Pulse en una miniatura para ir a Google Books.
Cargando... The Birthday Lunchpor Joan Clark
Cargando...
Inscríbete en LibraryThing para averiguar si este libro te gustará. Actualmente no hay Conversaciones sobre este libro. The Birthday Lunch is an account of a family struggling to regain its equilibrium following a sudden accidental death. Lily McNab is struck down crossing the street on her 58th birthday, leaving behind Hal, her husband of 33 years, daughter Claudia, son Matt, and her sister Laverne. Each of the surviving family members responds to Lily’s abrupt passing in a way that is distinctly personal. Clark probes these responses with the clear-eye of a novelist, and in the process creates a richly textured and emotionally authentic story that does not shy away from the mean and petty aspects of human nature. As in her previous novels Joan Clark's grip on the elements of her story is unwavering. The narrative is related from multiple points of view, and the author's skill is such that she can jump with apparent ease from one character to another, often within a single scene, without jolting the reader out of the story. Flashbacks are introduced at opportune moments, expanding on what we know of the characters and giving heft to their actions and motivations in the present. The New Brunswick setting is drawn in loving detail, coming alive with visual and sensory cues. It all adds up to a superb performance by a writer whose talents, late in her career, show no sign of diminishing. In the end, the story of Lily McNab’s death turns on a petty rivalry for her affections between her husband and her sister. If only Hal would stand up to his sister-in-law, if only Laverne would let go of the numerous minor disappointments that have soured her life, then Lily might still be alive. But human nature being what it is, the two are still tormenting each other in the book's final scene. The Birthday Lunch is a moving and disquieting novel. In these pages Joan Clark demonstrates that the smallest actions can have life-altering consequences. ( ) sin reseñas | añadir una reseña
From the bestselling author of Latitudes of Melt and An Audience of Chairs: The Birthday Lunch is the story of one pivotal week in the life of a family facing a tragic loss, rich with dramatic tension and beautifully rendered. Free-spirited Lily has always played the peacemaker between her fierce, doting sister, Laverne, and her own loving, garrulous husband, Hal, as they competed for her attention. The competition has only grown worse since the three of them moved into a large house in the town of Sussex, New Brunswick. On Lily's 58th birthday, a steamy day in late June, Laverne feels she has bested Hal by winning her sister's company for a gourmet lunch, but it becomes a bitter and short-lived victory when the day's events take an unexpected and tragic turn. In The Birthday Lunch, Joan Clark explores the different ways each member of Lily's family confronts her shocking death: Hal's open sorrow, her daughter Claudia's reappraisal of her own life, her son Matt's determination to assign blame. And unforgettably, Laverne's eccentricity and isolation, her intensifying conflict with Hal, illuminates the brutal territory of accusation and regret. Compassionate and engrossing with a powerful sense of place, The Birthday Lunch is an extraordinary new novel from one of our most gifted storytellers. No se han encontrado descripciones de biblioteca. |
Debates activosNinguno
Google Books — Cargando... GénerosSistema Decimal Melvil (DDC)813.54Literature English (North America) American fiction 20th Century 1945-1999Clasificación de la Biblioteca del CongresoValoraciónPromedio:
¿Eres tú?Conviértete en un Autor de LibraryThing. |