The Forgotten Garden: Kate Morton, 2009
This novel begins with a little girl on a boat bound for Australia in 1913. She has been left there by "The Authoress" and told not to move until she is back. Then we move on to Brisbane in 1930 at the same girl's 21st birthday where she learns that she was found as a small child. Then we jump again to 2005 and the young girl is lying in hospital bed about to take her last breath as an old woman. Upon her death her granddaughter Cassandra discovers her grandmother's secret and decides to unearth her family's past history. Throughout this novel we follow Nell's life but it is primarily through Cassandra searching in the present to find the truth about her grandmother's parentage, and through the family that she left behind in England in the early 1900s.
This story is rife with drama and history and it is interwoven with fairy tales that allude to what has gone on in young Ivory/Nell's life. I found this novel to be trite and too well bundled together to be a great novel. The ending is ridiculous and unbelievable. While it did entertain for the most part, it is not a novel that I would recommend with high hopes for the next reader. It was not terrible but I believe that it is only a best seller because the premise of this story sounds so interesting and full of mystery and intrigue. Too bad the actual story could not fulfill the expectations of the back cover.
***
xoxo
Saturday, September 4, 2010
True Loving
Loving Frank: Nancy Horan, 2008
Horan's debut novel details the life of Mamah Borthwick Cheney, particularly through the years 1907-1914, which she primarily spent with Frank Lloyd Wright the famous American architect. Little is actually known about Mamah's life and Horan used the known information to weave a haunting depiction about this illicit and tragic love affair which began while both parties were married with children. Mamah and Frank met while designing a home for Mamah and her family. Their affair stretched throughout continents before its abrupt and dramatic end in 1914.
This novel, while based in fact, is dramatic and entertaining enough to sustain any reader. It is filled with love and true emotion. As a woman I did initially have an issue with the origin of the relationship between Mamah and Frank. Yet as the story unfolded and the affair progressed from lust into love, it was difficult to maintain the moral stance that I began reading with. I believe that if a book can make you feel something then the author has done their job and this book, by the end, made me feel a mixture of emotions.
*****
xoxo
Horan's debut novel details the life of Mamah Borthwick Cheney, particularly through the years 1907-1914, which she primarily spent with Frank Lloyd Wright the famous American architect. Little is actually known about Mamah's life and Horan used the known information to weave a haunting depiction about this illicit and tragic love affair which began while both parties were married with children. Mamah and Frank met while designing a home for Mamah and her family. Their affair stretched throughout continents before its abrupt and dramatic end in 1914.
This novel, while based in fact, is dramatic and entertaining enough to sustain any reader. It is filled with love and true emotion. As a woman I did initially have an issue with the origin of the relationship between Mamah and Frank. Yet as the story unfolded and the affair progressed from lust into love, it was difficult to maintain the moral stance that I began reading with. I believe that if a book can make you feel something then the author has done their job and this book, by the end, made me feel a mixture of emotions.
*****
xoxo
Sliding Doors Revisited
The Post-Birthday World: Lionel Shriver, 2007
In this, Shriver's ninth book, we meet Irina McGovern, a children's story illustrator who is content in her life with her common law husband Lawrence Trainer. While Lawrence is away at conference in Sarajevo Irina meets up with their mutual friend, Ramsey Acton a star snooker player, for their annual dinner for his birthday. By meeting up with Ramsey, Irina is faced with a decision can ultimately change her life. If she proceeds to follow her instincts and kiss Ramsey the life that she and Lawrence have created will be destroyed and if she doesn't she will continue on the path that they have created for themselves. With this decision the book fractures and we as the reader get to experience both of the consequences of the choice.
I found this book to be slow to get into in the beginning as well as being mildly repetitive as we read both sides of the same instance consecutively. For example, when Irina is with Ramsey and they go to New York for an awards dinner for which she has been nominated. Ramsey picks a fight with her despite her win and she misses her name being called, much to her embarrassment and chagrin. While on the other side, when Irina is with Lawrence she is again nominated at the same awards dinner, she does not win and the woman who does, Jude, is married to Ramsey and they get involved in an argument and Jude then misses her name being called juts like Irina would have. It is moments like this that seem far fetched and unbelievable. Understandably there would be some overlap and some similarities but the more there are the less I buy the story itself. Undeniably there are also similarities to the 90s chick flick Sliding Doors with Gweneth Paltrow. This is not a bad comparison because I personally loved that movie and the idea that one little action or choice can completely alter your life.
Shriver is a skilled author, and her novel We Need to Talk About Kevin, which was published just previous to this one is a testament to that as it won Orange Ptrize, a UK based women's award for outstanding writing in English. While this novel is not quite as spectacular and moving as that one, it is a wonderful and enticing read.This book is long, about 500 pages, but well worth it once you get into it and past the life changing decision Irina makes. Anyone looking for a book to get lost in and who isn't daunted by the number of pages will find this interesting and entertaining.
****
In this, Shriver's ninth book, we meet Irina McGovern, a children's story illustrator who is content in her life with her common law husband Lawrence Trainer. While Lawrence is away at conference in Sarajevo Irina meets up with their mutual friend, Ramsey Acton a star snooker player, for their annual dinner for his birthday. By meeting up with Ramsey, Irina is faced with a decision can ultimately change her life. If she proceeds to follow her instincts and kiss Ramsey the life that she and Lawrence have created will be destroyed and if she doesn't she will continue on the path that they have created for themselves. With this decision the book fractures and we as the reader get to experience both of the consequences of the choice.
I found this book to be slow to get into in the beginning as well as being mildly repetitive as we read both sides of the same instance consecutively. For example, when Irina is with Ramsey and they go to New York for an awards dinner for which she has been nominated. Ramsey picks a fight with her despite her win and she misses her name being called, much to her embarrassment and chagrin. While on the other side, when Irina is with Lawrence she is again nominated at the same awards dinner, she does not win and the woman who does, Jude, is married to Ramsey and they get involved in an argument and Jude then misses her name being called juts like Irina would have. It is moments like this that seem far fetched and unbelievable. Understandably there would be some overlap and some similarities but the more there are the less I buy the story itself. Undeniably there are also similarities to the 90s chick flick Sliding Doors with Gweneth Paltrow. This is not a bad comparison because I personally loved that movie and the idea that one little action or choice can completely alter your life.
Shriver is a skilled author, and her novel We Need to Talk About Kevin, which was published just previous to this one is a testament to that as it won Orange Ptrize, a UK based women's award for outstanding writing in English. While this novel is not quite as spectacular and moving as that one, it is a wonderful and enticing read.This book is long, about 500 pages, but well worth it once you get into it and past the life changing decision Irina makes. Anyone looking for a book to get lost in and who isn't daunted by the number of pages will find this interesting and entertaining.
****
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