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juliet331's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.25
elenamolinariiiii's review against another edition
3.0
mmmh Miss Coral i think you messed up quite a bit you're definitely my least favorite Cameron character (and book)
jlasch's review against another edition
4.0
I can best described this book as an English farce...the dark side.
Coral Glynn is a hired nurse who is placed at an English Manor to nurse an old woman dying of cancer. When the lady dies earlier than expected, Coral finds herself once again alone and without a home. When the lady's estranged son, Major Clement Hart, makes an unexpected marriage proposal to Coral, she accepts. They are both very lonely people, who just seem to be going through the motions of life, and this unconventional marriage seems like a reasonable solution to provide some sort of acceptable companionship. However, when Coral witnesses a very strange event in the woods, she becomes a suspect in a murder, and leaves Major Hart immediately after their wedding.
All of the main characters in this novel seem so incredibly lonely and sad - not only Coral and Clement, but Clement's best friend, Robin (who is not so secretly in love with the Major), his wife Dolly, and even the housekeeper of the Hart home. Each of these characters have their own story to tell about finding happiness in which they can be true to their authentic selves, but some wind up in a better place than others.
Coral Glynn is a hired nurse who is placed at an English Manor to nurse an old woman dying of cancer. When the lady dies earlier than expected, Coral finds herself once again alone and without a home. When the lady's estranged son, Major Clement Hart, makes an unexpected marriage proposal to Coral, she accepts. They are both very lonely people, who just seem to be going through the motions of life, and this unconventional marriage seems like a reasonable solution to provide some sort of acceptable companionship. However, when Coral witnesses a very strange event in the woods, she becomes a suspect in a murder, and leaves Major Hart immediately after their wedding.
All of the main characters in this novel seem so incredibly lonely and sad - not only Coral and Clement, but Clement's best friend, Robin (who is not so secretly in love with the Major), his wife Dolly, and even the housekeeper of the Hart home. Each of these characters have their own story to tell about finding happiness in which they can be true to their authentic selves, but some wind up in a better place than others.
bassbleu's review against another edition
5.0
Una lettura affascinante e ingannevole. Il libro sembra sempre portarti in una certa direzione per poi cambiare completamente strada e i colpi di scena in realtà appaiono come la giusta conclusione di un punto di vista che si frazione e smantella tra i vari personaggi. Durante la lettura ci si dimentica che a narrare sono tutti i protagonisti in un coro ben distinto, per questo le scelte individuali vengono interpretate come inusuali quando di fatto era stato già scritto tutto. Mi ha colpito molto come un subplot mi abbia sconvolta per poi perdere completamente la sua importanza, quasi come se l’autore fosse caduto nel tranello del plot hole e invece la sua scelta si è rivelata più che giusta. Coral Glynn mi ha ingannato per tutta la sua durata.
quinndm's review against another edition
4.0
This wonderful little book unfolds in the most unexpected ways—like love, like the impossible pursuit of happiness. Setting out on a journey for those goals inevitably leads to dead ends, broken roads, and paths you never imagined. And that’s what it feels like reading the book, like five different routes to a goal that is shared by all these beautifully tragic people.
lisa_mc's review against another edition
3.0
In this age of oversharing, paparazzi and reality TV, it’s easy to forget that for most of human culture, many things were simply Not Talked About. Unstated and understood. Except “understood” isn’t always understood, even by oneself, or it’s understood differently by different people.
There’s plenty unstated — and much misunderstood — in “Coral Glynn,” a delicate, deliberate story whose quiet surface belies its complex depths.
The novel begins in 1950, when Coral Glynn, a nurse, is hired to care for an elderly woman in the last throes of illness. The house is bleak, but because of its inhabitants, not its surroundings. The dying woman’s son, Clement, disfigured in the war, has written off the possibility of a wife for himself and doesn’t have much contact with his mother. The housekeeper is surreptitiously hostile toward Coral — but nice to her face.
After what could be called a whirlwind courtship or romance if there had been a courtship or romance, and despite barely knowing each other, Clement and Coral decide to marry.
Lacking friends and family of her own, Coral is helped in her wedding preparations by kindhearted, chattering Dolly, the wife of Clement’s dear friend Robin. But a strange turn of events upends Coral and Clement’s hasty plans and sends the story in an entirely new direction.
Coral herself goes through most of this at a distance, almost removed from the proceedings, swept along for want of any desire to do otherwise. She appears passive, reactive, but she takes charge of her situation when she has to. It’s as if she’s afraid to feel too much: “Coral hoped that by sitting silently and stilly on the bed, she might not disturb the diorama she felt she was in, for she did not want anything else to happen to her ever again. She could not imagine anything that was not bad or disappointing happening.”
Despite her fears, things do happen to her, and they are not all bad or disappointing.
“Coral Glynn” moves in unpredictable ways, which makes it — despite its cool, detached style — an urgent piece of storytelling. The understated tone is reminiscent of Barbara Pym; the oblique non-communication brings to mind Ian McEwan’s “On Chesil Beach,” though the characters don’t suffer such a devastating personal disaster. Coral may not have had “a proper life,” but she manages to find a satisfying one for herself anyway.
There’s plenty unstated — and much misunderstood — in “Coral Glynn,” a delicate, deliberate story whose quiet surface belies its complex depths.
The novel begins in 1950, when Coral Glynn, a nurse, is hired to care for an elderly woman in the last throes of illness. The house is bleak, but because of its inhabitants, not its surroundings. The dying woman’s son, Clement, disfigured in the war, has written off the possibility of a wife for himself and doesn’t have much contact with his mother. The housekeeper is surreptitiously hostile toward Coral — but nice to her face.
After what could be called a whirlwind courtship or romance if there had been a courtship or romance, and despite barely knowing each other, Clement and Coral decide to marry.
Lacking friends and family of her own, Coral is helped in her wedding preparations by kindhearted, chattering Dolly, the wife of Clement’s dear friend Robin. But a strange turn of events upends Coral and Clement’s hasty plans and sends the story in an entirely new direction.
Coral herself goes through most of this at a distance, almost removed from the proceedings, swept along for want of any desire to do otherwise. She appears passive, reactive, but she takes charge of her situation when she has to. It’s as if she’s afraid to feel too much: “Coral hoped that by sitting silently and stilly on the bed, she might not disturb the diorama she felt she was in, for she did not want anything else to happen to her ever again. She could not imagine anything that was not bad or disappointing happening.”
Despite her fears, things do happen to her, and they are not all bad or disappointing.
“Coral Glynn” moves in unpredictable ways, which makes it — despite its cool, detached style — an urgent piece of storytelling. The understated tone is reminiscent of Barbara Pym; the oblique non-communication brings to mind Ian McEwan’s “On Chesil Beach,” though the characters don’t suffer such a devastating personal disaster. Coral may not have had “a proper life,” but she manages to find a satisfying one for herself anyway.
lola425's review against another edition
3.0
Felt promising at the start, liked Cameron's writing style, but felt that Cameron sort of wasted the story after that. I found myself skimming the middle, and felt that the end was anticlimactic.
indreni's review against another edition
medium-paced
4.5
Devastating, beautiful writing--so many missed chances and roads taken/not taken.
sarareadseverything's review against another edition
4.0
Intricate and subtle story about love missed, love lost, love found between various socially awkward people wounded in their own ways by personal history. Sad, beautiful, and absorbing. And deeply, deeply British.