I started this story with some anxiety. The novel is about rewilding the wolf predator near a rural farm area of the Scottish Highlands. The tension bI started this story with some anxiety. The novel is about rewilding the wolf predator near a rural farm area of the Scottish Highlands. The tension between the local sheep farmers and the wolves was inevitable, and I wasn’t sure that I would have the stomach for a story that might include animal abuse. Parts of the story were disturbing, yet compulsively readable, and once I settled into the story, I couldn’t put it down.
The main character, Inti Flynn, is a biologist that released the wolf pack into the Highlands. She has a neurological disorder which causes her to feel touch sensations of others and likely to overidentify with the wolves. I loved reading about Inti’s intense connection to her wolf project and attempts to care for and protect the wolves and their offspring.
The novel gradually reveals past secrets as the story unfolds. Those revelations expose most of the characters to be damaged in some way yet capable of healing.
The writing is lyrical and compelling to the end. Recommended! ...more
I enjoyed this author's last novel, The Sacrament. Both stories follow a similar format with flashbacks over past time periods. Throughout the novel, I enjoyed this author's last novel, The Sacrament. Both stories follow a similar format with flashbacks over past time periods. Throughout the novel, the narrator, Kristófer Hannesson reminisces about an event in his life when he had a brief love affair with Miko, a Japanese woman who disappeared suddenly 50 years ago.
I love this kind of writing...nuanced and with spare prose. However, I listened to an audio, and the first person narration with alternating past and present timelines was a challenge in that format. -3.5 Stars-...more
This is a spare memoir-like novel full of noxious, circular dialogue between a daughter and her impenetrable and frustrating mother.
The narrator is BThis is a spare memoir-like novel full of noxious, circular dialogue between a daughter and her impenetrable and frustrating mother.
The narrator is Bridget, an independent woman in her 40s as she begins her remembrance of her mother, Helen (Hen). All the exchanges are filtered through Bridget and take up most of this story as mother and daughter circle each other warily revealing as little as possible within their painfully awkward meetings.
What a potent and intimate account of a toxic mother/daughter relationship! An unnerving yet mesmerizing character study.
****4.5 Stars****Scenes from a marriage. Once again, the narrator is Lucy Barton. After her second husband’s death, she has rekindled a friendship wit****4.5 Stars****Scenes from a marriage. Once again, the narrator is Lucy Barton. After her second husband’s death, she has rekindled a friendship with her first husband, William. I was touched by the lives of Lucy and William, not only for their personal revelations, but in recognition of my own.
There are elements of the story that echo my own life, and they provoked deep reflection on my part even after I finished the novel. We both left our first marriage after 20 years. Lucy’s thoughts and feelings when her marriage ended felt familiar and true and was an emotional gut punch for me. “Sometimes I thought I would die from the pain of our separating, and the pain it caused my girls, but I did not die, and I am here, and so is William.”
This novel is sparingly written and intensely truthful, my favorite kind of story. Strout’s prose is always conversational, intimate, and often infused with heartbreaking disclosures. I love this author and how she writes! ** Recommended! ** ...more
****4.5 Stars**** Kevin Pace, the narrator in this story, is a middle-aged painter, a married man with two children and more than a few secrets. The fo****4.5 Stars**** Kevin Pace, the narrator in this story, is a middle-aged painter, a married man with two children and more than a few secrets. The format is written in short chapters with three alternating headings spanning several decades: “House” for the present time; “Paris” approximately 10 years earlier, a time when Kevin had a brief affair with a much younger woman; and “1979” when he set off for the jungles of war-torn San Salvador in search of a friend’s brother.
I am often impatient with rotating story lines. This novel was an exception because each section was equally interesting, short, and the timeframes weave together smoothly. The structure never diminished my enjoyment of this story. Altogether, they reveal the power and destructive nature of Kevin Pace’s many secrets, and their impact on his artistic career, his marriage, and his family.
This novel is beautifully written…even funny at times…and thought-provoking. Recommended. ...more
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