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Margaret Ann Spence

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Average rating: 4.36 · 14 ratings · 11 reviews · 1 distinct work

Lipstick on the Strawberry

4.36 avg rating — 14 ratings — 3 editions

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Margaret Ann Spence rated a book it was amazing

Chaconne

by Diana Blackwood

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Margaret Ann Spence said: "
Eleanor Weston is a young Australian woman who, in 1981, goes to Paris to be with her French boyfriend, a student and a “Communist” who, she soon realizes, still lives in bourgeois comfort with his parents. He disappoints. Eventually, Eleanor goes to
Eleanor Weston is a young Australian woman who, in 1981, goes to Paris to be with her French boyfriend, a student and a “Communist” who, she soon realizes, still lives in bourgeois comfort with his parents. He disappoints. Eventually, Eleanor goes to Germany with another suitor, an American. Sadly, for Eleanor, but not for the story, her taste in men has not improved.

Set towards the end of the Cold War and at its very heart in the NATO countries, Chaconne is in some ways an elegy for a Europe that gave us Baroque music, about which Eleanor is passionate, for a gentle pastoral landscape threatened by climate change and possible nuclear war, and for the innocence of childhood. In this coming-of-age novel, Eleanor is shocked when confronted by others with different values. Irritated when the Paris flat she lives in does not have the mod cons she’s used to, she hates it when Americans pronounce and spell words differently, So far, an ingenue in Europe. Indeed, as if to press this point home, the author shows her protagonist reading Henry James’ The Portrait of a Lady.

But Eleanor self-sabotages in a more fundamental way. She seems to have no goal. “Ambitions, like fathers, were something other people had,” she explains.

A difficult childhood has left Eleanor with a sense of dislocation and her loneliness causes her to latch on to foolish men. The main argument in this anti-romantic novel is that for a bright young woman the prospects of meeting a partner of like mind are slim. But the author throws up pretty sad examples of the male species. A feminist reading of this book might question that, even when Eleanor achieves the self-confidence to pursue her passion for Baroque music, her epiphany comes through meeting another man. But that is putting today's values on the period in which this novel is set, a time fast receding into "history".

Ms. Blackwood is to be congratulated for having created a character who manages to hold the reader’s attention despite her irritating quirks, which include her constant correction of others. I found her pedantry exhausting and wished she could have put her obvious intelligence to better use. The fact that I cared shows the author’s mastery of her material. Speaking as a writer myself, I know this is a hard act to pull off. Diana Blackwood’s dialogue reveals character, we feel the extent of Eleanor’s pain when she is luckless in love, the landscape descriptions are lyrical, and she has an astute eye for the self-importance of the academy. The evocation of the political and feminist pre-occupations of the time are spot-on, as well. I look forward to further thoughtful work from this writer. ...more "

Jul 04, 2018 02:37AM · see review

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Margaret Ann Spence rated a book it was amazing Chaconne by Diana Blackwood	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Eleanor Weston is a young Australian woman who, in 1981, goes to Paris to be with her French boyfriend, a student and a “Communist” who, she soon realizes, still lives in bourgeois comfort with his parents. He disappoints. Eventually, Eleanor goes to ...more
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