C. (Comment, never msg).’s Comments (group member since Jan 30, 2014)

C. (Comment, never msg).’s comments from the Gentle SPECTRUMS group.

My first impression of book characters: I found Violet unhappy rather than cold. You knew she loved her daughter and had affection for her husband but their routine fell flat for them. I've learned in my own life, after much advice from my Mom, not to assume friends aren't keen on hearing from us. Many aren't letter-writers and that was the case with Violet & Kathleen, even her daughter's birthday cards at first. We each prioritize different things. Notice that Violet cared for cleanliness and manners, to the point where Elizabeth made the already-strict Kathleen wonder why she hadn't brougt up more considerate children! But she cared more about small affections and big attention on birthdays. It was her turn to think Violet cold for not writing out a birthday card (or her husband for that matter).

At first I found Kathleen harsh for smacking kids who were merely eager to bring that first letter into the store. But yes, of course we fall in love with her the minute she opens her arms to great Elizabeth. Everyone hit their kids up until recently and the harshness (like Maureen beaned on Christmas day!) went along with the equally-outward show of devotion. Yes, Aisling kicked ass defending her brothers and I loved how it was written that "She was formidable".

Sean I disliked from the get-go for his impatience with Elizabeth. I might be irritated about my parents sending me on errands but it would have nothing to do with the guest. And I'd have been excited to meet someone from out-of-country. No, I didn't know him enough to mourn either although the pity is that he'd grown excited before he died, writing his Mother with joy about visiting the pope in Italy. We do know by the tear he shed when his Mother gave him shit, over Elizabeth's arrival, that he wished his folks weren't so annoyed by him. He wanted to please and I know what it's like, the eldest kid getting more shit than others and expected to be perfect.

Violet I liked, as soon as she started writing her daughter more. First, it was about the stress of the war. She willingly pitched in to work, she wasn't all glamour. I respected what she said about why struggle paying for a fine house when there's no money to run it and it isn't a time of joy. And frankly I admire someone who does something about their unhappy situation rather than settling for second best or misery. Her husband understood at once and didn't lift a finger to win her over. Elizabeth got to see her Mom happy for a fear years.

Good day, Margaret. This morning our 9 year-old grey tabby appears sick. He's asleep. I'll read beside him this afternoon. I feel unwell unless my babies are well. Ron thinks cats can have a flu so that might what's zipping through. Whatever preoccupied you, I pray all is well too.

Hello Margaret! I have a discussion forum warmed up for you right here, so let's hear how you find part I! :-) At first I hurried to bite a big chunk because I'm used to 300-page stories and I had no gauge for a mammoth novel like this. Then I found I couldn't stop reading, up to 4:00AM last night. Anyway read all of my early reactions here. I'm dying to hear yours!

Well Margaret, when you have a chance to gather some impressions, I'd love to collect them here. Since this is your first Maeve Binchy venture, I'd love for you to lead and I'll reflect off of what you share. :) Carolyn.

Good morning, Margaret! Today is among the most pleasant Mondays to which I've awaken. To think I worried about reading a chunkster infused by Maeve's voice. I dragged all the way through Susan Wittig Albert's mere 276-page novel and at last hurriedly finished "The Tale Of Oat Cake Crag" last night, in preparation of 'buddy reading day' with you. The Canadian challenge closes the day before Canada Day (being July 1st), so I immediately gave our selection a peek last night, lest it not cover too much time.

I must have started it by midnight and Margaret, it is so good as I knew Maeve Binchy would have to be, that I didn't cease until rueful admission that it was 4:00AM! Today is a perfect day, not only looking forward to talking over these wonderful pages with you but because it isn't a day in which I need to clean outdoors, exercise the cats, or do anything but THIS. Even Ron is off work on vacation to join me in tending to the days but he has gone fishing this morning. (The alarm struck at 6:00AM deep in my peculiar-dreaming R.E.M. sleep). I couldn't be more pleased that it is pouring very hard rain! I'm returning to bed with our cats to pick up last night's enjoyment.

Oddly I collected Maeve's work without once looking at what they're about. I've never been into the war periods but it'll be a pleasure to watch you see how this author reels you in on any content. It is like she is conversing with you right into whatever's going on and the pages keep turning, as though it were a skyrocketing adventure. Elizabeth is coming to know an Irish family and the multi-child Mother, Eileen, is coming to love her, a polite English child in her brood. Daughter of her school age friend, who has been a poor writer over the years, she is staying with them through the London war scare. Elizabeth is a connection with that friend who has been poor at writing and Eileen sees that she can bring affection and pizzazz, where her Mother herself hasn't seemed to provide it. The child too is learning to speak up. I know, just having lunch or supper with friends, it does a lot of good to sample how other folks live. I am loving every page and don't wish it to be over any time soon! It is going to be a memorable saga of them growing up. Yours in unison, Carolyn.

I seldom read 'chunksters': books greater than 450 pages. I am embracing comparison with a friend in this thread, reading in unison. It is my first of the late Maeve Binchy's novels but I know her short stories well, including her non-fictitious humour. I expect to enjoy every page.

It's a "slipway", for bringing boats in or out of the harbour. You wouldn't swim off that cement but it made for a great way to photograph us up to the water. I was frustrated that day because we had already delayed our departure for a night. On our last, planned evening together it took a few hours to catch up with our hosts at a pub. Ron & I had spent the day somewhere and I didn't want to leave without one more good visit with them but it took forever to hook up. They left a note about a pub and I struck out in the wrong direction. By then, they urged we not set out at dark. We had hoped to reach 'Tintagel' (King Arthur's Castle) and move on to Wales. I even dropped a drink in my poor friend's lap but it was a fun evening!

The morning of our actual departure, our hosts were in no rush but we didn't want to say we *were*. Compounding that, it was the first day without rain. It wouldn't do not to pose for those wonderful photographs together. My friend is a professional. At our moment of departure, I was more stressed than I wished because Ron had just explained to me that we'd have to cut out Wales. There was no decent time to visit the person who invited us there and we had better head right up to Inverness, Scotland. Anyway I'm certainly glad we have the photos and you couldn't find two warmer people.

Unlike North America, the United Kingdom closes up at 6:00PM. Driving through roundabouts, frought with wrong turns for lack of information and highways with narrow places; make progress slow even if one were an early riser. We were forever stuck with the decision: do we stay a night in this place to see our attraction in the morrow, or do we skip something we had wanted to see? We limped like that until Cornwall. After that visit, we got into a groove.

We seemed at leisure from Tintagel to Inverness (Loch Ness!!!!), back down to visit friends in Peak District, England. The same day we made it all the way south to ditch our rental car at the airport, took a subway to London, and spent our last two or three days there. It was the least favourite, with some misadventure (I forever ban the 'Travel Lodge' franchise and so should everyone else). But we struck a groove there too and I felt great once we recognized landmarks and saw some things we wanted. To do it over again, we'd be much more at ease. The moral? It would mean jobs for part-time people and less conjestion for tourists, if they'd open things until 9:00PM.

No, for reasons I discuss higher up: I strongly feel ambiguity, after investing in quite a sedate novel, came off for me as a gyp. However no argument that Daphne's ending makes great discussion fodder. Nor do I dispute that most of it is very well achieved. Yes, very clear examples of perception colouring interpretation. It's nice for Leslie to get her say. :) No, I don't feel letting her fall was justified, criminal or not. I'm sure she was poisoning him into his menengitis or fever with advance planning to make things look plausible, only in case she / Rainaldo *did* decide on a fatal blow.

There did begin to be evidence she was vascilating strongly about not doing it and simply leaving. Does anyone match my thoughts, in the paragraph just above, of how things would have unrolled if Rachel hadn't died? Also hope y'all enjoy my even broader view of the Cornish area of ocean; with Ron & I at its edge. :-)

If everyone seeing this is finished the novel: what I understand matches a good portion of what I said recently, above. Possibly dictated by Rainaldo (for owing money? old loyalty?) I believe she used herbal knowledge to set the stage for making Ambrose & Philip ill, if it was decided they ought to. It was and thus both men, after nearly a year a piece, became so. Rachel also held knowledge of a killer plant should it come to finishing the job, which it did with Ambrose but not Philip. Her drawer seemed to have been cleared up to go without killing after all. By the discarded tisana tea, it appeared she was occasionally keeping his health iffy.

Because her final cry was for Ambrose, I'm torn about the nature of his death. It appears she loved him. Rainaldo's "hurry up" letter, saying "bring the boy, already but get going", showed a sway towards affection for Philip. I think she grew fond of him as second fiddle, if not the love of her life. I submit she would have married him if not for the husband clause of Philip's revised will. Had she not perished, she would leave for Florence that week and Philip might get over her and they might share benign cousin contact. Sadly he caused too much guilt to consider romance with Louise or anyone.

Perhaps "Rebecca" is more so. I have many unread Daphne titles, I sure will pick it up! I found no suspense in "My Cousin Rachel" until the last while. Everything was nice and friendly; the only chaos being Philip's obsession, not the reader feeling danger. He's the one who grabbed her throat and opened the possibility of a fatal fall. We wonder about Rachel but nothing shocking until Ambrose's third letter, the seeds, and the end.

Now that you're done, I'm happy to chat about the end with everyone keen! The tail end is entirely psychological as well as unsettling and dark. It was too little too late as I feared and I'm not thrilled about an unrequited ending without summing up our questions. But I never felt a lack of meat to discuss on THOSE bones! Also, I put up a photograph of us in Truro, Cornwall I thought you and Leslie would enjoy even more. :) Carolyn

We'll see what you say. My concern now is that a few have said 'this is better than "Rebecca"'. That isn't good news, if it means even more subtle, even less suspenseful. Now now, I stave off any debate that "My Cousin Rachel" isn't with plenty of merits but it wasn't the big-assed nail-biting mystery it was built up to be. I read Maeve Binchy and general fiction for character sketches. Our guesses made more heart-pounding plots! That bodes well for a future in writing. ;) However the end is a very worthy discussion and I for one look forward to it.

Eek, what an ending. Other than confirming Rachel is Rachel, there's no satisfaction about anything. Margaret and Leslie may have all their say, when she joins us in completion. Diane and others are welcome. I sought a bold, action-packed mystery. This hardly rose above subtleness. However I praise the author's adeptness at sketching people and emotion.

I leave this at four stars, for the reason Leslie's review gave five stars. For me, the conclusion is inappropriately unfulfilling, after being towed through such a languid pace. Had the trajectory been heart-pounding or eerie at all; a sanguine, shrugging, "who knows?" might have been okay. I didn't feel my investment repaid me. I enjoyed the talent within and my stars honour that. Carolyn.

Plot wise: a few items I'd like to catch up before finishing the novel shortly. I'm set to start chapter 25. I completely understand the compulsion to respect mail as Leslie describes but don't believe that's what stayed his hand. Burning evidence, giving money to someone about whom he's seen cause for misgivings; he is plainly an uncautious and somewhat stupid person. I disagree only the reader had reason for suspicion by that time; he had already been to Florence, met the evasive Rainaldo, seen the villa, and had Ambrose's two desperate letters. Better giving into his testosterone, he was convinced something was amiss despite everyone else's protests. However the outgoing letter would have been in Italian.

Something snapped into recall a while ago, just before or as soon as Ambrose's third letter is read. From the beginning Rachel consulted with their cooks about spices. Harmless at the time, it dawns on us that should she begin to poison anyone months later; no one would think anything of her being in the kitchen. She was slow and strategic, possibly paving the way for plausibility whether she decided to act or not. Do you get my drift? I believe the same happened with Ambrose. He was sick so long, sporadically, that when she decided she would kill; it was easily attributed to an observable length of diminished health.

We find Philip has the same trees he saw in the Florence villa. His farmer said the briefly blooming bulbs are fatal. Thus I submit: Rachel is first driven to make somebody begin to appear ill, even if her worry seems genuine. It creates an alibi, should she decide to be drastic and.... use a tree bulb to finish them off. I could kill Philip for destroying a letter yet again, declaring his symptoms didn't resemble those of Ambrose's father. It is also obvious that Rachel did understand the proposal on Philip's birthday eve. The next morning, when she learned of the will's clause stating she loses control the minute she marries.... suddenly she pretends Philip misunderstood.

July 17, 2009: Ron & Carolyn in a region of TRURO, CORNWALL

Philip lived a ways from Plymouth, where I posed but I'm so pleased to show a memento of having been to some locations of a novel! He mentions Truro being nearer his town, which is where I stayed. I'm pleased I aptly conveyed how WET things get. That is when there are a couple days of rain. Not all of the time or who indeed would have books? My videocamera got so moist we left the digital tape drawer open over the fireplace for the night. An error message seldom seen I'm sure! But I walked everywhere with it, rain or not.

I saw Cornwall during a downpour. When dry, most think of a semi-tropical place abounded with flowers. It has one of England's two seal rescue sanctuaries. I have to tell you, as an animal rights activist, what an honour to meet a creature whom I defend. The ruins allegedly of King Arthur's castle are at the far west of Cornwall: "Tintagel". A freaking steep climb all the way from the quaint town. And for the first time in my life, I went up INSIDE a lighthouse. There's a photo of my fiancé & I in the Truro region of our hostess, at a water slipway, which might more closely represent where Philip lived... and skinnydipped. Q;-)=

I'm plodding through chapter 23. I agree Rainaldi has been a lover. I wondered about a child. However I believe you've reached the admission that she can't bear future pregnancies. If she bore a baby before the failed pregnancy, I doubt she could be apart from it; including while living with Ambrose.

That's a really good idea about the second dueller! Why dismiss two husbands, or bother with the second husband, if Rainaldi has money? He gave it to her frequently. But I did feel the money transfer must be to him, even if for repayment.

I had high expectations of reading last night and didn't do it one stitch after all, so I'm glad you're going to write more. I'd love your reaction to the memorable and topical photograph I share here! :)

Hi Margaret! Carolyn here. The nickname's cute. I'm at chapter 23 and think I'm wrong. But you saw the way I got up early, bursting with ideas and had to brainstorm those suppositions out for you! I hope there's a twist because nothing is mysterious or disturbing (except some of Philip's behaviour). The beggar eyes might speak to the hard times and desperation for money in which she was raised. By the way, I saw that her Dad died but don't recall them saying her Mom did; merely gained weight. However there is no one else involved so far except one visitor, who has gone.

I don't happen to own "Rebecca". I hope a booming revelation isn't left to the end, feeling 'too little too late'. The course has been very sedate; merely adding a few puzzles. *I* made more out of them this morning than there might be. It's well written and all that but I expect an eerie story. Not yet....

I hope you like my portrait at Plymouth. Sharing that personal tidbit must get comments! :) In another thread, I laid out unopened treasures as promised: authors I have a *lot* by but didn't try yet. There's also a spot mentioning books I need that I wonder if you have a spare of. I have a list of spares for trading or as challenge prizes. Diane will be coming. Let the others know it isn't too late to compare notes about "My Cousin Rachel" and "Sea Jade" here, even if soem of us have finished one or the other. A good Friday to all!

If these guesses hit their mark, that leaves us with identifying the small-handed, short person visiting. I suggest she was one of the help Ambrose dismissed. We heard he let everyone go except Guiseppe. She had to have lived with them long enough to hear those stories about his life. Or we find them written down in 'cousin Rachel's' suitcase, along with more than gardening floor plans ~ we'll see. What if the imposter were their former gardener? A live-in worker would recognize Ambrose's clothes but we would have to explain how an imposter has Ambrose's effects. However it is Philip who reacted to the nightshirt and slippers, not necessarily her. She might learn of Ambrose's death after being fired, find out the widow's plans, and get rid of her before she boards the boat (with his stuff). Rainaldo is a likely informant. Did anyone find it odd that she went overseas with only two mourning dresses? This is educated guessing but it's fun to let the theories out to fellow readers, whether or not they're correct. I can't wait to see other theories.

I have one more, in place of a former gardener or worker as an imposter. The history of Rachel's mother and first husband had an odd feel too. Did it seem weird that anyone would be comfortable waiting for a beau to choose between your mother or you? She said the lady lost her looks so he chose her. Ambrose wouldn't care about such things. What if the mother was his wife and Philip is meeting her daughter!? A less plausible guess because Ambrose didn't mention a daughter. But he didn't mention age or a description, in the letters that reached Philip. Something's off about the mother somewhere. She is described as tall and looking nothing like our visitor. Philip asked if her parents were alive but I don't think she said her mother was dead. I'm the queen of people not answering all of my questions! ;-) I wish Philip hadn't destroyed the three pieces of evidence that Ambrose found something amiss, should he involve the police or court, or need to present proof.

We were glad Philip went to Italy, so he would see *something*. We are surprised the aids / caretakers report a devoted wife. If unpleasantness was hidden from Guiseppe, we don't know. It's clear a culprit needn't fear their report of the marriage. What DID 'Rachel' fear when she gasped at the news that Philip visited personally? A comment about how Rachel looked? I even venture to say the real Rachel was alive and well the day before Philip got to town because his visitor gasped at the timing of the dates even more strongly. What if he came that close to seeing the real Rachel? At Rainaldo's house, or walking in the street?

There's something about how Philip closely resembles Ambrose. Might they have worried the real Rachel would recognize him!? I say Philip did glean valuable clues in Italy, in the shape of foreshadowing or hints for a reader. What about that dog streaming in the muddy river? Is that where the real Rachel was easily concealed? The comment that his visiting cousin looks older than 35. Not wishing to visit her relatives in Cornwall. Yet she spoke of family being important, which is how she explains paying sharp attention to Ambrose's stories, right down to recognizing Don. How the dog arrived for Philip's birthday as a child. She said she "could go about the place blindfolded". Who says that? She memorized too much and demonstrates her ability for it, when she describes devouring gardening books to learn the craft. She also asked Philip for a list of his etiquette rules, to study it! Not caring if she saw house unless Philip wanted her to, was a sour note for me. We can say she was being polite. But if she was in love with details of Ambrose's life as she claims and lost the husband with whom she meant to return: wouldn't you ask if you could please see it? Even while inserting politeness about not wishing to bother anyone; I couldn't travel that close and not meet the key characters and homestead. Also notice, she jokes that she might consider Philip's Godfather a new husband 'if it came to it'. He's the other controlling partner of the estate. That teasing about other girls, is to see if she has him hooked. As for doctor's signatures on a certificate: Rainaldo hired one of his own, that Ambrose rejects - in life. Surely Rachel or this poseur found out all about Uncle Philip's brain tumor (Ambrose's father) and it made a believable diagnosis.

I have an epiphany. I haven't read past chapter 16 since last night. I've gotten out of bed because I've mulled things over and am glad for a place to share! I knew a status box wouldn't do. You said "We else does one expect of the person who wrote 'Rebecca'?" This is my first time seeing anything to do with Daphne Du Maurier; not even the film 'The Birds'. Instincts, guesses, are based on what I've read so far, with no other knowledge. Bits & pieces from early on appear to be clues. At first: the narrator and tone indicate a terrible situation occurred. Then we launch into a novel that has been pleasant and still is, halfway through. We only recall that the intro described a change. When Philip stated Rachel isn't who he had begun hating, I think he was literally right.

I propose the visitor isn't Rachel! Ado was made of small hands and short build, setting us up to recognize information that comes to light later. Maybe unmailed letters turn up, or another stashed away rough draft; with one detail that raises a flag. Because much ado was also made: that Philip was never told how Rachel looked! Here are out of tune notes I dismissed invididually. As a whole.... I'm going to go back to bed and read more but wanted to share what came to mind, while still at chapter 16. What do you make of the following?