Beverly Jensen (1953–2003)

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 ______, 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.… (mehr)

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 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.… (mehr)

Una casa appollaiata in cima alla scogliera di Bay Chaleur, nella provincia canadese di New Brunswick, è il luogo dove ha inizio la storia. A Bay Chaleur vivono le giovanissime Idella e Avis, insieme al fratello e ai genitori. Il piccolo mondo delle due bambine è fatto del rumore incessante del vento, dell’odore acuto delle aringhe e delle aragoste lavorate nella vicina fabbrica, dell’oceano con il suo fragore. La morte della madre riempie di solitudine la loro esistenza resa già triste dagli abiti usati e dalle privazioni. Beverly Jensen, racconta la vita della madre, Idella e della zia Avis e della loro scoperta del mondo, "oltre la baia". La loro nuova vita sboccia nel New England, seguendo costantemente e tenacemente sogni e speranze.
Prematuramente scomparsa nel 2003, a soli cinquanta anni,la Jensen ha affidato a questo romanzo delicato e struggente la storia delle due "Sisters from Hardscrabble Bay" .
Il significato dell'intera storia è racchiuso nella lirica prediletta dalla giovane Idella, tratta dal Salmo di vita di Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: "Non dirmi, in dolenti versi, che la vita è un sogno vuoto! Perché un’anima assopita è morta e le cose non sono ciò che sembrano”.… (mehr)