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S'està carregant… Devotionde Howard Norman
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Apunta't a LibraryThing per saber si aquest llibre et pot agradar. No hi ha cap discussió a Converses sobre aquesta obra. This Howard Norman has a touch with ambivalent male charactors. Same author who penned THE BIRD ARTIST. Quirky and interesting writer. ( ) The premise is fabulous: A father-in-law (William) and his son-in-law (David) have gotten into a fight that leaves the father-in-law badly injured. A few months later David has taken over William's work as a caretaker of a large estate. The opening paragraphs give us only the bare bones and leaves lots of questions unanswered. Why were they fighting? Was the injury just an accident? What about the David's wife, William's daughter? And have David and William reconciled? Why is David taking over William’s job? And there's some wonderful writing: The courtship of David and William's daughter, Margaret, is beautifully rendered. The writing involving the swans that live on the estate that William, and now David, has the care of is also effective. However, the book has plenty of problems. the story bounces back and forth in time, and the time line was not always clear. Norman is careful to give a date in the first sentences after most of the transitions, but for me, there were too many dates, too close together, to keep track of. Another problem is that the book is simply too jam-packed with imagery and characters. But even worse than the overstuffed feeling of the book is the banality of it. The reason for the fight is eye-rollingly predictable. All that build up, for that? And then the way the characters act afterward is the worst possible sort of romantic melodrama. Everyone gets manipulative, and no one speaks forthrightly. The characters’ bad behavior wouldn’t bother me, though, if it were interesting bad behavior, but it isn’t. It’s boring. See my complete review at Shelf Love.
Premis
Fans of Howard Norman, the internationally acclaimed author of The Hunting of L and The Bird Artist and a two-time National Book Award finalist, will find in this novel--an intense and intriguingly unconventional love story--all the hallmarks of this masterly writer: sparkling yet spare language, a totally compelling air of mystery spread over our workaday world, and ability to capture the metaphorical heartbeat at the center of our lives. Like many of Howard Norman's celebrated novels, Devotion begins with an announcement of a crime: on August 19, 1985, David Kozol and his father-in-law engaged in "assault by mutual affray." Norman sets out to explore a great mystery: why seemingly quiet, contained people lose control. David and Maggie's story seemed straightforward enough; they met in a hotel lobby in London. For David, the simple fact was love at first sight. For Maggie, the attraction was similarly sudden and unprecedented in intensity. Their love affair, "A fugue state of amorous devotion," turned into a whirlwind romance and marriage. So what could possibly enrage David enough that he would strike at the father of his new bride? Why would William, a gentle man who looks after an estate--and its flock of swans--in Nova Scotia, be so angry at the man who has just married his beloved only child, Maggie? And what would lead Maggie to believe that David has been unfaithful to her? In his signature style--haunting and evocative--Norman lays bare the inventive stupidities people are capable of when wounded and confused. At its core, Devotion is an elegantly constructed, never sentimental examination of love: romantic love (and its flip side, hate), filial love at its most tender, and, of course, love for the vast open spaces of Nova Scotia. No s'han trobat descripcions de biblioteca. |
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Google Books — S'està carregant… GèneresClassificació Decimal de Dewey (DDC)813.54Literature English (North America) American fiction 20th Century 1945-1999LCC (Clas. Bibl. Congrés EUA)ValoracióMitjana:
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