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Sto caricando le informazioni... Whale Falldi Elizabeth O'Connor
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Iscriviti per consentire a LibraryThing di scoprire se ti piacerà questo libro. Attualmente non vi sono conversazioni su questo libro. I read this having recently read The Colony by Audrey Magee and Hagstone by Sinead Gleeson, perhaps expecting something similar about insular perspectives. But it reminded me more of Melissa Harrison’s All among the Barley, set before the Second World War and in part contrasting the British middle class impression of the nobility of manual work (linked to Mosley’s British version of fascism) compared to the brutal actuality for the working class. Well written from the first person perspective of Manod Llan, an eighteen year old native of the fictional Welsh island, the book tells of the coming of two Oxford graduates writing about the dying customs of the island’s inhabitants, as more and more move to the mainland in the hope of finding a better life. Written from Manod’s viewpoint, the book captures the excitement of the English arriving with promises of the wider world, followed by the realisation that the lived experience of islanders is being rewritten to fit the graduates’ preconceptions. Melancholy. A short book but one that every sentence counts. Manod is an 18 year old girl living with her father and younger sister on a remote island off Wales in the 1930's. Her life is simple, but she is bright and wants more than the early marriage of most girls her age. A whale beaches itself on the island - something unheard of before - is it an omen? The two ethnographic researchers, Edward and Joan arrive on the island to "study" the culture. Manod works as a sort of assistant to Joan who at first treats her very well and encourages her. Slowly but surely, Manod begins to see another side of the two British researchers who obviously believe themselves to be so much smarter and so much more important than the islanders. Embroidered pieces that Joan "borrows" are not returned, etc. This is a story of a young girl's slow awareness of the unfairness and cruelty of the world as Edward and Joan leave. An interesting look at how cultures relate to one another and a look at those who are not so entitled. Good read. nessuna recensione | aggiungi una recensione
"In 1938, a dead whale washes up on the shores of remote Welsh island. For Manod, who has spent her whole life on the island, it feels like both a portent of doom and a symbol of what may lie beyond the island's shores. A young woman living with her father and her sister (to whom she has reluctantly but devotedly become a mother following the death of their own mother years prior), Manod can't shake her welling desire to explore life beyond the beautiful yet blisteringly harsh islands that her hardscrabble family has called home for generations. The arrival of two English ethnographers who hope to study the island culture, then, feels like a boon to her--both a glimpse of life outside her community and a means of escape. The longer the ethnographers stay, the more she feels herself pulled towards them, reckoning with a sensual awakening inside herself, despite her misgivings that her community is being misconstrued and exoticized. With shimmering prose tempered by sharp wit, Whale Fall tells the story of what happens when one person's ambitions threaten the fabric of a community, and what can happen when they are realized. O'Connor paints a portrait of a community and a woman on the precipice, forced to confront an outside world that seems to be closing in on them"-- Non sono state trovate descrizioni di biblioteche |
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Google Books — Sto caricando le informazioni... GeneriSistema Decimale Melvil (DDC)823.92Literature English English fiction Modern Period 2000-Classificazione LCVotoMedia:
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Ich habe mich sehr schwer getan mit diesem Roman. Zu sprunghaft war der Erzählstil, der zwar bildhaft von den rauen Gegebenheiten auf der Insel erzählt und auch immer wieder sehr poetisch ist. Zwischendurch gab es die Aufzeichnungen, welche die Forscher nach ihren Beobachtungen und den Erzählungen der Menschen machen. Mein Lesefluss wurde dadurch gestört.
Das Leben auf der Insel ist sehr eintönig. Viele haben die Insel schon verlassen. Dass die intelligente Manod von einem anderen Leben träumt, kann ich nachvollziehen. Aber ich hatte zuerst nicht den Eindruck, als wenn diesen Träumen Taten folgen würden. Vielleicht ist sie aber einfach noch zu jung. Ihr Verhalten ist ziemlich wechselhaft. Doch das Auftauchen von Edward und Joan weckt in Manod Sehnsüchte und Hoffnungen. Bei Edward und Joan hatte ich die ganze Zeit das Gefühl, als wenn ihr Interesse an den Menschen nur mit ihrem Job zu tun haben, sie aber sonst auf Distanz bleiben wollen. Auch bei mir blieb die ganze Zeit eine Distanz zu den Charakteren.
Das Ende ist ziemlich offen und lässt mich ratlos zurück. Ich hatte mir von der Geschichte mehr versprochen und war am Ende etwas enttäuscht. ( )