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Sto caricando le informazioni... Trondheimdi Cormac James
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![]() Iscriviti per consentire a LibraryThing di scoprire se ti piacerà questo libro. Attualmente non vi sono conversazioni su questo libro. ![]() ![]() ![]() There's a lot of good stuff in this novel. James writes well and the character studies of the two women, especially Lil, are interesting. The Norwegian hospital and how the medical staff become involved in the lives of this small family is detailed and very different from how this same situation would be handled in the US. There are, however, two issues I have with this novel. The first is that I wonder why the author chose to make the characters two women, when their marriage is a stereo-typed caricature of a heterosexual relationship, with one character being uncommunicative, contemptuous of her wife, enjoying casual affairs and preferring to drink over showing any affection for the woman she married. The other woman is nurturing, has a body that shows the impact of three pregnancies, knits, needs affection, has religious beliefs and keeps her own anger hidden from everyone, including herself. My second issue is the lack of character development. Despite the great upheaval and shock of their son's medical emergency, neither woman changes at all during this book. I waited for a confrontation, a real conversation, a reconciliation, or a decision from one of them that being married to someone you hate is unhealthy and divorce is a reasonable solution, at the very least, and (spoiler alert) none of that happened. James does write well and I'm interested in seeing how he develops as a writer. ![]() ![]() James ratchets up his protagonists’ feelings of fear, dread, and hopelessness by putting them in the most claustrophobic setting imaginable—an ICU in Trondheim, Norway in mid-winter. Although James does not belabor the point, Trondheim is isolated only a few hundred miles from the Artic Circle and experiences almost total darkness at that time of year. Alba and Lil quickly display petty feelings of resentment characterized by Alba’s mystical religious fervor and rejection of Lil’s more pragmatic approach to life, including heavy drinking and romantic entanglements. Lil, on the other hand, doesn’t have the patience Alba seems to require. James explores multiple themes in his narrative including the effects crises have on family dynamics, the roles that faith and miracles play in storytelling, and the limits of hope and forgiveness. Yet his overarching theme seems to be the disparity between surface appearances and underlying reality. Clearly, things aren’t always what they seem. What appears to be a successful marriage is really deeply troubled. From the hospital, the women notice an adjacent building site where the construction is hidden behind a print of a finished building. Christmas lights decorate the town where a young man is isolated from his surroundings. Lil encounters a runaway who she sees as needing her help, but the young woman is skeptical of her motives and ultimately rejects her help. The characters assemble on the roof of the hospital to observe Pierre’s doctor practice shooting at live targets—or maybe not. James also suggests that Pierre may have fled to Trondheim for school to escape a deeply dysfunctional family. This is a meditative novel filled with close observations of characters in isolation and experiencing psychological pain. Notwithstanding its dark themes, the narrative is satisfying, often lyrical, and deeply moving. ![]() nessuna recensione | aggiungi una recensione
"In Norway, thousands of miles from home, a student drops dead on the street. A passerby revives his heart, but he remains in a coma from which he may never wake. His mothers rush across the continent to his bedside where they endure the strain of helpless waiting, pushing their troubled relationship to the edge. A profound exploration of a family in crisis, Trondheim portrays the way each woman copes with the looming tragedy and the possibility of healing in the wake of a life-altering emergency"-- Non sono state trovate descrizioni di biblioteche |
Già recensito in anteprima su LibraryThingIl libro di Cormac James Trondheim è stato disponibile in LibraryThing Early Reviewers. Discussioni correntiNessuno
![]() GeneriSistema Decimale Melvil (DDC)823.914Literature English English fiction Modern Period 1901-1999 1945-1999VotoMedia:![]()
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