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A review by drkshadow03
The Country of the Pointed Firs and Other Stories by Sarah Orne Jewett
2.0
The Country of the Pointed Firs is a short novel that is an example of regionalism. It tells a series of sketches from the perspective of an writer visiting Dunnet Landing for the summer to the enjoy the quaint charm and isolation of a small Maine fishing town. Despite searching for solitude, presumably to write, she soon finds herself befriending and developing a deep intimacy with her landlady and local village herbalist, Mrs. Todd, and many of the other locals. of the book involves meeting new characters who they visit or come to visit them who then recall stories about family members from the past. While there is some good writing on a sentence level, this short novel really doesn’t have much of a plot and there is no real conflict to interest the reader. It is mostly the unnamed writer meeting people in the village or some of Mrs. Todd’s family and enjoying quiet domestic life as they recall family, spouses, and others who have since passed away. There is a sense of nostalgia for a past that is slowly fading and intense intimacy of small villages that pervades the writing, which has a soothing and meditative quality, but with a narrative that is soporific and boring.
After the novel is a series of Jewett’s short stories, which were more interesting. “The White Heron” is about a little girl living with her grandmother who prevents a bird hunter from finding the nest of a rare white heron. She chooses the beauties and riches of nature over the material riches that the hunter offers to provide for her help. “Marsh Rosemary” deals with an older thrifty woman who marries a good-for-nothing lazy younger man only for him to run off on a merchant ship as tensions arise over his laziness and not offering anything in the relationship. News come that he dies on the ship, only for her to discover later he never went on the ship and skipped town where he married another woman in secret. The main character recognizes her folly for marrying a useless lazy man and someone so much younger than herself. Sometimes losing someone or marrying the right person makes us better people by giving us an ideal. Our feelings can too easily override our rational common sense. In “The King of Folly Island” a successful businessman tired of his quotidian existence of civilization and commerce seeks a change by taking a vacation on an isolated island where he meets the owner who lives with his sickly daughter and bought the island to live a life away from people he dislikes and resents. The protagonist soon grows tired of the boring life on the island, but also realizes his life of wealth and commerce is folly and meaningless. A marriage proposal to the sickly daughter is proposed, but never acted upon. It’s a story about how we want what we don’t have, but also it’s hard to break habits and the way we often live others dreams and hopes.
After the novel is a series of Jewett’s short stories, which were more interesting. “The White Heron” is about a little girl living with her grandmother who prevents a bird hunter from finding the nest of a rare white heron. She chooses the beauties and riches of nature over the material riches that the hunter offers to provide for her help. “Marsh Rosemary” deals with an older thrifty woman who marries a good-for-nothing lazy younger man only for him to run off on a merchant ship as tensions arise over his laziness and not offering anything in the relationship. News come that he dies on the ship, only for her to discover later he never went on the ship and skipped town where he married another woman in secret. The main character recognizes her folly for marrying a useless lazy man and someone so much younger than herself. Sometimes losing someone or marrying the right person makes us better people by giving us an ideal. Our feelings can too easily override our rational common sense. In “The King of Folly Island” a successful businessman tired of his quotidian existence of civilization and commerce seeks a change by taking a vacation on an isolated island where he meets the owner who lives with his sickly daughter and bought the island to live a life away from people he dislikes and resents. The protagonist soon grows tired of the boring life on the island, but also realizes his life of wealth and commerce is folly and meaningless. A marriage proposal to the sickly daughter is proposed, but never acted upon. It’s a story about how we want what we don’t have, but also it’s hard to break habits and the way we often live others dreams and hopes.