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jinglehui's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
4.0
scarpuccia's review against another edition
3.0
There was a character in this novel who sucked all the drive and energy out of the narrative. We first see her as a virgin bride, about to marry a painter. Then as a new mother. She’s depressed, can’t cope with motherhood and fears all sharp objects because she doesn’t trust herself not to harm her baby. She greatly interested me as a character, the prose was fabulous and I was sure I was going to love this novel. However it then jumps forward in time and the focus is now on the daughter. The mother has become a heartless cruel woman obsessed with charity, thrift and denying her two girls everything children in poor houses have to do without. She’s become something of a one dimensional caricature. We get about 150 pages of her bullying her daughter and it felt like the novel was stuck in the same groove. The author was so intent on individual sentence writing – the prose is very pretty and the attention to detail was often brilliant – that it was like she had overlooked the necessity of plot and character development. When Ally, the daughter leaves home and trains to be one of the first female doctors the novel picks up massively and becomes riveting. There’s a sequel to this book and because 100 pages of this book could be cut without any significant loss to the novel’s story or themes I couldn’t help feeling it should have been one novel.
I also had a problem with the novel’s psychology. In isolation the characters all work psychologically but in relation they don’t. Why would an aesthete painter marry a woman who scorns all forms of aesthetic pleasure? Why even was there a painter in this novel? Two painters actually. One of whom might be guilty of paedophilia though this is flirted with but never developed. The marriage of Ally’s parents seemed nothing but a device allowing the author to write about artists and their otherworldly tendency to use women as little more than muses, decoration for their visions. But isn’t this a rather lame old hat feminist idea and hardly worth compromising a novel’s psychology for? The men in this novel were generally weak as characters. The father seemed more like a ghost in the attic than a living presence. And the second problem of psychology I had was that Ally’s mother becomes a carbon copy of her own mother and Ally wants nothing more than to please her mother. Show me a single family where this is true, where three generations in a row the daughter repeats the template of her mother. In my experience most daughters do everything in their power not to become like their mothers – it’s almost a modus operandi. The other daughter in the novel was the more credible rebel spirit but didn’t seem to interest the author much and was eventually got rid of. Anyway these are some of the reasons the middle part of this novel was gruelling for me to get through. Ironically though the ending was so good it made me want to read the sequel. I loved Moss’ individual sentence writing when it was at the service of plot and character development. “Tom is there, holding a sandwich on a plate and standing in the bay with George, and Uncle James poised like a bird beside the silver ice-bucket usually saved for dinner parties but now beaded with condensation at half-past four in the afternoon, and the boys washed and brushed since school.”
I also had a problem with the novel’s psychology. In isolation the characters all work psychologically but in relation they don’t. Why would an aesthete painter marry a woman who scorns all forms of aesthetic pleasure? Why even was there a painter in this novel? Two painters actually. One of whom might be guilty of paedophilia though this is flirted with but never developed. The marriage of Ally’s parents seemed nothing but a device allowing the author to write about artists and their otherworldly tendency to use women as little more than muses, decoration for their visions. But isn’t this a rather lame old hat feminist idea and hardly worth compromising a novel’s psychology for? The men in this novel were generally weak as characters. The father seemed more like a ghost in the attic than a living presence. And the second problem of psychology I had was that Ally’s mother becomes a carbon copy of her own mother and Ally wants nothing more than to please her mother. Show me a single family where this is true, where three generations in a row the daughter repeats the template of her mother. In my experience most daughters do everything in their power not to become like their mothers – it’s almost a modus operandi. The other daughter in the novel was the more credible rebel spirit but didn’t seem to interest the author much and was eventually got rid of. Anyway these are some of the reasons the middle part of this novel was gruelling for me to get through. Ironically though the ending was so good it made me want to read the sequel. I loved Moss’ individual sentence writing when it was at the service of plot and character development. “Tom is there, holding a sandwich on a plate and standing in the bay with George, and Uncle James poised like a bird beside the silver ice-bucket usually saved for dinner parties but now beaded with condensation at half-past four in the afternoon, and the boys washed and brushed since school.”
ksiazkawpodrozy's review against another edition
DNF Język jest bardzo piękny, ale sama historia w ogóle mnie nie wciągnęła. Chętnie przeczytam coś innego tej autorki
alex_k99's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness
Moderate: Child abuse and Sexual violence
walshie_writes's review against another edition
5.0
One of the finest books I've read in a very long time - wonderful insight into the trials women faced to qualify as doctors as well as looking into the cruelty and persecution that women trapped in poverty had to endure in the late 1800s. A beautifully written book that tackles some of the most uncomfortable, disturbing truths of Ally's personal history and the suffrage movement as a whole. An essential read for anyone interested in the suffrage movement, feminism, and more so for anyone who questions its importance in history and as an ongoing movement.
gertrudski's review against another edition
challenging
hopeful
tense
medium-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, and Emotional abuse
Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Sexism, and Suicide attempt
bookwoods's review against another edition
5.0
Sarah Moss’ stories are always an immense joy to read. The prose is breathtaking and brings to life such a fascinating cast of characters and their vivid environments. Following them through her novels also brings light on some important, varying topics. In this case the message is strongly feminist and I adored the historical setting!
In the end when I put together how this is related to Night Waking, which I read last summer, I felt quite enlightened. And when I read the first sentence from the back of Signs of Lost Children and found out that in continues from where Bodies of Light ends, I got so happy I was literally jumping and started it right away. With every book I read from Sarah Moss, it becomes more apparent that she is one of my favorite writers.
In the end when I put together how this is related to Night Waking, which I read last summer, I felt quite enlightened. And when I read the first sentence from the back of Signs of Lost Children and found out that in continues from where Bodies of Light ends, I got so happy I was literally jumping and started it right away. With every book I read from Sarah Moss, it becomes more apparent that she is one of my favorite writers.