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The Carolyne Letters
young, naive, in love. charming, narcissistic, intelligent. In a decidedly European affair, a young couple consummates a courtship destined for differences. The resultant pregnancy provides a haunting yet charming backdrop for the challenges of love and its often unwanted decisions. 1994 Benjamin Franklin Award Finalist Abigail B. Calkin has created such a rich and picturesque setting that The Carolyne Letters literally breathes life--life in all its splendor, simplicity and complexity.
248 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 1995
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
September 17, 2013
Abigail B. Calkin’s The Carolyne Letters looked to be an intriguing story of a young woman facing an unexpected pregnancy — a situation made all the more difficult in 1964. I went into the novel hoping to be moved and enthralled . . . and certainly bonded to Amelia. But I was disappointed.
The key to this novel’s success hinges on us feeling — really feeling — for Amelia, our unlikely mother-to-be. The tension is derived from questioning her motives, her future: will she or won’t she? Told in a dated diary-like format with passages both short and long, we experience heartache and obsession with Amelia for the first 70 pages or so. Geoff loves her, he loves her not . . . and the whole book reads like the first-love manifestos we have all probably penned ourselves at some point. That would have been okay — a little repetitive and annoying, really, but fine — if we’d eventually moved beyond it. We just never did.
As a whole, I didn’t take a shine to the writing style or characters. Amelia seems melodramatic, serious, almost manic in her musings about life and love. Like anyone facing a life-altering decision, she vacillates between all three choices for this child — adoption, birth, abortion — and has little assistance from friends or Geoff-on-a-pedestal during the process. We never got a feel for the object of her affection, mostly because Geoff is a self-important, condescending clown. I wanted to like Amelia, and wanted to feel for her, but it was hard to relate to someone so in love with an epic tool. Seriously, the dude is no good.
I appreciated the unique nature of this book and did get more invested in Amelia’s fate as we moved through the story, but it never quite worked for me. I read idly and was mostly disinterested, honestly, but I did finish. Because such an emotional issue is at its core, I expected The Carolyne Letters to wrap its little paperback fingers around my heart and hold on — but I appreciated the overarching themes more than the story itself. It was literary, sure, but just had little soul.
The key to this novel’s success hinges on us feeling — really feeling — for Amelia, our unlikely mother-to-be. The tension is derived from questioning her motives, her future: will she or won’t she? Told in a dated diary-like format with passages both short and long, we experience heartache and obsession with Amelia for the first 70 pages or so. Geoff loves her, he loves her not . . . and the whole book reads like the first-love manifestos we have all probably penned ourselves at some point. That would have been okay — a little repetitive and annoying, really, but fine — if we’d eventually moved beyond it. We just never did.
As a whole, I didn’t take a shine to the writing style or characters. Amelia seems melodramatic, serious, almost manic in her musings about life and love. Like anyone facing a life-altering decision, she vacillates between all three choices for this child — adoption, birth, abortion — and has little assistance from friends or Geoff-on-a-pedestal during the process. We never got a feel for the object of her affection, mostly because Geoff is a self-important, condescending clown. I wanted to like Amelia, and wanted to feel for her, but it was hard to relate to someone so in love with an epic tool. Seriously, the dude is no good.
I appreciated the unique nature of this book and did get more invested in Amelia’s fate as we moved through the story, but it never quite worked for me. I read idly and was mostly disinterested, honestly, but I did finish. Because such an emotional issue is at its core, I expected The Carolyne Letters to wrap its little paperback fingers around my heart and hold on — but I appreciated the overarching themes more than the story itself. It was literary, sure, but just had little soul.
September 29, 2013
Not my type of reading format. This book left me frustrated and annoyed.
The year is 1964 and in a first person journal style, Calkin provides a story from the perspective of Amelia a young college student, who after becoming pregnant struggles with three choices, either to keep her child and be ostracized, go through with an abortion, or give her child up for adoption. Amelia has fallen in love with Geoff a narcissistic artist who is only concerned about himself and uses Amelia to satisfy his desires and then tosses her emotions to the wind. In the first story when Geoff learns Amelia is pregnant his first and only thought is that she have an abortion. The story goes on and on about what Amelia is feeling during these emotional ups and downs with her pregnancy and her love for Geoff, a man who does not love her back. Not wanting her mother to know of her condition Amelia leaves home and travels during her whole pregnancy.
I really wanted to like this book and I liked the first story in this book. I knew through the excerpt that Amelia was working through her choices of what to do about her pregnancy, however I did not know that the book would contain three different stories, one chapter for each decision, each with a totally different story and outcome. I was happy with the first story and it’s ending, however when I realized that there was no finality to the book, as there were two other stories in the same book, I felt exhausted with Amelia and her whining and emotions. It tried to get into the second story, which of course has the same characters but in a different circumstances and situations, but I found myself comparing what happened in the first story to the second, this left me frustrated. Never having read a book in this type of format before, I am familiar with my feelings when it comes to films with alternate endings and this is what this book reminded me of, so this just might be personal on my part. Maybe others might enjoy this type of format but for me it felt like I was dragging my feet in the sand after the first story and I just found it completely annoying.
The year is 1964 and in a first person journal style, Calkin provides a story from the perspective of Amelia a young college student, who after becoming pregnant struggles with three choices, either to keep her child and be ostracized, go through with an abortion, or give her child up for adoption. Amelia has fallen in love with Geoff a narcissistic artist who is only concerned about himself and uses Amelia to satisfy his desires and then tosses her emotions to the wind. In the first story when Geoff learns Amelia is pregnant his first and only thought is that she have an abortion. The story goes on and on about what Amelia is feeling during these emotional ups and downs with her pregnancy and her love for Geoff, a man who does not love her back. Not wanting her mother to know of her condition Amelia leaves home and travels during her whole pregnancy.
I really wanted to like this book and I liked the first story in this book. I knew through the excerpt that Amelia was working through her choices of what to do about her pregnancy, however I did not know that the book would contain three different stories, one chapter for each decision, each with a totally different story and outcome. I was happy with the first story and it’s ending, however when I realized that there was no finality to the book, as there were two other stories in the same book, I felt exhausted with Amelia and her whining and emotions. It tried to get into the second story, which of course has the same characters but in a different circumstances and situations, but I found myself comparing what happened in the first story to the second, this left me frustrated. Never having read a book in this type of format before, I am familiar with my feelings when it comes to films with alternate endings and this is what this book reminded me of, so this just might be personal on my part. Maybe others might enjoy this type of format but for me it felt like I was dragging my feet in the sand after the first story and I just found it completely annoying.
September 12, 2013
My Thoughts:
I love the written word. I love that I was born into a generation that is consumed with technology. I only need 140 characters or less to send out a written message about my thoughts, feelings, disappointments, and/or celebrations into the world. Tweet! Social media has significantly impacted my daily life. In the morning, I can connect with publications, blogs, Facebook and/or Twitter in order to find out what is happening in the world around me professionally and personally. Simultaneously, I will be alerted on my I-phone that, House of Hades by Rick Riordan is scheduled to come out on October 8, 2013 and my grandmother is looking for Gluten-free recipes.
It wasn’t long ago, that people were shy about what they revealed to each other. People were frightened to let other people know their true fears and doubts. They would hide behind a façade of being completely in control allowing others to believe in their confidence and knowledge. People thought their world was perfect, but was it really?
Throughout the 1960's, women, such as Amelia, sat riddled with the guilt, anxiety, and the weight of their choices. Pressured by society for her decision, Amelia was forced grow up a little quicker than she anticipated so she chronicles her thoughts throughout each day in a letter to herself and later to her daughter, Carolyne, explaining her decision. Each lettered entry allows the reader a side by side view of Amelia's thoughts as she's living them. Her anguish and torment flow through her words and really capture the essence of the perspective of those times.
Rating: 3/5
I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a review
You can see the rest of the review at www.literarychameleon.blogspot.com
I love the written word. I love that I was born into a generation that is consumed with technology. I only need 140 characters or less to send out a written message about my thoughts, feelings, disappointments, and/or celebrations into the world. Tweet! Social media has significantly impacted my daily life. In the morning, I can connect with publications, blogs, Facebook and/or Twitter in order to find out what is happening in the world around me professionally and personally. Simultaneously, I will be alerted on my I-phone that, House of Hades by Rick Riordan is scheduled to come out on October 8, 2013 and my grandmother is looking for Gluten-free recipes.
It wasn’t long ago, that people were shy about what they revealed to each other. People were frightened to let other people know their true fears and doubts. They would hide behind a façade of being completely in control allowing others to believe in their confidence and knowledge. People thought their world was perfect, but was it really?
Throughout the 1960's, women, such as Amelia, sat riddled with the guilt, anxiety, and the weight of their choices. Pressured by society for her decision, Amelia was forced grow up a little quicker than she anticipated so she chronicles her thoughts throughout each day in a letter to herself and later to her daughter, Carolyne, explaining her decision. Each lettered entry allows the reader a side by side view of Amelia's thoughts as she's living them. Her anguish and torment flow through her words and really capture the essence of the perspective of those times.
Rating: 3/5
I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a review
You can see the rest of the review at www.literarychameleon.blogspot.com
September 13, 2013
Amelia, like so many literary women, has fallen in love with a complicated, unreliable, infuriatingly irresistible man. No matter how educated or progressive she is...she just can't stay away from Geoff. Set in various romantic, European locations during the 1960s, Calkin has constructed the very believable diary of a young women trying to overcome the pain of her past while making the most important decision of her future. Told in three parts, Calkin very creatively imagines Amelia's differing futures had she decided to keep her baby, abort her, or give her up for adoption.
As I said earlier, The Carolyne Letters is very believable as the diary of a struggling young woman. Understandably, it can drag at times, becoming repetitive and overly dramatic...but it realistically depicts the narrator's very personal, internal battle.
Many thanks to the author, publisher, and BookSparks for sharing this book with me to review.
Read more from Arielle @
My Best Friends Are Books
As I said earlier, The Carolyne Letters is very believable as the diary of a struggling young woman. Understandably, it can drag at times, becoming repetitive and overly dramatic...but it realistically depicts the narrator's very personal, internal battle.
Many thanks to the author, publisher, and BookSparks for sharing this book with me to review.
Read more from Arielle @
My Best Friends Are Books
October 11, 2013
This story is presented in the form of a personal journal. Amelia Gifford is studying at Edinburgh University in Scotland, 1964, when she discovers she’s pregnant. As with any unplanned pregnancy, especially in the early 1960’s, the situation is complicated. Although Amelia’s in love with the father of the baby, she knows they have no future together. This leaves Amelia with a difficult decision to make. The book is divided into sections, with the first section laying out the events leading up to the pregnancy. In the remaining three sections, each of Amelia’s choices is played out, which reminded me of Sliding Doors with the whole question of “what if?”
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews