by Camille Aubray
The title of this book captured my attention. It is about a young girl who is sent to prepare lunch for Picasso (who is in hiding as Mr. Ruiz) in Antibes in the mid 1930's. She is a precocious girl who goes from quietly preparing and serving his lunches to being a model for some paintings and eventually having an affair with him and getting pregnant.
The story switches from the past with Odine to the present when her granddaughter learns from her mother that the Grandmother claims to have been given a painting by Picasso.
The granddaughter, Celine is going through a rough time, her mother (Odine's daughter) married an abusive man who had twins from a previous marriage. The stepfather is hard on Celine and her mother. He is a very angry controlling man. When he dies the twins take control of his estate and move their stepmother from New York to Nevada to be near one of them. They keep Celine entirely out of the picture. One time Celine's mother gives her a book which turns out to be a notebook where Odine wrote down recipes and notes for what she prepared for Picasso. Celine's mother has a stroke and her siblings try to keep her away from her mother.
Celine discovers that her mother had plans to travel to France to take a cooking class with Celine's stepfather's sister. She is much nicer than he is. Celine and the aunt decide to change the mother's ticket and have Celine go instead so that she can search out her grandmother's history and search for the painting.
As the story goes on we learn that Odine was promised to a local man but married the love of her life and they moved to the U.S. where they set up a successful restaurant on the east coast. However the mafia are demanding payments and there is an altercation and Celine's adopted father is killed. Her mother is frightened and takes them back to France where they learn that Odine's parents have both died. They struggle but eventually Odine is able to convince the owner of her parents former restaurant to take her on as a cook. She helps him build up the business to include a small hotel/b and b??
The story goes on to describe how Odine is able to get the painting by Picasso by stealing it from him
Eventually Celine, with the help of the current owner of her Grandmother's hotel, finds the painting and though she would like to keep it she decides to sell it to become partners with the chef who owns her grandmother's hotel and also fund a legal case to free her mother from her siblings control. Sadly her mother dies before she can achieve this.
I picked this book up on a whim and wasn't expecting too much but it actually was an engaging read with lots of details and mystery.
Sunday, 28 April 2019
Saturday, 20 April 2019
The Island of Sea Women
by Lisa See
This is the story of the lives of two south Korean female divers, called haenyo. The two girls, Young- sook and Mi-ja. Young-sook's mother is head of the women's diving collective. Mi-ja is living with an aunt and uncle who are very mean to her. She is an orphan (with a cloud hanging over her because her parents were considered Japanese collaborators). The girls are very close friends and share all the time they can together. They are illiterate but do rubbings to document their various adventures and memories.
The book describes how the women divers are the breadwinners of the family and the cooks and gardeners. It seems all the men do is look after the children. There is an early tragedy when Young-sook is being taught to be a diver, the other baby diver she is diving with gets caught underwater. She lives but is brain damaged.
The lives of the people are tough especially as they are under Japanese occupation. Many people are killed or arrested as rebels. Mi-ja gets engaged to a man that Young-sook likes. She is sad about this but soon comes to suspect that they man she likes is abusing Mi-ja. Young-sook marries a young school teacher and they are very much in love. Young-sook's affection for Mi-ja wanes as she suspects Mi-ja's husband is siding with the Japanese against the local people. He is eventually captured during the war (by whom I am not sure). But when he returns being the chameleon he is he gets himself employed by the new occupiers, the Americans, and the new government that has been installed
The people are unhappy with this government and one day their dissatisfaction boils over into a riot.
Young-sook is devastated when her husband and son are killed and the young brain damaged woman who is now her sister-in-law is raped and murdered in front to the crowd. She begs Mi-ja who is also there to take her other children to save them but Mi-ja refuses.
The years go by, Mi-ja eventually returns to the town but Young-sook avoids her. She is outraged to learn that her daughter is seeing Mi-ja's son. When the young people announce they are getting married Young-sook refuses to attend. Eventually Mi-ja and the young people move to the U.S. They send Young-sook letters but she only reads the first one.
Eventually Mi-ja's granddaughters (also Young-sook's granddaughters) come to town and want to speak to Young-sook, she ignores them repeatedly until she finally agrees to listen to a tape recording of Mi-ja. Young-sook realized that she did not know the truth of what was going on and harbouring her hatred for so long (when many other people had suffered as much or more than she) was a mistake.
This book was very hard to read and times but it was fascinating to get a better understanding of the history of south Korea. It was a very powerful story and it was worth sticking through it to the end.
This is the story of the lives of two south Korean female divers, called haenyo. The two girls, Young- sook and Mi-ja. Young-sook's mother is head of the women's diving collective. Mi-ja is living with an aunt and uncle who are very mean to her. She is an orphan (with a cloud hanging over her because her parents were considered Japanese collaborators). The girls are very close friends and share all the time they can together. They are illiterate but do rubbings to document their various adventures and memories.
The book describes how the women divers are the breadwinners of the family and the cooks and gardeners. It seems all the men do is look after the children. There is an early tragedy when Young-sook is being taught to be a diver, the other baby diver she is diving with gets caught underwater. She lives but is brain damaged.
The lives of the people are tough especially as they are under Japanese occupation. Many people are killed or arrested as rebels. Mi-ja gets engaged to a man that Young-sook likes. She is sad about this but soon comes to suspect that they man she likes is abusing Mi-ja. Young-sook marries a young school teacher and they are very much in love. Young-sook's affection for Mi-ja wanes as she suspects Mi-ja's husband is siding with the Japanese against the local people. He is eventually captured during the war (by whom I am not sure). But when he returns being the chameleon he is he gets himself employed by the new occupiers, the Americans, and the new government that has been installed
The people are unhappy with this government and one day their dissatisfaction boils over into a riot.
Young-sook is devastated when her husband and son are killed and the young brain damaged woman who is now her sister-in-law is raped and murdered in front to the crowd. She begs Mi-ja who is also there to take her other children to save them but Mi-ja refuses.
The years go by, Mi-ja eventually returns to the town but Young-sook avoids her. She is outraged to learn that her daughter is seeing Mi-ja's son. When the young people announce they are getting married Young-sook refuses to attend. Eventually Mi-ja and the young people move to the U.S. They send Young-sook letters but she only reads the first one.
Eventually Mi-ja's granddaughters (also Young-sook's granddaughters) come to town and want to speak to Young-sook, she ignores them repeatedly until she finally agrees to listen to a tape recording of Mi-ja. Young-sook realized that she did not know the truth of what was going on and harbouring her hatred for so long (when many other people had suffered as much or more than she) was a mistake.
This book was very hard to read and times but it was fascinating to get a better understanding of the history of south Korea. It was a very powerful story and it was worth sticking through it to the end.
Friday, 8 February 2019
Transcription
by Kate Atkinson
This is the third book that I have read by this author. I enjoyed the first two, I found them quirky and unique but interesting.
This books is about a young British woman, Julie Armstrong, who is recruited to work for MI5. Initially she is only a transcriber. She listens in to conversations in the next room where a British agent, who is pretending to be a Nazi sympathizer, is meeting with Brits who are nazi sympathizers. They want to find out what the sympathizers know or are planning to do, at times they feed them false information.
There is a bit of intrigue within the various bosses at MI5, one of the superiors asks Julie if she has noticed anything suspicious about her immediate boss but she doesn't tell him anything. Her boss tells her that she shouldn't trust anyone.
Eventually she is recruited to be a spy, meeting with one of the key female nazi sympathizers. Her actions eventually result in that women and others being arrested.
At one point one of the sympathizers comes to her office/apartment and discovers what is going on. She and two other agents kill the woman and dispose of her body.
The book jumps around in time. It starts in 1981 with Julie being hit by car when she is crossing the street, then it goes to 1940 and at times to 1950. After the war Julie gets a job with the BBC. Other former agents are also working there. She is frightened when she gets an anonymous note saying she will pay for what she did. She also finds that once you have been a spy you cannot leave that behind.
She is asked to provide a safehouse for a Czech defector who seems to have some knowledge about the Russian nuclear weapons program. She and a fellow agent lose this man to unknown people. Her boss loses his job because it is found out that he is homosexual. He had proposed to her, probably to try to cover up his homosexuality.
One of the people who is after her is a foreign woman who was acting as a British Agent. The woman's dog was entrusted to Julie and her boss but while they both loved the dog and took care of it, it ran away from them them. Julie thought the woman had died in Germany but the woman reappears and several times attacks Julie for killing her dog. She is a bit deranged.
However, it does seem that other people are after her. When she tries to leave England there are people trying to stop her at the train station. Her former boss comes to her aid, getting her way paid on a freighter which takes her to Europe. She apparently settled in Italy and had a son from an liaison there. However, one day two men arrive at her door and take her back to England. She is never charged with anything so you have to wonder why they bothered to bring her back.
It was an interesting story but not as engaging as the other two I read.
This is the third book that I have read by this author. I enjoyed the first two, I found them quirky and unique but interesting.
This books is about a young British woman, Julie Armstrong, who is recruited to work for MI5. Initially she is only a transcriber. She listens in to conversations in the next room where a British agent, who is pretending to be a Nazi sympathizer, is meeting with Brits who are nazi sympathizers. They want to find out what the sympathizers know or are planning to do, at times they feed them false information.
There is a bit of intrigue within the various bosses at MI5, one of the superiors asks Julie if she has noticed anything suspicious about her immediate boss but she doesn't tell him anything. Her boss tells her that she shouldn't trust anyone.
Eventually she is recruited to be a spy, meeting with one of the key female nazi sympathizers. Her actions eventually result in that women and others being arrested.
At one point one of the sympathizers comes to her office/apartment and discovers what is going on. She and two other agents kill the woman and dispose of her body.
The book jumps around in time. It starts in 1981 with Julie being hit by car when she is crossing the street, then it goes to 1940 and at times to 1950. After the war Julie gets a job with the BBC. Other former agents are also working there. She is frightened when she gets an anonymous note saying she will pay for what she did. She also finds that once you have been a spy you cannot leave that behind.
She is asked to provide a safehouse for a Czech defector who seems to have some knowledge about the Russian nuclear weapons program. She and a fellow agent lose this man to unknown people. Her boss loses his job because it is found out that he is homosexual. He had proposed to her, probably to try to cover up his homosexuality.
One of the people who is after her is a foreign woman who was acting as a British Agent. The woman's dog was entrusted to Julie and her boss but while they both loved the dog and took care of it, it ran away from them them. Julie thought the woman had died in Germany but the woman reappears and several times attacks Julie for killing her dog. She is a bit deranged.
However, it does seem that other people are after her. When she tries to leave England there are people trying to stop her at the train station. Her former boss comes to her aid, getting her way paid on a freighter which takes her to Europe. She apparently settled in Italy and had a son from an liaison there. However, one day two men arrive at her door and take her back to England. She is never charged with anything so you have to wonder why they bothered to bring her back.
It was an interesting story but not as engaging as the other two I read.
Sunday, 3 February 2019
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine
by Gail Honeyman
This is the first novel by a Scottish writer. It has been getting alot of positive press so I thought I would read it.
It is about a young woman who is very lonely and isolated. She is the survivor of a traumatic event in her childhood that saw her moved from foster home to foster home and group home to group home. She was not maltreated there but she was not loved. Once a week Eleanor receives a phone call from her mother who keeps berating and threatening her. She dreads these calls.
She is working in a a job as an accounts clerk, she has no life, she works then comes home to the same meal every night and drinks herself into oblivion on weekends with vodka.
She doesn't think life can get any better, she lives in a suite provided to her by the state, furnished with other people's cast offs but she doesn't seem to care. She is stockpiling pain killers.
Eleanor is disfigured by burns on her face from a fire. She sticks to herself and her workmates find her strange and aloof. However, a tech guy in the company befriends her and invites her for coffee, to meet his mother etc. One day they are out walking and they find a man collapsed on the street. Eleanor talks to the unconscious man while they are awaiting help. The man survives and Eleanor and Raymond go to visit him in the hospital. The patient is grateful to them and welcomes them warmly. They are introduced to his family. As Eleanor has these interactions she starts to see what a family is like. This is an eye-opener to her. She doesn't have a frame of reference for a healthy family.
Eleanor is at a club and sees the lead singer of a band, she falls head over heels for him and starts to imagine that they will get into a relationship. She buys a computer so she can track him on the web, she buys new clothes, gets a new hairdo and even gets her face done and buys makeup so she can be presentable to to the man she hopes will be her beau. She even visits where he lives.
Sadly, the man that Eleanor and Raymond saved dies a few weeks later. They are both very sad at his death.
Eleanor buys tickets for a concert by the man she has been stalking. She dresses up in her new clothes. As the concert progresses she realizes that the musician will never really see her or be attracted to her. She chastises herself for being a thirty something women with a teenage crush. She goes home and drinks herself into oblivion. She would probably have died but Raymond arrives at her home, cleans up the mess she has made and brings her food and flowers. He insists she see a doctor who diagnoses her with clinical depression. He offers her drugs but she declines. He insists she see a counsellor and she agrees to do this. She is off work for a few weeks to recuperate.
As she goes to therapist she gradually opens up about the trauma she has suffered. As a child she and her sister had a nutcase of a mother. The Mother keeps telling them they are better than other people and insists they speak well and dress well. But while she lectures them at times she beats them and starves them. When teacher's notice the bruises on the children the mother pulls them out of school.
One day the mother sets fire to their home, planning to kill the two children. Eleanor's young sister dies in the fire. Eleanor finally remembers her sister and admits that she feels guilty that she was not able to protect and save her sister. The therapist assures her this is not her fault. A surprise crops up however, we learn that Eleanor's sister AND mother died in the fire. So all these years Eleanor had been imagining the weekly phone calls from her mother.
As the book ends Eleanor has a friend, a cat and the people at work welcome her back warmly when she returns to work. It looks like Eleanor will be fine.
This was a very sad book at times. The author did an excellent job of portraying a very disfunctional, lonely and isolated human. She did a great job of showing the transformation of Eleanor from a person totally isolated from society to a person who is gradually growing and learning how to behave in society.
This is the first novel by a Scottish writer. It has been getting alot of positive press so I thought I would read it.
It is about a young woman who is very lonely and isolated. She is the survivor of a traumatic event in her childhood that saw her moved from foster home to foster home and group home to group home. She was not maltreated there but she was not loved. Once a week Eleanor receives a phone call from her mother who keeps berating and threatening her. She dreads these calls.
She is working in a a job as an accounts clerk, she has no life, she works then comes home to the same meal every night and drinks herself into oblivion on weekends with vodka.
She doesn't think life can get any better, she lives in a suite provided to her by the state, furnished with other people's cast offs but she doesn't seem to care. She is stockpiling pain killers.
Eleanor is disfigured by burns on her face from a fire. She sticks to herself and her workmates find her strange and aloof. However, a tech guy in the company befriends her and invites her for coffee, to meet his mother etc. One day they are out walking and they find a man collapsed on the street. Eleanor talks to the unconscious man while they are awaiting help. The man survives and Eleanor and Raymond go to visit him in the hospital. The patient is grateful to them and welcomes them warmly. They are introduced to his family. As Eleanor has these interactions she starts to see what a family is like. This is an eye-opener to her. She doesn't have a frame of reference for a healthy family.
Eleanor is at a club and sees the lead singer of a band, she falls head over heels for him and starts to imagine that they will get into a relationship. She buys a computer so she can track him on the web, she buys new clothes, gets a new hairdo and even gets her face done and buys makeup so she can be presentable to to the man she hopes will be her beau. She even visits where he lives.
Sadly, the man that Eleanor and Raymond saved dies a few weeks later. They are both very sad at his death.
Eleanor buys tickets for a concert by the man she has been stalking. She dresses up in her new clothes. As the concert progresses she realizes that the musician will never really see her or be attracted to her. She chastises herself for being a thirty something women with a teenage crush. She goes home and drinks herself into oblivion. She would probably have died but Raymond arrives at her home, cleans up the mess she has made and brings her food and flowers. He insists she see a doctor who diagnoses her with clinical depression. He offers her drugs but she declines. He insists she see a counsellor and she agrees to do this. She is off work for a few weeks to recuperate.
As she goes to therapist she gradually opens up about the trauma she has suffered. As a child she and her sister had a nutcase of a mother. The Mother keeps telling them they are better than other people and insists they speak well and dress well. But while she lectures them at times she beats them and starves them. When teacher's notice the bruises on the children the mother pulls them out of school.
One day the mother sets fire to their home, planning to kill the two children. Eleanor's young sister dies in the fire. Eleanor finally remembers her sister and admits that she feels guilty that she was not able to protect and save her sister. The therapist assures her this is not her fault. A surprise crops up however, we learn that Eleanor's sister AND mother died in the fire. So all these years Eleanor had been imagining the weekly phone calls from her mother.
As the book ends Eleanor has a friend, a cat and the people at work welcome her back warmly when she returns to work. It looks like Eleanor will be fine.
This was a very sad book at times. The author did an excellent job of portraying a very disfunctional, lonely and isolated human. She did a great job of showing the transformation of Eleanor from a person totally isolated from society to a person who is gradually growing and learning how to behave in society.
Sunday, 27 January 2019
Bridge of Clay
by Markus Zusak
WOW!!!
I read a previous book by this author called The Book Thief. I thought it was good. But, this book was brilliant!! One of the best books I have read in a long time, if not ever.
The book iss told in a disjointed way, jumping back and forth in time. It is a long book, over 500 pages and I must admit that about 150 pages in I was going to give up on it. However, I am glad I hung in.
The book is about a family of five boys, the two women their father loved, and especially about one of the brothers, Clay and the girl he loved.
The book tells of the father and his first love. He is deeply in love with his wife and has painted numerous paintings of her. His wife, while she may love him, decides the marriage isn't working for her and divorces him. He is devastated and collapses in grief in the garage where he did the paintings of her.
Then the story tells of the boys' mother. She was raised in Eastern Europe by her father who taught her to play piano. Her father eventually arranges for her to go perform outside of the country. He buys her a round trip ticket but tells her not to come back. She misses her father but takes his advice. She works at housecleaning jobs and somehow makes her way to Australia where she continues to work as a cleaner. She saves all her money to buy a piano but the delivery people take it to the wrong address. This is how she meets her future husband (with whom she will have the five boys).
The boys are portrayed as very rambunctious, even vicious with each other. The portrayal of family life is incredible.
We learn that the boys' mother gets cancer and dies after suffering tremendously. The boys of course are devastated by her death but it is the father who falls apart. He leaves one day abandoning the boys. They survive in a very rough and tumble way. The family includes a cat, a dog, a donkey, a pigeon and a goldfish. They beat up each other. They get Clay who likes to run and seems to like to get beat up to race with people stationed around the track to beat him up to slow him down. They take bets on how fast he will make it around the track.
Eventually the father does come back the boys don't want to have anything to do with him. The refer to him as "the murderer". They say he murdered them. The father tells them he is building a bridge.
The brother Clay falls in love with a young woman who lives across the street. She is an aspiring jockey despite her parents. She really applies herself to the task of becoming a good jockey.
One interesting thing about the book is that the boys don't talk a lot to each other but they seem to understand each other. The boys "know" that Clay will leave them to go to the father without him telling them so,
Clay is sorry to leave his girlfriend but feels he needs to go help his father. They plan to replace an old bridge that collapsed years before. They are going to build it from bricks and with arches. Michaelangelo is a hero of the father/son... his work with quarries. Clay works like a dog to dig a trench for the bridge supports, working himself to exhaustion. He does go back to see his brother and girlfriend occasionally. Eventually he decides he must leave his girlfriend for good so she can concentrate on being a jockey. Her returns to help his father.
His girlfriend dies on the track the day after he leaves her. Clay is devastated and feels that he is responsible for her death. He eventually helps his father complete the bridge... working with superhuman effort.
In the jumping back and forth in time of the book we find out that the mother confided some background family history, e.g. about the first wife, to Clay. It is also Clay who is actually murderer. His mother wanted the father to kill her with carbon monoxide in the family car but it is Clay who actually does it because his father can't.
We also find out that Clay's girlfriend helps him find their father's first wife. She is single, divorced once or twice. She tells them leaving Clay's father was a big mistake... but if she hadn't Clay wouldn't exist.
After the bridge is complete Clay leaves, before he goes he tells one of the brothers where to find a buried typewriter that belonged to their grandmother and to write the family story. No one knows where Clay is but when the writer of the story is about to get married he tells his father to go find Clay. The father goes to Florence as he believes Clay will be found near the David statue and after 29 days Clay does show up in the museum. He does come home for his father's wedding.
The book was very hard to read with all the pain and suffering of the characters, including the mother. However, it was so powerful, the way the author portrayed the relationships and the crazy interaction of the brothers. It seems to me that he presented memories and understanding perhaps the way one's memories might come and go and understanding of events, lives and what motivates people might grow over time as we think about our lives and experiences.
This author is amazing, so unique, creative, sensitive and insightful. I loved this book!!
WOW!!!
I read a previous book by this author called The Book Thief. I thought it was good. But, this book was brilliant!! One of the best books I have read in a long time, if not ever.
The book iss told in a disjointed way, jumping back and forth in time. It is a long book, over 500 pages and I must admit that about 150 pages in I was going to give up on it. However, I am glad I hung in.
The book is about a family of five boys, the two women their father loved, and especially about one of the brothers, Clay and the girl he loved.
The book tells of the father and his first love. He is deeply in love with his wife and has painted numerous paintings of her. His wife, while she may love him, decides the marriage isn't working for her and divorces him. He is devastated and collapses in grief in the garage where he did the paintings of her.
Then the story tells of the boys' mother. She was raised in Eastern Europe by her father who taught her to play piano. Her father eventually arranges for her to go perform outside of the country. He buys her a round trip ticket but tells her not to come back. She misses her father but takes his advice. She works at housecleaning jobs and somehow makes her way to Australia where she continues to work as a cleaner. She saves all her money to buy a piano but the delivery people take it to the wrong address. This is how she meets her future husband (with whom she will have the five boys).
The boys are portrayed as very rambunctious, even vicious with each other. The portrayal of family life is incredible.
We learn that the boys' mother gets cancer and dies after suffering tremendously. The boys of course are devastated by her death but it is the father who falls apart. He leaves one day abandoning the boys. They survive in a very rough and tumble way. The family includes a cat, a dog, a donkey, a pigeon and a goldfish. They beat up each other. They get Clay who likes to run and seems to like to get beat up to race with people stationed around the track to beat him up to slow him down. They take bets on how fast he will make it around the track.
Eventually the father does come back the boys don't want to have anything to do with him. The refer to him as "the murderer". They say he murdered them. The father tells them he is building a bridge.
The brother Clay falls in love with a young woman who lives across the street. She is an aspiring jockey despite her parents. She really applies herself to the task of becoming a good jockey.
One interesting thing about the book is that the boys don't talk a lot to each other but they seem to understand each other. The boys "know" that Clay will leave them to go to the father without him telling them so,
Clay is sorry to leave his girlfriend but feels he needs to go help his father. They plan to replace an old bridge that collapsed years before. They are going to build it from bricks and with arches. Michaelangelo is a hero of the father/son... his work with quarries. Clay works like a dog to dig a trench for the bridge supports, working himself to exhaustion. He does go back to see his brother and girlfriend occasionally. Eventually he decides he must leave his girlfriend for good so she can concentrate on being a jockey. Her returns to help his father.
His girlfriend dies on the track the day after he leaves her. Clay is devastated and feels that he is responsible for her death. He eventually helps his father complete the bridge... working with superhuman effort.
In the jumping back and forth in time of the book we find out that the mother confided some background family history, e.g. about the first wife, to Clay. It is also Clay who is actually murderer. His mother wanted the father to kill her with carbon monoxide in the family car but it is Clay who actually does it because his father can't.
We also find out that Clay's girlfriend helps him find their father's first wife. She is single, divorced once or twice. She tells them leaving Clay's father was a big mistake... but if she hadn't Clay wouldn't exist.
After the bridge is complete Clay leaves, before he goes he tells one of the brothers where to find a buried typewriter that belonged to their grandmother and to write the family story. No one knows where Clay is but when the writer of the story is about to get married he tells his father to go find Clay. The father goes to Florence as he believes Clay will be found near the David statue and after 29 days Clay does show up in the museum. He does come home for his father's wedding.
The book was very hard to read with all the pain and suffering of the characters, including the mother. However, it was so powerful, the way the author portrayed the relationships and the crazy interaction of the brothers. It seems to me that he presented memories and understanding perhaps the way one's memories might come and go and understanding of events, lives and what motivates people might grow over time as we think about our lives and experiences.
This author is amazing, so unique, creative, sensitive and insightful. I loved this book!!
Wednesday, 23 January 2019
Lear's Shadow
by Claire Holden Rothman
I picked this book up while browsing at Chapters, I thought the story was potentially interesting.
It is the story of a middle-aged woman whose life is falling apart, her lover with whom she co-owned a yoga studio has left her and she is basically bankrupt. She sells the yoga studio,
In desperation she takes a job as an Assistant at a Montreal summer theatre company as a jack of all trades. The cast includes an ornery drunk, who is cast as Lear.
While she is trying to keep up with the workload of this demanding but low paying job her sisters marriage is falling apart and her father is displaying symptoms of dementia. Her sister insists that she move in with her father as a caregiver. She hardly gets any sleep as her father has a tendency to sleepwalk. Eventually the sister moves into the father's home with her children.
I am not familiar with the Lear story but assume the daughter's struggle with the father is meant to reflect the Lear story. One thing I don't understand entirely, the women's father seemed to be quite wealthy. I don't understand why the main character didn't ask her father to help her out. He was cantankerous and might have refused but I think she could have asked.
I have read some online reviews of the book, some people really liked it but many were lukewarm or even disappointed. So I don't feel bad to say that taking on the Lear story and trying to pair it with the modern world could have been interesting and powerful. I think this was a weak effort, grabbing onto a powerful story of Shakespeare for appeal but weak by comparison.
I picked this book up while browsing at Chapters, I thought the story was potentially interesting.
It is the story of a middle-aged woman whose life is falling apart, her lover with whom she co-owned a yoga studio has left her and she is basically bankrupt. She sells the yoga studio,
In desperation she takes a job as an Assistant at a Montreal summer theatre company as a jack of all trades. The cast includes an ornery drunk, who is cast as Lear.
While she is trying to keep up with the workload of this demanding but low paying job her sisters marriage is falling apart and her father is displaying symptoms of dementia. Her sister insists that she move in with her father as a caregiver. She hardly gets any sleep as her father has a tendency to sleepwalk. Eventually the sister moves into the father's home with her children.
I am not familiar with the Lear story but assume the daughter's struggle with the father is meant to reflect the Lear story. One thing I don't understand entirely, the women's father seemed to be quite wealthy. I don't understand why the main character didn't ask her father to help her out. He was cantankerous and might have refused but I think she could have asked.
I have read some online reviews of the book, some people really liked it but many were lukewarm or even disappointed. So I don't feel bad to say that taking on the Lear story and trying to pair it with the modern world could have been interesting and powerful. I think this was a weak effort, grabbing onto a powerful story of Shakespeare for appeal but weak by comparison.
Thursday, 10 January 2019
Animal Heart
by Dania Tomlinson
This book is by a local author and set in the Okanagan.
It takes place around the time when the Okanagan was being settled by British immigrants. The story is primarily about a girl(Iris) and her mother. The mother is Welsh, the father is British. The man brings his family, his wife, a daughter and a son to the Okanagan and they settle in a town, Winteridge, along the lake that was apparently a native village. It is rumoured that the settlers are claiming the land for their farms and orchards on land where the natives lived and are buried.
The father leaves at times to take care of mining concerns that belong to the family in Europe and other places. The mother appears to have epilepsy. She tries to hide this condition. The mother regales her children with Welsh folk tales. The mother and daughter are befriended by a native man who is the volunteer keeper of the local library. He also seems to be very knowledgeable about native lore and history.
Both the mother and daughter seem to be able to see ghost people and ghost animals wandering around the vicinity. Both mother and daughter also see a huge water serpent but they are told it is just a large fish. The girl discovers and unusual fish and keeps it in a jar of water, she keeps it over the years. Her mother is aware of the fish and sometimes wants it with her. How the fish could stay alive in a small jar is a mystery to me... magical fish??
The girl becomes close friends with a Japanese girl whose family has come to work the orchards. The Japanese girl's father works on Iris's family orchard. Iris's father also buys some land which he leases (with the intent to sell it to) the Japanese girl's father. Iris and the Japanese girl hang out in a tree house where the Japanese girl sets up a Shinto altar because her parents don't want her to practice the old faith in the new country.
Then a Ukrainian family arrives a man, his wife and two sons. The man becomes the foreman on the family farm, his wife is hired to look after the family farm and look after the girl's mother.
When Iris discovers that the Japanese girl is having sex with one of the Ukrainian boys, whom she also likes, she destroys the shrine. The other Ukrainian boy likes Iris but she ignores/rebuffs him.
When WWI is declared most of the men sign up including Iris's father and brother and the two Ukrainian boys. The brother who likes Iris asks her to marry him and she impulsively agrees. As the war goes on the other Ukrainian brother sends letters to Iris to give to his Japanese lover. Iris doesn't give them to give them to the girl and actually encourages the girl to marry a Japanese boy her parents want her to marry.
At one point many of the local men go out to capture the monster. They come back with a large fish and say all danger has past. The girl, her mother, and probably the native man know this is not true.
The character late says that the locals have now come to call this mythic creature Ogopogo.
While the war is on Iris has recruited local women to work in the orchard. Police come looking for the Ukrainian foreman as they suspect with his background he might be a threat. Initially the family denies they know of him but after the man continually beats his wife, Mary, Iris turn him in. She thinks this will save Mary but she is arrested and sent to an internment camp with her husband even though she isn't Ukrainian.
The local Japanese people are collected and interned also
The girl's brother and then the father are killed in the war. The family is devastated. Her mother becomes essentially bedridden.
The older of the two Ukrainian brothers returns home wounded. He has lost part of one of his legs and walks on crutches. He is devastated that his Japanese lover has married. Initially he and Iris are just friends but eventually they become physical. Just as Iris discovers she is pregnant the other brother comes home. Iris has let slip something the older brother had confided in a letter to his Japanese lover and he realizes that Iris has read his letters -- betrayed him. He tells her to marry his brother and he disappears. Her mother commits suicide shortly after that.
She does marry the other brother but on their honeymoon cruise she has a miscarriage and her husband realizes she has not been faithful to him. He claimed he had saved himself for her but she realizes from his love making that this is not true. When she returns to their cabin on the ship she finds him attacking one of the ship staff.
When they return to BC their ship is quarantined for a while as several other people are ill. However, they soon learn that the Spanish flu has decimated the population on land and that most of the people of the town had died. The town is burned down to avoid spreading the plague. The woman and her husband move to the coast and set up a home but they never have a happy marriage.
This woman has hurt/betrayed so many people in her life. When she is old she returns to the village, convincing the ferry captain to drop her off at the deserted town. She tells him she has arranged someone to come get her later. But in fact she walks into the water, taking the strange fish with her.
This was an interesting, well written story. The local interest made it appealing.
This book is by a local author and set in the Okanagan.
It takes place around the time when the Okanagan was being settled by British immigrants. The story is primarily about a girl(Iris) and her mother. The mother is Welsh, the father is British. The man brings his family, his wife, a daughter and a son to the Okanagan and they settle in a town, Winteridge, along the lake that was apparently a native village. It is rumoured that the settlers are claiming the land for their farms and orchards on land where the natives lived and are buried.
The father leaves at times to take care of mining concerns that belong to the family in Europe and other places. The mother appears to have epilepsy. She tries to hide this condition. The mother regales her children with Welsh folk tales. The mother and daughter are befriended by a native man who is the volunteer keeper of the local library. He also seems to be very knowledgeable about native lore and history.
Both the mother and daughter seem to be able to see ghost people and ghost animals wandering around the vicinity. Both mother and daughter also see a huge water serpent but they are told it is just a large fish. The girl discovers and unusual fish and keeps it in a jar of water, she keeps it over the years. Her mother is aware of the fish and sometimes wants it with her. How the fish could stay alive in a small jar is a mystery to me... magical fish??
The girl becomes close friends with a Japanese girl whose family has come to work the orchards. The Japanese girl's father works on Iris's family orchard. Iris's father also buys some land which he leases (with the intent to sell it to) the Japanese girl's father. Iris and the Japanese girl hang out in a tree house where the Japanese girl sets up a Shinto altar because her parents don't want her to practice the old faith in the new country.
Then a Ukrainian family arrives a man, his wife and two sons. The man becomes the foreman on the family farm, his wife is hired to look after the family farm and look after the girl's mother.
When Iris discovers that the Japanese girl is having sex with one of the Ukrainian boys, whom she also likes, she destroys the shrine. The other Ukrainian boy likes Iris but she ignores/rebuffs him.
When WWI is declared most of the men sign up including Iris's father and brother and the two Ukrainian boys. The brother who likes Iris asks her to marry him and she impulsively agrees. As the war goes on the other Ukrainian brother sends letters to Iris to give to his Japanese lover. Iris doesn't give them to give them to the girl and actually encourages the girl to marry a Japanese boy her parents want her to marry.
At one point many of the local men go out to capture the monster. They come back with a large fish and say all danger has past. The girl, her mother, and probably the native man know this is not true.
The character late says that the locals have now come to call this mythic creature Ogopogo.
While the war is on Iris has recruited local women to work in the orchard. Police come looking for the Ukrainian foreman as they suspect with his background he might be a threat. Initially the family denies they know of him but after the man continually beats his wife, Mary, Iris turn him in. She thinks this will save Mary but she is arrested and sent to an internment camp with her husband even though she isn't Ukrainian.
The local Japanese people are collected and interned also
The girl's brother and then the father are killed in the war. The family is devastated. Her mother becomes essentially bedridden.
The older of the two Ukrainian brothers returns home wounded. He has lost part of one of his legs and walks on crutches. He is devastated that his Japanese lover has married. Initially he and Iris are just friends but eventually they become physical. Just as Iris discovers she is pregnant the other brother comes home. Iris has let slip something the older brother had confided in a letter to his Japanese lover and he realizes that Iris has read his letters -- betrayed him. He tells her to marry his brother and he disappears. Her mother commits suicide shortly after that.
She does marry the other brother but on their honeymoon cruise she has a miscarriage and her husband realizes she has not been faithful to him. He claimed he had saved himself for her but she realizes from his love making that this is not true. When she returns to their cabin on the ship she finds him attacking one of the ship staff.
When they return to BC their ship is quarantined for a while as several other people are ill. However, they soon learn that the Spanish flu has decimated the population on land and that most of the people of the town had died. The town is burned down to avoid spreading the plague. The woman and her husband move to the coast and set up a home but they never have a happy marriage.
This woman has hurt/betrayed so many people in her life. When she is old she returns to the village, convincing the ferry captain to drop her off at the deserted town. She tells him she has arranged someone to come get her later. But in fact she walks into the water, taking the strange fish with her.
This was an interesting, well written story. The local interest made it appealing.
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