- Paperback: 96 pages
- Publisher: Grove Press; Reprint edition (Mar 11 1996)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0802134475
- ISBN-13: 978-0802134479
- Product Dimensions: 18.4 x 12.8 x 1.2 cm
- Shipping Weight: 136 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #1,484,384 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
New Zealand-born Gunn's tone is so sure and her storytelling so seductive in this haunting first novel told in the first-person voice of 13-year-old Janey Phelon that we are coerced into being spectators at a sacrifice. Janey and her younger brother, Jim Little, are the children of alcoholic parents in England. Janey serves as a surrogate mother to Jim, since their mother has become too concerned with cocktails to be able to do much nurturing; she tries to protect the frail boy, who seems to suffer more than she from the unparented life they lead amidst the clinking of glasses and the tinkling of late-night drunken laughter. Yearning to escape the hell their parents have created of their summer house, the children wander the lakes and rivers playing at "Lost Boys." "It will always be only my brother I'll care for," Janey promises herself. Only a child herself, however, Janey is unable to protect Jim from the dangers that lurk in the world beyond their fantasies. Nor can she protect herself from her own awakened adolescent sexuality. In lean yet lyrical prose, Gunn captures the voice and experience of childhood, the charismatic alcoholism of the kids' mother and the sad resignation of their father, who carries a bottle and a bowl of lemons wherever he goes. Sensuous water images and descriptions of the lake lend admirable cohesion to a novella that is most harrowing at precisely those moments when its prose is most dispassionate. 20,000 first printing; first serial to Grand Street; author tour.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Library Journal
The Coleridge quote "Water, water everywhere,/Nor any drop to drink" effectively describes the emotional landscape of Gunn's first novel, a fine literary debut. Gunn herself beautifully details the dangerous emotional depths that the novel's young narrator, Janey, must tread. Throughout the slender volume, Janey serves as lifeguard and surrogate mother to her younger brother, Jim. Despite their parents' neglect, the two enjoy their summer residence "where the lake is lapping into endless night, slipping away from us, always further and further, until even the dark sky is filled with stars and water." As in similar novels subtly rendering the horrors of childhood such as Rebecca Stowe's Not the End of the World (LJ 1/92), Janey is sadly not prepared to meet the challenges of deeper and darker adult waters-no matter how well she swims or how tenderly she loves her brother. Readers may not be prepared for this short read to end, but they will enjoy arriving there.
Faye A. Chadwell, Univ. of Oregon Lib., Eugene
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Faye A. Chadwell, Univ. of Oregon Lib., Eugene
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Rain,
By
This review is from: Rain (Paperback)
I can only describe this book as lyrical and languid. It is a tale of loss, and hope and that in the darkness, there is beauty. The story centres around a young girl who is forced to look after her brother, who appears to act as her one type of stability. In the background is the scenery of a summer holiday that is quintessentially New Zealand - slow, sweet, and yet bitter.
5.0 out of 5 stars
amazing,
By Annette Sonnenberg (BOWLING GREEN, OHIO) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Rain (Paperback)
THIS BOOK IS ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS I HAVE EVER READ. IT'S THE KIND OF BOOK THAT PULLS YOU INTO A WHOLE OTHER WORLD WHERE YOU FORGET YOUR LIFE WHILE YOU ARE READING. THE WRITING IS SIMPLY AMAZING. I READ THIS BOOK ALL IN ONE SITTING. WHEN I FINISHED IT I SAT THERE HOLDING THE BOOK NOT WANTING TO COME BACK TO REALITY.
3.0 out of 5 stars
An Intriguing Story Weaved with Vivid Imagery...,
By Beatrice "Bea Bea" (Hollywood, CA USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Rain (Paperback)
Janey and her family spend their summers at their lakeside vacation home. The lake is a refuge for Janey and her little brother Jim, a place where they can get away from their parent's endless parties and the suffocating heat. Janey sees Jim as her child and her mother as an untouchable object of beauty that even her father cannot touch. When Janey realizes her mother's friend wants Janey, she gives into him leaving her young brother to spend his time playing alone as their parents stay in the vacation home.This novel is a fast read filled with vivid descriptions of the lake, rain, water and just about everything else. The imagery is beautiful but at the same time too much description of the environment clogs the details of story. There are only so many times you can read about what the lake looks like, especially since you got it the first time around. The details of the story fall second to the environmental description but the story was an interesting one even though I was left wanting more details. The poetry-like writing style distances the reader from the emotional aspects of the story. Even though I understood what Janey and her father felt, I never became involved to the extent that it affected me. The climax of the story was anti-climatic and mundane in it's instructional execution. I felt this novel, though beautifully poetic, could have been so much more. However, I am looking forward to the movie which opens in theatres today. I am hoping that the visual execution will live up to this story's potential.
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