itibaren Killaloe, ON K0J 2A0, Kanada
Didn't really care for this book. I've never read Fried Green Tomatoes, (nor have I seen the movie) so I'm not familiar with the author's work. I had a hard time getting through this book, there didn't seem to be a narrative hook -- or much of a narrative, for that matter. Mostly, it just seemed to be a frothy book on suicide(??), full of ladies complaining about the deterioration of society and how things were better "back in the day."
Excellent! A mother's love and bravery prevail in a culture where woman have no rights to even their children.
The story is presented in two halves, first as a child then as an adult, the first half being a more pleasant experience than the second, which feels much darker. Sarah Winman is a clever and talented writer; I think she may have used a number of writing 'tricks' that really worked. She starts the story off in 1968 with Eleanor being born and as I was born in 1969 all of the little memories she throws in took me on many a journey. One day I was reading with chuckles of delight, the next with tears of laughter and the following day with tears of recognition of times gone by. It is a quietly powerful tale that is jam packed with real life. Very little time is wasted describing scenes but you always know where you are and there's always something happening, something to make you think or remember. The story takes you on a journey with Eleanor, or Elly, through four decades of her life and the ups and downs she faces. There is happiness, humour, sadness, loss, grief, fear, philosophy, psychology, and anything else you could think of to throw into the mix, but it is all done so continuously that it seems to carry you along gently like a boat along a river. The only couple of sandbanks it seems to snag on are when she mentions sex which comes across as quite coarse compared with the rest of the book and I don't know if this is on purpose or if she has chosen the wrong language. Thankfully, those parts are both very brief. I really enjoyed reading this book on many levels and I would recommend it highly.
this was a book i read about 12 times when i was first coming out. Its a very touching story about acceptance of oneself and by others.