outcome would be much more feasible. I was sometimes reminded of the old tv westerns where the villain shoots everyone on sight except our hero, with whom he stops to chat instead, or maybe he just runs out of bullets. ...more
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