I'm torn about this book. I know it's a crowd pleaser, not because I know that it was a bestseller and book club favorite (which I do), but as I read the book I felt as though I could glimpse the Great Wizard behind the curtain, pulling the levers.
Is it wrong to please people? Surely not! Yet the fantasy aspect of this book made me feel uneasy. I remember that line from Murder in the Cathedral, "Humankind cannot bear too much reality." I don't know if I ever knew what that has to do with the death of Becket but I can see how it would make this book very appealing.
The book has more than one theme and I may not have picked up on them all: the most important, I think, is about forgiving our parents for the foolish things they do, forgiving ourselves for the foolish things we do, and beginning the process of healing. It's also about love in all its many forms. I'm sure this is part of why this book was so popular (as well as its being a coming-of-age novel, which everyone seems to love - why is that? Adolescence is often a horrible time, for one reason or another). Race is also a theme. The novel is set in South Carolina in the 1960's.
This author has a new book out, The Invention of Wings, about the Grimke sisters (famous abolitionists), which deals with the issue of slavery as well as the yin/yang of dependence on those we love and our desire for independence from them.
Since I wrote this post I've learned that the author knew of a house where bees came swimming out of the wall. I realize that's not necessarily fantastic. It's almost as if the time that has passed has allowed the novel to settle in my mind and I realize that the themes of forgiveness are very powerful, as is the idea of creating your own religion that permits you to affirm not only your own values but to affirm your value as a human being.
Is it wrong to please people? Surely not! Yet the fantasy aspect of this book made me feel uneasy. I remember that line from Murder in the Cathedral, "Humankind cannot bear too much reality." I don't know if I ever knew what that has to do with the death of Becket but I can see how it would make this book very appealing.
The book has more than one theme and I may not have picked up on them all: the most important, I think, is about forgiving our parents for the foolish things they do, forgiving ourselves for the foolish things we do, and beginning the process of healing. It's also about love in all its many forms. I'm sure this is part of why this book was so popular (as well as its being a coming-of-age novel, which everyone seems to love - why is that? Adolescence is often a horrible time, for one reason or another). Race is also a theme. The novel is set in South Carolina in the 1960's.
This author has a new book out, The Invention of Wings, about the Grimke sisters (famous abolitionists), which deals with the issue of slavery as well as the yin/yang of dependence on those we love and our desire for independence from them.
Since I wrote this post I've learned that the author knew of a house where bees came swimming out of the wall. I realize that's not necessarily fantastic. It's almost as if the time that has passed has allowed the novel to settle in my mind and I realize that the themes of forgiveness are very powerful, as is the idea of creating your own religion that permits you to affirm not only your own values but to affirm your value as a human being.
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