Fai clic su di un'immagine per andare a Google Ricerca Libri.
Sto caricando le informazioni... Ruth's Journey: The Authorized Novel of Mammy from Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Winddi Donald McCaig
Sto caricando le informazioni...
Iscriviti per consentire a LibraryThing di scoprire se ti piacerà questo libro. Attualmente non vi sono conversazioni su questo libro. Donald McCaig knows how to plot a compelling story; the problem is that he doesn't know how to write one. His writing is pompous and ponderous, with so many of the utterly too-too clever devices Serious Authors use when they're trying to pretend that they haven't sold out. (ie, barely implied plot points that have a huge impact on the story) And I got the same impression when reading Ruth's Journey that I got when I read Rhett Butler's People: I truly don't think McCaig has ever read GWTW. I can get behind well-written fan fiction, but not pretentious drivel based on Cliff's Notes. I really struggled to get through this book and I kept thinking about how it was such a shame that a woman with such a fascinating life (just read the back of the cover) had a story that read so blandly and allowed other characters to take center stage. It was only in the last quarter of the book that I felt Mammy Ruth was truly at the center of her own story. For so much of this book, I felt as through I was learning about Solange and her marriages, the O'Hara brothers, and even the Butlers in Charleston. Mammy took a backseat to many of these figures, but I was glad that she was finally narrating her own story by the end of the book. Gone With The Wind is undoubtedly my all-time favorite movie. I can watch it over and over and over. It’s not surprising that there have been sequel’s and prequel’s (Scarlett by Alexandrea Ripley—a hideous novel—and Rhett Butler’s People by Donald McCaig that I haven’t read). I admit that I was excited when I saw heard about another prequel, this time from Mammy’s point of view. What a great character she is. Margaret Mitchell not only created a formidable personality, Hattie McDaniel brought her to life. McDaniel deserved the Oscar she was awarded. I haven’t read all of McCaig’s works, but I have read, and thoroughly enjoyed, his Nop’sTrials and Nop’s Hope. Both are excellent stories. Between a novel about Mammy and a writer with whom I’m familiar, no one had to twist my arm to pay hardcover price for what I was positive would be a wonderful reading experience. Alas, I was wrong; it’s a tedious read. The story has begins when Mammy becomes a refugee from a slave revolt in Haiti. Her mistress gave her the name of Ruth. I know that McCaig had to create a backstory that wouldn’t be stereotypical, but he went too far. It’s as bad as Ripley sending Scarlett to Ireland for most of Scarlett, Most of the book is about Solange, Scarlett O’Hara’s grandmother, and Ellen, Scarlett’s mother. Only the confidence that the story would turn around and focus more on Ruth/Mammy kept me reading. I found the first two-thirds of the novel seemed to center on Solange, with Mammy as a supporting character. The first half of the last two-thirds of the novel focused on Ellen, and then finally, we reach Mammy/Ruth’s story. Maybe I need to keep I mind that the title is Ruth’s Journey, not Ruth’s story. When the action finally does center on Mammy/Ruth, it seems more like rewriting of Mitchell’s work. I give Ruth’s Journey: The Authorized Novel of Mammy From Margaret Mitchell’s Gone With The Wind 2 out of five stars nessuna recensione | aggiungi una recensione
Prequel (non seriale) di
"Authorized by the Margaret Mitchell Estate, here is the first-ever prequel to one of the most beloved and bestselling novels of all time, Gone with the Wind. The critically acclaimed author of Rhett Butler's People magnificently recounts the life of Mammy, one of literature's greatest supporting characters, from her days as a slave girl to the outbreak of the Civil War. "Her story began with a miracle." On the Caribbean island of Saint Domingue, an island consumed by the flames of revolution, a senseless attack leaves only one survivor--an infant girl. She falls into the hands of two French emigres, Henri and Solange Fournier, who take the beautiful child they call Ruth to the bustling American city of Savannah. What follows is the sweeping tale of Ruth's life as shaped by her strong-willed mistress and other larger-than-life personalities she encounters in the South: Jehu Glen, a free black man with whom Ruth falls madly in love; the shabbily genteel family that first hires Ruth as Mammy; Solange's daughter Ellen and the rough Irishman, Gerald O'Hara, whom Ellen chooses to marry; the Butler family of Charleston and their shocking connection to Mammy Ruth; and finally Scarlett O'Hara--the irrepressible Southern belle Mammy raises from birth. As we witness the difficult coming of age felt by three generations of women, gifted storyteller Donald McCaig reveals a portrait of Mammy that is both nuanced and poignant, at once a proud woman and a captive, and a strict disciplinarian who has never experienced freedom herself. But despite the cruelties of a world that has decreed her a slave, Mammy endures, a rock in the river of time. She loves with a ferocity that would astonish those around her if they knew it. And she holds tight even to those who have been lost in the ravages of her days. Set against the backdrop of the South from the 1820s until the dawn of the Civil War, here is a remarkable story of fortitude, heartbreak, and indomitable will--and a tale that will forever illuminate your reading of Margaret Mitchell's unforgettable classic, Gone with the Wind"-- Non sono state trovate descrizioni di biblioteche |
Discussioni correntiNessunoCopertine popolari
Google Books — Sto caricando le informazioni... GeneriSistema Decimale Melvil (DDC)813.54Literature English (North America) American fiction 20th Century 1945-1999Classificazione LCVotoMedia:
Sei tu?Diventa un autore di LibraryThing. |
Many thanks to the publishers, Atria Books, for giving me this in exchange for an honest review. It was a pleasure. ( )