Yes!!! I have found the customise button ,and obviously today I have too much time on my hands!!
I am looking forward to reading Falling Angels , I have to say the first sentence has me intrigued right from the start.
Here's cheers to lots more stimulating conversations.
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by Sue, “This epic retelling of the Flood and Noah's Ark defies any easy description. It is at times humorous, dark, and tragic; fill...
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Anne Tyler has been called "the most impressive novelist of her generation". She has been awarded the Pulitzer Prize and four of...
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I think we are really getting the hang of this!!! My copy of Unless is due in at the library next week so I will have some summer reading t...
Nancy-
ReplyDeleteI love the fun you're having with editing the webpage. Also I think that I couldn't post from Franklin's computer. I had posted that last post from work. I finally got my laptop back so hopefully no additional problems. This post is kind of a test too.
Sue- I don't mind books about feminism, I just felt Shields was stretching a bit for it. And I am enjoying Falling Angels so far!
Hello Ladies
ReplyDeleteAs promised, an early post.
Really enjoyed this. Wonderful evocation of the time: the class system, the attitude to royalty, male chauvinism, domestic establishments and routines, and the rituals surrounding death, for example, were just so well done. The title is so appropriate. Well, I’m assuming it refers to the role of middle/upper class women as angels who will be perceived by Richard and his mother, for example, to be falling from grace as they work towards equality. And the fact the angel fell, is that symbolic of the fact that the old order is built on poor foundations? Change is inevitable.
Of course, those bringing about change are fanatical and careless, destroying much in the process. So, change is inevitable but always comes at a cost?
And the cost is really high – the murder, sadly, could just as easily happen in today’s more liberated times, but the chaos of the change process provided the opportunity.
Anyway, the plot kept me reading until late at night, and my only problem was referring back constantly to check on the passage of time. The characters’ voices and their different perspectives contributed so much to the portrayal and understanding of them and the time in which they lived – lots of different perspectives.
What did we all think of Kitty? An intelligent woman destroyed by lack of intellectual, emotional and sexual satisfaction? Or a selfish, foolish person? All those things?
I suppose the answer to that will depend to some extent on one’s view of the role of women. We really need a man to read some of these books!
And just another word on the George Eliot quote in “Unless”: Eliot, writing in Victorian times and in a long relationship with a married man, had to take a man’s name to avoid sexism in the publishing world. So, another level. But, I think Shields must have been looking at it in a broader context: if you think you might be about to die, surely you’d be trying to consider the other side of silence? To be honest, it’s something I’d rather not face at the moment!
Sue, your thought on the title being a reference to the suffragettes is brilliant. I was viewing it on a much smaller scale: in relation to the characters. I was debating through most of the novel if Kitty was the “angel”. I believed her “fall” was with Mr. Jackson. But then I felt the reference was to Ivy May after what happened. The fall of the angel, I believe, was just a mechanism through which Mr. Jackson was driven into Kitty’s arms. (She did make the offer first and he did try to be morally proper and reject her)
ReplyDeleteIn answer to your question, Sue, I think Kitty was just a bored, selfish woman. I found Kitty’s constant neglect of Maude just so frustrating. Kitty’s need for fulfillment may have been met if she had focused more energy on Maude. What are your opinions about Kitty’s abortion? While devious, she could have just tricked Richard into thinking the baby was his. Do you think that Kitty becoming a suffragette was her way of coping with her guilt?
How much, do you ladies think, would have changed had Gertrude gone to the parade? Would the only loss that day have been Kitty? Amongst all the chaos, would Gertrude have been able to keep all three girls together? Would Ivy May still be alive?
I love Maude’s level of maturity and wisdom towards the end of the novel. During her conversation with Mr. Jackson, she mentions that the dead do not care about what we do; that our actions are purely for our own comfort. How much of what we do when we grieve is done for ourselves? Do we think Kitty would have appreciated the effort that Simon and Mr. Jackson went through to fulfill her final wishes? Or do we think that only Mr. Jackson was comforted by his actions?
Great book! Can’t decide which I’ve liked best so far. My suggestion is up next. Hope it’s not a terrible pick!
Don't worry, Katie, whatever book we pick makes us think and that's really important - especially when you are retired! Your enthusiasm for reading is infectious.
ReplyDeleteI think Kitty is bored, selfish and devious - though the limitations of her life may well have contributed to that. And becoming a suffragette must have seemed to be a wonderfully adventurous escape from a trap. I can forgive her most things, but not her neglect of Maude.
And I really do agree that much, in fact most, of what we do in the face of the death of a loved one must be for our own comfort. It's only human. Something has to be done to assuage all that grief, all that emotion. Rituals must be such a comfort. Mr. Jackson must have been greatly helped by feeling that he had "done the right thing". But I can say these things because I've not yet been in that situation, for which I'm very grateful.
Gertrude does seem to have struggled with her maternal role, and I'm not sure her presence would have been enough to keep the girls together. On the other hand, you'd think that she would have stayed with the youngest, wouldn't you? So perhaps Ivy May would have lived.
The fact we're discussing the characters like this speaks volumes for the author. Indeed, a great book.
I've received "From the Land of the Moon" from Amazon (which was remarkably efficient) and I look forward to another good read.
Sue
Hello Ladies,
ReplyDeleteBetter late than never I guess, thank you both for your kind wishes.
Reading back over your comments on Falling Angels, I can say I agree with you both wholehearted!!!!!
I enjoyed this book very much and became quite involved with the time and sense of place it evoked.
I agree Sue, that a lot of what we do when grieving a loved one is for ourselves and for those grieving with us, however a lot of the rituals associated with death are dictated by society and sometimes to be seen to be doing the right thing when you really don't want to can be the hardest of all. I guess that was why Mr Jackson later went against the families wishes and cremated Kitty, I am still not sure how I feel about that!!
I am slightly ashamed to say I knew very little of the fight of the suffragettes. It does us all good I believe to recall the sacrifices these women made and acknowledge the difficulties they faced. However it goes without saying that not all women joined for the right reasons {as with any radical group} and perhaps Kitty was escaping from her life and using the suffragettes as a crutch and an outlet for her tempestuousness.
Her rejection of Maude puzzles me, maybe I am searching too deeply, but I feel the author may have been hinting at a post natal depression for Kitty as her behaviour towards Maude especially when she was an infant seems to point this way for me.
That is certainly something that would not be acknowledged in the time the novel was set. It also allows me to helps me to understand the character of Kitty a little better in this light because in spite of all her glaring faults I quite liked her.
As I said I thoroughly enjoyed this read and the challenges of commenting on it. Our little book club has made me a much more mindful reader and I'm pleased about that.