Visible Worlds and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle. Learn more

Vous voulez voir cette page en français ? Cliquez ici.

Have one to sell? Sell yours here
Publisher: learn how customers can search inside this book.
Start reading Visible Worlds on your Kindle in under a minute.

Don't have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here, or download a FREE Kindle Reading App.

Visible worlds: A novel [Paperback]

Marilyn Bowering (Author)

Available from these sellers.


Formats

 Amazon Price New from Used from
Kindle Edition --   CDN $9.99 --
Hardcover --   -- --
Paperback --   -- --
Paperback, Aug 13 1998 --   -- --

Book Description

Publication Date: Aug 13 1998
A mysterious, blazing comet. A young woman escaping across the polar ice cap of Siberia. And twin brothers, born into an eccentric immigrant Prairie family, each navigating a life course driven by unstoppable destiny. With story elements as magical and multi-layered as these, combined with finely realized characters and a lyrical mastery of language, Marilyn Bowering has created a mesmerizing, completely satisfying novel. Visible Worlds is an outstanding follow-up to her first acclaimed novel, To All Appearances A Lady, and confirms author Susan Swan's assertion that "[Ms.Bowering] is a writer's writer and a reader's treasure."

"ŠIt is by turns suspenseful and sorrowful, joyous, and disturbingŠ.Her command of the telling line, the careful use of words, is evident throughout this bookŠthe characters are so rich and fascinating, the reader doesn't want to leave them so soon." ­ Quill & Quire

Marilyn Bowering is the author of To All Appearances a Lady, as well as several books of poetry, including Autobiography, Love As It Is, Calling All the World, and Anyone Can See I Love You. She was born in Winnipeg, and has lived and worked all over the world. She now makes her home in Sooke, BC.

Product Details

Product Description

From Publishers Weekly

First published to admiring reviews in Canada last fall, Bowering's powerful second novel (after To All Appearances a Lady, 1990) chronicles the tribulations of a Winnipeg family through WWII and the turmoil that follows. Twin brothers at the center of the story reflect parental differences: Gerhard inherits his mother's love of European culture, heading to prewar Germany to study music, while Albrecht stays home to marry the girl next-door. Their father studies "personal magnetism" and falls for a fortune-teller whom he has despised for years. Albrecht's friend, Nate, invents an imaginary companion after his sister burns to death, and Nate's father runs off with a tiger tamer. After the war, Gerhard, who was forced to become a German soldier, disappears into a Soviet labor camp, while Albrecht and Nate find themselves caught up in Korea. Interspersed throughout the narrative is the vividly imagined trek of Fika, a tough Soviet woman who crosses the North Pole to find a new life in Canada. Bowering maps the overlapping territory between science and spiritualism, love and madness. Her family melodrama, reminiscent of John Irving's work in its circus imagery and horrifying losses, occasionally seems misaligned with the Alistair MacLean-like war and ice adventures. But Bowering's characters, steeped in the Canadian virtues of stamina and decency, prove so compelling that few would regard the overabundance of imagery or story lines as anything but a wealth of poetic reflection on tragedy and human endurance.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

The labyrinthine plot of this second novel (following To All Appearances a Lady) by Canadian poet and playwright Bowering is almost impossible to summarize. In briefest outline: twin brothers, Gerhard and Albrecht, born to German parents on the Canadian prairie in the Thirties, follow divergent paths in life, and their stories will involve them in nearly every major event of the next 30 years. When World War II breaks out, the brothers find themselves on opposite sides of the conflict after Gerhard is sent to Germany to pursue a musical education, leaving Albrecht behind in Canada. The postwar period also finds them in radically different circumstances?Gerhard ends up in a Siberian labor camp, while Albrecht spends time as a Korean prisoner of war. The narrative shifts between the twins' lives and that of a young Russian pursuing her dream, through hazardous conditions, to become the first woman to reach the North Pole. In the background, at all stages of the brothers' story, their father's belief in and experiments with magnetism, both personal and atmospheric, moves the plot forward and may be the force that draws the disparate characters together at the close. A novel of profound imagination and stylish writing despite its many complications, this work belongs in most contemporary literature collections.?Barbara Love, Kingston P.L., Ontario
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
See all Product Description

Customer Reviews

There are no customer reviews yet on Amazon.ca
5 star
4 star
3 star
2 star
1 star
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com: 3.5 out of 5 stars  2 reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars A book that deserves more attention Oct 10 1999
By A Customer - Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback
I had not heard of the author until I discovered this excellent novel in a London bookshop last month. I am surprised the book did not get more publicity on its publication as it is a cleverly plotted, very original, reader friendly novel. I was frequently reminded of Graham Swift's Waterland, but Visible Worlds has a distinct identity of its own. The author hints early on that her main twenty characters are all linked, but she keeps the reader guessing, teasing us with little clues in each chapter. One family leaves a trail of footprints in the snow that stretches twice around the globe - almost; a trail covered by three family members in a relay that takes more than half a century to complete. The landscapes of Northern Russia and Canada are beautifully evoked - I have recently read several books about Antarctic travel and thought I had read more than enough descriptions of long marches through snow, but Bowering finds ways of avoiding the cliches favoured by other writers. The book has a strong feeling for places, time, distance, family tensions and the Cold War paranoia of the 40s and 50s. I found the book slow at the start, but it is well worth reading through to the end. Highly recommended.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars Good read but characterization not strong enough Dec 5 1999
By Ed Reed - Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback
Good read but characterization not strong enough

The plot of this book was exceptionally well crafted. The imagery and descriptions were written so well, you can truly see yourself in the Arctic Ocean, northern Canada, Siberia, and Germany and everywhere else the author takes us. Reading the book though, I kept thinking there was not enough character development to make me truly feel something for these people. It was almost like too much was happening in too few pages. Still, it is worth reading.

    Your Shopping Cart is empty.

    Give it purpose—fill it with books, DVDs, clothes, electronics, and more.

    If you already have an account, sign in.

    View Cart (0 items)

      Listmania!

      Create a Listmania! list

      Look for similar items by category

      Feedback

      Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?