A Classic Tale of Families Intertwined
580656
MacLachlan weaves words in a way that brings young readers together to appreciate the lives of different people and times in a very personal way.  As a teacher, I joined my students in agonizing over the outcome of this  family's journey.  No short tale does this as profoundly, yet simply.  How  could this get less than five stars?
2993999
It' great to experience more of the family in "Little Women, to follow the family's further experience s of life, still feeling like the reader is a part of the family. Truly a enduring classic piece of literature.
2856897
This story of courage and persistence is still relevant all these many years later. The family values are here for all to enjoy, and this is the perfect tale for family to enjoy together.
1790986
A very well-told tale of two London cousins, their quarrels and their families in the lead up to World War 2 and when the war begins in earnest. Reading it, I am minded of books I've read and dramas I've seen over the years about this period. Whatever is going on, boys will be boys and families will be families. This novel is an unforgettable read.
880691
Wonderful story that spans four generations of a family. Lots of emotions when reading it -- happy and sad tale.
1996266
Elise Juska has created an interesting tale of family dynamics that you won't want to miss. The characters lives are examined and shared with great description and you are pulled into the Blessings family as you read.
622432
See this Review and more at: http://idiosyncraticlibrary.com/?p=415

How do you create a lineage?  What gives a family weight and substance, a sense of history? In A Spool of Blue Thread, the Whitshank family chases this elusive ghost of family specialness with the assurance that it is within their reach and the terrible fear that it will just slip away.

From the outside they seem like the perfect family.  Abby and Red Whitshank still live in the beautiful home on Bouton Road that Red grew up in and Red's father, Junior, lovingly built with his own hands.  Three of their four grown children live within twenty minutes of the Bouton Road, and there's a gaggle of grandchildren, and a couple of dogs to fill the deep comfy front porch with laughter and love.  Of course there's their son Denny, who has wandered in and out of jobs, and in and out of college and in and out of relationships.  But even Denny can (usually) be relied on to make it to the annual family summer trip they all take to beach.

They are incredibly proud of their Whitshank-ness.  They search for dark hair, pale skin and long fingers that mark a Whitshank in each of grandchildren.  Their collective belief that they can fix anything and that to call a handyman would be decidedly un-Whitshank.  Yet, the most Whitshank of the children is Stem, an almost adopted child collected through circumstance and a loose, but secretive arrangement.

The Whitshanks have even created an oral history for themselves.  Telling again and again the story of how their founder Junior, came to live in the house on Bouton Road that he originally built for someone else.  The story of how Merrick Whitshank, Red's sister, escaped her almost middle class family and married one of the wealthiest men in Baltimore.  On the surface they are tales of things wanted then achieved.  But a heart's desire is rarely as precious once its gained, so perhaps the Whitshanks tales are really of disappointment after a long road.

But things are less than perfect these days on Bouton Road. Red and Abby are getting older. Red has already had one heart attack,  and Abby's been having little glitches, her "brain jumping the track", little bouts of forgetfulness.  In response, Stem, his three boys and mild mannered wife move into the house on Bouton Road to help, only to be joined, a few days later by the historically unreliably Denny.  The girls pop in and out to provide advice and stir the family pot, and under one roof old jealousies and conflicts surface again.  In the midst are Red and Abby who have lost all control over their home and their lives in the blink of a family sit down.

Funny and familiar, unsentimental yet still championing the pleasures and pains of the American family, the Whitshanks are us.  At the heart of each American family is the deeply held belief that they are special, unique, more perfect than other families, and the concurrent and relentless fear that they are not.  As the reader weaves its way through the Whitshank's history, its jealousies, its hopes, Anne Tyler convinces the reader that the Whitshanks are sure of their special nature, while the reader knows their beauty comes from their ordinariness. The beauty of A Spool of Blue Thread is when the reader recognizes strings of their own special family in the very ordinary Whitshanks.
1651570
In the days of old, many activities would take place at the hearthside, the heart of any true home. The telling of tales and the spinning of thread were two of the most common. These were often even interwoven with each other. This is evident in the language that we use to describe storytelling: "weaving" a tale, "spinning" a story, telling a "yarn." Robin McKinley is a mistress of storytelling as she weaves us the enchanting tale of the spindle-allergic Sleeping Beauty in "Spindle's End".
In her new take on the tale, McKinley's heroine has her usual dual roles, with names as different as her royal heritage and her ordinary upbringing. Twenty-one names are bestowed upon this tiny child, twenty-one fairy godmothers bestowing twenty-one gifts, determining her future for her as they see fit. On her name day, past meets future in the awe-inspiring arrival of Pernicia- a fairy, once defeated by one of the princess's ancestors, that had sworn revenge to ruin the royal family and their country. With the granting of the curse/gift of an unending sleep in the young baby's future, the similarities to other versions ends. A final gift of speaking with animals, hastily given by one of the attendees, and a new name, become the start to a new life- as ordinary a life as a child in a
village can have. Rosie grows to be a child, an adolescent, a young woman--with fears, joy, love, annoyance, friendship and family. She cares about the poor princess, when she hears how she's moved about, wonders at her imposed loneliness, wishes to be her friend. Through marriages and births, learning to be a horse-leech and a friend, Rosie grows into her life as a briar rose grows around a wall- knowing that it belongs to her, but that, somehow, she is not truly a part of it. As her twenty-first birthday draws near, so does her destiny, despite it's avoidance. Yet all is not lost--Rosie and her best friend, Peony, (who by now, like the two flowers they are named after, resemble each other in so many ways they are almost indistinguishable) trade places to trick the magic. In the end, a kiss is the seal that breaks instead of binds (though not as you might expect), love does conquer all, and many live happier than ever, after.
McKinley has woven a majestic tapestry with her words. The detail she goes into describing the emotions and thoughts of her characters, the country, it's magic, is magic itself. She brings out the humanity in the people and animals through the details of everyday life that we often overlook--surviving from meal to meal, dealing with children (with magic or without), expressing concerns, displeasure, desires--this is what life is about.
Kerrie Colantonio, Author of TWISTING THE GLASS
2108185
If you were a fan of the "Little House" books as a child, you will enjoy this tale of family, hard work, and love. Kilgore portrays a family living at the edge of impoverishment, but still loving and caring for one another during trying times.

Every character that gets more than a page worth of attention in this book grows as the story unfolds, which is a rare trick in fiction. The two main characters, sistersIsabella and Alijandra, grow from one stage of life to the next as they work through the challenges life throws at them, including a magical dragon that needs their help.

Kilgore obviously knows the high desert setting very well, but he paints everything in vivid, detailed strokes that will fill the reader's mind and enrich the story.

This isn't an action story, but it is filled with tension until the final chapters, when everything erupts into a fast-paced race to the book's conclusion. In between all that, there are many thought-provoking, touching scenes that will stay with you.
3617600
"Oliver Twist" is a complex story about the English welfare system for orphans, overlayed by a story of love, family, and the pursuit of each.

Looking back into the book from the vantage of almost 100 years, we see imperfections, subtle racism and other kinds of elitism. We see also Dickens delving into what was then a bolder book attacking those imperfection whilst struggling with his own biases.

Thickly laden are Dickens' long descriptions and thorough presentations of a situation. What makes Dickens great, in part, is his multi-woven characters, filled with color and excitement.

I fully recommend "Oliver Twist" by Charles Dickens.

Anthony Trendl
AmericanSpeechwriter.com
4104617
I loved this novel.  Anne Tyler always writes beautifully, but this is an especially fine piece of story-telling, drawing three generations of one family.  Although each generation is covered, the last is given relatively short shrift compared to the founding couple (grandparents) and the next generation (parents).  The heart of the book is the comparison between the personalities of the male family founder, Junior, and the woman his son marries, Abby.  Each of them turns the great family house built by Junior into a home with a peculiar personality that appears to hold the family together.  Of course, it is really Abby's generous spirit that holds the home together and continues to draw her children back, even though they think her behavior is embarrassing.  Junior built the home to be exclusive - for his family only.  It was Abby who opened the doors to strangers -- taking them into her home for food and shelter, and in one case taking a stranger directly into the family itself.  Abby kept the family alive.  Love of the house is just a metaphor for love of family. No one is able to pull free so long as Abby is alive.  It becomes clear that she held them all together with thread -- easily broken once she was gone.
548138
This is an exquisitely written and superlative, multi-generational novel, delicately woven with gossamer threads of human experience. It is a story of human frailties, passions, and cultural traditions. It is a spellbinding tale of several people who become unforgettable to the reader. It is an epic saga of individuals who are connected across time in a way none of them could have foreseen. A wellspring of cultural differences bear upon their futures and send them along paths none of them could have envisioned. It is, above all, a story of forbidden love that would impact on others for generations to come.

This is the story of Savitri, a native of India, a Brahmin beauty, a healer, who fell in love with David, the son of the wealthy English family for whom she and her parents worked. Her love for David would remain constant, despite those in her own family who would seek to destroy it.

This is the story of David, the English boy who grew up in British colonial India and never forgot his childhood sweetheart, despite the cultural and racial roadblocks placed in his path by those who did not have the gift to look into the soul of another.

This is the story of Nat, the boy who straddled two cultures, Indian and English, whose mysterious ancestry threatened to prevent him from being united with the woman who held the key to his heart and soul.

This is the story of Saroj, a Guyanese beauty of Indian descent, who wanted to leave the old ways, the ways of mysterious south east Asia, the ways of India, and embrace those of the west, only to find that her soul mate was one in whom both cultures had made peace.

This is, above all else, a spellbinding story of love and passion that runs so deep that time would sustain it forever. Underlying this story are the threads of a mystery that are subtly woven into its fabric. This novel is a panoramic and sweeping saga that will cause the reader to be swept away by its depth, its richness of language, and its vividly drawn characters, and descriptive detail. The author, a very gifted writer and talented storyteller, has written a novel that will keep the reader riveted to its pages until the very last.
1444823
Truth is: There are families that seem to radiate togetherness- on the outside that is. But, only the insiders know what really goes on inside those families.
I believe every family is emotionally complex in some way or another.
There usually has to be some family members who are jealous, others who are witty and funny (I think you get my gist). In a family there is always some kind of interaction and mixed feelings that are familiar to all of us. But, thank God if we have a family we can belong to.
Anne Tyler is such a talented writer that she can make any character quirky and lovable at the same time. I hope you follow her story of the four generations of Whitshanks.
Jeannie Walker (Award-Winning Author) "I Saw the Light" - A True Story of a Near-Death Experience
2779475
A classic movie that my family knows and enjoys.
4129321
This is a heartwarming tale of four sisters growing up in their mother's house in (I believe) New England. We follow the girls through their teens and into marriage and (in some cases) motherhood. Obviously intended mainly for young women, this is not a book to buy for your brother or boyfriend. It is, however, a fascinating look at life in another era, before everything got complicated. I was just as devastated as any of the characters were when tragedy struck. This novel is followed by Little Men, in which Jo and her new husband open a home for runaway boys, and Good Wives, in which the sisters are all grown up and married. You won't regret taking a trip back in time and watching the girls fall in love, lean on each other and learn what life is about
2374187
An excellent story spreading over many generations. Realistic family dynamics written in an way that keeps you involved from chapter to chapter.
1831176
This book reminds of the power and persistence of family ties, which we tend to forget about in modern times, given our mobility and the fast pace of change. But many threads and themes tie together the families followed in Homegoing. Although the book famously changes generations in each chapter, the people or their influence continues to show up chapter after chapter. The ending, although of course it tries to resolve the separate strands followed by the Africans and Americans, is satisfying without being two tidy. Two other words also entered my mind reading the novel: "resilience" and "resistance." Resilience here describes the strength possessed by the characters who are caught up in forces too vast for them to control, such as slavery, while resistance is the choice made by those who can escape or fight back. The book reads quickly, with mostly simple language but some very evocative prose for things like fires or song. I got through the novel in a few days, although I had to take breaks because some of the stories were so powerful.