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Cargando... The River King (2000 original; edición 2001)por Alice Hoffman
Información de la obraThe River King por Alice Hoffman (2000)
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Inscríbete en LibraryThing para averiguar si este libro te gustará. Actualmente no hay Conversaciones sobre este libro. I find that some of Hoffman's work can seem rushed, or a bit incomplete. I felt that way about this book. The story had beautiful imagery and prose, but the story seemed unresolved in the end. I wondered about the outcome of some of the characters. Abe Grey knows that the body in the river was not the result of accidental drowning, but the police department wants him to keep his suspicions to himself... is this more realistic than the murder mystery genre that not only resolves the murder but sometimes gives a complete explanation in the last chapter? (i.e. "Hound of the Baskervilles" etc.) This would be a great book for a book club so that members could examine these and other unresolved plot twists. Was it a "happy ending" after all? I’m generally a fan of Alice Hoffman’s books, but this one took a dark turn that I’m not sure it can come back from… Set in the small town of Hadden, Hoffman weaves a tale suffused with conflict that is belied by its idyllic setting. A small private boarding school accompanies the river-bound town, providing a dichotomy of characters to interact as Hoffman’s drama unfolds. Set large are a quartet of protagonists, some from the school, some from the town, who must learn to tread carefully in the delicately maintained ecosystem of Hadden and the school. Of course, the whole conflict comes about because these players refuse to play by the rules (arbitrarily set as they are), and the real drama starts when August (Gus) Pierce is found dead in the river - becoming the titular River King. Hoffman writes the first half of the novel as if Gus’ death is going to be part of his ongoing rebellion against the school and is nothing more than a trick played out against his unwelcoming classmates, but as policeman Abel Grey continues to investigate August’s death (against the wishes of the constabulary and school) the town’s secrets begin to come out and everyone begins to unravel. Small towns and the insular worlds of boarding schools often have darker secrets than expected, and Hoffman plumbs the depths of these themes with her expectedly atmospheric writing and carefully drawn characters which walk as close to real life as a novel can get. As we near the final pages, August’s killers have not been brought to a real sort of justice and the remainder of our protagonists are quietly going their own ways away from Hadden and its petty drama, so we don’t get a real conclusion. And yet, this soft closing is maybe more realistic of real life; people have to move on and move out as some battles aren’t worth fighting, but for others swimming with the current of the river is the strongest path into the future. Alice Hoffman - "imaging the plot for my novel The River King during a lengthy bone scan helped me get thru that test. The hospital faded.. Here was my life raft. A book. I'd been gone all that time. I'd been in another world entirely." She helped write the screenplay for the movie based on this book. sin reseñas | añadir una reseña
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From the master storyteller, a suspenseful, lyrical account of one man's search for the truth behind an inexplicable death. For more than a century, the small town of Haddan, Massachusetts, has been divided, as if by a line drawn down the center of Main Street, separating those born and bred in the village from those who attend the prestigious Haddan School. But one October night the two worlds are thrust together due to an inexplicable death, and the town's divided history is revealed in all its complexity. The lives of everyone involved are unraveled: from Carlin Leander, the fifteen-year-old girl who is as loyal as she is proud, to Betsy Chase, a woman running from her own destiny; from August Pierce, a boy who unexpectedly finds courage in his darkest hour, to Abel Grey, the police officer who refuses to let unspeakable actions--both past and present--slide by without notice. No se han encontrado descripciones de biblioteca. |
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Google Books — Cargando... GénerosSistema Decimal Melvil (DDC)813.54Literature English (North America) American fiction 20th Century 1945-1999Clasificación de la Biblioteca del CongresoValoraciónPromedio:
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The school's well painted, the town is too, as are several of the characters. But I was irritated by the way in which the narration was perpetually interrupted by digressions to the past, as a means of illuminating the present. I wanted to read to the end and see how things turned out. But more importantly, I wanted to get to the end. ( )