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Roxana Robinson

Auteur van Cost

12+ Werken 1,281 Leden 45 Besprekingen Favoriet van 1 leden

Over de Auteur

Roxana Robinson is an art historian and novelist and the author of ten books. Four of these were chosen as New York Times Notable Books, two as New York Times Editors' Choices. Her fiction has appeared in the New Yorker, the Atlantic, Harper's Best American Short Stories, Tin House, and has been toon meer anthologized and broadcast on National Public Radio, and she is a recipient of both NEA and Guggenheim Fellowships. toon minder

Werken van Roxana Robinson

Cost (2008) 369 exemplaren
Georgia O'Keeffe: A Life (1901) 363 exemplaren
Sweetwater (2003) 121 exemplaren
Sparta (2013) 116 exemplaren
This Is My Daughter (1998) 110 exemplaren
Summer Light (1988) 49 exemplaren
Dawson's Fall (2019) 34 exemplaren
Leaving (2024) 33 exemplaren
Asking for Love (1996) 22 exemplaren
This Is America (2010) 2 exemplaren

Gerelateerde werken

A View of the Harbour (1947) — Introductie, sommige edities575 exemplaren
Writers on Writing: Collected Essays from the New York Times (2001) — Medewerker — 444 exemplaren
The New York Stories of Edith Wharton (2007) — Redacteur, sommige edities; Introductie, sommige edities324 exemplaren
The Best American Short Stories 1994 (1994) — Medewerker — 239 exemplaren
The Best Early Stories of F. Scott Fitzgerald (Modern Library Classics) (2005) — Voorwoord, sommige edities154 exemplaren
The Best American Mystery Stories 2001 (2001) — Medewerker — 144 exemplaren
Fourteen Days: A Collaborative Novel (2022) — Medewerker — 128 exemplaren
Bad Girls: 26 Writers Misbehave (2007) — Medewerker — 64 exemplaren
New Haven Noir (2017) — Medewerker — 45 exemplaren
The Second Penguin Book of Modern Women's Short Stories (1997) — Medewerker — 27 exemplaren
The Kiss: Intimacies from Writers (2018) — Medewerker — 23 exemplaren

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Besprekingen

This novel, an insightful and powerful examination of a conflict between honour and passion, asks what we owe both others and ourselves.

Forty years after their breakup in college, a chance meeting brings together Warren Jennings and Sarah Watson. Sarah, a museum curator, is a mother and grandmother who has been divorced for almost two decades. Warren, a successful architect, has been married to Janet for 34 years, and they have one daughter, 24-year-old Katrina. The two rekindle their relationship even though Sarah lives near New York and Warren lives in Boston. Warren admits to not being completely happy in his marriage; though Janet “has given him everything she has. It’s not enough.” When he tells her he wants a divorce, Janet resists and then Katrina threatens to totally cut him out of her life. Both Warren and Sarah must decide what they are willing and not willing to leave behind for true love.

The book raises so many questions. Is it morally acceptable to leave a marriage in order to pursue personal happiness or should personal happiness be sacrificed for the greater good, to protect “family, order, duty, honor”? What responsibilities does a parent have for grown children who are living independently? How does a parent maintain a connection with grown children? Should adult children have the power to emotionally control their parents? What do we owe ourselves and others when our choices have consequences, both for ourselves and others?

Point of view is particularly effective. The reader is given both Sarah and Warren’s perspectives. Because we are given their thoughts and feelings, we get to know them intimately. We experience their joys and sorrows and understand their motivations. We might not agree with their decisions, but we can follow their thought processes.

My feelings about the characters did not remain static. This speaks to the complexity of the characters: good but flawed people. Warren, for instance, had my sympathy as he sees his future as a life sentence of “the torture of false intimacy” or life without his daughter, yet I also felt anger because he sometimes seems so weak in his encounters with Katrina. His choice at the end, not removing his backpack, tells a lot about his character. I wanted to shout at the young Sarah for being so quick to jump to conclusions about Warren. Why didn’t she speak to him openly about her concerns? But of course “She’d known nothing about choosing a husband.” At times she tries to minimize her role in breaking up Warren’s marriage. On the other hand, her efforts to connect to Meg and Jeff are so sincere. The one person whom I consistently did not like is Katrina who just seems selfish, emotionally immature, manipulative, and implacably judgmental.

The ending is perfect. Given the discussions of operas and tragedies, it is predictable, but given what has gone before and Warren’s character, it is entirely appropriate. I would love a sequel focusing on the three women and their thoughts/reactions to Warren’s choice at the end. Would they question what happened and re-evaluate their actions? Would Sarah, if she suspected what happened, see Warren’s action as breaking the social contract “to see this through to the end”?

I highly recommend this book which has so much depth. It is so well-written: I loved the allusions to literature, art and the opera which work so well in developing theme. It is such an honest and authentic portrayal of marriage and family relationships. The novel would be an excellent choice for book clubs because it is so thought-provoking. Readers will certainly have strong feelings about who behaved honourably and who let passion rule and broke moral codes.

Note: I received an eARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

Please check out my reader's blog (https://schatjesshelves.blogspot.com/) and follow me on Twitter (https://twitter.com/DCYakabuski).
… (meer)
½
 
Gemarkeerd
Schatje | 2 andere besprekingen | Feb 12, 2024 |
"Her parents were drifting away, locked in a losing struggle with their bodies, their minds. The tide was going out."

Julia, a divorced art professor, is spending the summer at her Maine house when it becomes apparent that her younger son Jack has descended into the hell of heroin addiction. The novel follows Julia and her family's journey as they attempt to rescue Jack. The story, told from alternating points of view of the various family members, including Julia's parents, her father a cold and controlling retired neurosurgeon, her mother in the beginnings of Alzheimers, her ex-husband, Jack's older brother, and Jack himself, is a devastating one. It is not easy to read, and people more knowledgeable than me state that it paints an accurate description of the dirty side of an addict's life and what it is like to go through withdrawal an rehab, and of course how rarely rehab is successful. The focus is not entirely on the addict, however, but how addiction affects, and sometimes destroys, the entire family.

This is an excellent book. "Enjoyable" is not the word, but it is a book definitely well-worth reading. My only complaint is that Julia at times seemed too naive, too willing to accept Jack's lies and deceptions, and she took entirely too long to accept the reality of Jack's addiction. But, I suppose that's what a mother's love would do.

4 stars
… (meer)
 
Gemarkeerd
arubabookwoman | 17 andere besprekingen | Aug 19, 2021 |
Frank Dawson leaves all he knows in England to come to the United States to join the Confederacy in their fight against the Union in the Civil War. He becomes well known and mostly well liked in his community of Charleston, South Carolina. He becomes the editor of the Charleston News and Courier and his opinion is valued as the South tries to grow again after the ravages of the war.

It was a very difficult time in the country’s history as the South was dealing with the destruction the war wrought, the emancipation of the slaves which left them without their “free” labor source and the impact of various political forces on moving forward. Frank uses his platform to promote his liberal views which are, for the most part well received. He grows his family and all seems to be going well.

Then another paper opens with opposing views, more conservative views particularly when it comes to the freed slaves. Dawson finds his paper is losing subscribers and his business starts to wobble. He also finds himself embroiled in a feud with a neighbor. That neighbor, a doctor seems to have developed an obsession with the Dawson family nanny.

Ms. Robinson created the story from family diaries and historical records. It is a fascinating look at a tumultuous time in this country’s history. It does start a little slowly but it picks up and I found that I couldn’t put it down. Dawson is a rich and complicated man; his story is just one of the many immigrant tales that have built this country into what it is today. Each little piece in each little town and city has brought us to today.
… (meer)
½
 
Gemarkeerd
BooksCooksLooks | 1 andere bespreking | Aug 28, 2020 |
Dawson's Fall is a novel based on the lives of the author's great-grandparents in Charleston, SC in 1889. She used family papers, journals, letters and newspaper articles for the basis of the novel but also did extensive research about America during the years after the Civil War.

The war between the states is over but its effects were still felt in Charleston. Frank Dawson survived the war and is now the editor of the Charleston News and Courier. He appears to be living comfortably with his wife Sarah and their two children but is having several financial problems that he hasn't shared with his wife. As Frank continues to write editorials about equal rights and nonviolence, his newspaper readership is dropping rapidly because these are not the views of most of the people in Charleston who were against Black people owning property and voting.

This was an interesting look at the views of people after the Civil War. I thought that it was well written and appreciated that the author used the journal entries and letters of her family to tell the story. I do agree with many reviewers that the first half of the story was difficult to get through because of all the characters. However, I encourage you to read this book for the story that's told in the second half. It is an excellent look at the conflicting views about race after the Civil War.
… (meer)
 
Gemarkeerd
susan0316 | 1 andere bespreking | Aug 28, 2020 |

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Werken
12
Ook door
13
Leden
1,281
Populariteit
#20,021
Waardering
3.8
Besprekingen
45
ISBNs
67
Talen
4
Favoriet
1

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