Unfinished Desires

Sep 12, 2009 Jeanette rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: all-fiction, america

I read the Advanced Reader's Edition, which I won here on Good Reads. The book is due out on December 29. The letter that came with the book encourages me to "share candid thoughts with fellow readers" on Good Reads. Okey doke. My candid thoughts, coming right up.

Gail Godwin is certainly one of the queens of character development. She takes you deep into the minds and motivations of the people in a way few authors even attempt. In Unfinished Desires, Godwin is especially skillful in her present...more I read the Advanced Reader's Edition, which I won here on Good Reads. The book is due out on December 29. The letter that came with the book encourages me to "share candid thoughts with fellow readers" on Good Reads. Okey doke. My candid thoughts, coming right up.

Gail Godwin is certainly one of the queens of character development. She takes you deep into the minds and motivations of the people in a way few authors even attempt. In Unfinished Desires, Godwin is especially skillful in her presentation of the unlikeable characters who drive the events. Some of them you start out liking but end up hating after you compare their public persona with their real selves.
Having also read Father Melancholy's Daughter, I'd say this is Godwin's greatest strength as an author. She understands our psychological frailty as humans and the way we constantly replay past experiences in our minds, re-framing them to suit what we need to believe.

On to the story itself. It involves events in many different time frames, all centering on a Catholic boarding school for girls in North Carolina. So there are the nunsies, the girls in their various stages of adolescent awkwardness, and the townspeople who don't trust Catholicism but respect the school. In a nutshell: Teenage girls digging up dirt about youthful indiscretions of the nuns, and nuns trying to suppress information to maintain their pristine image.

There were certainly things I liked about the story. But overall impression? Scrambled eggs. Godwin was trying to tell too many people's stories, many of which were not essential to the primary plot. All the skipping around in time frames and points of view was distracting and made the whole thing feel rather muddy. I don't mind going back and forth in time, but there were too many minor threads to follow.

I am not a Catholic, nor even the slightest bit religious. So no doubt a lot of the subtleties went right past me. If you're a Catholic or a boarding school attendee, you'll probably relate to more of the story and find yourself alternately chuckling and cringing in recognition. I'd say it's definitely a book for a niche market.

If you've never read Gail Godwin's work, I recommend Father Melancholy's Daughter. A little slow to get through, but if you stick with it you'll ultimately appreciate its careful construction and find it quite satisfying.
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Jan 23, 2013 Neide Parafitas rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: own, leituras-2013

Mount St. Gabriel's é um colégio feminino de prestígio. Todos os anos lectivos conta uma história... mas a aqui retratada data de 1951, um ano terrível que despoletou uma série de acontecimentos que vieram a alterar profundamente a história do colégio!

Alternando o passado com o presente, a história é-nos contada pela madre Suzanne Ravenel que tenta reconciliar-se com as dramáticas origens do que ficou conhecido por "ano tóxico".

Este é um livro para ser lido com calma e paciência. Apesar de consi...more

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Mar 06, 2012 Patrícia rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Por entre segredos e mistérios, um colégio privado devoto a Deus tenta controlar a maçã podre escondida dentro de um cesto opulento e gracioso. Mas quando um grupo de jovens senhoras está em causa, uma turma que tanto tem de precioso como de singular, de inteligência como de mesquinhez, acertar na maçã certa será um desafio. Infelizmente, quando esta é descoberta, demasiado tempo passou e imensas desgraças tomaram o seu curso. Muitos destinos alterados, muitas medidas drásticas formadas. Porém,...more Por entre segredos e mistérios, um colégio privado devoto a Deus tenta controlar a maçã podre escondida dentro de um cesto opulento e gracioso. Mas quando um grupo de jovens senhoras está em causa, uma turma que tanto tem de precioso como de singular, de inteligência como de mesquinhez, acertar na maçã certa será um desafio. Infelizmente, quando esta é descoberta, demasiado tempo passou e imensas desgraças tomaram o seu curso. Muitos destinos alterados, muitas medidas drásticas formadas. Porém, uma questão permanece: o que foi que aconteceu a todas estas mulheres?

‹‹O Colégio de Todos os Segredos›› é um romance espantosamente bem escrito, que cativa o leitor logo ao fim da primeira página. Com um tom único e familiar, faz-nos recordar momentos do passado – de quando éramos meras crianças e queríamos ser algo mais, de quando nos sentávamos a escutar «as histórias que a nossa avó contava» ou de quando simplesmente sonhávamos mais alto, desejávamos mais alto, e fazíamos tudo com uma intensidade e irreverência rebelde que, hoje em dia, damos conta de que nos escapou por entre os dedos. Posso dizer que Gail Godwin é fantástica na forma como consegue simplificar, com palavras, um enredo profundamente intricado e reflectido, dotado de toda uma série de nuances e caminhos, vozes e vidas independentes. É simples e puramente maravilhoso percorrer todos estes rostos, estas pequenas hilaridades e traquinices de jovens crianças, estas chegadas à frente, tomadas de posse e de liderança e, claro, presenciar todos estes receios, mistérios e medos de mulheres adultas que lutam por manter secretos esses devaneios que, numa «vida passada» as moldaram e modificaram. Como um romance de mulheres para mulheres, ‹‹O Colégio de Todos os Segredos›› é o livro que a perseguirá quando não o estiver a ler, que a fará não aguentar mais por lhe pegar e, acima de tudo, que a transportará numa viagem alucinante pela religião, perdão, amor e amizade, na voz única que é a de Godwin.

Opinião completa, em:
http://pedacinho-literario.blogspot.c...
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Mar 03, 2012 Bonnie Brody rated it 4 of 5 stars

Gail Godwin's newest book, Unfinished Desires, is an intriguing character study of the female students and nuns who inhabit an outwardly idyllic Catholic girls' school in North Carolina, Mount St. Garbriel's. The novel takes place primarily in the 1950's where the students jockey for power, prestige and friendship. The nuns, too, have their own histories and secrets. The Mother Superior at the School, Suzanne Ravenal is writing a history of the school. This part of the book takes place in 2001 w...more Gail Godwin's newest book, Unfinished Desires, is an intriguing character study of the female students and nuns who inhabit an outwardly idyllic Catholic girls' school in North Carolina, Mount St. Garbriel's. The novel takes place primarily in the 1950's where the students jockey for power, prestige and friendship. The nuns, too, have their own histories and secrets. The Mother Superior at the School, Suzanne Ravenal is writing a history of the school. This part of the book takes place in 2001 when Sister Ravenal is in a retirement home for nuns. The book goes back and forth from the every-day school intrigues of the 1950's to 2001 when Mother Ravenal is writing her school's history.

All the characters in the novel have unfinished desires - - for God, friendship, love (sapphic and heterosexual), personal dreams and hopes. They aspire toward the good and the evil as is not uncommon with pubescent girls. What is interesting is that the current mixture of students is compared to the students who attended Mt. St. Gabriel's when Suzanne Ravenel, now headmistress, was a student there herself. We are privy to the old histories, agendas, friendships, angers, loves and alliances that existed when Sister Ravenal was a student, many of which continue into the 1950's. The same families continue to send their daughters to Mt. St. Gabriel's generation after generation and alliances and enmities form.

There is a definite hierarchy of students, such that exists in virtually every school. Tildy Stratton considers herself the Queen Bee. The summer has just ended and a new semester is opening when the book begins. Tildy has decided that her best friend Maud is no longer right for her and so she decides to invite Chloe into her circle, excluding Maud. Chloe is fragile, a recent orphan and easily manipulated by Tildy. As the story opens we learn that Tildy's mother, Cornelia, was an identical twin. Her sister died on her honeymoon. More interesting, perhaps, is that she was Suzanne Ravenel's best friend at school. Suzanne was secretly in love with her and has been trying to atone for this love for years. There have been bad feelings between the Swintons and Sister Ravenal for many years because of many intrigues and complex issues. These feelings have been passed down the generations. The Swinton girls often feel singled out by Sister Ravenal for punishment.

Gail Godwin writes beautifully. We can imagine sitting in an idyllic pasture at Mt. St. Gabriel's with a slight breeze blowing, reading an assignment and then stopping to worry about whether we have paid enough attention to one of our students. One of the most interesting and important characters in this book is a new teacher, a young nun named Sister Malloy. She is pallid and beautiful - like a tragic pre-Raphaelite figure - with a real frailty about her. The students love her and she has a tender and empathic way with the girls. She, too, is dealing with unfinished desires. She had been in the middle of her graduate studies when she was moved to St. Gabriel's in order to take over for another teacher who had been forced to leave the school due to an act of cruelty by the students.

There is a lot of information about Catholicism in this book and the practices of the Catholic church. I found this fascinating but it it not necessary to read all of it to get the gist of the book. If this aspect of the novel is not for the reader, it can be skipped over and the essence of the book will not be lost.

I am a fan of Ms. Godwin's and love the depth of her characterizations, the perspicacity of her writing and the way she draws the reader in to the world of her novel. This is not an easy read as it takes on so many past and present histories and their ramifications. However, it is well worth the effort for it is beautiful in its manifestation. When it all comes together, it is perfect. Some parts, however, don't come together as well as I'd hoped they would. There are no spoilers in this review and that makes it difficult for me to be more specific about aspects of this book. If you're a Gail Godwin fan, go for it. If you're not, and you love a book of depth and intrigue, this may well be a perfect novel for you.
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Dec 15, 2011 Kathleen rated it 2 of 5 stars

I read this with my book group, which met to discuss on December 12, so that's the date I "finished" this book, hearing the reactions of others added to my own. As one group member put it, "Not my favorite Godwin." Her favorite is Evensong, which we also read with the group, and I also liked Evensong and Father Melancholy's Daughter better. In all of these books, there is great compassion for all kinds of people--a sort of tolerance and forgiveness for human flaws and foibles, even as some chara...more

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Aug 22, 2011 Diane rated it 2 of 5 stars

Mother Suzanne Ravenel, now in her mid-eighties and nearly blind, has agreed to tell her memoirs by way of a tape recorder. For many years she was headmistress at the all-girls Catholic school, Mount St. Gabriel's.( Actually she began boarding there when she was in seventh grade.) Suzanne felt each class was a unit unto itself, unique and different from every other class, and thus begins the story of the class of 1955 and the year from Hell.
The author introduces several characters who are rel...more

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Jun 25, 2011 Steve Lindahl rated it 5 of 5 stars

Unfinished Desires is an excellent read by Gail Godwin, one of my favorite authors. The characters are wonderfully complex. The story takes place in Mount St. Gabriel's, a Catholic school for girls in western North Carolina. The setting is perfect for raising relationship issues to the forefront and for presenting interesting perspectives on faith.

Mother Suzanne Ravenel is the headmistress of the school. She is a strong leader who has provided her girls with a rich environment that is secure and...more

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Feb 26, 2011 switterbug (Betsey) rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is a mature, adult book about adolescent girl behavior. Not since Margaret Atwood's Cat's Eye have I read such a powerful novel about teenage feminine conformity, coercion, betrayal, jealousy, secrets, and love. Godwin creates a labyrinth that begins with a simple layer and gradually builds to a complex and knotted snare. I was pulled in from the opening pages as this rich, multi-generational tapestry is woven as if from the loom. The book never loses steam, and the lyrical rhythm amplifies...more This is a mature, adult book about adolescent girl behavior. Not since Margaret Atwood's Cat's Eye have I read such a powerful novel about teenage feminine conformity, coercion, betrayal, jealousy, secrets, and love. Godwin creates a labyrinth that begins with a simple layer and gradually builds to a complex and knotted snare. I was pulled in from the opening pages as this rich, multi-generational tapestry is woven as if from the loom. The book never loses steam, and the lyrical rhythm amplifies as the story builds. Godwin designed an absolutely beautiful brocade of a book. She sublimely and organically explores the conscious, unconscious, and subconscious layers of the human mind and all its dark and light attributes while she braids a tale of intrigue, desire, and loss from the fabric of memory.

The central narrative is the school year of 1951-52 at a Catholic boarding school, Mount St. Gabriel's, in the Appalachian mountains of North Carolina. Mother "Suzanne" Ravenel, age 85, is reaching back and writing her memoir in 2001 of her time as a student and then headmistress of the now defunct school. She is plagued by events that occurred that one year, especially after her freshman girls staged the annual spring play and brought buried secrets into the performance. She feels stuck and unable to write about that time. Memories--how they are interpreted and relived and revived by the people who remember them--that is the primary theme that this intricate web and convoluted story is built upon. Their unfinished desires, a key element of each person's intimate story (and of course the title of this book), is subsumed and sometimes emotionally tampered by various interpretations of past events.

Godwin uses several narrative devices with ease. Developments are non-linear and yet not confusing, and she uses several perspectives, along and within the third-person voice, to tell the complete story. There is Mother Ravenel at her tape recorder or walking with other nuns at the retirement home, contemplating her past and receding into her future. Interspersed with that is the story of that "toxic" year and the girls at the boarding school--shy and recently orphaned Chloe, who talks to her dead mother and draws pictures that explain mysterious incidents; Maud, the enigmatic, elusive and beautiful daughter of a broken home; and Tildy, the assertive ringleader and undiagnosed dyslexic who switched best friends that year from Maud to Chloe and added tension to the clusters of girls.

Tildy's sister, Madeline, animates the narrative with her grounded and giving nature. Their acid-tongued mother, Cornelia, a former classmate of Mother Ravenel, adds history and a fiendish dose of doubt and a wicked but droll perspective. She is contemptuous of Suzanne and imparts her derisiveness to her daughters. Cornelia's twin sister, Anotnia, was Mother Ravenel's best friend when they were students at Mount St. Gabriel's, and their shared history is the source of many of the secrets and future scorn by Cornelia. Then there is Mother "Kate" Malloy, the young teacher and protégé of Mother Ravenel. She is pale, beautiful, and empathic, and a fortress for the teenage girls. She claimed her vocation at an early age, but she also identifies with the tumult of her students.

A handful of the male characters are also dimensional and integral to the story. In any sprawling novel there will also be a few paper-thin walk-ons or mere vehicles for some larger purpose, and Godwin's is no exception. Often, she mirrors the scope and tone of Dickens, especially with her male characters.

We also move forward in time through some epistolary passages, which add a surprising twist and intrigue to the tale. As Godwin switches perspectives, we are carried effortlessly through the story. This is a difficult task for many authors to pull off, but Godwin engages us instantly from moment to moment, even as she changes time and perspective and narrative mode. The story deepens as the pages turn. I found myself in a kind of wonderment when the story was about 2/3 of the way through. I realized that this initially straightforward story, a story that could have become a sappy melodrama in lesser hands, had evolved into this monster of an organism with knotty, knuckled tentacles that surround and imbibe the heart. What is outward about this story is also latent and hidden. There are many submerged facets of this tale that pour into your psyche with a subliminal but fierce gusto.

Unfinished Desires is a dense but very accessible novel. It is not a "quick read" kind of book for the beach. It is a novel you savor and read as it is intended--closely and with its gradual, exalted rhythm. It is a quiet squall, a subdued tempest. The driving action is mostly psychological. It is masterful but not perfect. The last few pages, although revealing, felt a little tacked on, without sufficient roots. However, it doesn't weaken the overall novel, which delivers a sterling tale of humanity, warts and all. (less)

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Sep 17, 2010 Dee rated it 3 of 5 stars

This novel about a private Catholic girl's school in an imaginary town in North Carolina in the Smokies is lovely. Godwin creates a wonderful 20th century world of girls, nuns, and their families.

Generations of girls, (at least three are followed) go to this school. The history of the school is being writen by the retired headmistress after the school has been closed in the '90's.

A big secret, (the headmistress and her best friend exchanged a passionate kiss when they were students (Seniors?)...more This novel about a private Catholic girl's school in an imaginary town in North Carolina in the Smokies is lovely. Godwin creates a wonderful 20th century world of girls, nuns, and their families.

Generations of girls, (at least three are followed) go to this school. The history of the school is being writen by the retired headmistress after the school has been closed in the '90's.

A big secret, (the headmistress and her best friend exchanged a passionate kiss when they were students (Seniors?) Until that moment, both girls had been determined to enter the convent togethr as postuluates. After the kiss, one of them, a twin, gave up her "vocation," married and was killed in Italy on her honeymoon. Her twin sister, who never knew why her sister gave up her vocation, always hated Mother Ravenal, (the sister who kissed, and has become theheadmistress of the school, Mount St. Gavriel's of Mountain City, North Carolina.

This story winds back and forth between the present, where Mother Ravenal is attempting to write the history of the school, and events that took place during the 1951 freshman class, and the 1930 graduating class. The '51 class is putting on a play that Mother Ravenal wrote for her 1930 graduating class. The hating twin sister isthe mother of Tildy, the rambuctious freshman who M. Ravenal appoints director oft "The Red Nun." for the class of '51.

The end of the book brings all the threads together, as classmates ofthe '51 class reconnect in 2008, and finally figure out what happened during the last aact ofthe play. Immediately after the play, Tildy and her unwitting accomplice, Maud, are expelled from the school and lose touch with each other. Choloe, the other main character is taken to Europe by her uncle Henry.

The story is a wonderful evocation of a Catholic boarding school. Even though the main characters are day students, and most ofthe story does not really tell the day-to-day lives of the students during the school year (as do the Harry Potter books) the sense of what it must have been like --- with Mothr Malloy their teacher (who dies at the end of the story from unsuspected heart trouble---adding to the trouble in which these three girls find themselves. Following the nuns as they pray, searching their lives for where they have "allowed God into their lives" and where Evil might have existed during each day --- their Examen. The lives of sisterhood appear to have dissapated into the ether with the Vatican II and 60's revolutions. I wonder if any of these orders even exist anymore?

The homosexual theme that quietly plays in the background. This kiss between two close friends who have decided to dedicate their lives to God. One leaaves the school and the friendship, apparantly without ever telling the other why. The 50's kids, Tildy and Maud find a note she started to her friend tucked in the back of a math book boxed away after her death. Never sent. One other sentence very late in the book brings up the thought in Antonia's mind that the possibility of besmirching their vows to God with human passion was a betrayal she could not contemplate.

The lives of the girls from the 50's was handled very well. Having lived in that decade as a teenager, I felt she "got" the handling of sex and girl friendships just right. Especially the way, when things feel apart that night of the play, how their adults stepped in and took control. The girls reported feeling like chess pawns, placed where they should be to stop the catastrophe. They were not consulted: they were just placed. (Except for Cloe, whose wonderful Uncle Henry took her to Europe AFTER CONSULTING HER FEELINGS.)(less)

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Jul 20, 2010 Linda C rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: hated

This book proved to be ultimately to be a disappointment. It seemed to be a book in search of an identity. If it had been a 200 page memoir on growing up Catholic in the south, it would have been a very good book. Much of the writing was lovely and depicted the era (from 1930-1950ish) very well.

However, THAT story could have been told in about 200 pages. So what occupied the remaining 200 pages? Ah, but that is the weakness in the book. The plot, loosely, centered around an event that occurred d...more This book proved to be ultimately to be a disappointment. It seemed to be a book in search of an identity. If it had been a 200 page memoir on growing up Catholic in the south, it would have been a very good book. Much of the writing was lovely and depicted the era (from 1930-1950ish) very well.

However, THAT story could have been told in about 200 pages. So what occupied the remaining 200 pages? Ah, but that is the weakness in the book. The plot, loosely, centered around an event that occurred during the production of a freshman class play at a Catholic girls' school by the girls that would become the Class of 1955, interspersed with baggage from an earlier class, which included the school's headmistress, Mother Ravenel.

Other books which focus on a climactic school house event generally have something that is actually climactic-- a murder, a suicide, a mass suicide, a cover-up, something, to make it feel that it was worthwhile to be reading all these extra pages. Although I was waiting, nope, nothing like that to be had-- only pages upon pages of discussion about a very bad play put on by 14 year old girls, where the climactic scene was anything but (and the book STILL went on for another 100 plus pages) and the death scene was a heart attack death of a young nun (which had been hinted at throughout the book) which could have occurred at any time, given the weakness of her heart.

I wanted something dramatic to happen-- Tildy flings herself off the tower, Mother Malloy and Uncle Henry run off together, someone kills Mother Ravenel, Mother Ravenel kills someone-- something to justify the hours that I put into this book, reading, reading, reading to get to the PLAY (because you knew from early on in the book, that the climactic moment would be at the PLAY) and then-- uh, a heart attack? Tildy spray painting "Satin" (which was supposed to be Satan, but her dislexia made it come out as Satin)? There was nothing remotely exciting in this so-called pivotal scene.

"Unfinished Desires" is, sadly, an unfinished book.(less)

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Jun 06, 2010 Kathleen rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: favorite-contemporary-authors

I approached this book with some trepidation not wanting to read about nuns abusing innocent students in Catholic schools, nun bashing in general, or abuses of the Catholic Church. The novel is built around the fictional memoir of an elderly headmistress writing in her Boston retirement about her many years in a girls school in the mountains of North Carolina, wrestling with regrets about her own school years as well as those in the early 1950's. Fiercely guarding the school's reputation in her...more I approached this book with some trepidation not wanting to read about nuns abusing innocent students in Catholic schools, nun bashing in general, or abuses of the Catholic Church. The novel is built around the fictional memoir of an elderly headmistress writing in her Boston retirement about her many years in a girls school in the mountains of North Carolina, wrestling with regrets about her own school years as well as those in the early 1950's. Fiercely guarding the school's reputation in her writing, even though it has been closed for some time, the head mistress wrestles with her own demons as she looks back. In these passages, Godwin weaves theology and philosophy artfully and reveals the woman's humanity over and over again.

Referring to the memoir as "a fascinating document of a 'lost girl world,'" one key character reveals what most of the students, her close friends, would believe of their middle and high school days. However, the head mistress provided the students with rigorous academics and insisted on critical thinking and extensive reading as part of their substantial education. At the same time, viewing the young women as "works in progress," she dealt pragmatically with the behaviors that wreak havoc in young women's lives today..."I have watched generations of girls begin friendships. Wryly, cautiously, coyly, pushily; setting up rules and dividing up powers; vying for advantage or trying to fascinate..." Those behaviors drove the plot.

Jealousy, envy, anger, old rivalries, secrets, mothers and daughters, confused vocations, hubris, loneliness, there is so much within this novel. "All these lives" one reader of the memoir casually comments with a hint of reproof, but that is the power of this novel.

The understanding of the impact of their school experiences comes in the final pages for the women who were at the center of the novel; for me, these detailed accounts of the "rest of the story" were unnecessary, but I might have misunderstood something larger. (less)

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Feb 25, 2010 Joanne rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction

I've really liked Godwin's other books, particularly The Good Husband, for their exploration of faith. This one is set in a Catholic girls' school from the point of view of the headmistress, who is writing her memoirs, and moves back and forth from the 1950s to the 2000s. There was an episode with the ninth grade class play in 1951 -- hinted at about five dozen times before we finally get to it three fourths of the way through the book -- at which point it's entirely anticlimactic. After so much...more

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Jan 10, 2010 Faith rated it 4 of 5 stars

By the time I finished reading this novel, I didn't particularly care for any of the characters. I didn't dislike them all, but I found them annoying. I was looking for a noble character -- not necessarily bigger than life. Ordinary is fine, but even those characters who showed potential to be bigger than life, in the end, were just very ordinary, interesting only in the way observing strangers is interesting.

Unfinished Desires is the story of a pivotal year in the life of Mother Ravenel. The st...more By the time I finished reading this novel, I didn't particularly care for any of the characters. I didn't dislike them all, but I found them annoying. I was looking for a noble character -- not necessarily bigger than life. Ordinary is fine, but even those characters who showed potential to be bigger than life, in the end, were just very ordinary, interesting only in the way observing strangers is interesting.

Unfinished Desires is the story of a pivotal year in the life of Mother Ravenel. The story goes back and forth between 2001 and 1952. Suzanne Ravenel is writing her memoir of the school and we jump back to the memories she apparently is having a difficult time writing.

The school girls of 1952 are probably not unlike schoolgirls of today, though less sophisticated. In this private Catholic school, they are typically smart and self important, but no wiser than girls of the same age anywhere, any time. Unfortunately, Mother Ravenel, headmistress and former student at the school, was only slightly ahead of her students in 1952, concerning self importance and snobbishness. This is apparent as everything leads to the fateful play at the end of the school year. We see it not as Mother Ravenel would have written it, but as it happened, without the one sided emotional content.

This is a marvelously titled book. As I think on what happened in the story, it becomes clear that, the letdown and disappointment are possibly intentional. Learning about the characters at the end of the novel, in 2001, was a lot like finding old school friends on Facebook. Some turned out to be very different than expected and other were just more like they were in school. We all imagine we will end up the remarkable one, but we are lucky to live up to the modest expectations of us. Learning what happened with the play and seeing the older women in 2001 made me ask what the point was. It's something to think about. Godwin's writing is lovely and I enjoyed reading, but over all, the book was a bit disappointing to me.(less)

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Jan 10, 2010 Sara rated it 4 of 5 stars

Gail Godwin’s Unfinished Desires is in the league with some of her best work (for instance my favorite Evensong). Desires is set nearly entirely in an elite Catholic Girl’s school only its time frame spans nearly a century. We get the perspective and stories of the schools inception into 2008 and those who shaped the school’s history (a lot of nuns, girls, and parents). Only we don’t get the story chronologically, but instead Godwin builds up a little momentum settling with one time period and n...more

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Mar 08, 2010 Linda rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: mod-lit, hist-fic

Unfinished Desires is a novel that sweeps through the 20th century. Mother Ravenel, headmistress emeritus of the private school for girls, St. Gabriel’s, dictates her memoirs, with the goal of memorializing the now-closed academy. Between her chapters are interspersed flashbacks, told in real time by various key players, including students and other teachers. The hook is cast early, when the elderly nun muses about the “toxic” class of 1955. Being set in the South, at a small school (only 15 gir...more

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Mar 06, 2010 judy rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction

I was so excited reading this book. I had forgotten what a remarkable writer Goodwin is. Her character development is second to none. The complexity of the characters and their interaction had that all important book club word "Discussable" woven into every line. I wanted to talk about this female coming-of-age novel with a room full of intelligent women. I could imagine us still debating as we walked out the door. My euphoria continued until the end of the book--or what I thought was the end. I...more

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Feb 15, 2013 Callie rated it 3 of 5 stars

This one is not for the faint of heart. All-girls Catholic school, the important action taking place in the 1950s. The machinations of 'mean girls' in ninth grade. Oh, it will take you back, my friends, back to when you were fourteen. Do you really want to revisit those days? You were either one of the queen bees inflicting pain on others or you were being tormented by your domineering best friend or you were too popular or you wanted desperately to be more popular or SOMETHING. But things were...more

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Aug 30, 2009 Debbie rated it 4 of 5 stars

I gave this book 4 stars because the writing was exceptional. Godwin does an amazing job of developing these characters and bringing their personalities to life. This was no simple undertaking given that this story was filled with larger than life personalities that jumped off the page and grabbed your attention. Every character, dead or alive, spent time in the spotlight and fought for the reader's attention.

I found the early passages of Mother Ravenel's memoir a little tedious and boring but...more

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Feb 08, 2010 Bookmarks Magazine rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: mar-apr-2010

To sum it up, the consensus regarding Unfinished Desires is, well, that there is no consensus. Critics were definite in their opinions, which were all quite contradictory. Several believed Godwin skillfully weaved past and present while others thought it a confusing jumble. Some described the summary of the girl's lives after Mount St. Gabriel's as disappointingly brief, others thought it dragged on painfully. Finally, several reviewers found it to be a fascinating coming-of-age tale, but others...more

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Jan 08, 2011 Patricia rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: school-days-school-days-dear-old

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I have been reading Gail Godwin's novels for almost 40 years, and I'm very sorry to say that I was somewhat disappointed by this one.

Unfinished Desires is a novel that spans more than 50 years, from the early 1950s to post-9/11. When the book begins, Mother Suzanne Ravenal, now retired, an octogenarian and nearly blind, looks back on her years as the headmistress of Mount St. Gabriel's, a Catholic girls' school in North Carolina. The school has been closed for ten years, and one of her former...more I have been reading Gail Godwin's novels for almost 40 years, and I'm very sorry to say that I was somewhat disappointed by this one.

Unfinished Desires is a novel that spans more than 50 years, from the early 1950s to post-9/11. When the book begins, Mother Suzanne Ravenal, now retired, an octogenarian and nearly blind, looks back on her years as the headmistress of Mount St. Gabriel's, a Catholic girls' school in North Carolina. The school has been closed for ten years, and one of her former students encourages Mother Ravenal to write a memoir about Mount St. Gabriel's. Mother Ravenal begins dictating her memories into a tape recorder, but grows increasingly reluctant to continue with the project when she recalls the troubled class of 1955.

Most of the action takes place during the 1951-52 school term, focusing on the fifteen girls who were freshmen during that time. The novel moves back and forth in time, as Mother Ravenal also remembers her own years as a student at Mount St. Gabriel's during the late 1920s and early 1930s.

Several of the students in the freshman class during the autumn of 1951 are the daughters of girls who attended school with Suzanne. There is some "bad blood" between Mother Ravenal and Cornelia Stratton, whose daughter Tildy is now a member of the freshman class. Tildy is one of the most influential students in her class, a natural leader. Chloe, a new student who enrolls at the school that fall, is still grieving for her mother, who died a few months ago under mysterious circumstances. Chloe goes to live with her uncle Henry following her mother's death. She becomes Tildy's best friend after Tildy dumps her former best friend, Maud Norton.

During the second semester, Mother Ravenal puts Tildy in charge of directing the school play as a way of channeling the girl's natural abilities and energy. Things come to a head when the freshman class stages a new production of "The Red Nun," a play written by Mother Ravenal when she was a student. Things never are the same after the play is performed.

The book spends a lot of time discussing the school's early history and how myths sprang up around certain prominent individuals, such as the school's founder and the student who inspired the Red Nun.

I think that Godwin created some interesting characters in the novel, but the ones who drive the plot are not necessarily the most likable or sympathetic ones. Mother Kate Malloy, a young, patient and kindly nun, is hired by Mother Ravenal when the former ninth grade teacher takes on other duties. Just like the squeaky wheel, the difficult or troubled personalities get "the most grease" here, with the exception of Mother Malloy.

Mother Ravenal, with her considerable ambition and energy, might have been better off if she had been given a wider sphere of influence than a small Catholic girls' school in the mountains of North Carolina. She tries to exert her will on her students through control and manipulation and gets a nasty surprise when some of them use the same tactics on her.

Another problem is the novel's loose structure, as it meanders back and forth between the present day and the past. There's a lot of repetition and heavy foreshadowing, and the plot becomes fairly predictable as a result. We already have a good idea of what will happen before events finally play themselves out.

Because the last few chapters weren't as predictable as the rest of the novel, I enjoyed them more. (less)

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Jul 16, 2011 Stephanie Dahlberg rated it 2 of 5 stars

When I was about a fourth of the way through this book, I wondered why this book had been chosen for our club to read. When I called another member, we agreed that we didn't like the book and wondered, again, why it was chosen. Everyone at the meeting had one verdict: we all disliked this book. I don't recall that any of us got through it completely.

Well, then I went home and stubbornly continued the reading journey. I got more and more involved as the hours passed. The writing was lovely even t...more

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Feb 18, 2013 Suzyn rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: books-that-didn-t-suck

I suppose this one is my fault. I wanted to read some fiction about nuns, if only to get into the nun mindset (is there such a thing?) for some fiction I was writing. And this book is fine, as books about Southern Nuns teaching at a Catholic school full of bored teenage girls caught up in themselves and all the associated interpersonal drama go.

The characters are well-developed and if it is sort of repetitive and takes forever for anything much to happen and if the melodramatic characters allude...more

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Apr 07, 2012 Joana rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: emprestado

Em O Colégio de Todos os Segredos é-nos contada a história do ano de 1951, bem como várias memórias que a Madre Ravenel tem do colégio e os próprios pensamentos desta muitos anos mais tarde sobre tudo aquilo que foi despoletado por aquele terrível ano.

Esta é uma história para ser lida com calma, tempo e cabeça. Além de ao início ser difícil fazer corresponder todos os nomes às personagens e as suas respectivas relações de parentesco, também não é muito fácil o facto de estarmos constantemente a...more

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Nov 19, 2010 Judy rated it 3 of 5 stars

Mount St. Gabriel's, a Catholic girl's school in Mountain City, North Carolina, is the setting for this book about friendship, betrayal, revenge, redemption, and memory. Mother Ravenel, the former headmistress of the school--it closed in the 1990s--has been asked from some of her former students to record her memoirs. Mother Ravenel had been sent to Mount St. Gabriel's in the 1920s as a student and after taking vows and going to college, she returned as a teaching nun. The action alternates betw...more

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Mar 29, 2012 Dale Harcombe rated it 3 of 5 stars

This took me a lot longer to get into than usual for a Gail Godwin book as evidenced by the fact it took me a week to read it. For me it did not have the emotional impact of Father Melancholy's Daughter or Evensong or A Southern Family, three of my favourites. The story of Mount St Gabriels school for girls and the fateful events of one night in 1951 and the school play is told my Mother Ravenal years after the event in her reminscences, as well as showing the point of view of the girls concerne...more

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Jan 19, 2010 Angela rated it 3 of 5 stars

Recommended to Angela by: NYT review

Anne of Windy Poplars meets Doubt in this multigenerational story of boarding school drama set in a girls' Catholic school. Told from the perspective of headmistress Mother Ravenel and others, the story alternates between a dry "official" version Ravenel constructs for the school's recorded history and a more objective view of what really happened during a pivotal annus horribilis that resulted in Ravenel's year-long leave of absence.

The story moves along at a good clip, but I couldn't help thin...more

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Feb 18, 2010 Diane rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is the first novel I've read by this author, and although I loved the setting, and the novel is beautifully written, it was not an easy read.

Briefly, the story begins in 2001, Mother Suzanne Ravenel is an 85 year old, former headmistress of Mount St. Gabriel's, Roman Catholic boarding school for girls. The school was founded in 1910, and closed in 1990, and the school is located in the mountains of North Carolina. The school serves as the background for the well written novel.

Mother Suzanne...more

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Nov 07, 2009 Lauren rated it 4 of 5 stars

This novel is based on Godwin's own experiences at a Catholic day school in North Carolina. The retired headmistress is writing a memoir /historyof the school and is drawn back to a certain incident in the early 1950s that caused the expulsion of several students as well as her own leave of absence. But it is as much about the relationships between women - mothers and daughters, teachers and students, and the passionate friendships that exist between adolscent girls. In some ways, it is a very c...more

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Dec 04, 2010 Carol Vuillemenot rated it 3 of 5 stars

Gail Godwin is an excellent writer. Her character development is outstanding. The characters in this book were developed over various time tables and events. I enjoyed reading this book because of Godwin's style of writing and my identification with parochial school and the way teenage girls can be mean, catty, helpful, caring, and everything in between. The way all the families and generations were intertwined was interesting. And then there were the nuns...I was taught be some of these when I...more

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Aug 18, 2010 Jane rated it 3 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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