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A carregar... Our Homesick Songs (2018)por Emma Hooper
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Adira ao LibraryThing para descobrir se irá gostar deste livro. Ainda não há conversas na Discussão sobre este livro. Emma Hooper knows family. ( ) I came across this book by chance in a sale and purchased it though I wasn’t previously familiar with the author. This is a unique book, different from any others I have read. It is poetic, in fact in places so poetic and imprecise that I can’t really fathom what is going on, what the author is trying to tell us, since I require concrete, explicit explanations if I’m to understand anything fully. The story tells of a family living by the coast of Newfoundland in 1992/3 – Aidan and Martha and their children, ten year-old Finn and fourteen year-old Cora. Their lives are dominated by the sea; there are stormy nights and singing mermaids. The singing of the mermaids bring out thousands of cod. But the fish disappear; Finn used to count the lights of the fishing-boats but soon they vanish too. Interspersed with accounts of what is happening to the family in the 1990s are sections telling us of Aidan and Martha in their youth and Martha’s three sisters. Martha’s surname is Murphy, she was thirteen when both her parents drowned. Aidan’s surname is Connor, and it is said that all Connors are cheats. With surnames like Murphy and Connor the family must have had Irish forebears. People are leaving their homes. Cora takes over these deserted houses and turns each of them into a country, decorating them appropriately. Aidan and Martha leave too for short periods, taking turns in doing so, perhaps working away from home. The library has also been abandoned and the children are able to use it freely: they carefully register the books they borrow. They all sing and play musical instruments; Finn is taking accordion lessons from Mrs Callaghan who lives alone across the sound from them; he has to row out to her, which is often dangerous because of the stormy weather. At one point Cora runs away. The family is distraught and do what they can to find her, of course. I never found out why Cora left, perhaps just to seek adventure. This is a very readable, enjoyable book about this imaginative, musical, creative family. I would recommend it to other such imaginative souls, in fact to everyone. Amazing writing! The world is falling apart around this Newfoundland family because the cod are gone, but the narrative does not feel hopeless. Instead, there is an easy coast calm, a peace, an optimism that is unique to that part of the country and conveyed in the style of writing. I don't really know what it is about the style, but it was the writing that kept me in the story, more than the story itself. It is the story of a family battered by many storms but still enduring. There is a touch of whimsy because of the children's imagination and tenacity. The parents are disconnected from their childhood selves as only adulthood can make one not child-like, but their backstory is also charming. A delightful sorrowful read. sem críticas | adicionar uma crítica
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From Emma Hooper, acclaimed author of Etta and Otto and Russell and James, a People magazine "Pick of the Week," comes a haunting fable about the transformative power of hope in a charming and mystical story of a family on the edge of extinction. The Connor family is one of the few that is still left in their idyllic fishing village, Big Running; after the fish mysteriously disappeared, most families had no choice but to relocate and find work elsewhere. Aidan and Martha Connor now spend alternate months of the year working at an energy site up north to support their children, Cora and Finn. But soon the family fears they'll have to leave Big Running for good. And as the months go on, plagued by romantic temptations new and old, the emotional distance between the once blissful Aidan and Martha only widens. Between his accordion lessons and reading up on Big Running's local flora and fauna, eleven-year-old Finn Connor develops an obsession with solving the mystery of the missing fish. Aided by his reclusive music instructor Mrs. Callaghan, Finn thinks he may have discovered a way to find the fish, and in turn, save the only home he's ever known. While Finn schemes, his sister Cora spends her days decorating the abandoned houses in Big Running with global flair-the baker's home becomes Italy; the mailman's, Britain. But it's clear she's desperate for a bigger life beyond the shores of her small town. As the streets of Big Running continue to empty Cora takes matters-and her family's shared destinies-into her own hands. In Our Homesick Songs, Emma Hooper paints a gorgeous portrait of the Connor family, brilliantly weaving together four different stories and two generations of Connors, full of wonder and hope. Não foram encontradas descrições de bibliotecas. |
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Google Books — A carregar... GénerosSistema Decimal de Melvil (DDC)813.6Literature English (North America) American fiction 21st CenturyClassificação da Biblioteca do Congresso dos EUA (LCC)AvaliaçãoMédia:
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