These Granite Islands

Rating:
Summary: What a moving book!
Review: This book is written in my favorite writing style ~~ it jumps from the present to the past and back to the present with a fluid style ~~ which makes it easy for the reader to know where she is at in the book. Stonich is a very talented writer who writes with passion and feelings as well as very powerful descriptive style. You, the reader, is right there with Isobel as she remembers her past as she lies there on her deathbed. You can see her memories as vividly as if you are right there with her ~~ Stonich has a imaginative writing style that not very writers can capture.

While on her deathbed, Isobel talks to her youngest and surviving child about the summer of 1936 when a young couple has disappeared and caused a scandal in the small town where they resided. What Thomas, her youngest son, didn't know is that Isobel knew the couple in question. She was often their look-out for them as they hide from the woman's husband during the afternoons of a hot summer. Isobel became very close to Kathryn even though she questioned Kathyrn's infidelity with Jack, a man who wanted to enter priesthood at one time.

This novel explores the relationships between husband and wife, between friends, lovers, children and parents. It tackles the question of infidelity, love, death and aging. Stonich has a wonderful way of drawing you in ~~ and leave you feeling like you've just returned from a lovely but hard journey. She makes you think and question what you're reading ~~ in a delightful way. This isn't a trivial novel ~~ but it's not hard on the eyes either. This isn't a forgettable book. I recommend this to all readers.

Rating:
Summary: grab this book
Review: This story, set in Minnesota, tells the tale of an elderly woman at the end of her life. She drifts in and out of conversations with her son and her memories of a special, unforgettable summer. This author is a great storyteller and I didn't want this one to end. The characters, relationships and conflicts are mesmerizing and I felt I really wanted to know this old woman and talk to her. It is truly one of the best things I have read in a long time. I expect we will be hearing a lot about this book and whatever she writes next.

Rating:
Summary: (3.5) The geography of friendship in another time and place.
Review: Water serves as a powerful metaphor for isolation, death and conquering personal fears. The searing heat of summer, the frozen fingers of Fate in winter, all form the images of a story lived against Nature's immutable canvas. At the end of a long, often lonely life, Isobel Howard replays each chapter behind failing sensibilities, as her last living child, Thomas, holds his own vigil at her bedside.

The most defining attachments in Isobel's lifetime are her marriage to Victor Howard and a summer friendship in 1936 with Cathryn Malley, who has come to the mining town in Minnesota with her husband, who travels often on business. That this short acquaintance so impresses Isobel's remaining years, says much about the repression of the times, as Isobel vicariously experiences Cathryn's infidelity, drawn to the adventure and unpredictability of Cathryn's inclinations. In reality, Cathryn suffers from a yet undiagnosed mental illness, and remains untreated, as do many whose errant behavior is labeled wildly inappropriate at that time.

Cathryn tumbles into Isobel's world as a funny, generous, helpful surprise while the more stolid Isobel struggles to fill the summer with an enterprise of her own, as Victor and her two young sons camp on a nearby island he purchased for his family's enjoyment. Isobel remains at home with her young daughter, hurt that Victor has failed to comprehend her innate dread of water, although she's never mentioned this fear to him.

When Cathryn becomes emeshed in an affair with Jack, an island man, Isobel is both attracted and repulsed by their unbridled passion, and shamefully implicit; Isobel inevitably conquers her own fear of water, paddling daily in a canoe as she serves as sentry, prepared to alert the lovers should Liam return unexpectedly. Aware that this affair can only end in tragedy, Isobel remains a passive onlooker, unable to precipitate any action, a choice that will haunt her conscience forever. At the end of that fateful summer, Cathryn, Jack and Liam are shrouded in the mystery of disappearance and death, the town humming with supposition and suspicion. Victor returns to comfort his wife, and Isobel carries her questions to the grave without resolution save her own imagination.

It is unclear at what age Isobel is widowed. Since her marriage and children are the foundation of her contentment and the fulfillment of her early years, I found it incongruous that the death of her son Henry was given so little attention, while the passion of a short-time friend consumed so much energy throughout the many years ahead. From the beginning it is clear that Isobel is at the final destination of her long life, tying the loose threads together in her mind; Stonich handles these particular moments with a subtle awareness. While the story line is somewhat frayed, Stonich has written some beautifully descriptive passages, intuiting a softening of memory and the need for a last peaceful compromise with the immanence of death.

Rating:
Summary: Romantic Mystery? Mysterious Romance Novel?
Review: We accompany Isobel Howard through three lifetimes: before the summer of 1936, the summer of 1936, and the rest of her life and her reaction to what happened during the summer of '36. This is an emotional, carefully crafted book and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It's a good summer mystery/romance novel told in flashback and real time. Take it to the beach and you figure out for yourself if it is a Romance Novel or a Mystery. Whatever you decide, it's a good read.

Rating:
Summary: Author has potential, but this book disappoints
Review: Where was the editor of this novel? The first 150 pages required too much effort. I stayed with the novel because Stonich was able to hook me with her perspective, but she does not show the skill necessary to manage the complex and unwieldy structure on which she hangs her story. For example, time shifts are poorly executed and frequently confusing; chapter divisions often have no discernable logic behind them; characters are introduced, disappear, then reappear 50 pages later; the motivations of her central character do not gain clarity until too late in the novel.

Even worse, the writing is noticeable. The author's fondness for the overuse of adjectives and adverbs seems self-conscious and pretentious, and there is rare evidence that she has an ear for phrasing and pacing. Even the speech of her characters is often implausible.

Still, I did read the entire book. It becomes appreciably better for much of the second half, sufficiently so that the writing does retreat from center stage. Although Stonich has some interesting insights and manages a few phrases of subtlety and beauty, I never developed more than momentary interest in Isobel--a horrible fate for the character on which a novel depends.

With radical reworking and cutting to a length of 150-200 pages, These Granite Islands probably would have held my attention. I think this author has potential, so I hope her next effort gets the editing it deserves.