Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.15 AVERAGE
4.15 AVERAGE
im just like in a really emotional state rn and maybe this is an emotional five stars but whatever i teared up AGAIN in public reading the end and jules
There is nothing wrong with Margaret Laurence’s The Diviners. But I can’t quite enjoy myself. While the story is interesting, and the characters sympathetic, I can never entirely embrace the novel. And around page five-hundred, when it has worn out its welcome, it comes to such a neat little closure, everything fitting together, that I can’t help but feel bored.
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Definitely something every woman should eventually read at some point in their life. A tale of class, love and growing up with a desire to be your own person. Very good book =).
“The crocuses used to grow out of the snow. You would find them in pastures, the black-pitted dying snow still there, and the crocuses already growing, their greengrey featherstems, and the petals a pale greymauve. People who’d never lived hereabouts always imagined it was dull, bleak, hundreds of miles of nothing. They didn’t know the renewal that came out of the dead cold.”
I wasn’t sure what to expect from The Diviners by Margaret Laurence—I think my Bantam paperback edition from 1975 boasting a novel about a woman’s “urgent need for love” led me to believe it might be a bit corny. However, it turned out to be a powerful account of a woman’s life recalled through her memories. While I was reading the novel last week, I found out that it was Freedom to Read Week, and saw The Diviners on a CBC list of Canadian books that have been challenged.
The main character, Morag, starts out as a young girl who loses her parents. She dreams of leaving her small town, only to discover the ways in which the past always stays with her. The novel follows her adventures around Canada and to England as a writer, as well as her life in the present day living in the country. I loved learning the ways that Morag lives with her memories and with her choices, and the way that she views the complicated lives of the people around her.
The writing is shocking and beautiful—I believe the reason the book was challenged in the 70s was because of the descriptions of sex. I loved this book, and it was definitely a perfect read for Freedom to Read Week.
I wasn’t sure what to expect from The Diviners by Margaret Laurence—I think my Bantam paperback edition from 1975 boasting a novel about a woman’s “urgent need for love” led me to believe it might be a bit corny. However, it turned out to be a powerful account of a woman’s life recalled through her memories. While I was reading the novel last week, I found out that it was Freedom to Read Week, and saw The Diviners on a CBC list of Canadian books that have been challenged.
The main character, Morag, starts out as a young girl who loses her parents. She dreams of leaving her small town, only to discover the ways in which the past always stays with her. The novel follows her adventures around Canada and to England as a writer, as well as her life in the present day living in the country. I loved learning the ways that Morag lives with her memories and with her choices, and the way that she views the complicated lives of the people around her.
The writing is shocking and beautiful—I believe the reason the book was challenged in the 70s was because of the descriptions of sex. I loved this book, and it was definitely a perfect read for Freedom to Read Week.
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I’m having very mixed feelings about this book. I first read it more than 25 years ago and loved it. I thought that in re-reading it at my age, nearly the age of the protagonist, I would feel comforted and perhaps love it more. Not the case, and I am not sure why. I do have more admiration for the author, writing about the issues she did in the early 1970’s.
This is quite a dense reading which takes some time as it is not possible to read this book in a hurry. Otherwise, one of the best I have ever read. I have re-read it after finishing all the four previous Manawaka books and it was better this time when one was aware of all the cycle.
I'd forgotten what a haunting, gorgeous novel this is.