Away jane urquhart summary. Review: Away by Jane Urquhart 2022-10-13
Away jane urquhart summary Rating:
9,8/10
178
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Away is a novel by Canadian author Jane Urquhart that tells the story of several generations of a family who are connected by their love of a house on the shore of Lake Ontario. The novel begins in the early 20th century, when the house is built by a young couple, Laura and Lawrence Fleet. Laura is a talented artist who becomes consumed by her desire to capture the beauty of the lake and the surrounding landscape in her paintings. Lawrence, a scientist, is equally devoted to the house and the land, and together they create a home that becomes a refuge for their family and a source of inspiration for their creative endeavors.
As the novel unfolds, we see the house and its surroundings through the eyes of various members of the Fleet family, each of whom has their own unique relationship with the place. The house becomes a source of comfort and solace for these characters as they navigate the challenges of life, including loss, love, and betrayal.
One of the central themes of Away is the idea of home and how it shapes our identity. For the Fleet family, the house on the lake is more than just a physical structure; it is a place that holds deep emotional and spiritual significance. It is a place where they can be themselves and find refuge from the outside world.
Another important theme in the novel is the role of art and creativity in our lives. For Laura, her art is a way of expressing her deepest feelings and connecting with the natural world. It is also a way of preserving memories and capturing the beauty of the fleeting moments of life.
Overall, Away is a beautifully written and poignant novel that explores the enduring bonds of family, the power of place, and the transformative nature of art. It is a testament to the enduring strength of the human spirit and the enduring value of home.
Away
One day when I'd wandered farther than usual down the length of the valley I came across a bit of architecture that I decided was the very essence of John- 47 Quite significantly, the isolated construction is a wall which, instead of erecting a barrier between outwardness and inwardness, between sky and earth or between water and moorland, epitomizes the free harmonious exchanges between the natural elements. In the first story, a short stay in Yorkshire helps bring about the dissolution into space of a broken, fragmented self. And at the same time, we have the story of her great-grandmother, Mary, who cha Away is the second of the Canada Reads 2013 books to arrive from the library, and after being somewhat disappointed by Lisa Moore's February, I was a little worried when I cracked this one open. Katie SYKES, "Inside Other Worlds: An Interview", Quarry, Vol. For three unknowns to manage it in a single year was unheard of.
This is the story of Irish immigrants who move to Canada during the famine. She was a member and founder of the Settlement House Movement. Yet, unlike Peter Pan, John did not attempt to retrieve his shadowy double by slipping into the narrator's room. I looked directly into the face of the moon which was framed directly, dead centre, in the single pane of glass. It somehow misses feeling quite real. Graceful and moving, Away unites the personal and the political as it explores the most private, often darkest corners of our emotions where the things that root us to ourselves endure.
Wolfgang ISER, "The Reading Process, a Phenomenological Approach", in The Implied Reader , The Johns Hopkins University, 1974, pp. In both stories, the trip to Europe stretches the limitations of the self. Let me start by saying that I really loved Jane Urquhart's The Stone Carvers. There were so many passages that I reread to truly appreciate their beauty that you could say I read this book one and a half times. Feel free to participate by suggesting books to review and giving your comments.
She has a way of creating a scene that entirely surrounds you, all of the senses are involved, such that the novel stays with you long after you set it down. It began interestingly enough with a view of life during the potato famine in Ireland, something my own Irish ancestors endured. They establish a homestead in a remote part of Ontario where a baby girl, Eileen, is born. Retrieved 29 July 2018. But it floored me when my mother-in-law once informed me that although she always knew her grandfather came from Tipperary, she had just learned that he wasn't Irish-- he was a Brit who had bought land in Ireland in the mid-1800's, sold it at a profit, and then made his way to Canada.
They are spaces that are closed to her and she knows it. I am not told how to review them or compensated in any way for the review. To that extent, "the cottage's John" heralds the "faery lover" of Away with whom Moira, that is Mary's "other self", is to stay despite the façade of a mundane life. You see, John's shadow was always in my luggage, and no matter how far I ran or where I ended up, that shadow ended up there too. The girls at school are not very nice to her at all.
Powerful, intricate, lyrical, Away is an unforgettable novel. . With Brian, Mary finds a measure of contentment, especially after the birth of their son, Liam. As Clara mentally reconstructs Chiara's hardships and sufferings, she blends in her own pains with the Saint's, thus defining a sort of in-between persona or second self that is neither Clara nor Chiara. The devastating consequences include a political assassination and the birth of their love child, who must be raised by Liam and his wife. The play ends up being a total disaster and leaves April devastated, leaving her disconnected from Frank, her husband, and her neighbors, Milly and Shep Campbell afterwards.
There is constant reference to the poetry in the souls of the Irish people and that poetry is reflected in the style of the novel itself. But once you add in the magical realism aspect of "away", I got lost. At point I was so embarrassed by this book that I almost decided it wasn't worth my time. Italy was to be associated with various sensations: the gaudy colours of postcards depicting virtually surreal sceneries, the strange consonances of "cumbersome words such as basilica, portcullis, Etruscan and Vesuvius", oddly mingled with the pungent odour of the mustard concoctions biting into the skin. It may also explain why I am open to stories that involve the unseen behind the seen; whether faerie-folk or manitou. A saga featuring four generations of women, this illuminates the distress of the Irish peasantry during the 1840s Potato Famine and their settlement in Canada and political activism Fenianism in the two decades that followed.
I wasn't sure that his shadow wasn't my own, that I hadn't sewn it onto the toes of the wrong body by mistake. Three stars are for books that are above average in terms of writing but basically run of the mill -- I put most mysteries and thrillers in this category. The beginning was very interesting with the hint of the supernatural, but the whole fact that Mary's "away-ness" permeated the text made it lose realism for me and made me scoff at times. It was part of their destiny. I appreciated the character of Liam, a pragmatic down to earth soul, born into a family of otherworldly types. I read it awhile ago, but decided to reread it when I saw it was a finalist for Canada Reads. After having read the nonfiction Away reads like a realistic and well-researched account of the early pioneers to Canada.
Italian Postcards , p. This precise moment is also the starting point of the writing process, since the repressed scream is to dissolve into meaning. Beyond that, I found the book a struggle to finish. And then there are the elements that belong to us, song of wind, tint of moonlight until morning. Not quite sure when this magical time would be, though! I know that haunted feeling. I know that electric shock from the simple brush of a hand in passing, a shock you foolishly cherish and never forget.
