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Cargando... The God of Endings: A Novel (2023)por Jacqueline Holland
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Inscríbete en LibraryThing para averiguar si este libro te gustará. Actualmente no hay Conversaciones sobre este libro. Absolutely beautiful saga of an immortal woman grappling with what meaning there is in a life that doesn't end. Sweeping across time periods and continents, we follow her from her rebirth as vampire immortal up until 1984 where she faces her ultimate decision. The amount of loss she experiences across 300+ years is devastating and we endure it with her as a prisoner of never-ending life. This is not a normal vampire novel with stakes in the heart and the sun as killer. Philosophical, lyrical and dazzling, Jacqueline Holland entranced me with the time periods and the depth of this woman's pain. Finishing this book, I feel as if I'm parting from a deeply contemplative headspace that I really hate to say goodbye to. This is a wild story with its roots in a character who has led into a life of vampirism by her grandfather. She lives in upstate New York where she is a teacher at an orphanage. She has already lived hundreds of years without aging. She does not prey upon the children and her close friends using animals as a source of blood. She becomes the protector of a sickly little boy she meets who has a generally absent mother who struggles with addiction .This is a complex novel full of richly drawn characters.
Early March might seem like too early in the year to state 'This is one of the best novels of 2023,' but when it comes to Jacqueline Holland's The God of Endings, I'm willing to make that statement. Heartbreaking, gorgeously written even if its darkest passages, and truly epic in terms of breadth and scope, The God of Endings chronicles almost two centuries of one woman's journey while also exploring the beauty of brevity, the power of love, and the importance of art ... The God of Endings chronicles almost 150 years of changes, heartbreak, adventures, being on the run, death, and grief. In its almost 500 pages, Holland, with a strong voice and impeccable prose, delves deep into what it means to live forever and watching everything and everyone you love eventually — and unvaryingly — succumb to the inherent entropy of all things ... An exploration of the human condition that transcends genre. It is a deep, multilayered, complex, sprawling narrative about love, loss, old Slavic gods, history, otherness, and sorrow. Holland seems determined to avoid the eroticism of other recent vampire tales ... In fact, The God of Endings and its protagonist so vehemently refuse to be defined by the monster of it all that it’s hard to tell whom the book is for. It’s too vampire-evasive for the monster crowd, too ethereal for the supernaturally averse ... The 1830s, the 1940s and even 1984 don’t feel all that different. Lacking in immersive world-building, these sections are repetitive ... Holland’s lush descriptions help to transcend the familiar beats and cyclical structure of The God of Endings. Following a vampire across more than 200 years, this novel considers “whether this world and life in it is a kindness or an unkindness, a blessing or a curse.”... Through decadently vivid prose—which could have been streamlined at times—this hefty novel meditates on major themes such as life, love, and death with exceptional acumen. The final questions in the book—“How presumptuous is the gift of life? What arrogance is implicit in the act of love that calls another into existence?”—serve as an anchor to meditations on these themes found throughout. A new and contemplative take on the vampire novel. PremiosDistincionesListas de sobresalientes
"By turns suspenseful and enchanting, this breathtaking first novel weaves a story of love, family, history, and myth as seen through the eyes of one immortal woman. Collette LeSange is a lonely artist who heads an elite fine arts school for children in upstate New York. Her youthful beauty masks the dark truth of her life: she has endured centuries of turmoil and heartache in the wake of her grandfather's long-ago decision to make her immortal like himself. Now in 1984, Collette finds her life upended by the arrival of a gifted child from a troubled home, the return of a stalking presence from her past, and her own mysteriously growing hunger. Combining brilliant prose with breathtaking suspense, Jacqueline Holland's The God of Endings serves as a larger exploration of the human condition in all its complexity, asking us the most fundamental question: is life in this world a gift or a curse?"-- No se han encontrado descripciones de biblioteca. |
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Google Books — Cargando... GénerosSistema Decimal Melvil (DDC)813.6000Literature English (North America) American fiction 21st CenturyClasificación de la Biblioteca del CongresoValoraciónPromedio:
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The Good: Holland is a seductive and evocative writer whose prose and sense of history bleeds through the pages. It was a page-turner and I couldn't put it down. The story was just immersive enough to get lost in, and I was a bit obsessed with child-her and her early years as a vampire. I'd have loved just a 500-page novel of her in the 19th century. Also a bit controversial, but I liked the meandering internal dialogue—very Anne Rice at times—always a plus for me.
The Bad: Ultimately, the plot in the present part of the story felt very, very safe. I actually really enjoyed the plot and found it quite driving and well done. But. Nothing terrible truly befalls our main character, and the stakes, while high, never come to any fruition. The themes of privilege around safe childhoods and the relative love and care modern children get as compared to herself were fascinating but... could have maybe hit a deeper punch if... worse stuff happened!? Maybe I'm nitpicking, but the novel was lacking a certain je ne sais quoi of intensity I expected for a gothic vampire novel.
I enjoyed the historical sections a bit more because of that last fact, and it was a tiny bit disappointing to see nothing very drastic happen near the end. I still loved this novel though, and Holland is a talented writer, so confusing thoughts all around. I'd definitely read another of her novels if it's about something so seductive and gothic as this! ( )