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3.25 AVERAGE
3.25 AVERAGE
Eighty pages read, and still not much of a story. The golden bowl....
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
adventurous
informative
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A generations saga, following the life of Tommy (nee Thelma, but also aka Katherine and Grammy) as she is brought out West by her mother Glenna, left in the care of others to help raise her younger sister Katherine (yes, the names get confusing). This is all framed by the current generation's looking through the house in Maine that they need to empty out, and trying to piece together the real from the hyperbolic and fantastical in the stories they've been told about their foremothers.
I would have appreciated a bit more of the framing, with the "oh, so here's this story we've been told and here's the truth" highlighted. Instead, it's mostly Tommy's story with the framing occasionally interspersed. And while this may be loosely based on the author's family, that story wasn't exciting enough to keep my interest above a "meh."
eARC provided by publisher.
I would have appreciated a bit more of the framing, with the "oh, so here's this story we've been told and here's the truth" highlighted. Instead, it's mostly Tommy's story with the framing occasionally interspersed. And while this may be loosely based on the author's family, that story wasn't exciting enough to keep my interest above a "meh."
eARC provided by publisher.
So this is the third book I've read in 2022 that I categorize as "narrative nonfiction masquerading as fiction." Or maybe vice-versa. Anyway. Violeta was a bomb (and I'm a huge Allende fan so it kills me to say that); the Troubleseeker was better, but it couldn't sustain itself; An Elegant Woman is by far the most successful. Still, while I thought the writing was spectacular, I found the book organized very strangely. Jumping all over in time in between the first person present narrator and the events of the past. There are a lot of characters to keep track of but their development was excellent. The writing sustained me through the convoluted storyline. I enjoyed reading this but it did take effort.
An Elegant Woman is a story about Stewart sisters and their mother Glenna. The author has drawn stories from her own life and the characters are wonderfully written. I couldn't relate to them, but I could feel them. This is my first multigenerational family story. I was surprised that I loved it. If you want to read heavy, emotional women's fiction, pick this one. Not an easy or fast read, but definitely an inspiring one about what we choose to remember/tell about our own lives!
Thank you NetGalley, Martha McPhee and Scribner for letting me read and review this memorable book. This review is my own and is not influenced in any way.
Thank you NetGalley, Martha McPhee and Scribner for letting me read and review this memorable book. This review is my own and is not influenced in any way.
What is a life? How do we make a life? Who are we, really? What is our family history -- really? Great storytelling.
This inter generational family saga draws you in. You get to know the characters, love some, hate some, admire some, feel sorry for some. The fact that it is based on the women of the author's family made it such a joy to read. The message of the growing empowerment for women threaded throughout here is done with subtle grace and love.
The setting, characters and situations rang completely true to me. All the choices we make and the consequences we endure. McPhee’s book is a triumph. Not many novels can elevate the struggle of ordinary lives into the epic tales they deserve to be, but Ms. McPhee accomplishes this with class. This is a fascinating book that deserves to be read more than once. A beautiful, emotional ride. I could not put the book down and did not want the story to end.
Thank you NetGalley, Scribner and Martha McPhee for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an impartial review; all opinions are my own.
#AnElegantWoman #NetGalley
The setting, characters and situations rang completely true to me. All the choices we make and the consequences we endure. McPhee’s book is a triumph. Not many novels can elevate the struggle of ordinary lives into the epic tales they deserve to be, but Ms. McPhee accomplishes this with class. This is a fascinating book that deserves to be read more than once. A beautiful, emotional ride. I could not put the book down and did not want the story to end.
Thank you NetGalley, Scribner and Martha McPhee for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an impartial review; all opinions are my own.
#AnElegantWoman #NetGalley
I have to admit that I love thinking about my grandmothers and great-grandmothers — all they overcame and accomplished. My office is filled with their heirlooms: a quilt, painting, and hope chest. I am inspired and feel loved when I create in this space and think of their stories. My obsession with my family led me to pick up a new release by Martha McPhee.
AN ELEGANT WOMAN is a fictional story based on McPhee’s own family history. It is a fluid, poetic tale about many generations of one family of women. The book begins with the granddaughter/narrator sorting through her grandmother’s belongings and considering the faultiness of stories and memories — is a story only true if it is factually accurate? Or can a story carry the essence of truth with muddled (but fully felt) details?
From there the reader follows the narrator’s great-grandmother, grandmother, and mother’s stories through the 1900s and all over the United States (OH, MT, ME, etc.). McPhee gets at the heart of these women, their desires and fears, and explores what it means to forge a life — what can you reject or claim as your own? What is unavoidable?
The stories contain great details but there is a sort of “film” felt between the reader and the story — like these are epics passed down from one woman to another and their structures are hazy. The writing is lyrical and contains beautiful lines about memory and truth and story.
I think if you like character-driven stories, poetic writing, and books that explore the concept of truth and memory — you may find a new favorite story in AN ELEGANT WOMAN.
AN ELEGANT WOMAN is a fictional story based on McPhee’s own family history. It is a fluid, poetic tale about many generations of one family of women. The book begins with the granddaughter/narrator sorting through her grandmother’s belongings and considering the faultiness of stories and memories — is a story only true if it is factually accurate? Or can a story carry the essence of truth with muddled (but fully felt) details?
From there the reader follows the narrator’s great-grandmother, grandmother, and mother’s stories through the 1900s and all over the United States (OH, MT, ME, etc.). McPhee gets at the heart of these women, their desires and fears, and explores what it means to forge a life — what can you reject or claim as your own? What is unavoidable?
The stories contain great details but there is a sort of “film” felt between the reader and the story — like these are epics passed down from one woman to another and their structures are hazy. The writing is lyrical and contains beautiful lines about memory and truth and story.
I think if you like character-driven stories, poetic writing, and books that explore the concept of truth and memory — you may find a new favorite story in AN ELEGANT WOMAN.
I love a good multi-generational saga, so I was very excited to get an ARC of this book and even more pleased when it turned out to be a brilliant one.
I was immediately drawn in to this story: from the beginning, we know that Isadora’s ‘Grammy,’ variously known throughout the book as Thelma, Tommy, and Katherine, was quite the character, regaling her young granddaughters with incredible ancestry and rich family stories. The narrative skips around a lot, starting when we move from the granddaughters sorting through their late grandma’s things to Tommy as a 6-year-old child whose mother, Glenna, takes her two young daughters with her, leaving her husband in Ohio and heading west for a new life in 1910. Glenna is not a good mother, and leaves her very young children to be raised by others and then by themselves. Tommy cares for and raises her little sister, Katherine, and then makes her own way in the world.
There is an underlying theme of falseness throughout this story. Life is messy, and people tell lies and embellish. Even the most elegant woman has history and secrets. Tommy takes her sister’s name, her sister takes a different name, Glenna does what she pleases without much regard for her daughters, telling lies and leaving things out as she makes her way. Winter has her secrets, including a secret love, a difficult relationship with her mom, and a complicated family of her own. Isadora’s generation, with the help of a great uncle, try to piece their colorful family history together and separate the truth from the fantasy.
McPhee’s writing is gorgeous and vivid: the descriptions of the various settings are lushly detailed and the characters are well-drawn. So much intricate information is thrown at the reader, along with a cast of unique characters spanning over more than a century, and yet somehow the plot, timelines, and various narratives are easy to follow. Beyond that, the story is enthralling. I couldn’t stop reading once I got started. The only possible complaint I could have are that some stories end almost too soon—I was left wanting just a bit more time with some characters, but I suppose that’s how life is, with the inevitability of time.
Some of my favorite quotes come from near the end of the novel, and are about human life, death, and the histories of us:
“And just like that, a life is over—the urgencies, the fights, the stories, the sweet peas, the rattlesnakes, the attempts to make something of it, bend it and stretch it and configure it with our wills, give it a narrative, a history, a story, to make it amount to something.”
“Close your eyes. Imagine our historic moment, all that it entails. Imagine a thousand years from now what someone would write about it. Would it fill a sentence? A paragraph, at most? One sentence tells the history of us gathered here today, our lives now so rich in detail, filled with love and hate and joy and dramas. We, all of us, are reduced to a sentence, crushed and overpowered and hidden behind the flimsy weight of that sentence.”
An Elegant Woman is about women: mothers, daughters, sisters, grandmothers, friends. It’s about complicated relationships and history and messy, real family; doing your own thing and still owning your piece of what came before you. I absolutely love the cover, and think it perfectly expresses the themes of the book.
Thanks to the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for my copy in exchange for my honest review.
I was immediately drawn in to this story: from the beginning, we know that Isadora’s ‘Grammy,’ variously known throughout the book as Thelma, Tommy, and Katherine, was quite the character, regaling her young granddaughters with incredible ancestry and rich family stories. The narrative skips around a lot, starting when we move from the granddaughters sorting through their late grandma’s things to Tommy as a 6-year-old child whose mother, Glenna, takes her two young daughters with her, leaving her husband in Ohio and heading west for a new life in 1910. Glenna is not a good mother, and leaves her very young children to be raised by others and then by themselves. Tommy cares for and raises her little sister, Katherine, and then makes her own way in the world.
There is an underlying theme of falseness throughout this story. Life is messy, and people tell lies and embellish. Even the most elegant woman has history and secrets. Tommy takes her sister’s name, her sister takes a different name, Glenna does what she pleases without much regard for her daughters, telling lies and leaving things out as she makes her way. Winter has her secrets, including a secret love, a difficult relationship with her mom, and a complicated family of her own. Isadora’s generation, with the help of a great uncle, try to piece their colorful family history together and separate the truth from the fantasy.
McPhee’s writing is gorgeous and vivid: the descriptions of the various settings are lushly detailed and the characters are well-drawn. So much intricate information is thrown at the reader, along with a cast of unique characters spanning over more than a century, and yet somehow the plot, timelines, and various narratives are easy to follow. Beyond that, the story is enthralling. I couldn’t stop reading once I got started. The only possible complaint I could have are that some stories end almost too soon—I was left wanting just a bit more time with some characters, but I suppose that’s how life is, with the inevitability of time.
Some of my favorite quotes come from near the end of the novel, and are about human life, death, and the histories of us:
“And just like that, a life is over—the urgencies, the fights, the stories, the sweet peas, the rattlesnakes, the attempts to make something of it, bend it and stretch it and configure it with our wills, give it a narrative, a history, a story, to make it amount to something.”
“Close your eyes. Imagine our historic moment, all that it entails. Imagine a thousand years from now what someone would write about it. Would it fill a sentence? A paragraph, at most? One sentence tells the history of us gathered here today, our lives now so rich in detail, filled with love and hate and joy and dramas. We, all of us, are reduced to a sentence, crushed and overpowered and hidden behind the flimsy weight of that sentence.”
An Elegant Woman is about women: mothers, daughters, sisters, grandmothers, friends. It’s about complicated relationships and history and messy, real family; doing your own thing and still owning your piece of what came before you. I absolutely love the cover, and think it perfectly expresses the themes of the book.
Thanks to the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for my copy in exchange for my honest review.