Pulse en una miniatura para ir a Google Books.
Cargando... The Happy Prisoner (1946)por Monica Dickens
Ninguno Cargando...
Inscríbete en LibraryThing para averiguar si este libro te gustará. Actualmente no hay Conversaciones sobre este libro. So can you have a story remain interesting when the protagonist is confined to bed the entire time? Oh, yes you can. Monica Dickens is a master--insightful, witty, with a brilliant turn of phrase. The Happy Prisoner portrays the life of a family in rural England in WWII. Oliver is home from the war, an amputee with a fragile heart. His world is reduced to observing his feelings, his family, and his very professional, very private nurse. A delicious, quiet book with great integrity. ( ) A remarkable and very enjoyable portrait of a family after the Second World War, filtered through the eyes of Oliver, a war amputee returning home and becoming engrossed in the minute everyday dilemmas of his family. There are some outstading set pieces (the story of the moth opening the book, for example) and the book shows a fresh, almost irreverent perspective about the war (Oliver loses his leg looting onions for a stew). Structurally, it veers from fine and artistic solutions to narrative problems (the slow revelation of Oliver's problems, the parallel scenes of two women abandoning a party) to easier, more cliched devices (the fact that all the characters conveniently confess their thoughts to Oliver, the story of the evil stepmother that brings about the conclusion). It is nevertheless worth seeking out and should be brought back into print.
Oliver North lies in a bed which has been specially constructed for him against the window of the room which once served as his father's study. He can look out upon the gardens of his mother's home in Shropshire, and across the ha-ha to the neighbouring fields of the farm which has been sublet to their diffident neighbour Fred, and where his elder sister Violet and his young American cousin Evelyn, who share a love of horses, spend as much time as they can. He is described as a prisoner because he is permanently confined to this bed, and the world he looks out upon is one he can no longer enter. Monica Dicken's story explores how he copes with his enforced idleness. Continued Distinciones
It is the end of WW II and the household of Mrs. North, a well-to-do widow with a country cottage, is very busy. War circumstances brought both of her daughters home: loud but good-hearted tomboy, Violet, and highly-strung and over sensitive Heather with her two small children. Mrs. North is also taking care of her young niece, Evelyn, a lively child who loves to play on the local farm and has a great passion for animals. But at the center of all this is Oliver, Mrs. North's only son who lost his leg during the war service abroad.Recovering from his injuries, bed-ridden Oliver has nothing better to do but observe the busy lives of the people around him. Treated as a hero and a confidant by all the women in his family, Oliver begins to enjoy his new role as a self-proclaimed counselor. Due to his advice, Violet, an independent spinster, unexpectedly accepts the marriage proposal from a local farmer. Her wedding is a success and Violet finds a new happiness in her marriage, but soon Oliver's meddling in his family affairs goes too far. Will his risky instructions save or ruin Heather's marriage, which is at the brink of crisis, when her husband comes back from Australia after a few years of separation? Will Oliver learn to accept his new circumstances? Will he finally face to the reality and start to rebuild his own life?In this compendium plot, Monica Dickens, with her typical attention to detail, humor and talent for creating vivid characters, explores complicated life stories of the close-knit family and their friends at the end of the war. The Happy Prisoner was first published in 1946. No se han encontrado descripciones de biblioteca. |
Debates activosNingunoCubiertas populares
Google Books — Cargando... GénerosSistema Decimal Melvil (DDC)823.91Literature English & Old English literatures English fiction Modern Period 1901-1999Clasificación de la Biblioteca del CongresoValoraciónPromedio:
¿Eres tú?Conviértete en un Autor de LibraryThing. |