What I'm reading
Jul. 20th, 2012 02:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
northernwalkerDid you know Madeleine L'Engle wrote adult fiction? It's not as well-known as her young-adult and children's books, but they're generally good. I just finished rereading two of them, Certain Women and A Severed Wasp.
Certain Women is the story of Emma Wheaton, a noted theater actress and daughter of acclaimed stage actor David Wheaton. She has put her career on hold to spend time with her dying father as he works through his memories and his life, using the parallel of a role he very much wanted to play- biblical King David. Emma also begins to deal with past traumas and learns to let go and look to the future.
I found the biblical interweaving really worked here- David Wheaton's personal life was certainly busy, with eight wives, and the linking of them to biblical counterparts was very effective. I'd definitely recommend this one.
In A Severed Wasp,, sequel to The Small Rain, famed concert pianist Katherine Vigneras returns to New York after having lived for decades in Europe. Now in her seventies, she has just retired from performing, but a chance encounter with an old acquaintence who is now the former Episcopalian Bishop of New York brings her new challenges as she looks back over her life.
The interweaving of memory and present is occasionally confusing, but generally enjoyable. I also enjoyed the reintroduction of characters from other books. The Young Unicorn's Josiah 'Dave' Davidson makes an appearance, all grown up, as does Mimi Oppenheimer from A Winter's Love L'Engle brings people in without shoehorning them or making it feel clunky. Another recommendation.
Certain Women is the story of Emma Wheaton, a noted theater actress and daughter of acclaimed stage actor David Wheaton. She has put her career on hold to spend time with her dying father as he works through his memories and his life, using the parallel of a role he very much wanted to play- biblical King David. Emma also begins to deal with past traumas and learns to let go and look to the future.
I found the biblical interweaving really worked here- David Wheaton's personal life was certainly busy, with eight wives, and the linking of them to biblical counterparts was very effective. I'd definitely recommend this one.
In A Severed Wasp,, sequel to The Small Rain, famed concert pianist Katherine Vigneras returns to New York after having lived for decades in Europe. Now in her seventies, she has just retired from performing, but a chance encounter with an old acquaintence who is now the former Episcopalian Bishop of New York brings her new challenges as she looks back over her life.
The interweaving of memory and present is occasionally confusing, but generally enjoyable. I also enjoyed the reintroduction of characters from other books. The Young Unicorn's Josiah 'Dave' Davidson makes an appearance, all grown up, as does Mimi Oppenheimer from A Winter's Love L'Engle brings people in without shoehorning them or making it feel clunky. Another recommendation.
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Date: 2012-07-24 04:21 am (UTC)