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tawallah's review against another edition
3.0
Camilla is a coming of age tale in the 1950s New York City. It is not a well known work of the author. This is the story of Camilla Dickinson who has been sheltered but has to deal with the fallout of her parents and their marriage. This was narrated by Marie Lee who does a great job with voices and helping to set the tone.
As an earlier work of L’Engle it has some rough edges. Two of the major themes is beauty (both inner and outer) as well as family relationship . In the first half of the book we focus on Camilla and learn more about her parents, Rose and Rafferty. This is linked to the second portion which deals with love in marriage and first love. The philosophy explored here was fascinating to read and mull over. And placed a realistic note to that time period.
The protagonist is a pretty passive character throughout most of the book. We are thankfully exposed to her inner thoughts which are richer than what she expresses. It is only through her meeting Frank that she develops more and learns more about herself and make certain conclusions. It is through her traveling through New York and meeting a variety of characters that this novel shines. All of the characters have some major flaws like anyone else. But there are some concerning scenes given Camilla’s naivety which weren’t really addressed. At all. Unfortunately, about midway the plot lost focus and peters out by the end. This may be due to shift in focus from Camilla and her parents to Camilla and Frank which don’t mesh very successfully. Kudos to L’Engle discussing poor parenting skills and dysfunctional parents as well as dealing with war. Too bad, they didn’t blend smoothly or were not completely fleshed out. In the end, the story petered out.
Madeleine L’Engle likes to blend faith and science. The result of that process in this case remains problematic in my opinion. I have noticed that I am constantly perturbed by the views she expressed knowing that she is considered Christian. There are questions about the presence of God and how universe can be used to verify His existence. But the discussion on the relevance of God was jarring where it was placed and my perspective is quite different. Here Frank discusses making a god to suit the atomic age and remaking god as attractive to nonbelievers. For me, this is a major red flag. If I accept that older teen will question religion in such a fashion, the argument was unbalanced. An opposing view would have given more weight to the topic. I would have wished that Camilla had another view to offer but given her personality, that didn’t happen.
Overall, this was an okay book. This book is more about beauty and family dynamics and looking at love. Despite the abrupt ending , I am interested in the next book to see how or if Camilla develops.
As an earlier work of L’Engle it has some rough edges. Two of the major themes is beauty (both inner and outer) as well as family relationship . In the first half of the book we focus on Camilla and learn more about her parents, Rose and Rafferty. This is linked to the second portion which deals with love in marriage and first love. The philosophy explored here was fascinating to read and mull over. And placed a realistic note to that time period.
The protagonist is a pretty passive character throughout most of the book. We are thankfully exposed to her inner thoughts which are richer than what she expresses. It is only through her meeting Frank that she develops more and learns more about herself and make certain conclusions. It is through her traveling through New York and meeting a variety of characters that this novel shines. All of the characters have some major flaws like anyone else. But there are some concerning scenes given Camilla’s naivety which weren’t really addressed. At all. Unfortunately, about midway the plot lost focus and peters out by the end. This may be due to shift in focus from Camilla and her parents to Camilla and Frank which don’t mesh very successfully. Kudos to L’Engle discussing poor parenting skills and dysfunctional parents as well as dealing with war. Too bad, they didn’t blend smoothly or were not completely fleshed out. In the end, the story petered out.
Madeleine L’Engle likes to blend faith and science. The result of that process in this case remains problematic in my opinion. I have noticed that I am constantly perturbed by the views she expressed knowing that she is considered Christian. There are questions about the presence of God and how universe can be used to verify His existence. But the discussion on the relevance of God was jarring where it was placed and my perspective is quite different. Here Frank discusses making a god to suit the atomic age and remaking god as attractive to nonbelievers. For me, this is a major red flag. If I accept that older teen will question religion in such a fashion, the argument was unbalanced. An opposing view would have given more weight to the topic. I would have wished that Camilla had another view to offer but given her personality, that didn’t happen.
Overall, this was an okay book. This book is more about beauty and family dynamics and looking at love. Despite the abrupt ending , I am interested in the next book to see how or if Camilla develops.
annieeditor's review against another edition
4.0
I took a little sidetrek in my goal of reading all of the Austin family books. "Camilla" fits in nicely with them, because it has similar themes about growing up, realizing a person's autonomy, religion, the debate over what makes a person matter, and of course lots of discussion about life and death.
One more motif I picked up from this reading is L'Engle's use of cruel adults. In "Camilla" it was the family's maid and the geography teacher who denied having ignored Camilla's pleas to go to the bathroom. In "Meet the Austins" it was the woman who told Maggie that she was silly to believe her parents had gone to another world, and then the ill-humored aunt. In "A Wrinkle in Time" it was the principal at Meg's school. For someone who worked to find the shades in human character, L'Engle seems to believe in real cruelty, too. I find that interesting.
It's a good book, and it as a good experience to compare what I understand now to what I understood when I first read it at eleven years old.
One more motif I picked up from this reading is L'Engle's use of cruel adults. In "Camilla" it was the family's maid and the geography teacher who denied having ignored Camilla's pleas to go to the bathroom. In "Meet the Austins" it was the woman who told Maggie that she was silly to believe her parents had gone to another world, and then the ill-humored aunt. In "A Wrinkle in Time" it was the principal at Meg's school. For someone who worked to find the shades in human character, L'Engle seems to believe in real cruelty, too. I find that interesting.
It's a good book, and it as a good experience to compare what I understand now to what I understood when I first read it at eleven years old.
katekat's review against another edition
4.0
Camilla is a good read even if I hate the ending. I was never sure it had ended wrong until I read A House Like a Lotus and that book proved that Camilla did not end up with Frank, how annoying.
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