I seem to be making headway with my backlog of books this summer - maybe something to do with the fact that the book club I go to decided to let everyone read what they wanted of the holiday time! My books have all been quite short but nonetheless good reads.
The Night of the Burning by Linda Press Wulf is a story based on the author's mother-in-law's experience in Poland during 1921 and her escape with her younger sister from the pogroms to a South African orphanage. Although based on that story the author admits that she had fictionalised most of the characters' words and actions. It is an amazing story of rescue, hope, new beginnings and remembrance. Told in the voice of the young Devorah as she struggles to understand what is going on around her. She sees what no child should see and finds it hard to accept others after her escape. She is often angry at her little sister who seems able to adapt and forget so quickly while Devorah holds on to the memories of her parents, reluctant to betray them, as she sees it, by moving on. There is such sadness, especially when she is finally adopted and I so longed for Devorah to be happy. It comes finally, an opening of the heart. A powerful story.
Silas Marner by George Eliot was an attempt to put a little classic reading into my life! I did struggle with it, not the story but the long winded way of writing which was the way of things then. There was a section where I almost switched off and longed to get back to Silas and his predicament, which made much better reading than the dinner party and stuffy people! But the story itself was good. Silas, having been betrayed once in life has moved to another village and becomes obsessed with work and his pot of money. One night his money is stolen and he is distraught. Only the love of an orphan girl, who finds her way into Silas's home one night after her mother dies in the snow. can bring Silas back to life. There is far more to the story than this and I was glad to have read it but I must admit I much prefer watching classics adapted for TV or film than reading them. But I'm sure I'm the better for it and I shall carry on slipping in the odd classic now and then as part of my literary education!
The Time Keeper by Mitch Albom. I knew I was going to like this the minute I started. I loved the theme of time, how it rules us, how we want more of it or less of it depending on what we are doing. The story is about father time, the inventor of the first clock, his banishment from earth and what he has to do to understand the true meaning of time. This involves coming back to earth to save two very different people and show them too about the meaning of time. Clever story and it made me think about my own feelings for time. I've read many books by Mitch Albom and they all have a moral tale. They make you think about life.
Letter to Sister Benedicta by Rose Tremain. This book by another favourite author of mine finds Ruby Constad writing a letter she will never send to a nun from her days at school in India. I felt that Ruby wrote as a victim. Her husband Leon is seriously ill in hospital after a stroke and Ruby is reliving her past through her letter written as diary entries. At first I wanted to tell Ruby to stand up for herself and believe in herself then gradually as her story unfolds I saw that she had never truly felt loved by her parents and only for the first ten years of her marriage after which Leon 'went to find paradise' as Ruby calls it, in the arms of another woman. Her children have alienated her and don't seem to care about her yet she cares deeply for them. I wondered if she would ever break the hold everyone seemed to have on her to keep her down. At times Ruby's words are amusing but mostly she seems lost and wonders how she will live if Leon dies. In the end I felt sorry for her. We are all subject to our past experiences and these follow us through life. Sometimes it is possible to shake off certain negativity from what is handed down to us but it can be very hard to break some patterns. Eventually Ruby finds a way to do this and good for her!
The Night of the Burning by Linda Press Wulf is a story based on the author's mother-in-law's experience in Poland during 1921 and her escape with her younger sister from the pogroms to a South African orphanage. Although based on that story the author admits that she had fictionalised most of the characters' words and actions. It is an amazing story of rescue, hope, new beginnings and remembrance. Told in the voice of the young Devorah as she struggles to understand what is going on around her. She sees what no child should see and finds it hard to accept others after her escape. She is often angry at her little sister who seems able to adapt and forget so quickly while Devorah holds on to the memories of her parents, reluctant to betray them, as she sees it, by moving on. There is such sadness, especially when she is finally adopted and I so longed for Devorah to be happy. It comes finally, an opening of the heart. A powerful story.
Silas Marner by George Eliot was an attempt to put a little classic reading into my life! I did struggle with it, not the story but the long winded way of writing which was the way of things then. There was a section where I almost switched off and longed to get back to Silas and his predicament, which made much better reading than the dinner party and stuffy people! But the story itself was good. Silas, having been betrayed once in life has moved to another village and becomes obsessed with work and his pot of money. One night his money is stolen and he is distraught. Only the love of an orphan girl, who finds her way into Silas's home one night after her mother dies in the snow. can bring Silas back to life. There is far more to the story than this and I was glad to have read it but I must admit I much prefer watching classics adapted for TV or film than reading them. But I'm sure I'm the better for it and I shall carry on slipping in the odd classic now and then as part of my literary education!
The Time Keeper by Mitch Albom. I knew I was going to like this the minute I started. I loved the theme of time, how it rules us, how we want more of it or less of it depending on what we are doing. The story is about father time, the inventor of the first clock, his banishment from earth and what he has to do to understand the true meaning of time. This involves coming back to earth to save two very different people and show them too about the meaning of time. Clever story and it made me think about my own feelings for time. I've read many books by Mitch Albom and they all have a moral tale. They make you think about life.
Letter to Sister Benedicta by Rose Tremain. This book by another favourite author of mine finds Ruby Constad writing a letter she will never send to a nun from her days at school in India. I felt that Ruby wrote as a victim. Her husband Leon is seriously ill in hospital after a stroke and Ruby is reliving her past through her letter written as diary entries. At first I wanted to tell Ruby to stand up for herself and believe in herself then gradually as her story unfolds I saw that she had never truly felt loved by her parents and only for the first ten years of her marriage after which Leon 'went to find paradise' as Ruby calls it, in the arms of another woman. Her children have alienated her and don't seem to care about her yet she cares deeply for them. I wondered if she would ever break the hold everyone seemed to have on her to keep her down. At times Ruby's words are amusing but mostly she seems lost and wonders how she will live if Leon dies. In the end I felt sorry for her. We are all subject to our past experiences and these follow us through life. Sometimes it is possible to shake off certain negativity from what is handed down to us but it can be very hard to break some patterns. Eventually Ruby finds a way to do this and good for her!
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