The Sisters from Hardscrabble Bay

Beverly Jensen died in 2003, but her collection of short stories (which taken together form something of a novel) have been published by Viking this year as The Sisters from Hardscrabble Bay. The stories (apparently drawn from family tales) center around two sisters, Avis and Idella Hillock, and take place over the course of their lives, from 1916 through 1987.

From the opening installment (if not from the title itself) it becomes quite clear that this is not going to be a book filled with sweetness and light: the girls and their family members face crushing hardships right from the get-go as they deal with some of life's most cruel slings and arrows long before anyone should have to do so. When they leave their rural Canadian home for show more life in America (small-town Maine in Idella's case, Boston and other cities for Avis), they confront additional pressures and trials throughout their lives. And yet, somehow, a bond of devotion keeps them together, often laughing (even if sometimes through tears) at their shared struggles and triumphs.

Jensen's created some marvelous characters here, from the two Hillock girls themselves, to their hard-drinking and miserable father Bill, to Idella's indomitable and hilarious mother-in-law. The rocky coasts and gritty small towns Jensen captures here are embodied in her writing style; no flowers, just the brutal reality of life as it is. Sometimes very sad, sometimes incredibly amusing (the penultimate story, "Wake," is both at once), and always written with a graceful, passionate strength, these stories deserved to be published, and they deserve to be widely read.

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I wasted time reading the first half of this book. The first few chapters were very promising. Then it would abruptly end a period of time in the story and jump ahead to another time (frankly less interesting). It had me saying--Well, wait! Go back and finish what happened after that! I do not like fragmented stories that try to span several years. I prefer a story that flows smoothly and breaks time when it makes sense to do it.

The chapter which was devoted to Avis receiving a baby cow just struck me as a boring non-story that my elders used to tell me that had no beginning middle or end and no point to it. (Chris Farley used to have a skit where he would interview people and his "questions" were just "Remember the time you ______, show more yeah that was cool" ) I'm wondering if the late author wrote the book based on family anecdotes and didn't take the time to construct a real full-bodied story. Can you tell I didn't like this book?

Update******If it is what other reviewers are saying, a book of short stories, then it should plainly state that in the synopsis or on the cover. It was marketed as a novel by the publisher, which it is not. I do not like short stories and especially weak short stories that are not strong enough to stand alone. That is all. show less

This story flows from 1916 to 1986, from New Brunswick to Boston, from fathers to sisters to husbands. Idella and Avis are just little girls growing up on poor land in a poor family when their mother dies in childbirth having Emma. Their father Bill is bereft without his loving wife and struggles to care for the girls and their older brother Dalton, and gives Emma away to relatives. The girls make their way south and to partners who cheat on them and cause them to be imprisoned. It's all pretty bleak, but there are lyrical and well-told passages which break through into humor and empathy. Idella's first visit to fiancé Eddie's home, complete with awful mother-in-law; her confrontation with a young robber in her grocery store (he spends show more his evening serving customers and stocking the beer cooler); and Avis and Dalton losing their father's coffin on their way back to New Brunswick during a historic ice storm, are the longer stories and the family legends that bring power and passion to the novel. show less

Loved the beginning of this book. The writing style and the story immediately drew me in. However, about 2/3 of the way through, there were large gaps in time and changing points of view. Still well-written but it seemed as though some of the narrative thread was lost in that shift. Still, a very worthwhile read about a difficult land (the coast of Canada) and the people who worked to survive there or leave for easier places.

Jensen has created indelible characters in the form of Idella and Avis, the sisters. They have another sister, Emma, who was given to relatives after their mother died in giving birth to her, and a brother, Dalton, who is enigmatic and seldom seen. Their father, destroyed by grief, rears the elder three children as best he can given his own demons. As they grow up, Idella and Avis go different ways but always keep in touch. There are some uneven moments in this posthumously published book, but its strengths outshine them It tells of a time an place - rural Maine in the early part of the 20th century and speaks to what limited choices women had at that time.

This book was a little like Olive Kitteridge - same sort of flavor. Two young girls growing up in Canada lose their mother as she gives birth to her fourth child. The family is split up and really never recovers from this tragedy. I really think this writer had a lot to say about families and the various ways they survive in harsh environments and terrible sadness. Can I say it was a little boring in parts and sometimes a bit trite? But something about it made me keep going. A pretty good book, all in all.

Sisters Idella and Avis start off this book with the death of their mother in child birth. This early tragedy, with a story spanning from 1916 to 1987, marks the beginning of a very hard existence for these sisters and their older brother Dalton.

With the death of their mother and her accompanying steadying hand on their father, Bill, the sisters are forced to virtually raise themselves. Their father drinks himself to sleep every night, mourning the wife that he loved dearly while at a loss as to how to care for his remaining family which now includes an new born infant. Meanwhile, his children are left floundering, trying to figure out life and eek out a day to day survival. While I did not dislike him as a character, he was after all show more a victim of certain circumstances beyond his control, I had very little respect for him as he was a selfish man who let his grief overshadow his responsibility to his children.

The first half of this story was beautifully written and the author was expert at creating vivid images in the reader's mind that gave a perfect glimpse into the lives of poor people at this time in history. The descriptions of the landscape, the cold, its brutality and barrenness, almost make the land one of the characters. And it is this hard, unforgiving place that shapes these sisters present and future. Even if their mother had lived, Idella, Avis and Dalton would still have had less than an easy life as resources were scarce and expensive. But with her death, life is made considerably harder for her children because in addition to the paucity of basic amenities, they lack love and happiness. Eventually the sisters are sent to live with an aunt and for the first time since their mother's death they have loving parental influences. But their father's hunting accident finds them back home to care for him and ends three years of happiness, education and a life free of despondency.

Unfortunately, about a 150 pages in, the quality of the book seemed to take a dip. It's hard for me to fully articulate what it is but somehow when parts of the story slipped into first person narrative, I felt like I was almost reading a different story. The story felt more compelling when being told by an external voice and it lost a certain something when some of the individual players began to narrate their own lives. Also as the story progressed it seemed to lack a bit of direction and devolved into a tale that just related the daily lives of the sisters as they navigated life. This made for a slow read from this point almost to the end. Regardless of this, I still enjoyed this movingly sad tale of life in America/Canada a the turn of the century. The characters were richly developed and made for a very interesting study of families and their complexities.

This book is sad and presents life in stark and painfully honest terms. There are no heroes here, everyone just seems to be trying to make of life what they can. The sisters lives are grueling but unflinching. They fall along the way with alcohol addiction, choosing the wrong men, bad decisions, etc but whatever happens, they try to come out on top and with some dignity.

*Review copy received from Amazon.com's Vine Program. show less