Maddie Mortimer
Auteur van Maps of Our Spectacular Bodies
Werken van Maddie Mortimer
Tagged
Algemene kennis
- Geslacht
- female
- Nationaliteit
- UK
- Geboorteplaats
- London, England, UK
- Opleiding
- University of Bristol
Leden
Besprekingen
Lijsten
Netgalley Reads (1)
Prijzen
Misschien vindt je deze ook leuk
Gerelateerde auteurs
Statistieken
- Werken
- 2
- Leden
- 186
- Populariteit
- #116,758
- Waardering
- 3.9
- Besprekingen
- 4
- ISBNs
- 14
- Talen
- 3
The lovely and graceful writing about flawed people grappling with faith and religion did a lot to win me over. For instance this passage, in which Lia's mother Anne - who has come across as rather cold and haughty - emerges from a store after receiving a call while in the check-out line from Lia, informing her of her terminal diagnosis, and thereafter telling the clerk and other shoppers this information in a daze and receiving generous compassion:
Mortimer credits Marilynne Robinson as an influence, I believe; this passage also put me in mind of Tolstoy's short story Where Love Is, God Is.
However the writing had its down aspects for me as well. I could accept the poetry and Max Porter influenced playing with text shape to create spirals and fireworks and other images from time to time, though I tend to think novel text should stay in straight lines in readable fonts. The frequent poetry influenced enjambment, I didn't really care for, ie:
In contrast to reminding me of Tolstoy that reminds me of Rupi Kaur. Not ideal.
The last pages come to the rescue again however, being a dazzling and affecting scene of dying with 0% sentimentality. They definitely bump the novel up to a 3.5. Early in the novel, and in her life, Lia had been asked if she'd ever experienced God. Mortimer writes, "she had hoped very privately all her life for a dazzling numinous moment - because how easy it would be to believe, she thought, when given a sign like that. I don't know, she said, honestly. Either I've had thousands or none."
Now dying, the final pages give the reader this exchange, with her husband and young daughter experiencing her last moments with her:
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