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A review by ink_andivy
The Diviners by Margaret Laurence
5.0
“The crocuses used to grow out of the snow. You would find them in pastures, the black-pitted dying snow still there, and the crocuses already growing, their greengrey featherstems, and the petals a pale greymauve. People who’d never lived hereabouts always imagined it was dull, bleak, hundreds of miles of nothing. They didn’t know the renewal that came out of the dead cold.”
I wasn’t sure what to expect from The Diviners by Margaret Laurence—I think my Bantam paperback edition from 1975 boasting a novel about a woman’s “urgent need for love” led me to believe it might be a bit corny. However, it turned out to be a powerful account of a woman’s life recalled through her memories. While I was reading the novel last week, I found out that it was Freedom to Read Week, and saw The Diviners on a CBC list of Canadian books that have been challenged.
The main character, Morag, starts out as a young girl who loses her parents. She dreams of leaving her small town, only to discover the ways in which the past always stays with her. The novel follows her adventures around Canada and to England as a writer, as well as her life in the present day living in the country. I loved learning the ways that Morag lives with her memories and with her choices, and the way that she views the complicated lives of the people around her.
The writing is shocking and beautiful—I believe the reason the book was challenged in the 70s was because of the descriptions of sex. I loved this book, and it was definitely a perfect read for Freedom to Read Week.
I wasn’t sure what to expect from The Diviners by Margaret Laurence—I think my Bantam paperback edition from 1975 boasting a novel about a woman’s “urgent need for love” led me to believe it might be a bit corny. However, it turned out to be a powerful account of a woman’s life recalled through her memories. While I was reading the novel last week, I found out that it was Freedom to Read Week, and saw The Diviners on a CBC list of Canadian books that have been challenged.
The main character, Morag, starts out as a young girl who loses her parents. She dreams of leaving her small town, only to discover the ways in which the past always stays with her. The novel follows her adventures around Canada and to England as a writer, as well as her life in the present day living in the country. I loved learning the ways that Morag lives with her memories and with her choices, and the way that she views the complicated lives of the people around her.
The writing is shocking and beautiful—I believe the reason the book was challenged in the 70s was because of the descriptions of sex. I loved this book, and it was definitely a perfect read for Freedom to Read Week.