katymvt's review
4.0
2021 Pop Sugar reading challenge-a book with something broken on the cover.
This was a really good, well-written, heartwrenching story. Lucy was a bit like Little Dorrit and some of her relatives seemed like they were mean just to be mean, but overall I liked the characterizations and the story. I do think it could have been a little shorter. I have nothing against long books, but I feel too much time was spent on her childhood (delightful though it was).
This was a really good, well-written, heartwrenching story. Lucy was a bit like Little Dorrit and some of her relatives seemed like they were mean just to be mean, but overall I liked the characterizations and the story. I do think it could have been a little shorter. I have nothing against long books, but I feel too much time was spent on her childhood (delightful though it was).
quoththegirl's review
3.0
I'm unsure how to rate this book since I have such mixed feelings. This is the first book by Goudge that I've read, and I was predisposed to like it because of the Welsh setting (for the first chunk of the book). I found an absolutely gorgeous copy at a used book sale, and I always want to love books that have clearly been cherished. This one has an inscription, "To Betsey, Happy Birthday, Love Kearny" dated 10/5/1978, and Betsey Costner glued a bookplate with her name on it inside the front cover.
The story itself has a lot of charm initially, but it unfolds at an extremely leisurely pace. My copy has 736 pages, and the first 265 pages are purely about Lucy's childhood (and thus are almost entirely fictional since not much is know of Lucy Walter's childhood). The idyllic tenor of the book shifts abruptly halfway through, and the last several hundred pages are just a miserable slide into decline for the protagonist, which was a slog to get through. Goudge does her best to make Lucy a sympathetic character, which requires some gymnastics around the known circumstances of Lucy's life. In order for her not to be morally grey at best, Goudge has to make her rather slow on the uptake; a quicker character wouldn't have been able to avoid realizing what was going on around her. Her love for Charles seems rather pathetic, not to mention unfounded, and the author's attempts to humanize Charles don't really come off. He was a right jerk and no mistake. Goudge wanted to write a Christian story about forgiveness and redemption, and she plays fast and loose with the historical record to do so, having Lucy die of an eminently more respectable case of pernicious anemia instead of dying of a veneral disease, as seems to have been the case in reality. Overall, the book is sweet and touching at times, but it's difficult to connect with the heroine, and the story drags heavily by the end.
The story itself has a lot of charm initially, but it unfolds at an extremely leisurely pace. My copy has 736 pages, and the first 265 pages are purely about Lucy's childhood (and thus are almost entirely fictional since not much is know of Lucy Walter's childhood). The idyllic tenor of the book shifts abruptly halfway through, and the last several hundred pages are just a miserable slide into decline for the protagonist, which was a slog to get through. Goudge does her best to make Lucy a sympathetic character, which requires some gymnastics around the known circumstances of Lucy's life. In order for her not to be morally grey at best, Goudge has to make her rather slow on the uptake; a quicker character wouldn't have been able to avoid realizing what was going on around her. Her love for Charles seems rather pathetic, not to mention unfounded, and the author's attempts to humanize Charles don't really come off. He was a right jerk and no mistake. Goudge wanted to write a Christian story about forgiveness and redemption, and she plays fast and loose with the historical record to do so, having Lucy die of an eminently more respectable case of pernicious anemia instead of dying of a veneral disease, as seems to have been the case in reality. Overall, the book is sweet and touching at times, but it's difficult to connect with the heroine, and the story drags heavily by the end.
lifebetweenwords's review against another edition
4.0
4.5 stars. Loved it. Loved it, loved it. Enchanting, magical writing. Depth of characters. Beautiful, rich themes (redemption and forgiveness being two big ones in this book). It's slow, but absolutely wonderful.
chalkletters's review against another edition
3.0
During my degree, my university halls of residence closed down their library, and offered students very cheap deals on all the books. Having read The Little White Horse as a child, I rescued two Elizabeth Goudge novels, which I dutifully put on a shelf and forgot about. In the intervening years, I borrowed a copy of The White Witch, memorable largely for the fact that at one point the narrative dives unexpectedly into the inner monologue of a horse. To say I didn't know what to expect from The Child from the Sea would be an understatement. For most of the book, I wasn't even sure which historical period it was set in. (My thanks to Nickie, who worked out that it was the English Civil war, and that Prince Charles was about to become Charles II.) As it turns out, protagonist Lucy Walter is a real person, as are most of the characters she interacts with.
The opening chapters were thoroughly enchanting. The evocative fairy tale language reminded me of my favourite descriptions of Moonacre Valley in The Little White Horse. I didn't know before reading that the theme of home — one of my preoccupations — would be so important, and I was pleased with the number of entries I added to my blog of literary dwellings. Lucy was a home-maker in the style of a more down-to-earth Anne Shirley. Instead of imagining places more comforting than they are, Lucy makes them so with pictures and ornaments.
While these descriptions were enough to keep me reading, they were somewhat let down by the plot and characterisation. Lucy spends a lot of the book alone, and when the narrative is just a description of her circumstances, rather than a specific incident, I wasn't quite sure what the point was. Even when they did happen, specific conversations between characters lacked immediacy. Elizabeth Goudge offered tantalising glimpses into the inner lives of Anne Hill and Lord Taaffe, and I sometimes wished I were reading a book about them, because their emotions seemed stronger and more well-realised. As much as I appreciated the perspectives of these minor characters, I did find the choice of when to switch into their narratives to be a little mystifying. When Lucy loses a beloved parent, one of the moments of what should be the highest emotion for her character, the narrative distances itself from her, and we only get to see her through the eyes of Lord Taaffe.
Politics is treated in a similar way. The Child from the Sea can't seem to decide whether it is a novel about the English Civil War and the return to power of the monarchy or not. For much of the novel, Lucy is kept quite separate from the political situation, and the story being told is one of personal relationships. This would be fine, except that later on, the story takes a political turn, which feels quite disorientating. It's not a total failure, and I was able to follow the politics to a degree, but it added to the sense that I was never quite sure what the book was about.
Overall, I'd recommend The Child from the Sea more for its descriptions and themes than its story or its characterisation.
The opening chapters were thoroughly enchanting. The evocative fairy tale language reminded me of my favourite descriptions of Moonacre Valley in The Little White Horse. I didn't know before reading that the theme of home — one of my preoccupations — would be so important, and I was pleased with the number of entries I added to my blog of literary dwellings. Lucy was a home-maker in the style of a more down-to-earth Anne Shirley. Instead of imagining places more comforting than they are, Lucy makes them so with pictures and ornaments.
While these descriptions were enough to keep me reading, they were somewhat let down by the plot and characterisation. Lucy spends a lot of the book alone, and when the narrative is just a description of her circumstances, rather than a specific incident, I wasn't quite sure what the point was. Even when they did happen, specific conversations between characters lacked immediacy. Elizabeth Goudge offered tantalising glimpses into the inner lives of Anne Hill and Lord Taaffe, and I sometimes wished I were reading a book about them, because their emotions seemed stronger and more well-realised. As much as I appreciated the perspectives of these minor characters, I did find the choice of when to switch into their narratives to be a little mystifying. When Lucy loses a beloved parent, one of the moments of what should be the highest emotion for her character, the narrative distances itself from her, and we only get to see her through the eyes of Lord Taaffe.
Politics is treated in a similar way. The Child from the Sea can't seem to decide whether it is a novel about the English Civil War and the return to power of the monarchy or not. For much of the novel, Lucy is kept quite separate from the political situation, and the story being told is one of personal relationships. This would be fine, except that later on, the story takes a political turn, which feels quite disorientating. It's not a total failure, and I was able to follow the politics to a degree, but it added to the sense that I was never quite sure what the book was about.
Overall, I'd recommend The Child from the Sea more for its descriptions and themes than its story or its characterisation.
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