Gentian Hill Start date 7th of November SPOILER thread

[Carol She's So Novel꧁꧂ , She's a mod, yeah, yeah, yeah!]

This thread is for open spoilers & final conclusions. :)

[Abigail]

I made it! I loved the rootedness of this story, its close and detailed descriptions of the agricultural year, the flowers, the moods of the weather. The old traditions still practiced in the early nineteenth century that have now mostly faded away. And I love Goudge’s ongoing preoccupation with love as it expresses itself through action, not as a feeling held inside.

My review here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show....

[Karlyne]

I've been thinking about what makes a really superb writer, and I've (so far) narrowed it down to three things. All good writers love words and have a story to tell, but the really great ones make us ask questions. They don't tell us what questions to ask, let alone give us the answers, but they draw us so far into truth that we can't get out without at least asking the hard questions and attempting to answer them. I think Goudge generally falls into this category.

[Karlyne]

I just read your review, Abigail, and it brought tears to my eyes. Such great insights!

[Abigail]

Wow, how sweet of you to say! I do wax effusive about Goudge’s work because to me it’s one pinnacle of writing, profound thoughts and emotions wrapped in an accessible package. I love your insight about great books making us ask questions! The “drawing us so far into truth” line is wonderful.

[Carol She's So Novel꧁꧂ , She's a mod, yeah, yeah, yeah!]

I finished last night & as (almost) always I enjoyed Goudge's writing style, in spite of not being religious myself. I love Goudge's belief in the goodness of people - & having a lot of Christmas content with all the traditions was a definite bonus.

My main quibble was that the storyline about Zachary & Mike felt a little forced to me - that Goudge had introduced it for a bit of needed conflict. & the resolution was a bit facile.

But still a wonderful book!

[Carol She's So Novel꧁꧂ , She's a mod, yeah, yeah, yeah!]

Just read your review Abigail - & so true about the class consciousness & the implication that they were more refined, more finely built physically. Some of my mother's family have very narrow feet & there are no aristocrats there - good farming stock all the way! :D

[Carol She's So Novel꧁꧂ , She's a mod, yeah, yeah, yeah!]

I've just read a review that complains about an ebook of this booking being very poorly edited. May be best if you can't read a 'look inside' to hold out for a print book.

[Abigail]

Glad you enjoyed it! I do feel that once the rosy glow of the recent read wears off, I may come to see more flaws in the book—but I’m still in the rosy glow phase!

[Karlyne]

I pretty much always find that with every re-read of her books, I appreciate them more. My favorites are still my favorites, but the rest of them move up the line each time I read them. Maybe someday they'll all be jostling for first place...

As far as class consciousness goes, I just wish that we could be aware of all of our differences without ranking them, so that the Narrow Footed People would be perceived as different from the Maple Bar Footed without being "better". What a concept, eh?

[Carol She's So Novel꧁꧂ , She's a mod, yeah, yeah, yeah!]

Karlyne wrote: "I pretty much always find that with every re-read of her books, I appreciate them more. My favorites are still my favorites, but the rest of them move up the line each time I read them. Maybe somed..."

It is the feeling of being with goodness that I love from Goudge's books. :)

[Abigail]

Haha, Karlyne, you’re so right! Diversity without hierarchy!

[Karlyne]

Abigail wrote: "Haha, Karlyne, you’re so right! Diversity without hierarchy!"

Now that's a bumper sticker I would actually paste on my car! Well, not really because I don't do slogans, but if I did...

And, yes, Carol, it is the goodness that I find absolutely refreshing. Just about all of her characters are jealous or lazy or proud or angry or cowardly, but they don't stay that way, because they know it's wrong and they know that goodness is right. There are very few I can think of who just don't try, who refuse to admit that they might be wrong in the way they live. (There's one character in The Rosemary Tree that I find absolutely chilling, btw.)