kristinana's review
4.0
I really enjoyed this novel, as I've enjoyed everything else I've read so far by Sylvia Townsend Warner. Similarly to The Corner That Held Them, the main theme is really time itself, along with the observation that the external story/history/image rarely addresses the full internal story.
Although I've read novels before that have included parents who have favorite children, I don't think I've ever read one where that was a primary focus, or that focused on how fixating on one child leads to a toxic family life. John Barnard's un-self-aware obsession with his daughter Mary (which seems due primarily to the fact that she's pretty) renders him incapable of connecting with his other children and becomes the central wound around which the family coheres.
Along with the family dynamics, much more of the novel has to do with the moments in Victorian life in which truth threatens an outward image of rigid conservatism. Unlike a "typical" Victorian novel, there is no simplistic ending to right all the wrongs and put things back to order. The sea, like time itself, is constant and unrelenting, somehow both banal and mysterious, surprising. A lovely novel.
Although I've read novels before that have included parents who have favorite children, I don't think I've ever read one where that was a primary focus, or that focused on how fixating on one child leads to a toxic family life. John Barnard's un-self-aware obsession with his daughter Mary (which seems due primarily to the fact that she's pretty) renders him incapable of connecting with his other children and becomes the central wound around which the family coheres.
Along with the family dynamics, much more of the novel has to do with the moments in Victorian life in which truth threatens an outward image of rigid conservatism. Unlike a "typical" Victorian novel, there is no simplistic ending to right all the wrongs and put things back to order. The sea, like time itself, is constant and unrelenting, somehow both banal and mysterious, surprising. A lovely novel.
mavenbooks's review
emotional
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
More...