My Old Sweetheart
by Susanna Moore
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"Susanna Moore's novel astonished me--one of those brilliant objects that come along only rarely, all light on clear water, and then one realizes the faster currents underneath, the terrible swiftness of sex and time. " --Joan Didion In this mesmerizing novel, Susanna Moore displays a naturalist's eye for the landscape of her native Hawaii and an uncanny sensitivity to the despairing love between mothers and daughters. Lily Shields grows up amid the fragrance of night-jasmine and burning show more sugar cane, and the heady atmosphere of her mother's madness. For if Anna Shields is an island unto herself--fragile, glamorous, and fearfully needy--Lily is the bridge that connects her to reality. But now Lily is a young woman and a mother herself, self-exiled from Hawaii but still attached to Anna's tragedy. And as she tries to untangle those threads of love and loyalty, Moore gives us a novel of shimmering beauty and sadness. My Old Sweetheart is a small classic, perfectly formed and mysteriously wise. "Susanna Moore is a gifted and compelling novelist . . .nbsp;nbsp;in possession of her own unique voice." --The New York Times Book Review "I can't recall another novel like this about mothers and daughters. . . . Lily's mysterious, half-told tale delighted and touched me." --Susan Lydon, Village Voice show lessTags
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Member Reviews
Although I read this many years ago, it's evocative descriptions of Hawaii and growing up there stay with me and it remains one of my all-time favorites. As www.dovegreyreader.com so perfectly described it in her 1/27/2011 review:
I always think as I read a book like My Old Sweetheart that I want to read many more books like this. Spell-binding and measured books with a store of quietly held revelations kept in reserve, that make me gasp a little, novels that countenance no interruption and make you look up to think and then feel quite surprised to find that the world is still there happening around you. This felt like a book of blessed quietness, it has a quality of stillness and fragrance about it, created in part by the heady langour show more of the heat with its power to oppress and stifle, but also to radiate and infiltrate. There is a certain light that shimmers here, and a moment when Anna and Lily swim to an underwater cave that actually transported me there....yes, holding my breath to dive and everything and feeling that slight sense of panic about getting out again, even if I was sitting here in my thermals. show less
I always think as I read a book like My Old Sweetheart that I want to read many more books like this. Spell-binding and measured books with a store of quietly held revelations kept in reserve, that make me gasp a little, novels that countenance no interruption and make you look up to think and then feel quite surprised to find that the world is still there happening around you. This felt like a book of blessed quietness, it has a quality of stillness and fragrance about it, created in part by the heady langour show more of the heat with its power to oppress and stifle, but also to radiate and infiltrate. There is a certain light that shimmers here, and a moment when Anna and Lily swim to an underwater cave that actually transported me there....yes, holding my breath to dive and everything and feeling that slight sense of panic about getting out again, even if I was sitting here in my thermals. show less
Although I read this many years ago, it's evocative descriptions of Hawaii and growing up there stay with me and it remains one of my all-time favorites. As www.dovegreyreader.com so perfectly described it in her 1/27/2011 review:
I always think as I read a book like My Old Sweetheart that I want to read many more books like this. Spell-binding and measured books with a store of quietly held revelations kept in reserve, that make me gasp a little, novels that countenance no interruption and make you look up to think and then feel quite surprised to find that the world is still there happening around you. This felt like a book of blessed quietness, it has a quality of stillness and fragrance about it, created in part by the heady langour show more of the heat with its power to oppress and stifle, but also to radiate and infiltrate. There is a certain light that shimmers here, and a moment when Anna and Lily swim to an underwater cave that actually transported me there....yes, holding my breath to dive and everything and feeling that slight sense of panic about getting out again, even if I was sitting here in my thermals. show less
I always think as I read a book like My Old Sweetheart that I want to read many more books like this. Spell-binding and measured books with a store of quietly held revelations kept in reserve, that make me gasp a little, novels that countenance no interruption and make you look up to think and then feel quite surprised to find that the world is still there happening around you. This felt like a book of blessed quietness, it has a quality of stillness and fragrance about it, created in part by the heady langour show more of the heat with its power to oppress and stifle, but also to radiate and infiltrate. There is a certain light that shimmers here, and a moment when Anna and Lily swim to an underwater cave that actually transported me there....yes, holding my breath to dive and everything and feeling that slight sense of panic about getting out again, even if I was sitting here in my thermals. show less
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16+ Works 2,098 Members
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- Members
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- Popularity
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- Reviews
- 2
- Rating
- (3.37)
- Languages
- Dutch, English, German
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- 12
- ASINs
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