Review: Loving and Giving

This book reminded me very much of another Virago book- Sara Grand's The Beth Book. Though published a century later, and set several decades later, there are decided similarities. Both center girls growing up in loveless households, both have lost parents, and both grow up to marry boorish and unfaithful men, their marriages making their lives miserable. But there are distinct differences too, and Keane's Nicandra is no mere copy of Beth Caldwell. Nicandra is neither bright nor feminist. She is a gentle soul, breakable, really. Nicandra's youth is so empty of affection that she fails to function as an adult. Named after her father's favorite horse, Nicandra commands even less attention than her equine namesake. She is a girl, and later a woman, with love to give and no one willing to receive it. Giving love becomes an obsession for Nicandra. It becomes her life's purpose. As Nicandra's marriage appears to be falling apart, so too is her father's home, literally. Her family becomes a living part of the downfall of the Irish gentry.

I was shocked to discover that this book had been written as late as 1988. In tone and language it reads as though it was written in the early-twentieth century, when it takes place. This is a tragic story. Nicandra, though almost monomaniacal in her loving and giving, she is still a complicated enough character to be more than just a type. After reading many books in which the ending disappoints, I am delighted to say that this one lived up to all my expectations. The ending is both suspenseful and unexpected.

Molly Keane, Loving and Giving (Virago, 2008) ISBN: 184408325X

Review: The Music Lesson

This novel tells the story of Patricia Dolan, a middle-aged art historian who finds herself in the midst of a mid-life crisis of epic proportions. The book opens with Dolan in the midst of a large-scale art heist, which removed a Vermeer from the clutches of none less than Buckingham Palace. Dolan is holed up in a cottage in a tiny, remote Irish village with the stolen painting. How an American art history professor came to find herself in this situation comprises the first three-quarters of the book. The rest brings the heist to its dramatic and suspense-filled conclusion. At the outset of the book Patricia Dolan finds herself stalled in her career, divorced, and grieving the death of her daughter. She finds solace in a long-lost, decades younger cousin who tumbles into her life and becomes the other half of Dolan's torrid love affair. It's the fling with this Irish cousin who launches Dolan into an Irish Liberation plot to steal a British-owned Vermeer. I found this book undeniably slow to get going. The details of Patricia's relationship with her cousin Mickey were not especially interesting. What was interesting was how an unassuming professor came to find herself in the midst of an international art heist. For as exciting as this book should have been, it simply was not. The characters were not especially well-developed, and were not always believable. The most interesting entity in this book is the painting, The Music Lesson. Perhaps this is intentional. The best-expressed emotion in this book is Patricia's love for the painting. The final, dramatic ending is the highlight of the book. Getting there, however, is slow going.

Katharine Weber, The Music Lesson (Crown, 1998) ISBN: 0609603175

Review: The Beth Book

This novel is really a manifesto, decrying the terrible injustices suffered by late-Victorian women. The book follows the life of Beth Caldwell, a woman of intelligence and literary talent, who is denied education and opportunity. All of the Caldwell family resources are invested in Beth's brother, Jim, and her life is full of injustice. After losing her father in childhood, Beth and her family move from Ireland to Yorkshire, where the family falls into poverty. Still, all resources are funneled into Beth's arrogant and feckless brother. There is little love in young Beth's life: her father is dead, her mother finds Beth aggravating. To escape Beth marries early, a man who turns out to be a lout. Beth's husband relishes using all of the privileges that law and custom afford him over women, and his despicable character is quickly uncovered. Originally published in 1897, this books is meant to be a fictionalized account of Grand's life, and she shares the Irish and Yorkshire origins of her heroine, as well as the unhappy marriage, and the limits of Victorian womanhood. The truly terrible strictures that bound late-nineteenth century women are evident throughout this book. Grand is certainly not the only one to write of these issues, and she is hardly the most subtle. Grand clearly writes from anger and exasperation, but her prose retains literary merit.

Sarah Grand, The Beth Book (Dial, 1981) ISBN: 0803705522, 528 pages

Ireland Challenge

I need a new reading challenge about as much as I need a kick in the teeth, but I have so many Irish fiction books awaiting me on my shelves that I decided to join up with this one. The rules are as follows:

~ Join anytime. The challenge runs from February 1, 2010 to November 30, 2010.
~ Any books read for this challenge can also apply to other challenges you are working on.
~ Re-reads are allowed.
~ Any book written by an Irish author, set in Ireland, or involving Irish history or Irish characters, counts for the challenge – fiction, non-fiction, poetry, audiobooks, children’s books – all of these apply.
~ Choose your commitment level:

Shamrock level: 2 books
Luck o’ the Irish level: 4 books
Kiss the Blarney Stone level: 6 books

I'm going in at Shamrock level, but will leave myself room to move up if I complete more than anticipated.