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Title: The Seven Sisters by Margaret Drabble ISBN: 0-15-602875-1 Publisher: Harvest Books Pub. Date: 13 October, 2003 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.19 (16 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: Weird Sisters
Comment: What a great idea - making a late-middle-aged woman the "heroine" of a novel! If only Candida had been a more likeable heroine ... or a much *less* likeable heroine, for that matter.
I can only agree with other reviewers that the characterisation in The Seven Sisters is *excellent* ... but the narrator, Candida, strikes me as bland to the point of being irritating. I agree with Candida's own mild puzzlement that she managed to make and keep friends who, afterall, "didn't have to bother with [her]". I don't know why they did bother with her. And yet, people practically flock to Candida. The source of her apparent charisma remains a mystery to me.
The book is peppered with tantalising hints and significant little details. And Candida's friends - who make up "the seven sisters" - really are a colourful, vibrant, and diverse bunch of older women.
The thing that disappointed me most about this book was a dramatic shift and twist towards the end. I won't give the plot away - suffice to say I felt *betrayed*, which tells you just how absorbed I really had been in the story!
Rating: 5
Summary: Delightful; a great intro to Margaret Drabble
Comment: This was my first Margaret Drabble novel although I have heard of her, and had a feeling I would enjoy her work. The Seven Sisters is such clever fiction. The story is told in four parts. The first part is in the main character's words - Candida keeps a diary after her divorce and her move to a London flat. I enjoyed this part very much, and was totally surprised with one particular part to come later on in the story. The book is serious, I suppose, but there were many laugh-out-loud moments in it. I highly recommend The Seven Sisters. Her style reminds me of Carol Shields, especially her novel Larry's Party.
Rating: 5
Summary: A rich and playful jaunt
Comment: Anyone who criticizes this novel as slow should go back to comic books. "The Seven Sisters" is a literary novel, meant to be savored.
The cleverly-named Candida reveals herself in surprising ways. Though not as ambitious a work as Joyce's "Ulysses", Drabble's references to the "Aeneid" guide us as we follow Candida on her travels.
This is a complex novel, exploring the metamorphosis of a seemingly ordinary woman.
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Title: Three Junes by Julia Glass, Julia Glass ISBN: 0385721420 Publisher: Anchor Pub. Date: 22 April, 2003 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: The Millstone by Margaret Drabble ISBN: 0156006197 Publisher: Harvest Books Pub. Date: 15 October, 1998 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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Title: Unless : A Novel by Carol Shields ISBN: 0007154615 Publisher: Fourth Estate Pub. Date: 29 April, 2003 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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Title: All Our Yesterdays by Natalia Ginzburg ISBN: 1559700262 Publisher: Arcade Publishing Pub. Date: 18 October, 1989 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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Title: A Whistling Woman by A.S. Byatt ISBN: 0375415343 Publisher: Knopf Pub. Date: 10 December, 2002 List Price(USD): $26.00 |
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