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3.53 AVERAGE
3.53 AVERAGE
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Loved this. It took some getting into, but I love a Victorian cryptid scare I guess? & just people being bad at loving other people, but stumbling into doing things right once in a blue moon?
One day he said "In Japan, they'll mend a broken pot with drops of molten gold. What a thing it would be, to have me break you & mend your wounds with gold," but she'd been 17, & armour-clad with youth, & never felt the blade go in. She'd laughed, & so had he.
"I'll be glad when it's all over. All these cards, these handshakes. I'm so bored of the etiquette of death."
Since half her pleasure in adopting such a ramshackle appearance lay in her friend's disgust, Cora turned up her collar against the wind, tilted her hat like a boy, & stuck her thumbs in her belt. "The wonderful thing about being a widow is that really, you're not obliged to be much of a woman anymore."
"Martha says I never looked odder or uglier, but you know I've always thought beauty a curse, & am more than happy to dispense with it completely. Sometimes I forget that I am a woman; at least, I forget to think of myself as a woman. All the obligations & comforts of womanhood seem to have nothing to do with me now. I'm not sure how I'm supposed to behave, & I'm not sure I would if I knew!"
In those cold minutes, she would recall not the years of unease in which she'd never once successfully judged his mood or circumnavigated the methods of his wounding, but their first few months, which were the last of her youth. Oh, she had loved him. No one could ever have loved more. She'd been too young to withstand it, a child intoxicated by an inch of drink. He'd been so somber that when attempts at levity made him laugh, she felt an empress in command of an army. He was so stern & so remote that the first moment he embraced her had been a battle won. She had not known then that these were the common tricks of a common trickster, to cede a skirmish & later lay her waste.
"I've never known her happier, though sometimes she remembers she ought not to be, & puts on her black dress & sits in the window looking like an artist's idea of grief."
"Martha, don't bow your head to the way things are & always were. Whole empires are brought down by nothing but ivy & time.
She prized Will's affection because it was impossible that he might want her as Michael once had. His affection was bounded off on all sides by Stella & his faith & by what she'd gratefully thought was his complete failure to notice she was a woman. "I might as well be a head in a jar of formaldehyde for all he cares," she'd once said to Martha. "It's why he prefers to write to me than see me. I'm only a mind, not a body. I'm safe as a child! Don't you see how I might prefer it?"
"You say you love me. Well I knew that, & I love you, how could I not? And you call it crumbs? Friendship is not crumbs. You're not grubbing around for scraps while someone else takes a whole loaf. It's all I've got to give.
"Do you think politics stops at the doorstep? Do you think it only a matter of soap boxes & picket lines & not also a matter of our private lives? Don't ask me to enter an institution that puts me in bonds & leaves you free. There are other ways to live. There are bonds beside those sanctioned by the state. Let's live as we think, free & unafraid. Let's be bound by nothing but affection & by holding our purpose in common. If you cannot have a wife, will you take a companion? Will you have a comrade?"
"You cannot always keep yourself away from things that hurt you. We all wish we could, but we cannot. To live at all is to be bruised."
"And do you think I do it for you? I forget I'm a woman. I set it aside. God knows I'm no mother, & I was never much of a wife. Do you think I should torture myself with high-heeled shoes & paint out my freckles so you're kept on your guard against me?"
"Yesterday I walked to Clerkenwell in the morning & stood by the iron grate where the fleet flows & listened, & imagined I heard the waters of all the rivers I've known [...] & I felt my heart cleaving. As I felt it, there in the dark wood on the green stair, & as I feel it now. Something severed, & something joined. [...] I am torn, & I am mended. I want everything, & need nothing. I love you, & I am content without you. Even so, come quickly."
adventurous
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
mysterious
slow-paced
such an amazing book! had no idea what to expect going in and honestly not sure what to say now i've finished it, but i loved the writing and the inclusion of letters and diary entries, and it's really made me want to visit essex....
challenging
informative
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I did not fall in love with this book right away. It was one of those relationships where you keep asking: should I or shouldn't I continue? But things change one muddy night in the marsh, and it's not until then that this book gets moving at an interesting - albeit slow - pace. The themes of religion, science, superstition, and intrigue start to reveal themselves more clearly then, as do the characters. There is a lot to this story, and it's a good one! But truth be told, I found the supporting characters much more interesting than the main one. Forget Cora and Will - meh - pay attention to Francis, Martha, Naomi, and Stella. They are much more fun to follow!
Im a fan of the adage “don’t judge a book by its cover, unless it is an actual book.” The design of this cover plus the dust jacket summary seemed RIGHT up my alley. However, I found that the plot idea was more intriguing than the execution. I found aspects I liked, but the entirety of it all together was … lacking.
Got swamped and didn't finish (not renewable) this but WOW what a good writer! Characters are fully-fleshed and fascinating. Once I get through Hagseed, I'm finishing this one!