The Peppered Moth Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)At the back of the book Margaret Drabble gives her apologia for writing THE PEPPERED MOTH. She explains that while writing it she thought mostly of her mother and in what ways the character of Bessie is and is not like her. This is interesting in the same way that gossip is interesting: it's unnecessary but somehow vital.
Apart from the apologia, the novel stands on its own. The story concentrates on a Yorkshire community which is presently being traced back to its origins. All kinds of contemporary images are placed against antique ones: DNA samples, a lecture on heredity, environmentalists, journalists, and computer specialists lie in answer to the ash of a turn-of-the-century mining town, Cambridge, poverty, new and inherited wealth and prickly class differences. An environmentalist discovers an ancient corpse believed to be the oldest thread of this community. Through several generations the lives, loves and relations of four women are traced. The story may wander and the reader may be in danger of getting lost in the details but it never flags. Perhaps too many sociological issues are brought into play but the attempt to link the past to the present, and the present to the past, keeps this novel moving.

Click Here to see more reviews about: The Peppered Moth

Get 60% OFF

Click here for more information about The Peppered Moth

Read More...

Angels & Insects: Two Novellas Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Shimmering beauty and shocking sensuality are the only phrases to adequately describe A.S. Byatt's Angels and Insects.
Although this novella really encompasses two distinct stories, my comments focus on Morpho Eugenia, my favorite of the two, and, in my opinion, by far the superior.
Set more than a century ago, in Victorian England, Angels and Insects (Morpho Eugenia) follows the life of William Adamson, a naturalist who has spent years of research in the jungles of South America.
A shipwreck sends him to the home of his benefactor, the Reverend Harald Alabaster, an amateur insect collector of enormous wealth.
Upon arriving at Alabaster's sumptuous country estate, poor William instantly falls in love with Alabaster's eldest daughter, Eugenia, a weak and wan, but still golden, beauty.
Although Eugenia appears to be out of his reach, William embarks upon a shy courtship and is more than a little surprised when his proposal of marriage is accepted. And, on their wedding night, the usually distant, aloof and somewhat mysterious Eugenia has even more surprises in store. Surprises William soon comes to savor.
Complicating matters is Eugenia's brother, a socially misfit snob who takes an instant dislike to William and talks incessantly of children who grow up sans the proper breeding...breeding poor William's genes cannot provide, of course.
Eugenia, herself, soon begins to show a darker side as her mood swings from lustful to ravenous to passionate to melancholy. Feeling a bit over his head in this baronial estate, William begins to experience somewhat of an attraction to his drab and dull, but very intelligent, assistant.
Angels and Insects is a fascinating book and, as always, Byatt lets us become intimately involved with her characters.
The real triumph though, lies in the book's symbolism. The Victorians were fascinated with the insect world and Byatt uses this fascination to refect the social order of the times: the women are doted on by servants as if they were queen bees and colonies of ants mirror the red and black jackets worn during a fox hunt.
Angels and Insects takes a fascinatingly intimate look at the quirkiest of families, one whose secrets and prejudices simply cannot be dismissed.
It is William's drab assistant who sums up the book's theme. "There are three kinds of people in this house: the visible, the invisible and the in between." Angels and Insects is a lyrically sensual portrait of the fascinating world of the in between.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Angels & Insects: Two Novellas

Get 32% OFF

Click here for more information about Angels & Insects: Two Novellas

Read More...

Prodigal Summer: A Novel Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)If you ever wanted to get a greater appreciation of nature, predators and their prey, and survival of the fittest, then you'll probably really enjoy Kingsolver's latest book. I was totally in awe of her knowledge, most of which I'm sure did not come just through research. The jacket cover mentions that she earned a graduate degree in biology before becoming a full-time author. This is quite evident throughout and it becomes obvious to the reader that this is a labor of love on her part. Let's put it this way -- if ever I was a contestant on the millionaire show and a biology question came up, I'd want Barbara Kingsolver as my "phone a friend."
What is a prodigal summer? The author describes it as the "season of extravagant procreation" and, from that point, the story begins. This procreation will be experienced by all different forms of life found within these pages.
Kingsolver, who so beautifully told her Poisonwood Bible story through the eyes of the four daughters and their mother, uses this same writing style once again in Prodigal Summer. This time though, the chapters aren't headed with the characters' names but instead are indicated by their particular field of interest.
The Predators section describes Deanna Wolfe, working for the forest service and living by herself in an isolated cabin. She has also penned a thesis on coyotes and it's her dream to come across this predator in her small world in the Appalachian Mountains.
Moth Love is devoted to Lusa Landowski, a young, beautiful city girl who has studied entomology and is now a bug expert and lover. She also inherits a farm and has to decide whether to stay in Zebulon Valley and commit to that lifestyle or return to Lexington, Kentucky.
Old Chestnuts explores the relationship between Garnett Walker, an 80 year old widow, and his love affair with the chestnut tree. During his lifetime, he is trying to recreate this almost extinct tree type within his Zebulon Valley region. Added to this mission is his love/hate relationship with his neighbor, 75 year old Nannie Rawley, and owner of an organic apple orchard.
Midway through the book, the connections between these individuals begin to surface as you know they would. Just as subtly, the connections between the underlying characters and their particular love of nature is explored. How to poison things without using poison? How predation is a sacrament? How birds never doubt their place at the center of the universe? How moths speak to each other via scent? How every quiet step is thunder to beetle life underfoot? These are just a fraction of the questions Kingsolver poses -- all the answers lie within these pages.
Barbara Kingsolver once again leaves the reader with food for thought. I guarantee that, after reading this book, you will never look at a moth the same way as you did before and probably won't kill another spider. For as she explains, "every choice is a world made new for the chosen." So if you, as the predator, choose not to kill a lesser life form, there begins a new life for that "prey" or that chosen species.
Since I would never categorize myself as someone who is "into nature", on an enjoyment scale I would only have rated this book with four stars. The fact that it is so well-written, with fabulous character development, well-researched content, and extraordinary subject knowledge by the author, it positively deserves a five star rating.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Prodigal Summer: A Novel

Get 35% OFF

Click here for more information about Prodigal Summer: A Novel

Read More...