Scan barcode
alibi313's review against another edition
4.0
Really felt a personal connection to this story, as a girl who also grew up on a farm in Wisconsin—the opening scene of haying was something right out of my childhood. But the arbitrary ending felt kind of pointless, so however much I loved the writing in this book, its (lack of) denouement precluded a 5-star rating.
noemielise's review against another edition
2.0
Its an ok book... interesting, at times. Lots of second-hand embarassment. But at the same time, whats the point of this book? What is the plot? Why was it written? Why did I read it? It felt like a waste of time...
It is a coming of age book, yes, but it felt like a dozen small stories put together. A dozen anecdotes, connected only by the characters and setting.
It is a coming of age book, yes, but it felt like a dozen small stories put together. A dozen anecdotes, connected only by the characters and setting.
jmhobson's review against another edition
5.0
So, so good. So close to perfection. I've been reading it slowly to make it last. If I'd read it when I was fourteen, I just would have read it over and over.
martinhope19's review against another edition
3.5
A cute coming of age novel. I did not love it but I can appreciate it. It was rather slow and I didn’t love any of the characters, but it ultimately did make me reflect on life and growing up.
cook_memorial_public_library's review against another edition
4.0
Recommended by Ellen J. Check our catalog: https://encore.cooklib.org/iii/encore/search/C__Sexcellent%20lombards%20hamilton__Orightresult__U?lang=eng&suite=gold
lisa_mc's review against another edition
4.0
One might think that as we have moved from an agrarian, aristocratic society to a technological, modern one, the importance of land and inheritance would cease to be such a common theme in novels. But even in the 21st century, money and heritage -- and the people who feel entitled to either or both -- still make for fascinating plotlines.
Jane Hamilton’s “The Excellent Lombards” centers on a Wisconsin family and its apple orchard over several decades. While many novels with this scope are sprawling epics, Hamilton keeps a tight focus on the Lombards themselves, their alliances and grudges, their hidden histories and recent secrets, their departures and arrivals.
Told from the point of view of Mary Frances Lombard, a child at the beginning who grows to young adulthood over the course of the novel, the book reveals - first from the naive viewpoint of a preteen, later from the more nuanced perspective of an educated young adult - the complexities of the family tree. The father of Mary Frances and her brother, William, runs the orchard with his cousin, Sherwood, who lives with his wife and children and their eccentric Aunt May Hill in what Mary Frances refers to as the “manor house.” But more relatives exist, and the idea of inheritance and division are never too far out of mind for many of the Lombards. Growing up together, Mary Frances and William are both friends and rivals of Sherwood’s children, whichever suits the situation.
And in the family, there’s an almost English connection with the idea of the “estate,” the family holding, which has a primal pull on its inhabitants. “I started to wonder,” a young Mary Frances muses in her bunk bed, “if a place might make you more than you were. Was that possible? … And then, without that place, say you lost it, or couldn’t get back to it, or couldn’t stay there for long, it could turn out that you were really weren’t much of anyone.”
Hamilton has always been a master storyteller, and “The Excellent Lombards” is a story masterfully told. She doesn’t giving too much away at once, developing characters and places through well-chosen details, linking the past with the present smoothly, and keeping the story moving in such a way that readers may not realize how much they’ve learned - and how much they care about these people - until several dozen pages have gone by.
Jane Hamilton’s “The Excellent Lombards” centers on a Wisconsin family and its apple orchard over several decades. While many novels with this scope are sprawling epics, Hamilton keeps a tight focus on the Lombards themselves, their alliances and grudges, their hidden histories and recent secrets, their departures and arrivals.
Told from the point of view of Mary Frances Lombard, a child at the beginning who grows to young adulthood over the course of the novel, the book reveals - first from the naive viewpoint of a preteen, later from the more nuanced perspective of an educated young adult - the complexities of the family tree. The father of Mary Frances and her brother, William, runs the orchard with his cousin, Sherwood, who lives with his wife and children and their eccentric Aunt May Hill in what Mary Frances refers to as the “manor house.” But more relatives exist, and the idea of inheritance and division are never too far out of mind for many of the Lombards. Growing up together, Mary Frances and William are both friends and rivals of Sherwood’s children, whichever suits the situation.
And in the family, there’s an almost English connection with the idea of the “estate,” the family holding, which has a primal pull on its inhabitants. “I started to wonder,” a young Mary Frances muses in her bunk bed, “if a place might make you more than you were. Was that possible? … And then, without that place, say you lost it, or couldn’t get back to it, or couldn’t stay there for long, it could turn out that you were really weren’t much of anyone.”
Hamilton has always been a master storyteller, and “The Excellent Lombards” is a story masterfully told. She doesn’t giving too much away at once, developing characters and places through well-chosen details, linking the past with the present smoothly, and keeping the story moving in such a way that readers may not realize how much they’ve learned - and how much they care about these people - until several dozen pages have gone by.
elisabeth1st's review against another edition
4.0
I love Jane Hamilton's writing and thought this was very well done. Not quite the power house of A Map of the World, but a very thoughtful coming of age story and an enjoyable read.
brittaini's review against another edition
Abandoned after 30 pages. I guess I'm just not interested in farms?