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3.62 AVERAGE
3.62 AVERAGE
reflective
sad
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:
Yes
This story stretches across the twentieth century telling the story of Lucy Gault who in 1921 is an eight year old girl in a well to do Irish family. An incident occurs which is in the context of Irish independence and Lucy's parents have to leave their home and flee to Ireland. Lucy runs away and in the days before instant communication her parents believe she has died and disappear off to Europe leaving no trace of themselves as they cope with their grief yet Lucy is left back in Ireland in the care of the housekeepers. The book then is the story of Lucy's life and is very sad but wonderfully and movingly told so that the images of Lucy remain in the readers memory after the book has been put down. The writing is excellent, all I know about William Trevor is that he is a master of short fiction and so the novel feels like the words are carefully measured and the pace of ultimately a slow moving book is perfect so you are never bored and are swept into the world so you care about Lucy and are saddened by her life and losses. I really enjoyed it and shall read more of his work.
Very good read, with unexpected things happening and I was quite surprised at the ending.
If you are after a light uplifting story this probably isn’t the book for you. It’s only a small book and yet it took me a week to read, it packs a lot in spanning the life of Lucy. It’s a sad tale full of guilt and lost love. I found the part where her parents left the country a little unbelievable, surely they should of searched further a field and not just taken it as red she had drowned, and also to not contact anyone back home for so many years. That said there was something about the story that kept me reading.
There is no doubt that William Trevor is a beautiful writer. I love his style - so Irish, so descriptive. He crafts sentences like a landscape painter - always from a respective distance, but so rich in detail. The Story of Lucy Gault is sort of modern gothic, layered with tragedy and misunderstanding and set in a windswept coastal house that is as removed from society as its characters are removed from each other. At first, I was drawn into the situation, but as the story went on, a sense of hopelessness became the overwhelming theme. It is not to say that there is not redemption and understanding - there is - but at a certain point I wanted to shake each and every one of the characters and tell them to get over themselves. It's a short read, and worth it despite some frustrations, if for nothing else but the fine prose on the page.
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
emotional
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The Story of Lucy Gault is set in Ireland, beginning in the early 1920s. Lucy’s family are Protestant landowners and one night her father discovers three Catholic lads attempting to burn his house down. In his efforts to scare them off he ends up shooting one of them and, fearing retribution, determines that his family must leave Ireland. Nine year old Lucy is devastated, understanding nothing of the political climate, and decides to run away. A search leads to the conclusion that she has drowned. By the time she is discovered, alive but injured, her parents are in continental Europe and efforts to contact them fail repeatedly.
This is a book best read for its melancholic atmosphere. Very little happens plot wise with Lucy, her parents, and other characters unable to move on with their lives, to overcome their regrets, grief and sadness surrounding the opening events. It’s as if their ability to live has been paused or suspended. Lucy, for instance, turns her back on the possibility of love and marriage, believing she cannot deserve such things until she has her parents’ forgiveness for running away. The atmosphere of the book is of course dependent on the writing and Trevor excels at showing, not telling, and at depicting haunted characters, isolated from the world around them, for whom time has stood still. His style is understated, not theatrical. It’s a seemingly simple story yet the attentive reader will find depth and additional layers. Overall it is a sad book but there are moments of reconciliation and therefore hope at the end.
This is a book best read for its melancholic atmosphere. Very little happens plot wise with Lucy, her parents, and other characters unable to move on with their lives, to overcome their regrets, grief and sadness surrounding the opening events. It’s as if their ability to live has been paused or suspended. Lucy, for instance, turns her back on the possibility of love and marriage, believing she cannot deserve such things until she has her parents’ forgiveness for running away. The atmosphere of the book is of course dependent on the writing and Trevor excels at showing, not telling, and at depicting haunted characters, isolated from the world around them, for whom time has stood still. His style is understated, not theatrical. It’s a seemingly simple story yet the attentive reader will find depth and additional layers. Overall it is a sad book but there are moments of reconciliation and therefore hope at the end.
Content Warnings
Minor: Mental illness, Grief
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes