Cliquer sur une vignette pour aller sur Google Books.
|
Chargement... The Beacon (original 2008; édition 2009)par Susan Hill
Information sur l'oeuvreThe Beacon par Susan Hill (2008)
   Top Five Books of 2015 (768) Actuellement, il n'y a pas de discussions au sujet de ce livre.  AlisonY | Oct 24, 2022 |    ) DougLasT | Apr 27, 2020 | This is the story of four siblings....one of whom moves to the city and writes a memoir of childhood abuse. Only it isn't true. This novel tells of the impact on the author and on his siblings. The ending...the very last line...hits like a punch to the heart. (  ) LynnB | Jan 16, 2015 |  ) Carolinejyoung | Dec 25, 2012 | I can strongly recommend this book. (  ) Ameise1 | Jul 23, 2012 |
 t is all done so well, so wisely, that this short book is richly satisfying. Hill's craftsmanship is masterly. We are always aware of the farming backdrop: the book begins with a superb evocation of rural hardship, whose inexorable rhythms read like pared-down Thomas Hardy. Within this is the story of May and the book becomes a near-Chekhovian story of dreams unfulfilled. Finally we reach Frank, who discovers in himself the ambitious desires that he cannot resist. Through him and his "truth-telling", The Beacon gradually reveals itself; and it is a little masterpiece. The Beacon uses a small canvas, but it examines larger issues of truth, mental health and memory. It is about the almost universal need to shake off the past to forge an adult identity, and it comments subtly on the dynamics of prescribed family roles. The child expected to escape is the one ultimately imprisoned by parental assumptions, male freedom contrasted with female duty. Ideas about wasted lives, about grinding exhaustion at the expense of self-expression and about rank injustice are all here in a novel of great structural and stylistic control.
The Prime children grew up in a bleak North Country farmhouse called the Beacon. Colin married and went to work on a neighbouring farm. Bernice married locally, too. May stayed behind at the Beacon, the spinster daughter looking after ageing parents. And then there was Frank, Frank who was always watching. Frank was the one who got away. He left for London and Fleet Street, but journalism was not enough. Frank wanted fame and money... and he got them, by writing about his old home, his family, his past - as he remembers it... Aucune description trouvée dans une bibliothèque |
Discussion en coursAucunCouvertures populaires
 Google Books — Chargement...GenresClassification décimale de Melvil (CDD)823.914Literature English & Old English literatures English fiction Modern Period 1901-1999 1945-1999Classification de la Bibliothèque du CongrèsÉvaluationMoyenne: (3.71)
Est-ce vous ?Devenez un(e) auteur LibraryThing. |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
7
The Beacon is a house in rural north of England. May, who was the child who stayed at home with her parents through adulthood, is facing a new beginning as the last of her parents dies. As she contemplates the future, we're drawn into the missed chances of her youth and a mystery surrounding her brother Frank.
This isn't a book that's going to be on my best of the year list, but sometimes I'm just really in the mood for these quiet books which are all about the setting and memorable characters.
4 stars - not one I'm likely to think about too much in the future, but an enjoyable read nonetheless. (