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A Dangerous Age: A Novel
The winner of the National Book Award returns with a moving story of a family of women drawn together by the trials of the times.
The women in the Hand family are no strangers to either controversy or sadness. Those traits seem, in fact, to be a part of their family’s heritage, one that stretches back through several generations and many wars. A Dangerous Age is a celebration of the strength of these women and of the bonds of blood and shared loss that hold them together. Louise, Winifred, and Olivia are reconnecting the pieces of their lives and rediscovering love, but each is unwittingly on a collision course with a seemingly distant war that is really never more than a breath away. By turns humorous and heartbreaking, this finely honed novel about the centuries-old struggle for women who are left to carry on with life when their men go off to war is by a writer the Washington Post says “should be declared a national cultural treasure.”
The women in the Hand family are no strangers to either controversy or sadness. Those traits seem, in fact, to be a part of their family’s heritage, one that stretches back through several generations and many wars. A Dangerous Age is a celebration of the strength of these women and of the bonds of blood and shared loss that hold them together. Louise, Winifred, and Olivia are reconnecting the pieces of their lives and rediscovering love, but each is unwittingly on a collision course with a seemingly distant war that is really never more than a breath away. By turns humorous and heartbreaking, this finely honed novel about the centuries-old struggle for women who are left to carry on with life when their men go off to war is by a writer the Washington Post says “should be declared a national cultural treasure.”
272 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2008
28 people are currently reading
230 people want to read
About the author
Ellen Gilchrist
70 books261 followers A writer of poems, short stories, novels, and nonfiction commentaries, Ellen Gilchrist is a diverse writer whom critics have praised repeatedly for her subtle perceptions, unique characters, and sure command of the writer’s voice, as well as her innovative plotlines set in her native Mississippi.
As Sabine Durrant commented in the London Times, her writing “swings between the familiar and the shocking, the everyday and the traumatic.... She writes about ordinary happenings in out of the way places, of meetings between recognizable characters from her other fiction and strangers, above all of domestic routine disrupted by violence.” The world of her fiction is awry; the surprise ending, although characteristic of her works, can still shock the reader. “It is disorienting stuff,” noted Durrant, “but controlled always by Gilchrist’s wry tone and gentle insight.”
She earned her B.A. from Millsaps College in 1967, and later did postgraduate study at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville.
She has worked as an author and journalist, as a contributing editor for the Vieux Carre Courier from 1976-1979, and as a commentator on National Public Radio’s Morning Edition from 1984-1985. Her NPR commentaries have been published in her book Falling Through Space.
She won a National Book Award for her 1984 collection of short stories, Victory Over Japan.
As Sabine Durrant commented in the London Times, her writing “swings between the familiar and the shocking, the everyday and the traumatic.... She writes about ordinary happenings in out of the way places, of meetings between recognizable characters from her other fiction and strangers, above all of domestic routine disrupted by violence.” The world of her fiction is awry; the surprise ending, although characteristic of her works, can still shock the reader. “It is disorienting stuff,” noted Durrant, “but controlled always by Gilchrist’s wry tone and gentle insight.”
She earned her B.A. from Millsaps College in 1967, and later did postgraduate study at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville.
She has worked as an author and journalist, as a contributing editor for the Vieux Carre Courier from 1976-1979, and as a commentator on National Public Radio’s Morning Edition from 1984-1985. Her NPR commentaries have been published in her book Falling Through Space.
She won a National Book Award for her 1984 collection of short stories, Victory Over Japan.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 104 reviews
May 29, 2008
What a disappointment to find one of my favorite authors of all time, doesn't share my politics. Not only do we not agree on the politics, she tempts the reader with tidbits of characters from past novels & sets them against my politics! oh my. She actually preaches to the reader in op/ed columns authored by one of the main characters. Of course the writing still cast it's spell & a day after finishing this book I miss the writing, the characters, the years of finding comfort in Ellen Gilchrist's words.
July 21, 2010
Though the story itself was interesting, her character development was severely lacking. Too many characters were shockingly one-dimensional and her infrequent attempts at character complexity and multi-dimensionality fell flat. She tried to write a simple story about a complex issue and it just didn't work.
December 27, 2012
It's been a while since I read any Gilchrist and it was a delight to become re-acquainted with the Hand clan. I love her quirky characters who live so large and fully. Makes we want to go back and re-read the whole Gilchrist collection!
October 13, 2022
Yes, a dangerous time. Sisters and cousins fall in love in this scary time. One loses her fiancé in the twin towers a week before her wedding. One loves a Cherokee, she is part Cherokee too. They follow Native American traditions, but he gets killed in Iraq. One found a wealthy husband and suffered little tragedy. A reminder of the time after the towers fell and the following war.
April 22, 2025
I think I should’ve known better than to read an Iraq War book from the woman whose characters I enjoy because they are rich dramatic southern women. They were never going to have good politics. This is on me.
September 19, 2015
Spoiler Alert. The book shows the progression of public opinion about the Iraq/ Afghanistan war from flag waving "we got to go git 'em" to "maybe this is a waste of lives and money." I liked the clear, simple writing and the characters. But why all the fat shaming? And why is the only word used for congress between a man and a woman the F word? It's vulgar and uncreative and I think doesn't work very well in the contexts she used it; it didn't communicate what was meant. And in the last chapters I couldn't take off my professional's hat and ignore the way one of the characters' grief was treated. People who ignore their grief end up sick in all kinds of ways, yet the character is portrayed as being able to just put it out of her mind and carry on with her life. That's a dangerous lie to perpetuate.
October 12, 2008
There were spots of brilliance in this book. Also, spots of humor. The down side for me was that it also had spots of crude language. It's an insightful treatment of the war in Iraq and the resulting aftermath. Two quotes I'd like to remember:
"There are bright minds everywhere exploring and thinking and warning," she said...."Compassion and wisdom are already with us. But we have to spread the word of good things. When I wish on the first star at night, I wish for wise first-grade and kindergarten teachers. I pray for them when I pray."
"You help me by being here. You help me by being who you are so I can measure myself by you."
"There are bright minds everywhere exploring and thinking and warning," she said...."Compassion and wisdom are already with us. But we have to spread the word of good things. When I wish on the first star at night, I wish for wise first-grade and kindergarten teachers. I pray for them when I pray."
"You help me by being here. You help me by being who you are so I can measure myself by you."
April 14, 2009
This novel is so similar to Gilchrist's other fiction, and the characters felt so familiar to me. The references to 9/11 and the war in Iraq are new, however. I was glad to see the pro-Bush and pro-war sentiments change by the end of the book. Olivia is a newspaper editor in Oklahoma, and her editorials show greater sensitivity to the futility of war by the novel's end.
July 25, 2009
I really liked this family of strong women with Native American heritage. This questions the Iraq war as the men are in the military fighting the war and some of the women support the war.
I truly liked these characters, even though it is hard for me to understand intelligent people supporting this war.
I truly liked these characters, even though it is hard for me to understand intelligent people supporting this war.
May 31, 2017
A celebrated author. A book about three grown-up women sorting out their lives amidst the backdrop of the Iraq war and a family history of difficulty & struggle. That has the makings of an amazing, engaging novel.
And yet.
The good news is that the book is a fast read. And, despite what felt like deliberate attempts to make sure you never connect with any of the characters, I wanted to know what happened next. That being said, this book reads like the rough draft of a freshman-year creative writing project. It is disjointed and disorganized. The dialogue is painfully wooden and yet superfluous in its exposition. The political opinions feel as superficial as a freshman-year college student raving about current events without real substance. We learn about characters, only to have them unceremoniously dropped (it makes me think of the movie 'The Room' and that infamous, "I have breast cancer," scene).
The writing feels forced -- both in terms of style and of subject matter. The characters are impossible really distinguish; everyone talks and acts the exact same way. And if there was a call to arms at the end of the book, the impact and resonance was lacking in spades.
This was one of those "I refuse to abandon a book" situations, and so I am grateful, at least, that it read fast and very rarely did I get bogged down. That being said, this fast book was a lot like fast food: delivered haphazardly and leaving me woefully unsatisfied.
And yet.
The good news is that the book is a fast read. And, despite what felt like deliberate attempts to make sure you never connect with any of the characters, I wanted to know what happened next. That being said, this book reads like the rough draft of a freshman-year creative writing project. It is disjointed and disorganized. The dialogue is painfully wooden and yet superfluous in its exposition. The political opinions feel as superficial as a freshman-year college student raving about current events without real substance. We learn about characters, only to have them unceremoniously dropped (it makes me think of the movie 'The Room' and that infamous, "I have breast cancer," scene).
The writing feels forced -- both in terms of style and of subject matter. The characters are impossible really distinguish; everyone talks and acts the exact same way. And if there was a call to arms at the end of the book, the impact and resonance was lacking in spades.
This was one of those "I refuse to abandon a book" situations, and so I am grateful, at least, that it read fast and very rarely did I get bogged down. That being said, this fast book was a lot like fast food: delivered haphazardly and leaving me woefully unsatisfied.
May 14, 2017
I love Ellen Gilchrist and her fabulous, crazy, band of women. I'm into the third generation now and they are still the stories of me and my friends, children, cousins, and colleagues. When I read one of her books, the characters, and their happiness and heartbreak, become a part of my life with images that are hard to shake.
I can't write a summary or a spoiler. Gilchrist creates perfectly honed and real characters who face life's realities. Reading her books is simply seeing life through their prism.
I can't write a summary or a spoiler. Gilchrist creates perfectly honed and real characters who face life's realities. Reading her books is simply seeing life through their prism.
November 8, 2025
A book for our time
With the simplicity and depth of her writings, Ellen Gilchrist reenters the stage of another book.
The stories on these pages reflect the deep, abiding love of native families in modern days. The backdrop of the Iraqi war and the madness of the losses, is a stark reminder that we have not come very far . It is yet so comforting to find another Gilchrist novel.
With the simplicity and depth of her writings, Ellen Gilchrist reenters the stage of another book.
The stories on these pages reflect the deep, abiding love of native families in modern days. The backdrop of the Iraqi war and the madness of the losses, is a stark reminder that we have not come very far . It is yet so comforting to find another Gilchrist novel.
January 28, 2018
Its been a long time since I read Gilchrist, so I was very happy to find this on the shelf.I enjoyed it, and I still love the way she writes. Very happy to the Mannings and Hands are still carrying on.
August 24, 2022
I read three quarters of this book hoping it would get better. I didn't realize the main topic was war. If you like books about war & all that goes with that, you'll probably like this book. Unfortunately, I do not care for war stories. I gave it 2 stars only because of the easy reading language.
October 15, 2023
Every time I pick up an Ellen Gilchrist I kick myself for not following her more avidly. These are all characters who will stay with me for a long time. The Oklahoma pieces are especially touching.
April 15, 2018
Definitely a reason this was in the bargain books bin. Such a boring disappointment and more than a bit jingoistic.
November 3, 2018
This is the story of six women, cousins who are living in the era of the war in Iraq. They and their husbands are all strong characters who willingly do what must be done for their country.
September 5, 2020
Very quirky - but so much to like - I want to read more of her books
January 4, 2024
When I come across an Ellen Gilchrist book that I haven’t read yet, I have to jump right in. This book deals with three Hand cousins, all nieces of the famous Anna Hand. They are all descending on North Carolina For Winifred Hand’s wedding, but the event turns unto a wake when the groom is killed in the World Trade Centre on 9/11. In the aftermath they all get married to men who are in the armed forcess fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan and dealing with the unfortunate events of that war.
I was disappointed to see such a pre-war attitude from Gilchrist in this novel. It doesn’t seem to match the political sentiments of her earlier novels. Still, any Gilchrist novel is better than none, and this book makes me want to go back to her earlier novels and revisit her characters who I came to regard as old friends.
I was disappointed to see such a pre-war attitude from Gilchrist in this novel. It doesn’t seem to match the political sentiments of her earlier novels. Still, any Gilchrist novel is better than none, and this book makes me want to go back to her earlier novels and revisit her characters who I came to regard as old friends.
June 23, 2008
I was SO excited to read this books, and although I plowed through it on just a day, I'm left feeling so disappointed.
The Hand family are some of my favorite Gilchrist characters. I went back and re-read the three books that feature this family so their stories would all be fresh in my mind. I expected a lot to have changed since we last left Olivia and Jessie and Daniel and Helen back in the 1990's. What I didn't expect was for there to be so many new characters, folks who it seemed were introduced to make a specific point, then abandoned. Within the first few pages we met a character who was killed in the 9/11 World Trade Center bombings (had I made a bet on the circumstances of this novel I would have guessed Gilchrist's focus to be Hurricane Katrina, since she has set so many stories in New Orleans). There were new cousins introduced that never appeared in earlier works, and I kept getting distracted by geneology... how could Anna's sister Louise have children the same age as Helen's when Louise was away in England, apparently alone, when Anna died? Louise had a daughter and named her... Louise? There were plenty of Hand family cousins without creating more. And all the folks from Starcarbon... what happened to Helen and Mike? They were married and pregnant at the end of Starcarbon, and now Helen's back with Spencer? Did Gilchrist forget the family tree she created in Starcarbon? I kept seeing these sorts of holes in the new story, as if she wanted to pick and choose among her favorite characters, forgetting she had set them in a play in a very different world, and some of us might care -- and notice -- that her created world was very different now.
I can appreciate that authors might feel stifled by recurring characters. Based on other linked stories I have read by other authors, it must get challenging to remember all the threads from one book to the next. I'd rather have a well-told story with characters I have come to love than read someone's soapbox political opinions, thinly disguised as fiction. Sometimes it seemed like all the characters in this book were the same, just with familiar names. They were all spouting the same patriotic rhetoric, just in different places and through seemingly different mouths.
I was so ready to love this book. Instead, I'm grieving for all of the Hand family, as if they all died with Bobby Tree.
The Hand family are some of my favorite Gilchrist characters. I went back and re-read the three books that feature this family so their stories would all be fresh in my mind. I expected a lot to have changed since we last left Olivia and Jessie and Daniel and Helen back in the 1990's. What I didn't expect was for there to be so many new characters, folks who it seemed were introduced to make a specific point, then abandoned. Within the first few pages we met a character who was killed in the 9/11 World Trade Center bombings (had I made a bet on the circumstances of this novel I would have guessed Gilchrist's focus to be Hurricane Katrina, since she has set so many stories in New Orleans). There were new cousins introduced that never appeared in earlier works, and I kept getting distracted by geneology... how could Anna's sister Louise have children the same age as Helen's when Louise was away in England, apparently alone, when Anna died? Louise had a daughter and named her... Louise? There were plenty of Hand family cousins without creating more. And all the folks from Starcarbon... what happened to Helen and Mike? They were married and pregnant at the end of Starcarbon, and now Helen's back with Spencer? Did Gilchrist forget the family tree she created in Starcarbon? I kept seeing these sorts of holes in the new story, as if she wanted to pick and choose among her favorite characters, forgetting she had set them in a play in a very different world, and some of us might care -- and notice -- that her created world was very different now.
I can appreciate that authors might feel stifled by recurring characters. Based on other linked stories I have read by other authors, it must get challenging to remember all the threads from one book to the next. I'd rather have a well-told story with characters I have come to love than read someone's soapbox political opinions, thinly disguised as fiction. Sometimes it seemed like all the characters in this book were the same, just with familiar names. They were all spouting the same patriotic rhetoric, just in different places and through seemingly different mouths.
I was so ready to love this book. Instead, I'm grieving for all of the Hand family, as if they all died with Bobby Tree.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 21, 2016
The attacks on 9-11 changed things for most Americans. In this novel, Ellen Gilchrist explores how things change in the lives of several women, all cousins, after this time in our country's history. The Hand family has been through several wars in their long history. This generation has strong females and most are affected in some way.
There is Olivia, who has Cherokee blood mixed with the Southern blood of the Hands. Olivia is a newspaper editor in Oklahoma, too busy for love and marriage. That all changes when she meets Bobby, marries him and becomes pregnant. He is in the military but safely in the States, where he flies drones whose actions take place overseas. He takes information from those on the ground and finds and targets insurgents. Louise is married to a recruiter who travels the country talking to young men and women and persuading them to consider joining the Army. Winnie meets and marries a wounded soldier, several years younger than herself but someone she feels a connection with instantly.
There are other cousins, like Tallulah, who is a tennis coach on the college circuit. There are fathers and grandparents, a whole web of family that encircles the cousins. But this is their story, how they live their lives, find love and start families and how they deal with war. What is it? Is it ever an appropriate response? What does a country do when attacked? Each of the women must work through their own thoughts and ideals to determine how they feel about the war and the degree to which being married to a military man affects their outlook. This book is recommended for those interested in strong family relationships and those interested in reading about how events affect those who live through them.
There is Olivia, who has Cherokee blood mixed with the Southern blood of the Hands. Olivia is a newspaper editor in Oklahoma, too busy for love and marriage. That all changes when she meets Bobby, marries him and becomes pregnant. He is in the military but safely in the States, where he flies drones whose actions take place overseas. He takes information from those on the ground and finds and targets insurgents. Louise is married to a recruiter who travels the country talking to young men and women and persuading them to consider joining the Army. Winnie meets and marries a wounded soldier, several years younger than herself but someone she feels a connection with instantly.
There are other cousins, like Tallulah, who is a tennis coach on the college circuit. There are fathers and grandparents, a whole web of family that encircles the cousins. But this is their story, how they live their lives, find love and start families and how they deal with war. What is it? Is it ever an appropriate response? What does a country do when attacked? Each of the women must work through their own thoughts and ideals to determine how they feel about the war and the degree to which being married to a military man affects their outlook. This book is recommended for those interested in strong family relationships and those interested in reading about how events affect those who live through them.
April 15, 2008
This brief novel is set in post 9/11 America, and tells of the intertwined lives of three thirtysomething cousins who are each, in their own way, affected by the War on Terror. The story begins with the loss of Winifred Hand's fiance in the World Trade Center disaster. Following the tragedy, two cousins of the deceased, twins, vow to avenge his untimely death by fighting overseas, a decision that continues the intersecting chain of events in the story, greatly impacting the life of Louise Hand. Olivia Hand, is the character that the narrative spends the most time with. She is a journalist who remarries her ex-husband Bobby Tree, a man who becomes involved in the war as a contracted worker. The stories, while related to each other, are not pulled together effectively, making the novel feel disjointed, and as a result of the book being so short, the characters are not adequately elaborated on and seem rather shallow. Based on the subject matter, one may have expected to find politically charged content, but it is surprisingly neutral, focusing more on real life and emotions, steering clear of policy for the most part. The descriptions of Cherokee culture and tradition, present mostly during Olivia and Bobby's wedding festivites, were especially fascinating and were my favorite part of the book. I hadn't read anything by Gilcrest before, and I was expecting great things since she had won a National Book Award. Unfortunately I think I missed her talent with this one. It wasn't a bad book, but it was lacking in quite a few aspects. This review is based on a Early Review copy from LibraryThing.com.
July 16, 2012
This book just wasn't very good. It's about 250 pages long, and I was able to read about 150 of them on a flight from Oakland, CA to San Diego. It wasn't bad, either, it just wasn't very good.
In a nutshell, it's about four cousins. It starts off with one cousin, who's supposed to get married that winter, but her fiance dies in 9/11. Then the second cousin and she move to Washington, where the second cousin sleeps with one of the cousins of the man who died and immediately gets knocked up. Then the third cousin sleeps with her former boyfriend/lover/husband (maybe...at this point, it doesn't really matter), and she, of course immediately gets knocked up. Then the second cousin marries her baby-daddy. Next, his twin brother, who was injured in Iraq is released from the hospital and marries the first cousin. Meanwhile, the fourth cousin is a tennis coach. Whatever. Then the third cousin's husband dies in Iraq. And eventually, the two babies are born.
The book mostly focuses on the third cousin, who is a newspaper editor. The chapters are short and choppy, and because the focus shifts from all of the cousins to the third cousin, the book is unbalanced. Also, this newspaper editor third cousin is a little too fly-by-the-seat-of-her-pants, in my opinion, to actually be a newspaper editor.
By the time I got to the end of the book, not much had happened, and it just wasn't that good.
In a nutshell, it's about four cousins. It starts off with one cousin, who's supposed to get married that winter, but her fiance dies in 9/11. Then the second cousin and she move to Washington, where the second cousin sleeps with one of the cousins of the man who died and immediately gets knocked up. Then the third cousin sleeps with her former boyfriend/lover/husband (maybe...at this point, it doesn't really matter), and she, of course immediately gets knocked up. Then the second cousin marries her baby-daddy. Next, his twin brother, who was injured in Iraq is released from the hospital and marries the first cousin. Meanwhile, the fourth cousin is a tennis coach. Whatever. Then the third cousin's husband dies in Iraq. And eventually, the two babies are born.
The book mostly focuses on the third cousin, who is a newspaper editor. The chapters are short and choppy, and because the focus shifts from all of the cousins to the third cousin, the book is unbalanced. Also, this newspaper editor third cousin is a little too fly-by-the-seat-of-her-pants, in my opinion, to actually be a newspaper editor.
By the time I got to the end of the book, not much had happened, and it just wasn't that good.
June 10, 2008
Hmmm. I know I'll always love an Ellen Gilchrist book (although the less of Rhoda Manning the better), but this book is the most retrograde example of her character development that I've encountered so far. So, many 30-something women marrying complete strangers to somehow bring legitmaticy to their children's births and everyone going "rah, rah, to the war," - um, were they born in 1800? - Even with close family connections in very rural areas I have a difficult time with the lack of questioning that occurs with these characters in terms of the war and their role in it (are we truly to expect that folks think the war is OK - it's simply that we've not been trained adequately? - hello?! What are these characters drinking?). I think it IS just the characters, but with all of her tales there's this thing where the characters are supposed to be so bold, charasmatic, etc. that you think the author has lost perspective. I say this, and, yet I enjoy reading about the characters even if I wouldn't necessarily want to be friends with them. The writing is bigger than the people. This is chick lit, but the most top-tier example a person will find. I can take this outlook because I don't know anyone who would think the behaviors in this book are meant to exemplify any sort of way to actually live your life.
February 4, 2011
I had the impression that Gilchrest was a highly praised writer, but this was awful! The characters were flimsy and hard to distinguish from each other (was she counting on readers already knowing them from other books?). The supposedly brilliant newspaperwoman can't write her way out of a paper bag -- her "amazing editorials" are sloppy trite rambles. Everyone runs around thinking things that sound like "she knew he would be her lifetime love because he was good and brave and true and had the heart of a warrior" (not an exact quote, but A Dangerous Age contains a ton of prose just like this).
The set-up should have been interesting -- an extended family of women, who find their lives changed by 9/11 and the Iraq war -- and in theory I would have liked to see what a gifted writer who DIDN'T oppose that war would have to say about it. But Gilchrest had nothing whatever of interest to say, except that we send the poor to fight our wars and then don't want to hear about it; that's all too true, but it does not an entire novel make.
The set-up should have been interesting -- an extended family of women, who find their lives changed by 9/11 and the Iraq war -- and in theory I would have liked to see what a gifted writer who DIDN'T oppose that war would have to say about it. But Gilchrest had nothing whatever of interest to say, except that we send the poor to fight our wars and then don't want to hear about it; that's all too true, but it does not an entire novel make.
May 29, 2012
7/5/08 - I would have to agree with some other reviews I've read of this book. It just didn't flow well for me. It jumped all over the place and while perhaps this is what Gilchrist intended, to me it appeared very oddly organized. The book description on the back cover is a bit misleading as well. It makes it sound as if the book centers on the post 9/11 lives of three cousins, and the first chapter or two tend to lead the reader in that direction. But from there the book gravitates mainly toward one cousin in particular, Olivia, and the rest just make short, sudden appearances here and there. The theme revolves more around how the war in Iraq affects the American opinion of such. While I didn't necessarily agree with all aspects of Olivia's newspaper editorials that were included in the plotline, I did think they were well-written and very thought provoking, presenting a fairly accurate underlying message about America's role in Iraq.
Overall, some good ideas in there, but I didn't feel it was pulled together in the most effective way.
Overall, some good ideas in there, but I didn't feel it was pulled together in the most effective way.
December 4, 2014
Triumphs and Heartbreaks of everyday life
What I have always loved about Gilchrist is the ease and comfort of her books. You begin to feel like they are second hand stories of people you know. These characters become so real that you must keep reading to keep up with them. A Dangerous Age is a novel that reads like one of Gilchrist's short story collections due to the number of characters. The story, though primarily following Olivia, circles back and checks in on the various members of the large Hand clan. Set in Oklahoma, Olivia's story is unique as she straddles two worlds, the modern age of the title with her newspaper job, and the tradition steeped world of her Cherokee family. The story us masterfully woven with the big and quiet moments of these people's lives and you celebrate and grieve with them.
What I have always loved about Gilchrist is the ease and comfort of her books. You begin to feel like they are second hand stories of people you know. These characters become so real that you must keep reading to keep up with them. A Dangerous Age is a novel that reads like one of Gilchrist's short story collections due to the number of characters. The story, though primarily following Olivia, circles back and checks in on the various members of the large Hand clan. Set in Oklahoma, Olivia's story is unique as she straddles two worlds, the modern age of the title with her newspaper job, and the tradition steeped world of her Cherokee family. The story us masterfully woven with the big and quiet moments of these people's lives and you celebrate and grieve with them.
May 11, 2016
The Hand family's affluent and high-achieving women are spread across the South; several marry military men. Most of the novel is set in 2005, and the Iraqi war is a constant concern. Olivia's father is a Hand, but she's half Cherokee and was raised on a Cherokee reservation. She, too, is a high achiever; she's the editor of a newspaper in Tulsa. The novel is her story, though it has a kind of false start at the outset that concentrates on other family members. In spite of some awkward point-of-view changes, the novel is readable--even a "quick read"-- and held my interest. Gilchrist has an unusual style that uses lots of dialogue but refrains, most of the time, from digging into personal interiors; this seems to result in momentum and detachment. Her characters are interesting and convincing.
April 18, 2016
This multifaceted story weaves among the lives of a group of interesting, strong, and complicated Cherokee women, portraying their relationships to one another, to their heritage and culture, and to the world at large. Some of the most moving sections of the book depict small moments--the preparations for a wedding, or the birth of a child, or the discovery of loss. Yet the themes are universal and encourage readers to ask themselves: Where do I belong? Whom do I call my family, and if it isn't created by blood ties, how do I create one? A beautiful, warm-hearted, pragmatic book, and an unexpected pleasure. I plan to explore the other two titles in this series: "I Cannot Get you Close Enough" and "The Anna Papers".
March 21, 2011
I don't know where I've been in that this is, I think, my first Ellen Gilchrist book. I enjoyed it but perhaps would not have had it not been such a short book. The story is about 3 cousins and the imapct of the war in Iraq on their lives and the lives of their loved ones. I thought the writing was good but that some of the characters made some unrealistic choices about rommance. Apparently, these characters have been in earlier novels which I'm going to look forward to reading. If this is her worst book, there is some mighty fine reading in my future.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 104 reviews