- Hardcover: 272 pages
- Publisher: Houghton Mifflin; 1st Edition edition (Jan 7 2003)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0618246924
- ISBN-13: 978-0618246922
- Product Dimensions: 21.8 x 14.7 x 2.5 cm
- Shipping Weight: 458 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #2,360,500 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
Memories of a girl long fled haunt the inhabitants of a small town in this gloomy and amorphous third novel by the author of Rain. Glorious Francie turned her back on Featherstone years ago, but her uncle, Sonny Johanssen, and Ray Weldon, the heartbroken young man she left behind, have never forgotten her. Working in the garden on a Friday, Sonny (known for being "a bit strange") believes he sees Francie standing over him. Rumor spreads quickly over the course of the weekend, sparking murky, disturbing reflections in Ray. The only outlet for the town's emotions is the bar at the Railton Hotel, which is presided over by Margaret, a vampish, narcissistic woman who thinks herself "always as someone on her own, different from the rest." Her strange obsession with beautiful Mary Susan, the daughter of the bar's cook and an aspiring teenage model, foreshadows another character's darker preoccupation with the girl and a final violent attack. Gunn expends more energy on her drifting, oblique, fitfully lyrical prose than on her characters, who seem to be pushing their way through a narrative fog. Featherstone itself is located in a vague hybrid of New Zealand (where Gunn was born) and Scotland (where she lives now). The evocation of self-love is convincing, but the stagnation of the plot, the portentous subject matter and the overstylized language swallow up the story's small felicities. Gunn garnered much praise for Rain and a story collection, This Place You Return To Is Home, but she loses her way in her latest effort.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
Gunn's third novel is written in the hauntingly evocative prose that has won her previous titles--Rain (1995) and The Keepsake (1997)--both British and American acclaim. Here, she explores the effects of loss and memory on the people of Featherstone, a tiny village in Scotland. When Francie, a beautiful and spirited young girl, disappears from Featherstone, she leaves behind her high-school sweetheart and the aunt and uncle who raised her. Those who loved her find themselves frozen in a kind of suspended animation, unable to fill the place she held in their lives. Then, years later, the people of Featherstone begin to see her again--her uncle looks up from tending his garden to find Francie watching him; her boyfriend senses Francie's presence at the river where they used to meet. Real or imagined, Francie's reappearance awakens long dormant pain and disturbs the fragile equilibrium of the village. Gunn delicately weaves the dreams and memories of Featherstone's inhabitants into a spellbinding meditation on the dark places love and grief can lead us. Meredith Parets
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
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Customer Reviews
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Most helpful customer reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Beautiful and Evocative,
By
This review is from: Featherstone: A Novel (Hardcover)
Kirsty Gunn's Featherstone is a beautiful and evocative novel that is to be read more for the writing than the story itself. There are some wonderful novels that don't have much of a plot in there and Featherstone is one of them. If you like plot-filled novels, perhaps this one is not for you. If, however, you derive pleasure from pure, wonderful writing, give Featherstone a try. The novel opens as Sonny, an elderly gentleman from the town of Featherstone, is out gardening and believes he sees his niece Francie before him for a brief moment. Francie left town years ago, in search of greener pastures, more exciting times. Over the course of the weekend, the rumor of Francie spreads through the town and ultimately has an effect on people who never knew her. The writing here is just beautiful. There is a passage where Gunn describes the town as daybreak hits that is one of the better pieces of evocative writing I've read in a while. Featherstone is an enjoyable novel, a little short on plotting, but quite strong on writing. Enjoy.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
3.2 out of 5 stars (4 customer reviews) 2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Beautiful and Evocative,
By Elizabeth Hendry - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Featherstone: A Novel (Hardcover)
Kirsty Gunn's Featherstone is a beautiful and evocative novel that is to be read more for the writing than the story itself. There are some wonderful novels that don't have much of a plot in there and Featherstone is one of them. If you like plot-filled novels, perhaps this one is not for you. If, however, you derive pleasure from pure, wonderful writing, give Featherstone a try. The novel opens as Sonny, an elderly gentleman from the town of Featherstone, is out gardening and believes he sees his niece Francie before him for a brief moment. Francie left town years ago, in search of greener pastures, more exciting times. Over the course of the weekend, the rumor of Francie spreads through the town and ultimately has an effect on people who never knew her. The writing here is just beautiful. There is a passage where Gunn describes the town as daybreak hits that is one of the better pieces of evocative writing I've read in a while. Featherstone is an enjoyable novel, a little short on plotting, but quite strong on writing. Enjoy.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
2.0 out of 5 stars
very disappointing,
By reader - Published on Amazon.com
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Featherstone: A Novel (Hardcover)
author seems to be in love with her own prose at the expense of telling an actual story. Talent is evident, but her stylized efforts at creating evocative effects were far too obvious.
3.0 out of 5 stars
ok,
By Annette Sonnenberg - Published on Amazon.com
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Featherstone: A Novel (Paperback)
I loved her book " Rain" and couldn't wait to read this one. How dissappointing! There were parts of the book that had a wonderful dreamlike quality that I just loved. There were other parts that were so bazarre and confusing that I had no idea what was going on. I finally gave up and never finished the book. Kirsty has some amazing talent but needs to bring it down a few notches and write a book that has an actual plot and is understandable.
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