I met Jana in Maryland where we were reading AP exams.
She teaches in Pennsylvania, but hails from the Great Plains.
Like a lot of us teachers, she doesn't get much time for
pleasure reading except during the summer. It sounds like
she found a good one.
"I am finally getting around to reviewing a book and just hope that it hasn't already been reviewed in issues that were released prior my subscribing! It seems that I spend so much time reading The Economist, Foreign Affairs, texts, etc., that I have little time for pleasure reading. I thoroughly enjoy your Reading...
"Jane Hamilton's Map of the World is one I did read for pleasure last summer and one that I can highly recommend. This is not a 'light' piece in terms of tone and theme, but it is an 'easy' read. It is fictional and takes place in Prairie Center, somewhere in the mid-west. It focuses on a tragedy that disrupts the lives of two families and nearly destroys one of them.
"The story features a family that finally realizes its dream of exchanging urban existence for life on the farm. But, what promises to be a safe and nurturing environment proves to be anything but secure and sheltered. (This is not a story which depicts small town life as positive. From the outset, the family is regarded with suspicion and is not accepted into the fold except by the close friend who is inadvertently hurt the most. Ironically, the friend is the one person who proves herself capable of forgiving. The town folk, in general, are anything but supportive, understanding or forgiving.)
"At the outset of the book, Alice, the protagonist, is viewing some maps of the world that she drew as a child and fantasizing when a fatal accident occurs which will place the hills and valleys of the world in an entirely different and tragic perspective; the map of their lives is redrawn by the unanticipated and unfathomable, horrific realities. The accident, involving a close friend's child, has drastic impacts on the lives of Alice, her family and that of her best friend. The bulk of the book focuses on the betrayal, grief, guilt, separation and rejection that shatter the peace and security of their lives in the bucolic, once tranquil, setting. The remainder of the book deals with how the family attempts to cope with immense adversity in order to put their badly mangled lives back together.
"Hamilton's Map of the World, published in 1994, received accolades from major reviewers. Her prose is beautiful, and she draws her characters with great psychological insight. I'd highly recommend this book when you're in a pensive mood. This definitely is not an up-beat stress-reliever, but it is unforgettable and will touch you deeply.
"Jana Eaton"
Less that a week after I put September's Reading in the mail,
Jana Eaton's recommendation appeared in my e-mail box.
Another asterisk! If I keep handing them out at this rate, I might have to declare an end to all the current subscriptions and begin again. Well, maybe in another eight or nine years. Thanks, Jana, for the recommendation and the caution. I do recall reading a review of Map of the World and deciding I was not in the mood for it. Just below, you'll find another review of the book from Rick Hunter. Interesting comparison. Now, I'll try to keep this book in mind for another time.
Rick's review came in with the rest of the Hunters' 1996 recommendations, but I thought it ought to follow Jana's. (Details on the Hunters later, but their list was so extensive that only part of it shows up this time.)
"In Jane Hamilton's A Map of the World, Alice Goodwin, while watching her neighbor's (and best friend's) two-year-old, momentarily becomes distracted. The child wanders away and drowns. If this was not bad enough, Alice, who works as a part-time elementary school nurse, is accused of sexually abusing a young boy, and brought to criminal trial. In a lesser writer's hands, this might be tabloid stuff. In the sure hands of Hamilton, this is a magnificent, profound and ultimately compelling story.
"The issues of trust and friendship -- whether Alice and her husband will stay married, and whether Alice and her friend (whose late daughter was in Alice's care) can continue any sort of relationship -- are central, as are the effects of rumor, vindictiveness, and just plain mean-spiritedness. (I have previously recommended in these pages Hamilton's The Book of Ruth, a very different, but equally satisfying, novel)."
A reading group guide from Random House
A summary and commentary from the NYU medical school web site
