When I researched this book on Amazon I found both 5 star and 1 star reviews. Now I know why. You can't fault the writing, you just wish there was less musing, less description. Seems like in "modern" novels the characters are required to babble on in endless internal monologues.
Words are used to tell the story, if the words get in the way they are the wrong words or there are too many words. In this case lots of very well written descriptive passages and monologues that should have been cut. What was needed is a courageous editor. Who was it that said, in a historical novel it is more important to know what to leave out than what to put in? ]]>
An exceptional book. I am not a big fan of interior musing if it gets in the way of the story. In this case it is part of the story though tedious at times.
None the less, the quality of the prose qualifies it is a 5 star effort. ]]>
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I obtained the book for my wife. I thought that the story of a 15 year old girl who just lost her mother, set in the late 19th Century would be a book that my wife would enjoy.
Well, I had run out of books and there it sat on my wife's bedside table. It was ready to read so I picked it up and started.
The story is poignant and charming. Set in a simpler place at a much simpler time, but the story is a story of the human condition, and that hasn't changed. It is a tragedy of sorts, at least so far. The writing is tight and lucid and I think I am going to have to read it right through to the end. ]]>
Richard
said "yes" to attending the event: Gala kickoff: The French Blue.
date: November 08, 2009 05:06PM
location: Edith Wharton Mansion, Lenox, Massachusetts, 2 Plunkett Street, Lenox, MA, The United States
description: A reading of the French Blue by the book's protagonist: Jean Baptiste Tavernier
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Gala kickoff, reading and cocktail party. November 19th at The Mount www.edithwharton.org. ]]>
bookshelves: ancient, comes-the-shadows
Well, say what you will, the Red Tent is a beautifully written lyrical masterpiece. Anita Diamant's power of description is awesome, the imagery is vivid and original.
The book starts off with a flourish but falls off to some degree toward the end of the narrative. The major event, a murder that fuels much of the action,comes out of nowhere. I realize that it is a retelling of a Biblical story but unlike most of what happens to the female characters in and outside the red tent, this horrendous event which is perpetrated by the male members of the family is insufficiently prepared and its motivations fuzzy.
Despite this, The Red Tent is one of the most beautifully written and well plotted book I have read in recent years. Truly a work deserving of the term "literature."
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bookshelves: to-read
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