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3.95 AVERAGE
3.95 AVERAGE
This is one of those books that reminded me that kids books don’t have to be all kiddish to make sense and speak to a certain concept. A child is adopted for the sole purpose of defrauding rich people using seances, and it’s a really strong story with really sympathetic characters. The ending was a bit of a letdown, but only because the ride to get there was so really great.
3.5 stars out of 5
This was longer at times than it needed to be, but I enjoyed it overall. Learning how someone could scam someone into believing they are able to speak with the dead was interesting and the whole secret child thing was interesting. However I feel as though one of the characters was very emotionally and even sometimes would become physically abusive towards the main character. It wasn't really talked about that much, although this was the time period so I guess it makes some sense, however I feel like there should have been something to tell the children that this is aimed to be the audience for, that that behavior is not ok. Overall an alright read.
This was longer at times than it needed to be, but I enjoyed it overall. Learning how someone could scam someone into believing they are able to speak with the dead was interesting and the whole secret child thing was interesting. However I feel as though one of the characters was very emotionally and even sometimes would become physically abusive towards the main character. It wasn't really talked about that much, although this was the time period so I guess it makes some sense, however I feel like there should have been something to tell the children that this is aimed to be the audience for, that that behavior is not ok. Overall an alright read.
I have read this book at least 3 times (I can’t remember exactly. I know the first time I read it, it was a hard cover book, and it was one of the first books I downloaded to my kindle when I was a young teen) but this was the first time it had ever made me cry. Which is especially funny because I am supposed to be analyzing it from a new critical perspective, which means I have to look at it without emotion. And yet...I think digging deeper into the ways an abused child can mistake shallow affection and bland compliments as love really affected me.
Somewhere in there, the quote about one who is fed love on a silver spoon learned to lick it off knives came to me. Maud thinks of herself as a bad child at the core, unworthy of real love and affection. She saw this in the family who chose to adopt her brother and younger sister but not Maud herself. At an asylum where she could never really succeed in being good at anything, she resorted to being a bad child because she didn’t see herself as worthy of anything better than the punishments she got.
When she is adopted, she mistakes Hyacinth’s compliments and merry attitude and her generosity as true, genuine love, and casts aside the Hawthorne sisters that might, deep down, actually care for her. Victoria is harsh with Maud because Victoria is, first and foremost, more responsible than Hyacinth, and has a more concrete idea of how children are supposed to behave. Maud shuns victoria and judith’s strictness because of Hyacinth’s sickly sweetness—until hyacinths rotten interior starts to show.
Hyacinth is greedy, vain, snobbish, and materialistic. She only adopts maud so that the sisters (read, SHE) can procure $5,000 from a poor grieving woman. Maud reads into everything Hyacinth says: angel child, darling, Maudy, etc going as far to assume that Hyacinth wants her to be Little Lord Fauntleroy, aka the picture of perfection; an angel child. The moment Maud really becomes disillusioned with Hyacinth is when Maud tries to call her “dearest” and Hyacinth reacts negatively. From the moment, Hyacinth is the filigreed knife from which Maud is given what she thinks is love. Victoria, who confesses that She would “love for someone to call her dearest” is the tarnished silver spoon that is trying to give Maud the love and care she needs, but Maud shoves her aside because she is poisoned by Hyacinth’s gifts and fun, careless behavior.
Hmm what else. It’s interesting what sorts of stuff pop out at you when you reread a book for analysis. Never had I looked at this book so in depth. I think it means a lot more to me now than it did before, and its been a favorite for a while. I kind of used this “review” as a space to lay out the foundation for the essay I now have to write.
Somewhere in there, the quote about one who is fed love on a silver spoon learned to lick it off knives came to me. Maud thinks of herself as a bad child at the core, unworthy of real love and affection. She saw this in the family who chose to adopt her brother and younger sister but not Maud herself. At an asylum where she could never really succeed in being good at anything, she resorted to being a bad child because she didn’t see herself as worthy of anything better than the punishments she got.
When she is adopted, she mistakes Hyacinth’s compliments and merry attitude and her generosity as true, genuine love, and casts aside the Hawthorne sisters that might, deep down, actually care for her. Victoria is harsh with Maud because Victoria is, first and foremost, more responsible than Hyacinth, and has a more concrete idea of how children are supposed to behave. Maud shuns victoria and judith’s strictness because of Hyacinth’s sickly sweetness—until hyacinths rotten interior starts to show.
Hyacinth is greedy, vain, snobbish, and materialistic. She only adopts maud so that the sisters (read, SHE) can procure $5,000 from a poor grieving woman. Maud reads into everything Hyacinth says: angel child, darling, Maudy, etc going as far to assume that Hyacinth wants her to be Little Lord Fauntleroy, aka the picture of perfection; an angel child. The moment Maud really becomes disillusioned with Hyacinth is when Maud tries to call her “dearest” and Hyacinth reacts negatively. From the moment, Hyacinth is the filigreed knife from which Maud is given what she thinks is love. Victoria, who confesses that She would “love for someone to call her dearest” is the tarnished silver spoon that is trying to give Maud the love and care she needs, but Maud shoves her aside because she is poisoned by Hyacinth’s gifts and fun, careless behavior.
Hmm what else. It’s interesting what sorts of stuff pop out at you when you reread a book for analysis. Never had I looked at this book so in depth. I think it means a lot more to me now than it did before, and its been a favorite for a while. I kind of used this “review” as a space to lay out the foundation for the essay I now have to write.
This was a really great story, classic in the theme and telling, but wholly original in the circumstances: mediums! seances! a secret child!
I highly recommend.
I highly recommend.
This was a surprise. I bought it on a whim when it was a $0.99 kindle deal. Probably my idea was to pre-read it and see if it was something my son F would be interested in hearing. He loves things that are a bit spooky. But, despite the word “seance” it is pretty clear from the book summary that this is not a spooky story, maybe it was the word melodrama that made me think it had potential.
Hubby and I take turns reading to F, age 7, before he goes to sleep. We each read an entire book to F before switching and last time my turn caught me by surprise. I went to Amazon and download a “sample” of a different book to try thinking that would give me something to read that night and buy me another day to find something if we didn’t like it. When I sat down to read, I offered to read him the sample or read him a bit of this with the option to change books the next night either way. F chose this book.
The Drown Maiden’s Hair tells the story of a turn early 20th century orphan girl who is adopted by a trio of spinster spiritulatists. There are many descriptions of the places she stays, where she goes, and what she wears. The main story is about her relationships with the people around her and her sorting out the what it means to be loved. Some of the vocabulary used was incredible, and the story is was told in such a way that many realities of the time are implied rather than spelled out.
I do not subscribe to the idea that boys will only read books with a male lead character. However, had I read this first, I would never have suggested this to F. I wouldn’t have pictured him sitting through Maud’s dreams of lace dresses and long curly hair. I wouldn’t have pictured him understanding some of the less overt actions---seven year old boys are not masters of anything subtle. I would have chosen a book with much more direct action. There are pretty much no male characters in the book at all.
He loved this. (I’m sure he will never admit that in public and certainly not to any of his male buddies.) He seemed to understand Maud and was particularly taken with her interactions with Muffet/Anna who is a deaf servant. He was also fascinated by the time and place--that only some houses had indoor plumbing and that there were carousels but not cars. He seemed to have no problem following the story at all though there were words that I actually wasn’t familiar with. I did find that it was better to stop occasionally and ask him why he thought someone was acting as they did or what he thought might happen next, and we had some really good conversations. He might have got a bit misty-eyed at the end, but I will never tell....
Hubby and I take turns reading to F, age 7, before he goes to sleep. We each read an entire book to F before switching and last time my turn caught me by surprise. I went to Amazon and download a “sample” of a different book to try thinking that would give me something to read that night and buy me another day to find something if we didn’t like it. When I sat down to read, I offered to read him the sample or read him a bit of this with the option to change books the next night either way. F chose this book.
The Drown Maiden’s Hair tells the story of a turn early 20th century orphan girl who is adopted by a trio of spinster spiritulatists. There are many descriptions of the places she stays, where she goes, and what she wears. The main story is about her relationships with the people around her and her sorting out the what it means to be loved. Some of the vocabulary used was incredible, and the story is was told in such a way that many realities of the time are implied rather than spelled out.
I do not subscribe to the idea that boys will only read books with a male lead character. However, had I read this first, I would never have suggested this to F. I wouldn’t have pictured him sitting through Maud’s dreams of lace dresses and long curly hair. I wouldn’t have pictured him understanding some of the less overt actions---seven year old boys are not masters of anything subtle. I would have chosen a book with much more direct action. There are pretty much no male characters in the book at all.
He loved this. (I’m sure he will never admit that in public and certainly not to any of his male buddies.) He seemed to understand Maud and was particularly taken with her interactions with Muffet/Anna who is a deaf servant. He was also fascinated by the time and place--that only some houses had indoor plumbing and that there were carousels but not cars. He seemed to have no problem following the story at all though there were words that I actually wasn’t familiar with. I did find that it was better to stop occasionally and ask him why he thought someone was acting as they did or what he thought might happen next, and we had some really good conversations. He might have got a bit misty-eyed at the end, but I will never tell....
I enjoyed this book thoroughly. Although it was hard to get into at the beginning. Once I knew this huge secret it was a lot easier to get into!
The very ending was predictable, but still lovely and I feel it ended in the right way, just you could see it coming is all.
My one concern is what happened with her actual brother and sister? What was the point of having them in this book at all? I really don't see how they were needed... They were mentioned in the beginning, it went with the sadness that is Maude, and her brother did visit and she denied going with him... still I don't think they were needed....
The very ending was predictable, but still lovely and I feel it ended in the right way, just you could see it coming is all.
My one concern is what happened with her actual brother and sister? What was the point of having them in this book at all? I really don't see how they were needed... They were mentioned in the beginning, it went with the sadness that is Maude, and her brother did visit and she denied going with him... still I don't think they were needed....
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
My eleven-year-old niece recommended this book to me. She claimed it was the best book she'd read in her entire life. With praise like that, I bought the book. I quickly became a fan of the heroine, Maud. This book (similar to other literary reads) starts out slowly, reeling you in. Midway through the book I'm totally hooked and can't put it down. I had to restrain myself from plowing through the last third of the book...it was fantastic. I highly recommend this book!
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
(4.25/5 Stars)
I read this about two years ago, and I remember loving it so dearly. This was really a cover pick, I loved the story and how it went. I feel like I've grown out of the intended audience, so I don't intended on reading another of Laura's books, but I like this one nonetheless.
I read this about two years ago, and I remember loving it so dearly. This was really a cover pick, I loved the story and how it went. I feel like I've grown out of the intended audience, so I don't intended on reading another of Laura's books, but I like this one nonetheless.