foggy_rosamund's review against another edition
5.0
I'm not sure how to rate this book: it raises a lot of different themes, and holds a lot of threads. It doesn't deal with them all well or with enough nuance, but it's gripping, insightful and has a wonderful narrative voice. I found reading it utterly absorbing, though at the end I was left with a lot of questions. The story is set on the fictional Scottish island of Colsay, somewhere out in the Hebrides. The narrator, Anna, is staying on this island with her husband and her two sons. Anna is an academic, and is trying to finish a book about the history of childhood. But her toddler and seven-year-old need constant attention, and her husband absconds every day to study puffins. This is far from a rosy view of motherhood: Anna is constantly overwhelmed by how much she wants to do, so depressed she thinks about suicide, and struggles to feel anything positive towards her two children. Her husband, Giles, concentrates on anything but childcare, and seems not to understand how hard she is working or how overwhelmed she is. Anna feels bitterly resentful towards him, and doesn't know how she can continue to live the way she is.
As the narrative progresses, we begin to see different sides of Anna, and of Giles, but the overwhelming nature of motherhood is a constant theme. We also learn about the history of families on Colsay: the grinding poverty in which families lived in the 19th and early 20th centuries; the cruelty of landlords and the highland clearances; and the infant mortality rate, which was close to 85%. A stack of letters written by a Victorian nurse comes to light during the course of the novel, describing a winter spent on the island, and how the nurse is incapable of understanding the islanders, and the islanders resent her intrusion and concern. These run in counterpoint to Anna's struggles on the island, the ways in which she lives in luxury, and the ways in which misogyny remains the same. The novel also explores the role of landowners in Scotland: Giles' family own Colsay, now uninhabited, and his ancestors were landlords there during much of the poverty of the 19th century. The local people resent Giles and Anna, treating them with hostility -- which at first seems unreasonable, then, as we learn more of the history of the place, begins to make sense.
The story touches on other complex themes: infanticide, ambivalent attachment, teenage anorexia, loss and grief, academia, and doesn't deal with all of them equally well. However, Anna has one of the most memorable narrative voices I've ever read, and I found this book completely engaging. I could hardly put it down, and for that alone, I highly recommend it. It's very memorable.
As the narrative progresses, we begin to see different sides of Anna, and of Giles, but the overwhelming nature of motherhood is a constant theme. We also learn about the history of families on Colsay: the grinding poverty in which families lived in the 19th and early 20th centuries; the cruelty of landlords and the highland clearances; and the infant mortality rate, which was close to 85%. A stack of letters written by a Victorian nurse comes to light during the course of the novel, describing a winter spent on the island, and how the nurse is incapable of understanding the islanders, and the islanders resent her intrusion and concern. These run in counterpoint to Anna's struggles on the island, the ways in which she lives in luxury, and the ways in which misogyny remains the same. The novel also explores the role of landowners in Scotland: Giles' family own Colsay, now uninhabited, and his ancestors were landlords there during much of the poverty of the 19th century. The local people resent Giles and Anna, treating them with hostility -- which at first seems unreasonable, then, as we learn more of the history of the place, begins to make sense.
The story touches on other complex themes: infanticide, ambivalent attachment, teenage anorexia, loss and grief, academia, and doesn't deal with all of them equally well. However, Anna has one of the most memorable narrative voices I've ever read, and I found this book completely engaging. I could hardly put it down, and for that alone, I highly recommend it. It's very memorable.
klaudia_ambrozja's review
dark
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
fionnanilsson's review against another edition
challenging
dark
funny
informative
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
5.0
fridao's review against another edition
emotional
informative
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
lenawadera's review against another edition
5.0
Klimat, historia, wyspa, fale, fale, fale i jeszcze raz klimat. Dla mnie doskonała. Świetna kompozycyjnie, nie mogę się doczekać innych książek tej autorki.
Tymczasem zarwałam noc, piasek z wyspy chyba przesypuje mi się między oczami i dzisiaj nie napiszę już niczego mądrego.
PS wszystkich czepialskich (takich jak ja) uprzedzam, że strona redakcyjna kuleje, ale nie jest na tyle nieznośna, żeby tej historii nie docenić.
Tymczasem zarwałam noc, piasek z wyspy chyba przesypuje mi się między oczami i dzisiaj nie napiszę już niczego mądrego.
PS wszystkich czepialskich (takich jak ja) uprzedzam, że strona redakcyjna kuleje, ale nie jest na tyle nieznośna, żeby tej historii nie docenić.
erica_lynn_huberty's review against another edition
5.0
Brilliant, unnerving, realistic and magical. Funny and harrowing all at once.
betweenbookends's review against another edition
5.0
4.5/5
Sarah Moss is the master when it comes to fleshing out the intimacies of family life, of parenting and children. She crafts it with such honesty & emotional depth that is as endearing as is moving. In Night Waking, we follow a family of 4, off on a remote fictitious Scottish island of Coslay for a summer, as the father, Giles, is working on studying the puffin population in the island.
At the centre of this story is Anna Bennet, the mother of two small children, Raphael, a precocious 7 year old prodigy with a penchant for bridges and science and a naughty, ever amusing, toddler, Timothy, referred to as Moth. The way she gives voice to these children was one of my favourite parts. Comic, utterly original and so incredibly realistic.
Anna struggles to balance her career as a historian, an academic, working on a book, while ceding constant attention to her two young children. Though she loves her children, you can understand her pent-up frustration and self-doubt in living a life she didn’t want for herself. You come to realise that Anna might be suffering from some form of postpartum depression and there are these incredibly tense moments when you feel she’s going to tip over the edge, her anxiety, sleeplessness and exhaustion palpable.
The discovery of a baby skeleton buried in the garden adds on to the intrigue as Anna obsesses over uncovering the identity of this baby that was buried there. The narrative is interspersed with inserts from Anna’s book as well, as she writes and researches the history of childcare through the ages.
Alternating chapters present short letters written by a young English nurse, May, back in the 1870’s as she toils to improve the medical conditions for the island’s inhabitants. And while this may seem unrelated on the surface, it really isn’t. With Anna obsessing over the history of the island and the baby skeleton found, and May’s involvement on the island back in the 1870s, these two threads intersect.
Oscillating between moments of hilarity & harsher realities, Moss brings you intimately close to one family and the psyche of one woman caught in the crossfire of academic ambition & pressures of motherhood.
Sarah Moss is the master when it comes to fleshing out the intimacies of family life, of parenting and children. She crafts it with such honesty & emotional depth that is as endearing as is moving. In Night Waking, we follow a family of 4, off on a remote fictitious Scottish island of Coslay for a summer, as the father, Giles, is working on studying the puffin population in the island.
At the centre of this story is Anna Bennet, the mother of two small children, Raphael, a precocious 7 year old prodigy with a penchant for bridges and science and a naughty, ever amusing, toddler, Timothy, referred to as Moth. The way she gives voice to these children was one of my favourite parts. Comic, utterly original and so incredibly realistic.
Anna struggles to balance her career as a historian, an academic, working on a book, while ceding constant attention to her two young children. Though she loves her children, you can understand her pent-up frustration and self-doubt in living a life she didn’t want for herself. You come to realise that Anna might be suffering from some form of postpartum depression and there are these incredibly tense moments when you feel she’s going to tip over the edge, her anxiety, sleeplessness and exhaustion palpable.
The discovery of a baby skeleton buried in the garden adds on to the intrigue as Anna obsesses over uncovering the identity of this baby that was buried there. The narrative is interspersed with inserts from Anna’s book as well, as she writes and researches the history of childcare through the ages.
Alternating chapters present short letters written by a young English nurse, May, back in the 1870’s as she toils to improve the medical conditions for the island’s inhabitants. And while this may seem unrelated on the surface, it really isn’t. With Anna obsessing over the history of the island and the baby skeleton found, and May’s involvement on the island back in the 1870s, these two threads intersect.
Oscillating between moments of hilarity & harsher realities, Moss brings you intimately close to one family and the psyche of one woman caught in the crossfire of academic ambition & pressures of motherhood.
milliemary's review against another edition
funny
informative
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
alpha_build's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5