Ah, Ken Follett. Writer of decent spy books, and sweeping historic epic novels. I have no idea how he gets these things done, they’re so bloody huge. So, this is the first of what Follett is calling the “Century Trilogy.” It follows five families through the 20th century, this book covers 1911 through 1924. We’ve got World War I, the Russian Revolution, women’s suffrage, mining strikes, and also just general life stuff like unwed mothers, gays, and religion. The families come from Wales (the poor, […]
There’s an excellent book floating around in here somewhere, but…
(This post originally appeared in Persephone Magazine.) Set during World War I and promising an aristocratic feminist awakening, I wanted to like Somewhere in France a lot more than I did. Jennifer Robson’s story of Lady Elizabeth Neville-Ashford and Doctor Robert Fraser goes on too long for what is at stake, but it still has its redeeming qualities. Lady Elizabeth — Lilly, to most everyone who knows her — has left her comfortable lifestyle in order to join the war effort. Her parents more or less […]
A View of WWI England’s Homefront
This is one of those books where I get why it’s acclaimed and award winning, but I didn’t really enjoy it that much. Granted, I’m not sure if these novels are meant to be enjoyed since I would definitely classify them in that literary fiction category that’s more about teaching than enjoying. However, even within that, I can’t say the novel particularly moved me. I thought it was dark and oppressive but in a way that actually turned me off from the novel. It isn’t […]
Someone: A Novel by Alice McDermott
It’s hard to give a plot summary for this novel because I’m not sure there is a clear plot line. The narrator Marie gives us her life story, an ordinary life with love and loss, births and deaths, set in Brooklyn from her 1920s’ girlhood through WWII, then marriage and family. It’s about what happens to her, her neighbors, her parents and brother. These are ordinary lives but no life is really just ordinary. There’s always more to people than you realize. McDermott’s writing is […]