Archives
April 2005
4/30/05
4/30/05
4/30/05
4/30/05
4/30/05
4/29/05
4/28/05
4/25/05
4/24/05
4/24/05
4/23/05
4/22/05
4/21/05
4/21/05
4/21/05
4/20/05
4/19/05
4/19/05
4/19/05
4/18/05
The Secret of Hurricanes
4/17/05
4/16/05
4/16/05
4/16/05
4/14/05
4/14/05
4/14/05
4/13/05
4/12/05
4/11/05
4/11/05
4/11/05
4/11/05
4/10/05
4/10/05
4/7/05
4/6/05
4/6/05
4/6/05
4/5/05
4/5/05
4/4/05
4/3/05
4/3/05
4/3/05
4/2/05
4/2/05
4/2/05
4/2/05
4/1/05
4/1/05
Monday, April 18, 2005
12:37:00 AM CDT
Last week, I finished The Secret of Hurricanes by Theresa Williams-author. The first thing I want to say is wow. This is a beautiful book with a heartbreaking and hopeful story. It's easily read and can be finished quickly. I took my time though. I wanted to savor Theresa's language. Her poetic voice is strong, and there were times her words just carried me away on reveries of my own.
The main character, Pearl, is a middle aged loner, an eccentric, the object of gossip and former scandal, a woman on the verge of delivering a child with an unknown father. Pearl talks to her unborn daughter throughout the book and reveals her life history in bits and pieces that she weaves together like the rugs she sells to the tourist trade.
The image of weaving in the book was such a powerful one for me. Pearl takes rags and discards and puts them together into something whole. In her own way, she is sorting the pieces and putting them together. I couldn't help but love Pearl. I wanted to pull her, the young lonely girl, into a loving embrace. I wanted to take her home, feed her and share books with her. I wanted to let her know that there was more than the sand under her trailer and a man's greasy smile for comfort. As she grew into a young woman, my heart broke for her, and I wanted to rescue her from the events that left her scarred in so many ways. As a mature woman, I was proud of her. I saw her, the proud, pregnant loner in unfashionable floppy hats on the verge of delivering herself, whole and complete, as well as the daughter she bore.
Theresa has written in her journal about the honesty good writing requires. She practices what she preaches. The Secret of Hurricanes speaks with such an honest voice that it sometimes hurts. Some of the images are heartbreakingly sad and beautiful, like the ill and aging Cleopatra, a former neighbor of Pearl's, being surrounded by her family, fed on the sidewalk outside the restaurant because her wheelchair was too large to go inside, and Pearl's sad and broken mother, collecting snow for ice cream in a desperate grasp for momentary happiness, despite radiation warnings. The hurricane imagery itself is so strong and capturesso much of a recurrent theme of death and rebirth.
I simply loved this book. I know that I'm going to read it again.
Written by sistercdr Blog about this entry |
Add to del.icio.us | 
digg this
12:37:00 AM CDT
The Secret of Hurricanes
The main character, Pearl, is a middle aged loner, an eccentric, the object of gossip and former scandal, a woman on the verge of delivering a child with an unknown father. Pearl talks to her unborn daughter throughout the book and reveals her life history in bits and pieces that she weaves together like the rugs she sells to the tourist trade.
The image of weaving in the book was such a powerful one for me. Pearl takes rags and discards and puts them together into something whole. In her own way, she is sorting the pieces and putting them together. I couldn't help but love Pearl. I wanted to pull her, the young lonely girl, into a loving embrace. I wanted to take her home, feed her and share books with her. I wanted to let her know that there was more than the sand under her trailer and a man's greasy smile for comfort. As she grew into a young woman, my heart broke for her, and I wanted to rescue her from the events that left her scarred in so many ways. As a mature woman, I was proud of her. I saw her, the proud, pregnant loner in unfashionable floppy hats on the verge of delivering herself, whole and complete, as well as the daughter she bore.
Theresa has written in her journal about the honesty good writing requires. She practices what she preaches. The Secret of Hurricanes speaks with such an honest voice that it sometimes hurts. Some of the images are heartbreakingly sad and beautiful, like the ill and aging Cleopatra, a former neighbor of Pearl's, being surrounded by her family, fed on the sidewalk outside the restaurant because her wheelchair was too large to go inside, and Pearl's sad and broken mother, collecting snow for ice cream in a desperate grasp for momentary happiness, despite radiation warnings. The hurricane imagery itself is so strong and capturesso much of a recurrent theme of death and rebirth.
I simply loved this book. I know that I'm going to read it again.
Written by sistercdr Blog about this entry |
Add to del.icio.us | digg this
This entry has 12 comments: (Add your own)
-
i reviewed Theresa's novel in my book journal a couple of weeks ago,
journals.aol.com/marigolds2/TheBiblioPhiles/entries/817
and only had four commenters. i hope more than four people read the entry, but i don't really know how to get my book journal read. i often feel sad and blue about this, as well as completely discouraged. it is my personal favorite of the three journals i keep on AOL, but it languishes. any thoughts on how to change this? -
Sounds wonderful...I'll have to get it---thanks for the recommendation.
-
This sounds like a book I need to add to my ever growing books that I need to read! Thanks for the review!
http://journals.aol.com/gardenmantis/MidnightDiaries/ -
I hope they offer it on Amazon!
4/23/05 1:55 PM