Ann Holmes sees visions of the Virgin Mary in a rain soaked forests of Washington State. She's a runaway from sexual abuse at home, an itinerant mushroom picker living in a tent, sufferer of numerous allergies and an asthmatic. When word of her visions spreads, thousands of people flock to the small, run-down town of North Fork to pray, sing psalms, exploit the faithful and turn on the spotlights of the media.
As the circus grows, even the Church and the forests' owners lose control and faithful followers of the Visionary have their way as a new church is built in the forest.
Were the visions real? Was Ann a saint in the making? The final pages answer these and other questions.
This book is from the writer of 'Snow Falling on Cedars'. I have to say I was a bit disappointed in this one. It's well written, with beautiful prose and detailed, insightful characterisation that invoked my empathy and sympathy. However, I found the sexual themes over-done and tiresome. The chosen season of autumn, with its constant darkness and rain, was depressing and wearying, at distinct odds with the beauty and joy of Ann's visions. Maybe that was the point but, if it was, the balance was tilted wrongly in my view.
Depressing.
Tuesday, 29 January 2013
Fault Lines by Nancy Huston
This story begins 'today' (2004) with 6 year old Solomon, a gifted child, growing up in California. He's precocious in a scary way, unnaturally interested in adult sexuality and physical violence, which he accesses via the internet. He also has an eating disorder, a father who has little interest in his Jewish heritage and an overindulgent mother.
We switch then to Sol's father's story in 1982. Randall is 7, his father has little interest in his Jewish heritage but his mother, a convert to the faith, is obsessed almost to the point of hysteria with the Holocaust and insists that they relocate, temporarily, to Israel.
In 1962 we hear Sadie's story. Sadie is Randall's mother, a free spirit raised by her grandparents. Loved but starved of physical affection, she longs to live with her unmarried mother who lives a bohemian live style among artists and musicians. Reunited with her mother at last, and with a step-father, they begin a new life in Canada.
In 1944-45 We learn about Kristina, Sadie's mother, as a child. She lives with her mother, brother, sister and grandparents not far from Munich. Their lives are touched by tragedy as father and brother are lost in the last days of a lost war and Kristina's world is turned upside down.
It is Kristina's story that really begins this family saga, told through the eyes of very young children over 4 generations. Between 1940 and 1945, over 200,000 babies and children were stolen from their natural families by the Wehrmacht, to be raised by German families as members of the 'Aryan' master race.
This is an intelligent story, told with care, skill and imagination. Children's voices tend not to hold emotion in the same way as those of adults, which makes the ending of this story even more poignant. Recommended.
We switch then to Sol's father's story in 1982. Randall is 7, his father has little interest in his Jewish heritage but his mother, a convert to the faith, is obsessed almost to the point of hysteria with the Holocaust and insists that they relocate, temporarily, to Israel.
In 1962 we hear Sadie's story. Sadie is Randall's mother, a free spirit raised by her grandparents. Loved but starved of physical affection, she longs to live with her unmarried mother who lives a bohemian live style among artists and musicians. Reunited with her mother at last, and with a step-father, they begin a new life in Canada.
In 1944-45 We learn about Kristina, Sadie's mother, as a child. She lives with her mother, brother, sister and grandparents not far from Munich. Their lives are touched by tragedy as father and brother are lost in the last days of a lost war and Kristina's world is turned upside down.
It is Kristina's story that really begins this family saga, told through the eyes of very young children over 4 generations. Between 1940 and 1945, over 200,000 babies and children were stolen from their natural families by the Wehrmacht, to be raised by German families as members of the 'Aryan' master race.
This is an intelligent story, told with care, skill and imagination. Children's voices tend not to hold emotion in the same way as those of adults, which makes the ending of this story even more poignant. Recommended.
The Inquisiter by Mark Allen Smith
Geiger is a loner with a narrow experience of the world around him, a buried past and one, terrifying, skill. He is a torturer. Although he will use physical means if necessary, his true gift is in the psychological sphere, where the mind games he plays with his victims are as devastating and successful as his clients demand. Geiger takes commissions from clients without knowing or caring about the backstory, fulfils his brief and pockets his fee. His only boundary is that he will not work on a child.
One day, a client presents him with Ezra, a 12 year old boy and Geiger's world begins to unravel. Memories begin to crowd into his mind, he becomes saviour rather than torturer, his client tries to kill him and his narrow world is no longer safe.
This is a story of villain becoming hero, redeemed through the innocence of a child. Quite clever, really, as the story comes almost full circle, in a way. I'll say no more about that for fear of spoiling the tale for the reader.
These thrillers are always beyond the edge of belief in that one knows there is a dark underworld of crime out there in the world but is it this sophisticated? Best not to go there, perhaps. Still, this is a rattling tale that carries the reader along, if you like your tales dark and violent. Recommended.
One day, a client presents him with Ezra, a 12 year old boy and Geiger's world begins to unravel. Memories begin to crowd into his mind, he becomes saviour rather than torturer, his client tries to kill him and his narrow world is no longer safe.
This is a story of villain becoming hero, redeemed through the innocence of a child. Quite clever, really, as the story comes almost full circle, in a way. I'll say no more about that for fear of spoiling the tale for the reader.
These thrillers are always beyond the edge of belief in that one knows there is a dark underworld of crime out there in the world but is it this sophisticated? Best not to go there, perhaps. Still, this is a rattling tale that carries the reader along, if you like your tales dark and violent. Recommended.
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