“Mind, I am not preaching anything contrary to accepted morality. I am not advocating free love in this or any other case. Society must go on, I suppo“Mind, I am not preaching anything contrary to accepted morality. I am not advocating free love in this or any other case. Society must go on, I suppose, and society can only exist if the normal, if the virtuous, and the slightly deceitful flourish, and if the passionate, the headstrong, and the too-truthful are condemned to suicide and madness.”
I really enjoyed this inventive satirical look at early 1900s comedy of manners with a really unreliable narrator. Okay that was a lot of words but I loved this book. It begins with this guy John telling us how great this other guy Edward is. He is a good husband, noble soldier, and loyal friend. Also hey he's been sleeping with John's wife for the past nine years.
I'll let him tell it: 'if for nine years I have possessed a goodly apple that is rotten at the core and discover its rottenness only in nine years isn't it true to say that for nine years I possessed a goodly apple?' He is surprisingly chill about this all. He honestly seemed more annoyed that he had to smoke tobacco for the sake of consanguinity than his wife cheating with his best friend.
But how honest and faultless is he is the crux of the story. Is he a reliable narrator? Is he an unreliable narrator. Is he purposely obscuring facts or is it all in the nature of his memory. As he tells it in a rambling, at times disjointed jumpy tale, that he justifies by recording it as if he was talking to someone across from him by the fire at the sea.
This is a book a reread and another reread would definitely benefit. One where you can get something new each time.
I kept on forgetting it was an 106 story, partly because it is an unknown classic and because it was so honest about sex and affairs. It felt more like a modern historical fiction satirizing the period than a contemporaneous piece.
I enjoyed this reflection on it: 'Dowell's disillusionment follows the arc of modernism; he begins with presuppositions typical of much Victorian characterization: the individual conditioned by circumstance, composed of intelligible motives, susceptible to moral analysis-the justified self. Then, confronted with the singularity of desire, his 'generalizations' totter and fall' by Levenson.
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this book for it's humour, social mystery and the ability to analyze it. I hope others will read it and I reread it again. He was also very insightful at the different understandings people have of others and their own motives, he takes the lense of many different characters and goes into additional characters' thoughts and insecurities throughout.
"That may sound romantic but it's just a record of fatigue"
__ I am not sure at times if Ford is critiquing sexism or only satirizing it:
“But, even with all her differences, Mrs. Basil did not appear to Lenora to differ so very much from herself. She was truthful, honest and, for the rest, just a woman. And Lenora had a vague sort of idea that, to a man, all women are the same after three weeks of close intercourse.”
“Fellows come in and tell the most extraordinarily gross stories—so gross that they will positively give you a pain. And yet they’d be offended if you suggested that they weren’t the sort of person you could trust your wife alone with.”
“Leonora, as I have said, was the perfectly normal woman. I mean to say that in normal circumstances her desires were those of the woman who is needed by society. She desired children, decorum, an establishment she desired to avoid waste, she desired to keep up appearances. She was utterly and entirely normal even in her utterly undeniable beauty. But I don't mean to say that she acted perfectly normally in this perfectly abnormal situation. All the world was mad around her and she herself, agonized, took on the complexion of a mad woman; of a woman very wicked; of the villain of the piece. What would you have? Steel is a normal, hard, polished substance. But if you put it in a hot fire it will become red, soft, and not to be handled. If you put it in a fire still more hot it will drip away. It was like that with Leonora.”
More Quotes:
“So I shall just imagine myself for a fortnight or so at one side of the fireplace of a country cottage, with a sympathetic soul opposite me. And I shall go on talking, in a low voice while the sea sounds in the distance and overhead the great black flood of wind polishes the bright stars.”
“And it was a most remarkable, a most moving glance, as if for a moment a lighthouse had looked at me.”
" At the time I thought that that was because of a New England dislike for necrological ostentation.”
“I am not going to be so American as to say that all true love demands some sacrifice. It doesn't. But I think that love will be truer and more permanent in which self-sacrifice has been exacted.”
“The instances of honesty that one comes across in this world are just as amazing as the instances of dishonesty. After forty-five years of mixing with one's kind, one ought to have acquired the habit of being able to know something about one's fellow beings. But one doesn't”
“We talked of it, of course, but I guess Florence got all she wanted out of one look at a place. She had the seeing eye. I haven't, unfortunately, so that the world is full of places to which I want to return.”
“The signal for the train's departure was a very bright red; that is about as passionate a statement as I can get into that scene.”
“It is queer the fantastic things that quite good people will do in order to keep up their appearance of calm pococurantism.”
“From time to time we shall get up and go to the door and look out at the great moon and say: 'Why, it is nearly as bright as in Provence!' And then we shall come back to the fireside, with just the touch of a sigh because we are not in that Provence where even the saddest stories are gay.”
“I have, I am aware, told this story in a very rambling way so that it may be difficult for anyone to find his path through what may be a sort of maze. I cannot help it. I have stuck to my idea of being in a country cottage with a silent listener, hearing between the gusts of the wind and amidst the noises of the distant sea the story as it comes. And, when one discusses an affair - a long, sad affair - one goes back, one goes forward. One remembers points that one has forgotten and one explains them all the more minutely since one recognizes that one has forgotten to mention them in their proper places and that one may have given, by omitting them, a false impression. I console myself with thinking that this is a real story and that, after all, real stories are probably told best in the way a person telling a story would tell them. They will then seem most real.”
____ “The conclusion of Dowell's narrative offers not a resolution, so much as a plangent confirmation of complexities. While Ford would certainly have agreed with Dowell that it is a novelist's business to make a reader 'see things clearly', his interest in clarity had little to do with simplicity. There is no 'getting to the bottom of things', no triumphant answers to the epistemological muddle offered in this beautiful, bleak story - only a finer appreciation of that confusion. We may remove the scales from our eyes, Ford suggests, but only the better to appreciate the glass through which we see darkly.” -Zoe Heller on The Good Soldier...more
I wish this was more radical in many ways, it is a comprehensive history of the United States that seeks to deglamourize the story, and be upfront aboI wish this was more radical in many ways, it is a comprehensive history of the United States that seeks to deglamourize the story, and be upfront about the genocide, institutionalization, and rape of Indigenous peoples. Giving them agency and examining the literature and the propaganda that cast Indigenous people as uncivilized, the Americas as empty, and the colonizers as peaceful and righteous.
But throughout this it has the more forgiving, hopeful lense of the Obama era. Recognizing racism and that it still exists. Especially in systems, criminalization and in expoitation/murdering of women. But there feels a gap in between now and then.
I still think this is a fantastic resource especially as an overview but that there are more 'contemporary' ones that better voice calls fot action. It also can be a little dry at times.
The ending and its metafiction is what makes this novel beautiful. The story itself is not one I would have imagined would become prominent. We followThe ending and its metafiction is what makes this novel beautiful. The story itself is not one I would have imagined would become prominent. We follow Briony age thirteen who after walking in on her sister and her lifelong friend consumating their love later testifies that he raped their cousin.
This is midway but the central discussion. I am very wary of men depicting rape as central part of their story and this case the victim is one of the few to have only a handful of thoughts given on it. And none to her emotions around being violated.
Instead it makes the central figure of injury that of the accused, who is innocent and has his life sidelined by being imprisoned. But it feels an odd choice. I won't accuse it of misogyny, because I don’t think that was McEwan's intent. But it is just strange to have decided this was a story that needed to be told. The incident could have been anything. But he choose rape and then made it completely absent of any exploration of sexual trauma.
It also adds to the damaging depictions by having a woman lie about rape and have the victim marry her rapist and be framed as an antagonistic force against the redemption of Robbie and the atonement of Briony.
The plot itself is not the most conhesive, it feels very dry. Briony remarks on her lack of love of characters and that might be an author insert. Because though the plot is driven by character decisions, we get only brief deep looks into who they are. Most notably skipping Robbie's time in prision, and Briony growing up or grappling with her grief. We are told that she realizes but we are not walked through.
The last chapter of old Briony is compelling but the novel itself is okay and doesn't age the best....more
Zora Neale Hurston wrote prolificly in her life and yet died penniless and obscure in 1960. So this collection is long overdue and utterly brilliant. Zora Neale Hurston wrote prolificly in her life and yet died penniless and obscure in 1960. So this collection is long overdue and utterly brilliant.
Tayari Jones (author of American Marriage) and Genevieve West do a fantastic job of introducing and analyzing Hurston's fiction and life. Which creates a frame to understand her journey as a writer through the 1920s and 30s. Many of these stories were published at the time and were later discovered by searching out Black owned papers, some by accident and some on purpose. And some never received publication in her lifetime.
In a time when things are saved on clouds and preserved whether people wish or not. It is curious to imagine still discovering work from such a well known author. And exciting that we may still discover in the years to come.
I have a fascination with books that did not perform well in the author's lifetime and yet have become preeminent after their death. Most notably, the Great Gatsby which was out of print within five years and was considered a dudd for Fitzgerald, tanking his career and yet has become arguably the most famous work of American fiction.
I hope to see a similar resurgence for Hurston, for though she has entered the literary canon following her death. Propelled much by spiritual successor Alice Walker, who went to the gun over Their Eyes Were Watching God and even travelled to Hurston's hometown to search out and give her a gravestone. But I hope to see her to gain prominence not only for her novel, but also for her plays and short stories.
She has a wide arrange of themes and writing style, somestime short and cutting, some lyrical and poetry (I considered categorizing it as a novel in verse), many reclaiming and preserving Black folklore and AAVE (African American Vernacular English), and some playing with biblical stories and King James style language (thees and thous humorously).
Hurston's wrote in AAVE (or the 20th century ancestor/equivalent) in direct opposition to the 'New Negro Movement' that was proposed and lauded by most Black authors and influencers of the day. It aimed to establish Black Americans in the ways that would appear sophisticated and respectful in the eyes of whites.
There is an interesting conversation to be had and even explored in this collection on the intersection of the choice to be Black Enough. The harmfulness of erasing and denigrating Black folk for living in their culture, speaking in dialect and not complying to white ideals. When also acknowledging that a person choosing or enjoying things that are seen as typically white shouldn't exclude them or make them feel less Black.
There is interesting contemporary explorations of this in Dear Martin, Slay, Transcendent Kingdom and the collection Black Enough.
Tangent and notes aside, I think it was very important that Hurston helped preserve this legacy and culture. I would love to reread or see an analysis of this next to Cane by Jean Toomer who also sought to preserve Black folklore and culture. He focused primarily the reconstruction era, a generation before Hurston and also publicly distanced himself from being Black and the Black community as a biracial man.
I do have a lot of individual thoughts on the collection. There are so many stories and they are so diverse that summing them up and analyzing them is futile without hours to spare. Also the first hour and twenty of the audiobook is a thorough analysis of each story, which is more educated and thorough then I could ever hope to be.
I can recommend it as an enjoyable, beautiful, thought provoking group of stories, as part biography and literary criticism and history. If you are interested in classics, or Harlem or 20th century literature I cannot recommend it more....more
"Whoever disputed the value of money? But there are things one mustn't sacrifice to gain it."
So many notes, I loved it, I hated some of the characters"Whoever disputed the value of money? But there are things one mustn't sacrifice to gain it."
So many notes, I loved it, I hated some of the characters. It was an incredibly interesting book about books and art and how that intersects with money and class....more
I really enjoy King's writing style, it is everyday and it is visceral and full of haunted beauty.
This book deals head on with abuse and with alcoholiI really enjoy King's writing style, it is everyday and it is visceral and full of haunted beauty.
This book deals head on with abuse and with alcoholism and fear of repeating cycles.
I don't think King will ever be a favourite author but he will be one I admire and one I think is incredibly talented. And I appreciate the way he approaches horror and themes, the exploration of family and the voice of Danny, Jack, Wendy and Dick were all so clear throughout. He holds the ugly and the loving close together, making each character sympathetic when also dark, tragic and understandable.
I enjoyed the tracing of family history and I found myself choked up several times throughout when Lee spoke about family and of war and of memory andI enjoyed the tracing of family history and I found myself choked up several times throughout when Lee spoke about family and of war and of memory and immigration.
This would have been more enjoyable if I was interested in naturalism, geography and geology. But I found the inclusions interesting.
This is a slow book so for those who are easily bored I would not recommend but for those who enjoy family history, are interested in Taiwan and China divide and about China during World War II and particularly the air force which is what choked me up. Of belonging to a country you don't know, of finding family and history and of connecting through generations.
The writing was beautiful and simple and very pointed. I like the style. That Klara refers to parents as their adult, that the Manager is called ManagThe writing was beautiful and simple and very pointed. I like the style. That Klara refers to parents as their adult, that the Manager is called Manager, that she refers to people in third person when talking to them. It gave it a distinct lense when also making it intriguing.
This is my second Ishiguro book, my first was Buried Giant and it killed me. I was so frustrated at the slow, meandering plot that ended nowhere and when I do think Klara and The Sun does have more going for it in empathy and more concentrated world. I think it is mostly a testament to how I have changed as a reader not how he has as a writer.
Knowing this was going to be a slow book, that it was going to be literary and wasn't going to be focused on a plot or on entertainment helped. I do think that we could have had more emotional scenes involved, I got choked up in the last part. But over all Ishiguro's writing isn't trying to evocate emotions but thoughts. And sadness always makes me like a book more.
The Act 4 did make me very frustrated at Klara, I had enjoyed the lead up but for me her naivete was too much. It really got on my nerves. Otherwise I was intrigued and I was connected.
I am very interested to read up on the book and aldo read more of Ishiguro's backlist.
A reminder to not give up on an author because one book doesn't work for you. And sometimes the book you spend six months not interested in will suprise you....more
Have I talked about my love of ensemble casts coming together in unexpected ways.
When we start with all these disparate stories in different places, Have I talked about my love of ensemble casts coming together in unexpected ways.
When we start with all these disparate stories in different places, backgrounds and beliefs and we aren't sure if they are going to collide or how they would.
We start with three characters. In three different corners of the world. A boy whose eyes were cut out by his mom. A priestess who once was common and a drunk sailor imprisoned for sleeping with a woman and we meet a few more characters along the way.
I honestly didn't put all the who is friends, who is enemies until the last quarter.
It didn't end with as much closure as I would like (it is a series, but I still would have liked to see the build up pay off more ) but I really enjoyed the characters and the stories. The world was really interesting, drawn from Indigenous stories and folklore. I feel like we are just beginning in this world and I cannot wait to follow them more.
If you want a fresh, intriguing story with a diverse set of characters and don't mind figuring it out along the way. Then give Rebecca Roanhorse a shot....more
I enjoyed this, not quite as much as the first but I apperciated how Chambers explored mental health and how we view ourselves. Feeling burnt out and I enjoyed this, not quite as much as the first but I apperciated how Chambers explored mental health and how we view ourselves. Feeling burnt out and feeling guilty for needing rest. This is a quiet, almost slice of life journey where a monk and robot go to village to village
In its simple, beautiful prose, in the humanity of people and of robots, of the search for meaning, and of nature in a world modernThis was so lovely.
In its simple, beautiful prose, in the humanity of people and of robots, of the search for meaning, and of nature in a world modernized, decayed and rearranged.
Beautifully written books are my books, the older I get the more I learn that the plot does not matter as much as a keen interest in humanity and of well written, slightly lyrical prose. And these are not simply gorgeous and poignant, questioning and philosophical but funny.
John Green said recently when talking about The Anthropocene Reviewed that he was not interested in books that were not funny. And that reminded me that as much as I can speak about themes and characters and kinds of perspective, it all falls apart if it is without a hint of humour, preferably a whole cup full.
I had forgotten or maybe found how much I liked science fiction worldbuilding. It is true that I wouldn't have picked this up if it wasn't short and had a poetic title. I have found my love of science fiction through dystopian and speculative fiction but have still steered away from harder sci fi. And I don't think people would categorize this as hard sci fi as the learning curve is pretty non existent but I do think that the robot and semi post society would not have peaked my interest. But I couldn't have been more different. It was fascinating. The characters felt relateable while also being foreign and the robot had enough personality when also remaining a robot. I thought its (it always seems wrong when referring to a sentient thing, though the 'I have no gender' / 'me neither' exchange was funny). I thought it's curiousity akin to a child's inquisitiveness or sociologicist encountering a new culture. Which I adored.
If you liked character focused lyrical stories I would recommend this whether sci fi is your preferred genre or not....more
I love the way that Backman interweaves stories and character, the way he gives humanity to the worst and the broken, the way he captures emotions andI love the way that Backman interweaves stories and character, the way he gives humanity to the worst and the broken, the way he captures emotions and the many layers of people.
I want to grow up and write like Fredrik Backman. Ensemble Casts. Shifting Omniscient Point of View. References to the future and how things turn out. Radical hope and humanity in the midst of hardship. Incrediblely flawed characters.
I was expecting to follow the many focus characters of last book and was suprised that we had many new characters and many old characters like David or Zach where we got smaller glimpses of them. Even Amat was followed way less extensively then he was and yet I did really feel like we aaw their souls in the moments we spent with them. And I loved the threads introduced, the characters that were new and the ones we saw more of.
I didn't cry until the last hour or so and then I didn't stop. And though the earlier part was less visceral it was no less poignant. It showcased the more gradual aftermath and showed the breakdown of family, of Peter and Kiera and of Leo. Of my boy, Benji.
I loved the five old guys and women. I burst out laughing with the cooler being snuck in by a nonchalant 'it's my cat' 'don't tell her it's dead' I thought the last bar scene was particularly poignant.
I liked Vetard (spelling?) And the humaness of Teale. There relationship. The last game and the bunkbed and Anna's first competition.
I am sucker for any last. The mentions in the first and of them laughing right before tragedy in this one. Of their final game in the end.
All of this swells my heart so much..and as I am more connected to the characters and it is a less agressive/tragic I might like this more. But I think I could argue between the two forever. They hit gery different and very the same. They are both incredible.
I love his use of motifs of using the same words and sentences and repeating them throughout, chsnging how we see it. Reminding us of themes and of characters. Of impact.
This is also one where I won't watch the adaption. I love that the adaptation will bring morebpeople the story, will make more people read the books. But I think over all I am kinda down with them. Not because I am vehemently anti adaptation, some of my favourite shows and films are adaptations, just none of them are of books I've read. Or of books I read before I read before watching. I don't think I am elitist, I just think my favourite thing about stories is the narration. The way the story is captured and that's not something a visual medium can offer.
tw: misogyny, death, drug use, mentions of rape, alcoholism...more
I really liked the beginning, it is funny, satirical, the characters are well described and I like the tongue and cheek style but dang Thackeray, thisI really liked the beginning, it is funny, satirical, the characters are well described and I like the tongue and cheek style but dang Thackeray, this did not need to be 900 pages. You can tell that it is serialized and that there is a lot of padding.
The first 500 pages were good. But the last 400 felt not novel enough to sustain my interest. I could compare it to Anna Karenina that is longer and has similar social satire and critique, with a lead who is less than moral with a secondary protagonist that is much more heroic. But when Thackery did give us quality humour, he did not give full humanity to his characters, especially any one outside of Becky and Amelia. Which meant that sustaining all their plots and the bad and the good doesn't shock or bring emotion after awhile.
I thought in the beginning this was going to be a new favourite but I am left in the middle. Glad I read it. Thinking in many ways it is a well done book. But when it comes to overwriting and giving us the emotional investment to land the bittersweet ending, we don't quite make the mark.
Midday review:
Vanity Fair is the 1847 novel that gains its name from John Bunyan's Pilgrim Progress where the characters are detained in a neverending fair of materialism.
Thackeray subtitled it "A Novel Without A Hero" so if you didn't get the subtle nudgings this is not a book that is romanticizes or rewards people. It sets out to poke out and poke fun of the vanity, consumerism and moral bankruptcy of society, specifically the upper class.
Despite him pushing against romanticism and heroism, this is not a downer. It is flippant, satirical and often comments on its own irony.
Easy to say, I am in love.
I am nearly halfway and it reminds me of Anna Karenina, another 19th century classic that comments on its society, in this case Russia....more
These were interesting stories. I have not read any of her work before or anything by a New Zealand author so this was intriguing experience. It was aThese were interesting stories. I have not read any of her work before or anything by a New Zealand author so this was intriguing experience. It was additionally interesting to research Katherine Mansfield's life and how that influenced her work.
I reread The Garden Party in 2021 and liked the social commentary and hope to read and reread more of Katherine Mansfield stories....more
Clint Smith travels to sites of plantations, prisions, museums, conducts interviews and has casual conversations with guides, historians, A must read.
Clint Smith travels to sites of plantations, prisions, museums, conducts interviews and has casual conversations with guides, historians, descendants and people he comes across. He uses these as opportunities to talk about the history and impact of the place, systems and slavery then and now.
He investigates misunderstandings, censorship and remade facts that colour history and white supremacy. Draws from first hand accounts, attends celebrations and rallies and in the last chapter interviews his grandparents on their own experiences.
It is beautifully written, well researched and informative. I recommend to it to everyone.
Not at all on the quality of the book but he has an amazing voice..the first time I heard him speak as a host of Crash Course's Black American History I immediately noticed his well metered, smooth voice and the audiobook is no different. There is always a beauty to reading a book read by the author but Smith has all the passion, inflections when also having an incredible voice. The man is a poet and you can see that in the way he writes and in the way he speaks....more
"One by one the heroes of that war, the men of dazzling soldiership, leave prematurely the world they have come back to."
It is almost humorous to thi"One by one the heroes of that war, the men of dazzling soldiership, leave prematurely the world they have come back to."
It is almost humorous to think this was panned by male authors of the time for being pro war and unrealistic. Published in 1922 and written from her cousin's letters, and interviews and diaries of soldiers, Willa Cather wrote of the desire to be great without the aims to do so.
Claude Wheeler has a hankering after greatness but no real talent, he is idealistic and dreams of glory but no drive. When World War I breaks out he eagerly awaits the U. S. joining so he can enlist.
It is one of those books that I will give 3 stars but I will defend and analyze until the end of days.
I really enjoyed sections but much of it dragged. In the last two weeks I have read two previous Cather novels O Pioneers! (1913) and My Ántonia (1918), both were similarly slow but we followed much more likeable characters. Claude is supposed to be deeply flawed, as all her characters are, but Claude's own listlessness mixed with his lack of anything substantial leaves him boring. And I think that is kinda the point. He can't find meaning in life, in relationships, in calling, and in that she captures him. But sometimes well done stories still feel too slow.
There were many moments of poignancy, of loss and of emotion and theme that made me bolt up and there is humour but to a lesser extent than her other works. It won the Pulitzer Prize in 1923. Willa Cather becoming the second female winner after Edith Wharton two years before. But despite this it received harsh reviews by other writers of the time, most notably Hemingway.
Spoilers ahead as I talk about this.
The full quote that I excerpted earlier is from the final page of the novel and reads in entirely:
"He died believing his own country better than it is, and France better than any country can ever be. And those were beautiful beliefs to die with. Perhaps it was as well to see that vision, and then to see no more. She would have dreaded the awakening,–she sometimes even doubts whether he could have borne at all that last, desolating disappointment. One by one the heroes of that war, the men of dazzling soldiership, leave prematurely the world they have come back to. Airmen whose deeds were tales of wonder, officers whose names made the blood of youth beat faster, survivors of incredible dangers,–one by one they quietly die by their own hand. Some do it in obscure lodging houses, some in their office, where they seemed to be carrying on their business like other men. Some slip over a vessel’s side and disappear into the sea. When Claude’s mother hears of these things, she shudders and presses her hands tight over her breast, as if she had him there. She feels as if God had saved him from some horrible suffering, some horrible end. For as she reads, she thinks those slayers of themselves were all so like him; they were the ones who had hoped extravagantly,—who in order to do what they did had to hope extravagantly, and to believe passionately. And they found they had hoped and believed too much. But one she knew, who could ill bear disillusion . . . safe, safe."
Though Claude dies he never awakens from delusions of grandeur, of finding purpose or at least of idea of purpose in war. And Cather through her narration seems to confirm it was better that he die believing he had found purpose than to live long enough to die from disillusionment. Which I think is perfectly reasonable.
The collective grief and trauma that the veterans of World War I experienced was so monumental and widespread that they were named the Lost Generation. I have a great grandfather born the same year as the fictional Claude and he returned scarred, traumatized, and struggled with addiction the rest of his life, addiction that caused abuse and further trauma that still ricochets in my family a hundred years later. I would not wish death on anyone, especially in this case as neither my grandfather nor an entire branch of my family, including myself wouldn't exist if he had of died. But I can still mourn the peace that was shattered.
When Cather says through his mother's character that maybe it was better that he died believing, it isn't saying that the belief was right or that the mission of the war was good—in another section Gerhardt critiques the idea that this war was fought for democracy, or for anything good—only that dying believing was better than dying because of depression.
I have not read A Farewell To Arms, that fictionalizes and glorifies Hemingway's time in the First World War. But I am not sure if you can get more genuine with your portrayal than a mother acknowledging that her son dying believing himself happy, as she goes into visceral incoherence, saying 'safe, safe.'
She has no choice but to praise what happened when confronted with the reality of living – I think it is also important when critiquing Hemingway's criticism to acknowledge that he struggled with mental health and 'quietly died by his own hand' after a lifetime of feigning confidence and seeking greatness.
Of talking of Hemingway, my great grandfather and the generation as a whole I am trying to explain what I think what Cather wrote that the writers of the time couldn't understand. They wanted a more radical, straightforward and clear denouncement of war and of the beliefs around it. But to Cather this was never a war book, the battle scenes exactness or political statement was never the point.
It was to show the cost.
Throughout her work we follow characters and see their flaws and see how circumstances affect people. And though I cannot comment on the war books I haven't read, I am drawn to books like this or to books like Rilla of Ingleside that explore the long term affects of war and of disillusionment.
And though less enduring, I think this is why One of Ours is more well received today then it was a hundred years ago. Distanced from the contemporary politics, her viewpoints are clear and so are her insights about the psychology and effect that are only just beginning.
Nearing the end, a character asks why Claude went to war and he replies "because in 1917 I was twenty-four." It is tragic and funny and true.
–– I might not have always enjoyed the journey but over all it is a book I enjoy talking about and analyzing. And for that it might deserve more than the three stars I allotted for enjoyment....more
She has a kind of magic to writing that draws you into the story, that paints a landscape and illustrates character.
We follow Alexandra Bergstrom (anShe has a kind of magic to writing that draws you into the story, that paints a landscape and illustrates character.
We follow Alexandra Bergstrom (and the characters around her) over twenty years. Beginning with her as a young woman capable, shrewd and resourceful over her brothers' lack of drive or sense. Her dying father trusts her with the land and the governing of the family.
Despite resistance she transforms the farm from languishing to prosperous. Becoming wealthy and reapected. Her two middle brothers marry and grow arrogant on her success and her youngest brother Emil attends university.
Beginning the second half, she is forty and unmarried, intelligent and perceptive she is shown to have compassion on those on the margins of society, and critical of her brothers and others who are ineffective, entitled or proud.
The characters are deeply flawed in funny and tragic ways. She writes of isolation, of jealousy and of the pull between duty and passion. Cather is excellent at social commentary. She is also excellent at writing the prairie and story as both mythic and grounded.
I don't want to say more and reveal anything more of the plot as it was fun to discover as I went along. It did give be Hardy vibes in many places and I liked that Alexandra was an intelligent and capable woman written in 1913 and set in the 1880s and that the sexism she received was not addressed as it was repeatedly shown that despite words to dismiss or discourage her she was fully capable of managing affairs and land.
In regards to my comparison to My Ántonia, my first Cather read only a week before. I liked O Pioneers! better. Some aspects of melancholy were stronger in My Ántonia and more of the time passed and was felt. And the secondary characters felt more established and well rounded. But this felt more direct, clear and focused.
I struggled with the lengthy beginning, chronicling the childhood and also the first person. When this gave us the needed information and then progressed. In some areas like Winter I could have used more but I never felt cheated or skimmed. When My Ántonia had a lot scenes that did little (for me) to develop plot, characters or theme. Though I am curious to revisit My Ántonia after becoming better acquainted with her style and knowing the end.
Over all, I really enjoyed this and look forward to reading more of her work in the future...more
Kier Scrivener
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Books:
audiobook
(666)
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