Tuesday, April 5, 2011
A Review of The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton
In reading The Forgotten Garden I was struck by the deft way in which the author weaves together different perspectives of characters living in different times and creates one whole tale.
At it's core, the story is about three generations of women: Eliza Makepeace, an orphaned girl living with wealthy relatives who don't care for her close to the turn of the 20th century, Nell, who is living in the 1970's, and Nell's granddaughter Cassandra, who is trying to solve the mystery of Nell's past and origins, living in 2005.
This is a very complicated story of family disfunction, love, abandonment and ultimately salvation for its three main characters.
There is a mystery at the heart of this story, one in which I will not describe in detail so as not to give away any of the plot, which is convoluted, complicated and very interesting.
Each of these three women tells her part of the story, living it during her time, and reveals pieces of the mystery as they go. There are other narrators as well: Eliza's cousin, Rose, whom she loves dearly; Adeline, Rose's mother, who hates Eliza ferociously, and several others who are brought in to add significant details.
The author deals out small parts of the mystery in a tantalizing fashion; she is able to keep the reader guessing through a good portion of the book, although she cleverly continues to reveal more and more, even right up to the very end of the story.
It is also interesting how the author treats the men in her story. The two main male characters, Linus Mountrachet, Rose's father, and William, Rose's husband, are both weak as people. Linus is certifiably insane, which no one seems to notice or care about. He wanders about, taking secret photographs (which is extremely odd, as this takes place in the early part of the 20th century) and pining over his lost "poupee", Georgianna, who was Eliza's mother. William is an artist whose love is for sketching. He is forced into portraiture of the elite by Adeline, his mother in law. He hates it with a passion, and spends most of his time trying to please the women in his life. There are several other male characters, and while they might be stronger men, they are also incidental to the story, with some minor exceptions.
I find it interesting that none of her three main female characters is married and each had only one child, whom they are not in any way close to (Cassandra is the exception, but again, I don't want to give away the plot, so I won't elaborate).
I found this story a bit slow to start, but after 30 or so pages, it was completely engaging and it's jumps through time were very well-done. It could have been dull in parts, and was not.
I would recommend this book to all readers.
At it's core, the story is about three generations of women: Eliza Makepeace, an orphaned girl living with wealthy relatives who don't care for her close to the turn of the 20th century, Nell, who is living in the 1970's, and Nell's granddaughter Cassandra, who is trying to solve the mystery of Nell's past and origins, living in 2005.
This is a very complicated story of family disfunction, love, abandonment and ultimately salvation for its three main characters.
There is a mystery at the heart of this story, one in which I will not describe in detail so as not to give away any of the plot, which is convoluted, complicated and very interesting.
Each of these three women tells her part of the story, living it during her time, and reveals pieces of the mystery as they go. There are other narrators as well: Eliza's cousin, Rose, whom she loves dearly; Adeline, Rose's mother, who hates Eliza ferociously, and several others who are brought in to add significant details.
The author deals out small parts of the mystery in a tantalizing fashion; she is able to keep the reader guessing through a good portion of the book, although she cleverly continues to reveal more and more, even right up to the very end of the story.
It is also interesting how the author treats the men in her story. The two main male characters, Linus Mountrachet, Rose's father, and William, Rose's husband, are both weak as people. Linus is certifiably insane, which no one seems to notice or care about. He wanders about, taking secret photographs (which is extremely odd, as this takes place in the early part of the 20th century) and pining over his lost "poupee", Georgianna, who was Eliza's mother. William is an artist whose love is for sketching. He is forced into portraiture of the elite by Adeline, his mother in law. He hates it with a passion, and spends most of his time trying to please the women in his life. There are several other male characters, and while they might be stronger men, they are also incidental to the story, with some minor exceptions.
I find it interesting that none of her three main female characters is married and each had only one child, whom they are not in any way close to (Cassandra is the exception, but again, I don't want to give away the plot, so I won't elaborate).
I found this story a bit slow to start, but after 30 or so pages, it was completely engaging and it's jumps through time were very well-done. It could have been dull in parts, and was not.
I would recommend this book to all readers.
Monday, March 21, 2011
A Review of A Discovery Of Witches by Deborah Harkness
Okay, so I've been writing this blog for about 10 months now, and I've been mostly pretty highbrow about it. I absolutely love to read, and while quality literature is something I enjoy a great deal, I love (ahem) other types of books as well. My current favorite genre is supernatural romance-type novels. Yes, vampires, witches, werewolves, faeries, and the like are what makes my heart go pitter-patter. Especially if it's a series. These types of books run the gamut, from truly trashy and smutty (love it!) to the more quality-type literature. I don't truly love the types that are all about love and romance, per se. I do love the ones with action, violence, sex and complicated plots.
With all of that being said, I absolutely loved A Discovery of Witches. The story is about Diana Bishop, an extremely powerful witch who has eschewed her considerable power for all of her life, since her also-extremely powerful witch parents were murdered in Africa when she was 7. Diana has spent her life becoming a book historian (which is the true occupation of author Deborah Harkness) and works at Oxford as a professor and author.
Unfortunately for Diana, she is destined to become everything she has shunned. She discovers a book called Ashmole 782, which is a palimpsest. This is a manuscript that has another written over it, one that needs a certain type of light or power to be able to read. The book is one that has been sought after by witches, daemons and vampires for hundreds of years, as it is rumored to be a detailed description of how each type of "creature" was formed, or how they evolved. These three types of creatures do not like each other and do not intermix. Ever.
Diana is somehow able to get Ashmole 782 out of the library wholly by accident, or because her power is so great. Many creatures become aware of this, and subsequently aware of her power, whether she uses it or not. Diana becomes an instant target.
Fortunately, while working in the library one day, she surreptitiously uses magic to get a book down from a shelf and is spotted by Matthew Clairmont, who also happens to be a 1,500 year old vampire, as well as an extremely-well respected scientist. Despite all of the odds against it, they fall in love and travel on an adventure that does not come to a close at the end of the story. I am eagerly awaiting the sequel!
I enjoyed this book for many reasons, not the least of which is it's "highbrow" pedigree. It is full of accurate science and history, which I find fascinating. The author uses her considerable knowledge to highlight everything from history to biology and DNA, bringing a fascinating glimpse of how science has changed over centuries.
I have always found basic romance novels to be dull and uninteresting. I truly enjoy a bit of romance in a book full of history. This book reminds me of several past favorites, not the least of which is Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series.
In all, I found this story to be very engaging, the characters to be well-drawn and complicated and the history and science to be fascinating. I would recommend this book very highly.
With all of that being said, I absolutely loved A Discovery of Witches. The story is about Diana Bishop, an extremely powerful witch who has eschewed her considerable power for all of her life, since her also-extremely powerful witch parents were murdered in Africa when she was 7. Diana has spent her life becoming a book historian (which is the true occupation of author Deborah Harkness) and works at Oxford as a professor and author.
Unfortunately for Diana, she is destined to become everything she has shunned. She discovers a book called Ashmole 782, which is a palimpsest. This is a manuscript that has another written over it, one that needs a certain type of light or power to be able to read. The book is one that has been sought after by witches, daemons and vampires for hundreds of years, as it is rumored to be a detailed description of how each type of "creature" was formed, or how they evolved. These three types of creatures do not like each other and do not intermix. Ever.
Diana is somehow able to get Ashmole 782 out of the library wholly by accident, or because her power is so great. Many creatures become aware of this, and subsequently aware of her power, whether she uses it or not. Diana becomes an instant target.
Fortunately, while working in the library one day, she surreptitiously uses magic to get a book down from a shelf and is spotted by Matthew Clairmont, who also happens to be a 1,500 year old vampire, as well as an extremely-well respected scientist. Despite all of the odds against it, they fall in love and travel on an adventure that does not come to a close at the end of the story. I am eagerly awaiting the sequel!
I enjoyed this book for many reasons, not the least of which is it's "highbrow" pedigree. It is full of accurate science and history, which I find fascinating. The author uses her considerable knowledge to highlight everything from history to biology and DNA, bringing a fascinating glimpse of how science has changed over centuries.
I have always found basic romance novels to be dull and uninteresting. I truly enjoy a bit of romance in a book full of history. This book reminds me of several past favorites, not the least of which is Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series.
In all, I found this story to be very engaging, the characters to be well-drawn and complicated and the history and science to be fascinating. I would recommend this book very highly.
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Plan B by Jonathan Tropper
Jonathan Tropper is one of my favorite authors, ever since I read This is Where I Leave You last year (reviewed on this blog previously). I am a big fan of his easy writing style, sense of humor and sad-sack Jewish, male main characters.
Plan B fit into this mold. The story is about a group of college friends, our narrator being Ben, the Jewish sad-sack of this story. All of the friends have moved to NYC after college, except Jack, who has moved to LA and become a movie star. The other characters, Allison the lawyer, Lindsey the teacher-cum-world explorer, and Chuck the doctor. Ben is just getting a divorce from his wife, who was actually a rebound after breaking up with Lindsey, the love of his life. Lindsey is unemployed, Chuck is a man-child bent on sleeping with every woman who crosses his path and Allison is still in love with Jack, after 10 years.
Jack has now become the typical Hollywood party boy and is addicted to coke. The group hatches a plan to kidnap him and get him sober. There are many twists and turns to the harebrained scheme, and nothing works out as it's supposed to. But, as many things in Jonathan Tropper's world, everything works out in the end.
One of the main things I like about Tropper's work is his ability to make those pathetic characters seem like a person you know, not just a basket case. Plan B was not nearly as funny as This is Where I Leave You, but it does have humorous parts. I can tell that this is a much earlier work of Tropper's, as it lacks the sharpness of his later novel.
In all, I enjoyed living in this world as much as I did before, and again, I would not want to be a permanent resident, but only a visitor.
Plan B fit into this mold. The story is about a group of college friends, our narrator being Ben, the Jewish sad-sack of this story. All of the friends have moved to NYC after college, except Jack, who has moved to LA and become a movie star. The other characters, Allison the lawyer, Lindsey the teacher-cum-world explorer, and Chuck the doctor. Ben is just getting a divorce from his wife, who was actually a rebound after breaking up with Lindsey, the love of his life. Lindsey is unemployed, Chuck is a man-child bent on sleeping with every woman who crosses his path and Allison is still in love with Jack, after 10 years.
Jack has now become the typical Hollywood party boy and is addicted to coke. The group hatches a plan to kidnap him and get him sober. There are many twists and turns to the harebrained scheme, and nothing works out as it's supposed to. But, as many things in Jonathan Tropper's world, everything works out in the end.
One of the main things I like about Tropper's work is his ability to make those pathetic characters seem like a person you know, not just a basket case. Plan B was not nearly as funny as This is Where I Leave You, but it does have humorous parts. I can tell that this is a much earlier work of Tropper's, as it lacks the sharpness of his later novel.
In all, I enjoyed living in this world as much as I did before, and again, I would not want to be a permanent resident, but only a visitor.
Friday, January 14, 2011
A Review of Black and White by Dani Shapiro
What if the one person who is supposed to protect you against the world is the one who exploits you? That is the topic in Black and White, a novel about Clara Dunne, whose mother is Ruth Dunne, a world-famous photographer. Clara was Ruth's muse, her favorite subject for photography, and Ruth always photographed her in the nude. The story is told from Clara's point of view, now an adult with a daughter of her own. She ran away from her home in New York City at age 18, and never looked back. Living in Maine with her artist husband, Clara is contacted by her older sister, Robin, when Ruth's failing health reaches the point of no return. Clara is forced to face her past, face having been exploited by her mother, face Robin, perpetually angry at having been ignored by their mother, and face the fact that her mother's fame outshines any notion of how the "Clara Series" affected it's subject.
Ruth is seen as the ultimate artiste, beautiful, talented, brilliant even, in her depictions of Clara. From the age of three, Clara is photographed naked in all sorts of ways- Clara With The Lizard was the beginning, a photograph of Clara in the bathtub with a plastic lizard in her mouth, one leg up on the side of the tub, "splayed open" for all to see. It ended with "Clara at Age 14", at which point Clara makes sure her mother will no longer photograph her.
This story is a raw, emotional one. Clara as an adult is not in touch with any emotions of her past. She focuses solely on the present; her marriage, daughter and life on a remote island off the coast of Maine. When she does finally see Ruth again, Ruth is still the elitist, the snobby artist surrounded by sycophants who only value her for her work.
I did enjoy this story very much. It unravels perfectly, bits of information about the past doled out piece by piece. It subtly hits the same question over and over: Does Ruth deserve forgiveness? It isn't only Clara who needs to forgive; Robin has also been damaged as her mother ignored her completely in favor of her work, which just happened to be Clara. The one thing that bothered me about the story was Ruth herself. While she is not one-dimensional as a character, she comes off as very self-involved as well as unapologetic, and since she is dying, does not really evolve much as a character. So-called 'villians' should not be truly one-dimensional; they rarely are in real life.
In all, this was an emotionally moving, well told story. I felt for the characters, as flawed as they all were. I would be interested in reading more by this author.
Ruth is seen as the ultimate artiste, beautiful, talented, brilliant even, in her depictions of Clara. From the age of three, Clara is photographed naked in all sorts of ways- Clara With The Lizard was the beginning, a photograph of Clara in the bathtub with a plastic lizard in her mouth, one leg up on the side of the tub, "splayed open" for all to see. It ended with "Clara at Age 14", at which point Clara makes sure her mother will no longer photograph her.
This story is a raw, emotional one. Clara as an adult is not in touch with any emotions of her past. She focuses solely on the present; her marriage, daughter and life on a remote island off the coast of Maine. When she does finally see Ruth again, Ruth is still the elitist, the snobby artist surrounded by sycophants who only value her for her work.
I did enjoy this story very much. It unravels perfectly, bits of information about the past doled out piece by piece. It subtly hits the same question over and over: Does Ruth deserve forgiveness? It isn't only Clara who needs to forgive; Robin has also been damaged as her mother ignored her completely in favor of her work, which just happened to be Clara. The one thing that bothered me about the story was Ruth herself. While she is not one-dimensional as a character, she comes off as very self-involved as well as unapologetic, and since she is dying, does not really evolve much as a character. So-called 'villians' should not be truly one-dimensional; they rarely are in real life.
In all, this was an emotionally moving, well told story. I felt for the characters, as flawed as they all were. I would be interested in reading more by this author.
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