Onze site gebruikt cookies om diensten te leveren, prestaties te verbeteren, voor analyse en (indien je niet ingelogd bent) voor advertenties. Door LibraryThing te gebruiken erken je dat je onze Servicevoorwaarden en Privacybeleid gelezen en begrepen hebt. Je gebruik van de site en diensten is onderhevig aan dit beleid en deze voorwaarden.
May Sarton's powerful and profound novel of an extraordinary life, and of one woman's efforts to preserve the force and vitality of her experiences on the pages of a book For the second time in my life--and I am now seventy--I am embarking on an effort which may well come to nothing but which has possessed my mind, haunts, and will not let me sleep. From her opening statement, Cam, the narrator of The Magnificent Spinster, declares her grand intentions: to write a novel--a worthy and important one in celebration of her recently deceased friend and teacher, Jane Reid, whose dearth of family threatens the memory of her almost tangible greatness. And so she writes, re-creating Jane's childhood, adolescence, and years as a teacher--including the one in which Cam was her student. She writes of Jane's irrepressible spirit and the charming letters Jane penned about her adventures, and she recounts Jane's growing isolation as she aged, which, rather than softening her, only made her shine brighter. Raw, warm, and beautifully rendered, The Magnificent Spinster is a stunning achievement--part memoir, part epistolary recollection, and part novel within a novel about friendship, memory, and the power of a brilliant soul.… (meer)
At seventy, Cam decides to document the life of her dear friend Jane Reid (the eponymous spinster), who has recently passed away. She decides to write it as a novel rather than a biography, since there are gaps in her knowledge of Jane’s life. So The Magnificent Spinster is a novel-within-a-novel, revealing as much about Cam as Jane. The two met when Jane was a young teacher and Cam, one of her students. Jane was an inspiring teacher and mentor, and also friendly with Cam’s mother who volunteered at the school. Later, their relationship evolved into a close friendship, with each woman supporting the other through life’s journey.
I’m not sure what to make of this book, which I picked up on a whim several years ago and left to languish on my shelves. The premise is interesting, but ultimately I wasn’t as fascinated by Jane as Cam was. May Sarton used major political and world events to anchor her story (both world wars, the Spanish Civil War, McCarthyism, the Kennedy presidency, and so on), but I grew weary of the characters’ diatribes on the state of the world.
In the end, this was a “just okay” sort of read. And now it’s no longer languishing on my shelves, so there’s that, I guess. ( )
Informatie afkomstig uit de Engelse Algemene Kennis.Bewerk om naar jouw taal over te brengen.
In Memoriam, Anne Longfellow Thorpe 1894 - 1977
Eerste woorden
Informatie afkomstig uit de Engelse Algemene Kennis.Bewerk om naar jouw taal over te brengen.
For the second time in my life - and I am now seventy - I am embarking on an effort which may well come to nothing but which has possessed my mind, haunts, and will not let me sleep.
Citaten
Laatste woorden
Informatie afkomstig uit de Engelse Algemene Kennis.Bewerk om naar jouw taal over te brengen.
May Sarton's powerful and profound novel of an extraordinary life, and of one woman's efforts to preserve the force and vitality of her experiences on the pages of a book For the second time in my life--and I am now seventy--I am embarking on an effort which may well come to nothing but which has possessed my mind, haunts, and will not let me sleep. From her opening statement, Cam, the narrator of The Magnificent Spinster, declares her grand intentions: to write a novel--a worthy and important one in celebration of her recently deceased friend and teacher, Jane Reid, whose dearth of family threatens the memory of her almost tangible greatness. And so she writes, re-creating Jane's childhood, adolescence, and years as a teacher--including the one in which Cam was her student. She writes of Jane's irrepressible spirit and the charming letters Jane penned about her adventures, and she recounts Jane's growing isolation as she aged, which, rather than softening her, only made her shine brighter. Raw, warm, and beautifully rendered, The Magnificent Spinster is a stunning achievement--part memoir, part epistolary recollection, and part novel within a novel about friendship, memory, and the power of a brilliant soul.
Google Books — Bezig met laden...
(3.81)
11
I’m not sure what to make of this book, which I picked up on a whim several years ago and left to languish on my shelves. The premise is interesting, but ultimately I wasn’t as fascinated by Jane as Cam was. May Sarton used major political and world events to anchor her story (both world wars, the Spanish Civil War, McCarthyism, the Kennedy presidency, and so on), but I grew weary of the characters’ diatribes on the state of the world.
In the end, this was a “just okay” sort of read. And now it’s no longer languishing on my shelves, so there’s that, I guess. (