Anna Porter
Autore di Kasztner's Train: The True Story of an Unknown Hero of the Holocaust
Sull'Autore
Anna Porter was born in Hungary and personally experienced the Hungarian Revolution in 1956. A celebrated former publisher in Canada, she is the author of five previous books, including The Storyteller, a memoir of her family through seven centuries of Hungarian history. She lives in Toronto.
Fonte dell'immagine: Portrait on "Profile" page of author's official website
Serie
Opere di Anna Porter
"The Production of a Female Pen": Anna Larpent's Account of the Duchess of Kingston's Bigamy Trial of 1776 (2004) 6 copie
Island Homes (Big Book) 2 copie
For my family 1 copia
Our Favourite Food 1 copia
A Moscow Diary 1 copia
Los ojos 1 copia
Ants - Paired Books 1 copia
Cuidando A Chispa 1 copia
Wolves-paired books 1 copia
Lobos-paired books 1 copia
Unas Cosas Siguen Cambiando 1 copia
Como Crecen Las Plantas Aqui? 1 copia
Some Things Keep Changing 1 copia
Etichette
Informazioni generali
- Altri nomi
- Szigethy, Anna (nee)
- Data di nascita
- 19--
- Sesso
- female
- Nazionalità
- Canada
Hungary (birth) - Luogo di nascita
- Budapest, Hungary
- Luogo di residenza
- Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- Istruzione
- University of Christchurch, New Zealand
- Attività lavorative
- Publisher
- Relazioni
- Porter, Julian (husband)
- Organizzazioni
- York University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Key Porter Book Publishers
Utenti
Recensioni
Premi e riconoscimenti
Potrebbero anche piacerti
Autori correlati
Statistiche
- Opere
- 39
- Utenti
- 438
- Popolarità
- #55,890
- Voto
- 3.5
- Recensioni
- 11
- ISBN
- 109
- Lingue
- 5
Jude Bogdan returns to her family’s cottage on a private island in Georgian Bay. Her mother, who is dealing with encroaching dementia, wants Jude to look for her father’s will after his mysterious disappearance a month earlier. Besides searching for the will, Jude also scours her memories and looks through old photos for evidence that she was loved. But all she finds and remembers is a dysfunctional family with a distant mother, a cruel father, a jealous sister, and her mother’s mysterious friend Eve.
It becomes clear early on that Jude is an unreliable narrator. She spends most of her time operating in a fog of alcohol so her memories are clouded. She drinks so much she doesn’t remember how much she drinks and even experiences blackouts. While at the cottage, she has to contend with solitude, darkness, and wildlife. The crows and gulls seem hostile, and she keeps hearing strange noises and encountering foul odours. The reader cannot but wonder what is real and what are just overwrought imaginings or inebriated hallucinations. Jude even questions her own sanity.
And things are complicated by the fact that we are given only Jude’s point of view: we are privy only to her version of events and her perception of what is happening. In the present, she never interacts with anyone; only in flashbacks is there any direct dialogue. Since no one else is present, the reader has no way of gauging the accuracy of Jude’s reactions to what she sees and hears. Jude’s narration often goes in circles as she returns to objects or events, but the reader is left to try and determine if these repetitions have deeper meaning or implications.
I found it difficult to connect with any of the characters. They are all unlikeable. Mother never hugged Jude; her sister Gina saw her son William only as a burden; and Father can only be described as a monster. Actually Murray Bogdan is almost a cartoon villain; he’s unfeeling, self-centred, and emotionally and physically abusive. He’s involved in unsavoury business dealings and enjoys killing animals. Of course, everything we learn about him is through Jude so the reader must be cautious of her vilifications.
Jude discovers some facts about her past and her family members while she is at the cottage. I don’t know whether these discoveries were intended to be shocking, but they’re not. What she learns about her birth, Scoop’s death, William’s death, and her father’s illegal business transactions are obvious almost from the beginning.
The one surprise is the ending. It is abrupt and will undoubtedly leave the reader confused. I understand what Jude did and why, but . . . there are many unanswered questions. Normally, I’d go back and re-read the book to see what clues I’d missed, but I was so bored while reading it that I am not going to repeat the drudgery.
I cannot recommend this book. It’s very slow. Jude is frightened by noises she hears, and I assume these are supposed to create suspense. I found, however, that because they are mentioned so often, they just become annoying. Maybe if I were to read it while alone on a remote island I might have a different reaction.
Note: Please check out my reader's blog (https://schatjesshelves.blogspot.com/) and follow me on Twitter (@DCYakabuski).… (altro)