Reviews by Jenny (66)

Jenny 2024-07-03 Water

Cleansing power of water

Water

Boyne's writing is taut and careful. This is an intense story of a woman whose privileged life is overturned when her husband is imprisoned for monstrous crimes. To escape the media attention, she changes her name, cuts her hair, and retreats to a solitary life on a remote Irish Island. Here, surrounded by water where it also rains constantly, she is able to process her own complicity in what happened in the past including the loss of a daughter to drowning. Ultimately she experiences a catharsis and is able to move on. I loved this and cannot wait to read the second in the series 'Earth' which has just come out.

Jenny 2024-07-03 Hello Beautiful

Rich Characterisation

Hello Beautiful

I became completely immersed in this story, largely because of how cleverly the characters are developed. It pays homage to 'Little woman' in that it describes the lives of 4 very close sisters, brought up Italian Catholic in small town America. In the interplay of their loves and lives, their very different characters all become so believable that the reader almost becomes part of the family. This in enhanced by the fact the the timeframe of their lives is the same as mine since they are born in the early sixties.

Jenny 2024-04-18 Northwoods

Nature on a slower timescale

Northwoods

This is the story of a piece of farm land - mostly woods - in America, and stretches from the time of slavery into the future. At first I was irritated by the way in which none of the characters who live in the old yellow house, are developed fully. They all remain quite ephemeral and their stories are not resolved. But later I realised that the effect of this device is to make the land the main protaganist of the novel and highlight the timelessness and resilience of the natural forest, and even the cultivated apple trees, in contrast to the brief fleeting lives of the human inhabitants. It is a clever story which I can highly recommend.

Jenny 2024-03-11 The last white man

Invitation to self-reflection

The last white man

Beautifully written with a musical cadence made of long sentences, this gentle story does evoke imaginings and feelings and becomes very personal. It was difficult to know what to make of it till I found this interview with the author and everything fell into place. I loved it. (Sorry you need to copy and paste because I don't have the links working in this program yet. ) https://www.google.com/search?gs_ssp=eJzj4tVP1zc0LDBISi9OzqkwYPSSzs3PKM7MU8hIzM1MUchJLC5RKM_ILElVyE3MAwBEiA8a&q=mohsin+hamid+last+white+man&rlz=1C1CHWA_enZA580ZA581&oq=mohsin+hamid+last+&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUqBwgBEC4YgAQyBggAEEUYOTIHCAEQLhiABDIICAIQABgWGB4yCAgDEAAYFhgeMg0IBBAAGIYDGIAEGIoF0gEIODg0OGowajeoAgCwAgA&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#fpstate=ive&ip=1&vld=cid:6b905e1d,vid:s9etnCbimNg,st:0

Jenny 2024-02-19 Brief Answers to the Big Questions

On the edge, where science and spirituality meet.

Brief Answers to the Big Questions

I was surprised to understand as much as I did - all credit to SH's chatty accessible manner and his ability to make these insanely abstract concepts a little bit understandable to us plebs. Even with only the vaguest glimmer of comprehension, I find it exciting to imagine how these big questions will be pursued in the future. The book was published posthumously and is our last gift from this brilliant and humble genius.

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