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Lädt ... Die letzten Tage der Unschuld (1984)von Mary Wesley
Lädt ...
Melde dich bei LibraryThing an um herauszufinden, ob du dieses Buch mögen würdest. Keine aktuelle Diskussion zu diesem Buch. This was an unexpectedly good read. Mary Wesley presented another side of war - how people tried to live their lives normally during wartime. Unlike Louis de Bernieres' The Dust that Falls from Dreams which is similar in background, The Camomile Lawn is a much niftier read, and one that slightly pulls your heartstrings at how hard the characters are trying to live their lives. What you have to get used to is the quick change of perspectives and scenes without warning, and you have to find your bearings on where the plot is at. ( ) Idyllisch uitgangspunt: een laatste familiereünie van neven en nichten op het landgoed van hun oom in Cornwall. Candlelight dinner in de kamillebloemenwei op de vooravond van Wereldoorlog II. Via flashbacks en door de ogen van alle betrokkeken zien we de oorlog passeren, de jongens naar het front vertrekken en gehavend al dan niet terugkomen. De meisjes of vrouwen genieten van de vrijheid die deze tijd hun biedt. Tweede en langere deel is wanneer de betrokkenen op weg zijn naar de begrafenis van Max, een spilfiguur (wie niet?) in dit verhaal. Gesprekken onderweg en flashbacks in de hoofden verhelderen de onderlinge verhoudingen, weven het verhaal aaneen tot een homogeen iets. Figuren die bijblijven: het intrigerende kind Sophy, de koele maar mooie Calypso, de op en top Engelse landlord Richard, Monika, de Oostenrijkse die kookt en boert en zorgt, de onsympathieke Helena... Lees, laat je meeslepen en geniet! Ar first I thought this was a light period piece, a novel of manners set in that ever-enticing milieu -- the British upper class. But as it progresses it turns into something deeper, darker, and certainly sexier. Most of the book is set in England during WWII, though the main narrative is interspersed with scenes around a funeral in the mid-1980's. It follows a dozen people; five young cousins, three men with whom they are involved, their aunt and uncle, and a pair of Jewish refugees. The permutations and combinations within this group are many, various, and sometimes startling. And so are the ways they confront the desperate perils of the war, and the more gradual pains of growing older. A terrific read: makes me want to read more by the same author. Conventional upper-middle class cousins and friends embark on unconventional sex and love life once World War II disrupts the social order. Written in the Nineteen Eighties, this story sometimes seems to act as a plea to readers to remember that baby-boomers were not the first cohort to flout sexual mores. Ms Wesley would insist it was 1939 when the revolution happened. There's a disappointing lack of character development for such a large cast, except perhaps for the wilful Calypso; and the split in narrative between the war years, and a funeral in the Eighties doesn't help the coherence.
Mary Wesley's The Camomile Lawn is instantly seductive. We quickly know, without any laborious feeling that we are being force-fed information, what Helena is like, and what her husband Richard is like, and why. Before we meet them - or before they arrive off the London train - we know about their nephews and nieces, Calypso, Walter, Polly and Oliver, whose stories we shall be following. We know about 10-year-old Sophy, and Helena's dislike of her; and we see fortyish Helena in her deckchair through Sophy's eyes, as she perches unseen in the ilex tree. We know the house is on a height above the sea. We know Calypso is breathtakingly beautiful. We know it is the summer of 1939, with war imminent. And all this in two relaxed pages. Gehört zu VerlagsreihenIst enthalten inBearbeitet/umgesetzt in
Fiction.
Historical Fiction.
HTML:International Bestseller: A novel of youthful love and loss and "a powerful evocation of the war years" in England (The Guardian). On a hot August evening in 1939, cousins Oliver, Calypso, Polly, Walter, and Sophy spent one last night together, celebrating the end of summer, at the home of their aunt and uncle. Now, forty years later, as the motley cast of characters drive to the funeral of one of their own, they recall how important that night truly wasâ??and all that came after. From Oliver, whose desperation to prove himself in war ended up as his downfall, to Calypso, whose flirtations landed her in an unlikely marriage with even less likely results, to Sophy, whose secrets from that night haunted her for the rest of her life, each of them recalls the twisted paths of love and betrayal they walked as the country came apart around them under the coming shadow of World War II. Mary Wesley masterfully interweaves tragedy and humor in this "extraordinarily accomplished and fast-moving" novel, presenting a tale of both the world at large and the dalliances, allegiances, and losses of her expertly crafted characters (Financial Times). Keine Bibliotheksbeschreibungen gefunden. |
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Google Books — Lädt ... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)823.914Literature English & Old English literatures English fiction Modern Period 1901-1999 1945-1999Klassifikation der Library of Congress [LCC] (USA)BewertungDurchschnitt:
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