lory_enterenchanted's Reviews (582)

Not as good as her best, but still quite enjoyable. I remember being disappointed the first time I read it, but this time my expectations were not so high ... 

At first there were a lot of characters to keep track of, but then their stories started flowing together and wove into a rich tapestry of life in Panama at the time of the canal construction. In spite of some sad and violent events, some of the story threads that I expected to evolve in a dramatic way had rather a gentle ending; one might consider them a bit anticlimactic, but I appreciated the hopeful trajectory. At the same time, the book did not shy away from portraying much abusive and exploitative behavior that took place in the course of the canal building, and that clearly is still an issue for all humans today.

"The great divide," with its immense physical symbol in the unprecedented digging of a channel across a continent, is a metaphor for the divides between and within people, the gulf that we dig through being disconnected from our deeper selves and our longing for true communion with one another. In various ways, all the characters had to deal with such a divide, and came through it, usually to some degree of healing. It's a story that cannot be told often enough.

A reread, the first I've done of all 4 books in the wake of the New Yorker profile, "The Storyteller." I'm fascinated by L'Engle's coverup of certain key facts in her life, even as she makes herself a champion of truth (as opposed to mere factuality). So much of what she says is indeed true and beautiful, and has been a great influence on my life. Knowing that she was not herself able to face certain truths doesn't do away with that, but raises questions for me about the effect of trauma, and the tendency of spiritual bypassing, particularly for those of us who are highly verbal and find comfort in words. Words can become a kind of wall as well as a window, and as a writer and spiritual seeker I want to be mindful of that.

My star rating is for artistry. On ethics, I'd have to rate it low.

I picked this up because of the gorgeous cover art by the Balbusso sisters. Dark whimsy is a difficult tone to manage, and I was not finding it worked here. Comparisons to my beloved Diana Wynne Jones were derailed by the overly elaborate and flowery language, something she is not at all prone to. The world and castle felt resolutely like an invention, not a discovery, which is fatal in a fantasy.

Disappointing. The thief was obvious, the prose pedestrian, the characters way too unnuanced. . The scenes exposing racism in the classical music world were the most powerful. I think I’d rather have read a memoir than this lackluster fiction. I did not need the silly Stradivarius plot or the too-good main character. 

Incredible story of evil and corruption. I got confused at times with all the names, could have used a character list, so some details may have escaped me but I could follow overall. 

For me, the real evil starts with commodifying the Earth ... it would have been interesting to know more about this from the Native point of view. The white men first took their land from them, pushed them into a supposedly poor area, then oil made them rich, and the whites took their money and their lives. Who wins, who loses, when we put a price tag on the material world? As we now are learning, when earth is transformed into money it becomes poison for the future, unless we can raise our consciousness to restore wholeness, to find the real spiritual gold in the world of matter. Reading this story is a way to see a larger picture than people at the time of the murders were able to do, and in that way maybe bring some redemption. But it's all terribly sad and strange and hard to see how healing can occur. I would like to hear much more from the Osage themselves.

A wonderfully distinct first person narrative that reveals the hardship of a housemaid's life in Lagos, as well as her strength and indomitability  - Adunni is a character I will not soon forget.

Read for my "Make me read it challenge," chosen for me by blog readers. I enjoyed this little tale in which a love for traditional Japanese food really shines through, along with a heartfelt message for  understanding and compassion toward those who appear different and seem threatening. I will always think of "listening to the beans" now when I see adzukis!

I'd heard of this book for years, now I have finally read it -a quick but thought-provoking read. A moving, tender and ultimately heart-breaking encounter, described in simple but all the more affecting language.

Read for the Easy German Book Club. Absurd little stories about human failures to connect and communicate, not really for children.