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Loading... Cantique des plaines (edition 1999)by Nancy Huston, Nancy Huston (Auteur)
Work InformationPlainsong by Nancy Huston
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. Plainsong is the story of four generations of a family on the Canadian prairie, with a focus on Paddon. It took me a while to get into the story because it is told largely in the form of a monologue. Paddon has died, and his grand-daughter Paula has inherited his papers. From these, and from memories and stories her mother told her, Paula reconstructs her grandfather's life. Once I got into the flow, I found myself drawn very deeply into the story, as I usually am with Nancy Huston's books. She is a remarkable writer with a sharp edge for portraying the foibles of human nature. Through Paula's eyes, we see the story of a family that lived through the depression and World War II -- and realize that neither of these major events had as much effect on them than the daily interactions among them and their ability (or inability) to follow their hearts and dreams. no reviews | add a review
"When Paula inherits the fragments of her grandfather Paddon's journal, she embarks on an imaginative and obsessive journey to recreate the troubled history of her ancestors. From the hardships of the early frontier, through the Great War and Depression, and into the boom times of the fifties, Plainsong brilliantly captures the story of four generations of a family and a prairie town shaped by the sweeping forces of change."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)843.914Literature French French fiction Modern Period 20th Century 1945-1999LC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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I think the story was fine, but I didn’t like the way it was written. No chapters, no dialogue. I don’t think this part really bothered me, but, as an fyi, it was written like Paula was talking to her grandfather in what she wrote, using “you”. It also jumps around in time, constantly back and forth, which is something that normally doesn’t bother me, but there seemed to be no rhyme or reason to the jumping around, so I didn’t like the way it was done in this book. I did like the history covered in the book (it was set in Alberta and much of it in my city, Calgary). I did not like the person her grandfather was (or who Paula thought she was or who she wrote him to be) – he was a horrible person! ( )