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nataliemeree's review against another edition
4.0
Oh this is just lovely. This is all about love. About how love can sit with you forever. How love takes away the pain. How it can be shared so deeply with memories. How the need for love takes you to corners you didn't know existed before. And how what you are supposed to do can not always be what you need.
This book was incredibly sad to me. But strangely I didn't leave this book wanting to sit in a corner. There was this strange, uplifting take away for me. Like something I could put into practice. A tale of what not to do if you like.
This is also my first Charlotte Wood. The anticipation of whether I would like the "hyped" author has left this book sitting on my shelf for such a long time. But no longer. I am a Charlotte Wood fan. And her books will no longer linger on my shelves.
This book was incredibly sad to me. But strangely I didn't leave this book wanting to sit in a corner. There was this strange, uplifting take away for me. Like something I could put into practice. A tale of what not to do if you like.
This is also my first Charlotte Wood. The anticipation of whether I would like the "hyped" author has left this book sitting on my shelf for such a long time. But no longer. I am a Charlotte Wood fan. And her books will no longer linger on my shelves.
jaclyn_sixminutesforme's review against another edition
4.0
If you’re looking for a character rich narrative, casting its examination of self into the deep recesses of a love so all-encompassing that it both divides and unites, this is the book for you.
Told across multiple points in time, we follow Martin and Jocelyn - the initial section of the book honesty just felt electric to read. The sentence construction was lush and vivid and felt like the reader was tapped into the same love-drunk pulse of these two people. Their energy made this part of the book completely mesmerising, and in many ways I felt that I craved a return to that throughout the rest of the story. There was a symbiosis to their characterisations that I don’t think they had individually - this lull in energy felt incredibly fitting for the narrative though, in many ways their story examines the depths of love and the tidal ebbs it makes across a lifetime. It says alot about love being greater than just the sum of two individual lives, it instead occupying this liminal space.
What I found exceptional was the intricately layered way that the natural world was called on by Wood to add nuance to this love story. A love story that isn’t linear or always happy or easy. Jocelyn tends to the gardens in her life, both literally and in her editing, as Martin uses his hands to heal and bring sustenance. His work as a doctor, his providing fish to eat - or the absence of his ability to do these things. This is such a quiet novel in that it mostly focuses on Martin and Jocelyn - the ways they lose momentum but stay in an orbit with one another as life tumbles them around through reckonings with faith and family.
There were some elements of other parts of the narrative that I would have loved to see developed more - the way Ellen is written in the first part of the narrative sees her shadowed (arguably, appropriately) once Sandra becomes this familial beacon for Jocelyn. I felt there was a lot of groundwork laid in Ellen’s narrative that never really needed to bloom - and by the same measure amidst the imagery of the natural world there were passing references to Australian history that left me reaching for more as a reader, vernacular that perhaps accurately typified the racism and language of white settlers in the 1960s particularly but had an unexamined feel coming to this book in 2021 (some 17 years after it was first published too).
If anyone can recommend some reviews/interviews discussing this one please leave them below, I’m fascinated to read more about this book and how other readers found it!
Told across multiple points in time, we follow Martin and Jocelyn - the initial section of the book honesty just felt electric to read. The sentence construction was lush and vivid and felt like the reader was tapped into the same love-drunk pulse of these two people. Their energy made this part of the book completely mesmerising, and in many ways I felt that I craved a return to that throughout the rest of the story. There was a symbiosis to their characterisations that I don’t think they had individually - this lull in energy felt incredibly fitting for the narrative though, in many ways their story examines the depths of love and the tidal ebbs it makes across a lifetime. It says alot about love being greater than just the sum of two individual lives, it instead occupying this liminal space.
What I found exceptional was the intricately layered way that the natural world was called on by Wood to add nuance to this love story. A love story that isn’t linear or always happy or easy. Jocelyn tends to the gardens in her life, both literally and in her editing, as Martin uses his hands to heal and bring sustenance. His work as a doctor, his providing fish to eat - or the absence of his ability to do these things. This is such a quiet novel in that it mostly focuses on Martin and Jocelyn - the ways they lose momentum but stay in an orbit with one another as life tumbles them around through reckonings with faith and family.
There were some elements of other parts of the narrative that I would have loved to see developed more - the way Ellen is written in the first part of the narrative sees her shadowed (arguably, appropriately) once Sandra becomes this familial beacon for Jocelyn. I felt there was a lot of groundwork laid in Ellen’s narrative that never really needed to bloom - and by the same measure amidst the imagery of the natural world there were passing references to Australian history that left me reaching for more as a reader, vernacular that perhaps accurately typified the racism and language of white settlers in the 1960s particularly but had an unexamined feel coming to this book in 2021 (some 17 years after it was first published too).
If anyone can recommend some reviews/interviews discussing this one please leave them below, I’m fascinated to read more about this book and how other readers found it!
tasmanian_bibliophile's review against another edition
4.0
‘Love is stronger than death .’
There are four parts to this novel, as it touches on the lives of Martin and Jocelyn. The key years are 1963, 1964, 1975 and 1984.
In 1963, Martin and Jocelyn meet, and fall in love. Jocelyn has a home in the mountains, Martin has a home near a Sydney beach. While Jocelyn is happy to live with Martin, she doesn’t want to marry.
'She held out her own hand and put it into his, and he held it fast, and as she stepped across that gap she knew her childhood was finished.’
Martin is a doctor. Jocelyn has a contract to proofread ‘The Completed Illustrated Encyclopedia of Australia’. She is halfway through her contract and up to volume six. Those parts of the Encyclopaedia dedicated to Australian fauna particularly interest Jocelyn and inspire her to create a garden. Martin and Jocelyn are happy together, in their own form of paradise. And then, Jocelyn receives a letter. Her older sister Ellen is coming home, bringing her small daughter and is three months pregnant. Ellen is leaving her husband.
Jocelyn returns to the mountains and, while Martin visits, Jocelyn’s focus on Ellen and her daughter leave little time and space for Jocelyn and Martin. Ellen decides to return to her husband in the UK, Jocelyn decides to go with her. She tells Martin. What happens to two people who are meant to be together but are separated? The first part of the story occupies the first half of the novel. In the remaining parts of the novel we see first Martin and then Jocelyn as they struggle to find meaning in their lives. Martin seeks isolation, Jocelyn undertakes a form of pilgrimage.
Years later, Jocelyn returns to Australia and finds a place to establish her garden. And Martin?
This is one of those beautifully written novels where each word seems to have been perfectly positioned. I needed to read slowly, to absorb the writing, but wanted to read quickly to find out how it would end. At various stages I was angry with each of the main characters (and especially with Ellen). I wanted Martin and Jocelyn to find happiness without some of the painful journeying that each was required to do. I wanted images of barren desert, an absence of belief (in self) and the sense of desertion replaced with fruitful gardens, with beauty and a sense of belonging.
This is a novel which invites the reader to feel, to experience what Jocelyn and Martin are going through, and to think about why. It is also a novel which, one day, I will reread.
‘Is a garden always a gift?’
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
There are four parts to this novel, as it touches on the lives of Martin and Jocelyn. The key years are 1963, 1964, 1975 and 1984.
In 1963, Martin and Jocelyn meet, and fall in love. Jocelyn has a home in the mountains, Martin has a home near a Sydney beach. While Jocelyn is happy to live with Martin, she doesn’t want to marry.
'She held out her own hand and put it into his, and he held it fast, and as she stepped across that gap she knew her childhood was finished.’
Martin is a doctor. Jocelyn has a contract to proofread ‘The Completed Illustrated Encyclopedia of Australia’. She is halfway through her contract and up to volume six. Those parts of the Encyclopaedia dedicated to Australian fauna particularly interest Jocelyn and inspire her to create a garden. Martin and Jocelyn are happy together, in their own form of paradise. And then, Jocelyn receives a letter. Her older sister Ellen is coming home, bringing her small daughter and is three months pregnant. Ellen is leaving her husband.
Jocelyn returns to the mountains and, while Martin visits, Jocelyn’s focus on Ellen and her daughter leave little time and space for Jocelyn and Martin. Ellen decides to return to her husband in the UK, Jocelyn decides to go with her. She tells Martin. What happens to two people who are meant to be together but are separated? The first part of the story occupies the first half of the novel. In the remaining parts of the novel we see first Martin and then Jocelyn as they struggle to find meaning in their lives. Martin seeks isolation, Jocelyn undertakes a form of pilgrimage.
Years later, Jocelyn returns to Australia and finds a place to establish her garden. And Martin?
This is one of those beautifully written novels where each word seems to have been perfectly positioned. I needed to read slowly, to absorb the writing, but wanted to read quickly to find out how it would end. At various stages I was angry with each of the main characters (and especially with Ellen). I wanted Martin and Jocelyn to find happiness without some of the painful journeying that each was required to do. I wanted images of barren desert, an absence of belief (in self) and the sense of desertion replaced with fruitful gardens, with beauty and a sense of belonging.
This is a novel which invites the reader to feel, to experience what Jocelyn and Martin are going through, and to think about why. It is also a novel which, one day, I will reread.
‘Is a garden always a gift?’
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
rhodaj's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 stars
Jocelyn meets Martin near her home in the Blue Mountains and they fall in love. When Martin has to go back to Sydney, he asks Jocelyn to marry him. She refuses, but does agree to go and live with him - which is a little scandalous in 1963.
When Jocelyn’s sister Ellen decides she is leaving her husband in London and returning to Australia, Jocelyn decides she must go back to the Blue Mountains to live with her and Martin agrees to join them on the weekends. But after Ellen decides to return to London after some time, Jocelyn decides she must go with her...leaving Martin behind. What follows is twenty years of their lives apart, but never really forgetting the other.
Whilst the writing in this book is beautiful, it was almost a frustrating read due to Jocelyn and Martin being so passive and never communicating effectively. I was also frustrated by Jocelyn’s self sacrificing behavior with her sister Ellen, who more or less treated her as her personal slave.
The book also took a rather strange turn in the middle, which to me didn’t feel right for the character of Martin, however I suppose I never got a great sense of the real Martin, so perhaps it was. It just seemed strange and rather abrupt and made me feel like I was reading a completely different book.
That aside, there were lovely descriptions of gardens and plants in the book, as Jocelyn worked to create the garden of her dreams. There were many beautiful elements in the book, however I do have to say that I enjoyed the first half better than the second half of it. ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
Jocelyn meets Martin near her home in the Blue Mountains and they fall in love. When Martin has to go back to Sydney, he asks Jocelyn to marry him. She refuses, but does agree to go and live with him - which is a little scandalous in 1963.
When Jocelyn’s sister Ellen decides she is leaving her husband in London and returning to Australia, Jocelyn decides she must go back to the Blue Mountains to live with her and Martin agrees to join them on the weekends. But after Ellen decides to return to London after some time, Jocelyn decides she must go with her...leaving Martin behind. What follows is twenty years of their lives apart, but never really forgetting the other.
Whilst the writing in this book is beautiful, it was almost a frustrating read due to Jocelyn and Martin being so passive and never communicating effectively. I was also frustrated by Jocelyn’s self sacrificing behavior with her sister Ellen, who more or less treated her as her personal slave.
The book also took a rather strange turn in the middle, which to me didn’t feel right for the character of Martin, however I suppose I never got a great sense of the real Martin, so perhaps it was. It just seemed strange and rather abrupt and made me feel like I was reading a completely different book.
That aside, there were lovely descriptions of gardens and plants in the book, as Jocelyn worked to create the garden of her dreams. There were many beautiful elements in the book, however I do have to say that I enjoyed the first half better than the second half of it. ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
mandi_m's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Beautifully written and a novel I will keep thinking about.
sarahxify's review
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
This was beautiful. A story about Jocelyn and Martin, who start off together but are eventually torn apart by circumstance. They each feel so much grief that they can no longer connect with each other, although they each desperately want to.
Eventually they separate, and then you follow them individually as each learns to live without the other. It's an exploration of grief, of guilt, of relationships.
This story and characters has stayed with me in the days after I have read this. Maybe the first writer I've ever come across who I would even slightly compare to Donna Tartt.
Eventually they separate, and then you follow them individually as each learns to live without the other. It's an exploration of grief, of guilt, of relationships.
This story and characters has stayed with me in the days after I have read this. Maybe the first writer I've ever come across who I would even slightly compare to Donna Tartt.
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