Sign in/joinLanguage: English [ others ]
Over forty million books on members' bookshelves.
Hide this

Results from Google Books

Click on a thumbnail to go to Google Books.

A Jest of God by Margaret Laurence
Loading...

A Jest of God

by Margaret Laurence

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingConversations
262618,483 (4.12)21
Loading...
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.

English (5)  Dutch (1)  All languages (6)
Showing 5 of 5
Excruciating. This novel is narrated by repressed thirty-something schoolteacher Rachel, living in Manawaka with her ailing, manipulative mother. Rachel is the first-person "unreliable narrator" in similar vein to the narrator of Zoe Heller's Notes on a Scandal. Hopelessly shy and self-obsessed, Rachel is still a virgin, dreaming of love and cursing her mother's constant harping on "what other people will think", even though she herself is haunted by exactly the same concerns. When she meets Nick, it's clear to the reader, but unfortunately not to Rachel, what he's up to, and the outcome is inevitable. But Rachel does grow and learns by the end of the novel, and sets out on a new journey -- though I for one was not convinced she had really broken free from her old ways.

The novel was originally titled A Jest of God, and was filmed by Paul Newman as Rachel, Rachel (with Joanne Woodward in the title role). Surely Laurence must have been infuriated by the tacky cover and blurb of the (bookmooched) film tie-in paperback edition that I read. If I'd been reading it in public, I'd have felt obliged to wrap it in brown paper. "The powerful novel of a woman enmeshed in dangerous passion" it claims. "Rachel had waited a long time for love ... In the midst of a long hot summer she met Nick. He sensed her desperation -- and the sensuality that pulsed through her..." Aargh. This doesn't remotely reflect the subtlety and psychological anguish of the book.
veronicay | Dec 26, 2008 | 1 vote
Though some of the period details in A Jest Of God seem hopelessly dated, its endearing heroine transcends time and place. At 34, dutiful schoolteacher Rachel Cameron slowly and belatedly develops an awareness of her own power, sexuality and worth. Laurence skillfully explores this deeply personal journey that many women, and more than a few men, will recognise and enjoy. ( )
whirled | Mar 12, 2008 |  
Rachel, a 34-year-old teacher, lives at home with her gently tyrannical mother. Her first sexual relationship is with Nick, who goes away letting her think he's already married. A moving story, told plainly but with great insight and understanding for this young woman's predicament. [July 2005] ( )
scarletslippers | Jan 6, 2008 |  
Don't remember reading this book, have to read it soon.
ReadinginSarasota | Aug 1, 2007 |  
A bittersweet and sensitive novel about a woman, Rachel Cameron, who has been forced by circumstances since her father's death to return home to teach grade school, live with her overbearing mother, and struggle to find joy and love in this bleak existence she has been trapped in. Mature and powerful, with a redeeming ending that shows new ways to perceive strength and resilience in a human being. ( )
burnit99 | Feb 4, 2007 |  
Showing 5 of 5
0.133 seconds to build listing
no reviews | add a review
You must log in to edit Common Knowledge data.
For more help see the Common Knowledge help page.
Series (with order)
Canonical Title
Original publication date
People/Characters
Important places
Important events
Awards and honors
Epigraph
Dedication
First words
Quotations
Last words
Disambiguation notice
Publisher's editors
Blurbers
Book description
'"Rachel - is it serious?" So that's it. I ought to have seen. She's wondering - what will become of me? That's what everyone goes through life wondering, probably, the one absorbing anguish. What will become of me? Me?'

Rachel Cameron, thirty-four and unmarried, is trapped by the stifling conventionality of small-town Canadian life as a shy, retiring schoolmistress and dependable helpmeet to her coy and overbearing invalid mother. Desperate for love and companionship, she risks her all in an affair with a man for whom sex and love are more trivial matters - and it changes Rachel's life in unforeseen ways. First published in 1966, this is the second of Margaret Laurence's famous Manawaka series of novels, and a powerful exploration of disappointment. The acclaimed film Rachel, Rachel starring Joanna Woodward and Paul Newman, was based on this work.

Amazon.com Product Description (ISBN 0771099886, Mass Market Paperback)

In this celebrated novel, Margaret Laurence writes with grace, power, and deep compassion about Rachel Cameron, a woman struggling to come to terms with love, with death, with herself and her world.

Trapped in a milieu of deceit and pettiness – her own and that of others – Rachel longs for love, and contact with another human being who shares her rebellious spirit. Through her summer affair with Nick Kazlik, a schoolmate from earlier years, she learns at last to reach out to another person and to make herself vulnerable.

A Jest of God won the Governor General’s Award for 1966 and was released as the successful film, Rachel, Rachel. The novel stands as a poignant and singularly enduring work by one of the world’s most distinguished authors.

(retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:58:10 -0400)

(see all 2 descriptions)

The first test round has been closed. Visit the Open Shelves Classification group for details.

Popular covers

 

Help/FAQs | About | Privacy/Terms | Blog | Contact | LibraryThing.com | APIs | WikiThing | Common Knowledge | 41,251,189 books!