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Bezig met laden... Serafim and Clairedoor Mark Lavorato
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Meld je aan bij LibraryThing om erachter te komen of je dit boek goed zult vinden. Op dit moment geen Discussie gesprekken over dit boek. this book was selected as the september read, by the in-person book group that is trying to find its feet in our neighbourhood. we are meeting tonight to talk about. i found this an interesting read, and it is clear lavorato did a mountain of research in support of his novel. while neither serafim or claire are particularly sympathetic characters, you can't help but hope the best for them as they seemingly move from one disappointment or act of violence and violation to the next. lavorato's writing is lovely, his experience as a poet is evident in the prose. the novel deals with some really big themes: politics, religion, art, feminism and the women's movement, immigration, morality, class systems, language, family... there is a lot going on in this book. and i think this is where things didn't quite hold together for me. i understand the weaving of all these subjects through his characters - especially as serafim is on the leading edge of what will become photojournalism - but the sheer number of ideas fragmented the flow of the read quite a bit for me. oddly, i felt a little impatient with the story - it seemed to take a long time for claire and serafim to finally connect. (oddly, as i am not, generally, an impatient person.) i quite liked the secondary characters, and found they added a lot of interest for me while i was reading. (claire's grandmother, and seraphim's friend antonino, in particular.) the author noted in an interview that serafim and claire is "about obsession with your art", and i definitely felt this. though when it came to claire, her obsession does seem to shift to the more nebulous concept of fame as the story progresses, which made for good contemplation. "saudad" is mentioned in the book, as an untranslatable portuguese word which describes the longing for things that are absent but that may never have been had in the first place. this concept, in the context of fiction, is fantastic! perhaps it could have been the title? Passion. Be it for a another being or for a craft can make for interesting reading. We are all guilty to blindly following someone or doing something without rationalizing why we do it. And the hurt when that occurs when we fall because of our blind passions creates some uneasy situations. And that is the beauty behind the novel Serafim and Claire. http://wp.me/p46Ewj-iE geen besprekingen | voeg een bespreking toe
From one of Canada's brightest emerging writers comes an unforgettable tale of love, art, and life. Set in the vividly imagined streets of 1920s Montreal, Serafim and Claire is the beautiful, moving, and compulsively readable story of two dreamers whose worlds become forever connected. Claire Audette is a dancer whose reputation in the vaudeville houses of 1920s Montreal is rapidly on the rise. Serafim Vieria is a photographer and lonely immigrant, wandering the streets of the same city haunted by memories of a lost love in his native Portugal. Around them, the Twenties are roaring, and the metropolis is simmering: corrupt politicians, the burgeoning of jazz, the emerging suffragette movement, trouble in the Red Light, fascism in the Italian community, with the English/French divide cleaving through it all. And as Serafim and Claire's lives begin to intertwine, a dangerous plot forms that could boost both their fortunes. Can their naïve yet cunning plan succeed? Can they make their own luck? And, if they fail, what will become of their budding love? Serafim and Claire is the unforgettable story of two idealistic yet flawed dreamers being drawn together, and of the vibrant city and times in which they live. In lush and beautiful prose, Mark Lavorato brings an entire world vividly to life. Geen bibliotheekbeschrijvingen gevonden. |
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Google Books — Bezig met laden... GenresDewey Decimale Classificatie (DDC)813.6Literature English (North America) American fiction 21st CenturyLC-classificatieWaarderingGemiddelde:
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Loved learning so much about the city of my birth. ( )