Book Review
Dec. 31st, 2010 02:39 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kenjariSisters By A River
by Barbara Comyns
This slight novel was a dreamily told reminiscence of a vague, haphazard, and neglectful childhood at a British country manor during the early part of the 20th century. I believe it is based on the actual experiences of the author. The book takes the form of a series of first-person vignettes that form a hazy narrative of a country childhood. The narrator and her four sisters grow up benignly neglected by their parents, receiving perfunctory guidance and spotty education from a series of governesses. The miseries and anxieties of the adults are only vaguely hinted at, and many pivotal events are treated with a foggy distance. It's a very atmospheric novel, with a sort of blurred charm, yet these qualities kept it from ever really drawing me in.
by Barbara Comyns
This slight novel was a dreamily told reminiscence of a vague, haphazard, and neglectful childhood at a British country manor during the early part of the 20th century. I believe it is based on the actual experiences of the author. The book takes the form of a series of first-person vignettes that form a hazy narrative of a country childhood. The narrator and her four sisters grow up benignly neglected by their parents, receiving perfunctory guidance and spotty education from a series of governesses. The miseries and anxieties of the adults are only vaguely hinted at, and many pivotal events are treated with a foggy distance. It's a very atmospheric novel, with a sort of blurred charm, yet these qualities kept it from ever really drawing me in.
