|
Loading... The Story of Lucy Gaultby William Trevor
LibraryThing recommendationsMember recommendationsLoading...
won't like
will probably not like
will probably like
will like
will love Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. A quietly sad story about a woman who has put her life on hold because of a choice she made as a child. Trevor describes the way this choice affects all who were involved throughout the rest of their lives. The descriptions of coastal Ireland are very atmospheric - it also made me realize how little I know about Irish history. A melancholy novel about sacrifice, patience, forgiveness, and the passage of time - it was perfect fall reading. Four stars. (  ) scohva | Dec 1, 2009 |  Brilliiant heartbreaking book - an allegory of the tragic love-hate connection between the Irish and the Ascendancy Anglo-Irish. Centuries of pain and anger told through the primal destruction of one small family. Not many writers can take on history as well as this. But poignant and deeply touching on a personal level too. Trevor shows how individuals pay the price for events beyond their power and even their own time. An essential text for anyone interested in Ireland. (  ) philomene | Nov 4, 2009 | Not my idea of a fascinating book, but a good one nevertheless. It's about sad people sitting still, being sad. That's about it. The plot and tension consists in different people being sad in different places and at different times, in people talking to others or in not talking to them, in people sitting in the corner in silence-- it's a very, very, very, very slow book. It's well written, yeah. But not a hell of a lot happens, because it's a book about people to whom nothing happens, and the sadness is that nothing ever happens. I found it mind-numbingly dull. You might not. But I did. (  ) lmichet | Oct 6, 2009 | Break out the kleenex -- you'll definitely need it! How sad -- a novel about what could have been but wasn't and how a woman comes to live with tragedy. Set in Ireland, at the time that it was divided, Captain Gault, his wife and their daughter Lucy all live at the family home of Lahardane. One night, their dog gets poisoned; the Captain fires at a group of young men and hits one. His wife is convinced that because she's English, they have been marked for trouble; he tries to go and talk to the family but nothing helps. He then makes the decision that it's time for the family to leave Ireland. Lucy, who is just a little girl, believes that if she runs off, the parents will have to stay long enough to find her & might possibly change their minds. However, something happens & the parents can't find her -- they think she's drowned & make the decision that they should leave, setting off a number of tragic events that have an effect on everyone in the story. I will leave the rest so as not to spoil, but I will say that this book, as small as it is, is one to be savored and read slowly. Personally, I really liked this book -- it is a sad but sweet story and will capture you from the beginning. ( ) bcquinnsmom | Jan 20, 2009 | Lucy Gault’s family are planning to leave troubled Ireland behind them; their estate and their lives are at risk while they remain; however, it is in leaving that the true rift occurs and the consequences are played out with an emphasis on pathos, but also on forgiveness and healing. I do not generally do well with ‘redemptive’ tales if there is no particular ‘happy’ or ‘tragic’ ending to hang one’s final feelings for a book on. Lucy Gault’s story was engagingly written and the plight of the characters very real, but if a book frustrates my need for things to be definitively resolved at the end (in other words, if the characters’ journeys have amounted to even the smallest revelation, a change of circumstance or moral / ethical consequence) then I cannot put the book aside with any sense that I am better off for having read it; and is in the ending that The Story of Lucy Gault seem weak (particularly when compared to the strength of the book’s beginning). It might be a flaw in my reading as much as in William Trevor’s writing; regardless, my impression is that I could have happily stopped reading three quarters of the way in to The Story of Lucy Gault and been more pleased with it than I was when I actually reached the end. (  ) trishtrash | Jan 7, 2009 |  no reviews | add a review
References to this work on external resources.
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Book description |
|
(retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:58:10 -0400)
The first test round has been closed. Visit the Open Shelves Classification group for details.
Quick Links |
Wikipedia in English (2)
