Commentaires client les plus utiles
|
|
3.0étoiles sur 5
I enjoyed it, Nov. 1 2009
I enjoyed this book, it was an easy read. The story was good and brought Lily Dale, NY, the Titanic and an inventor named Tesla together very well.
|
|
|
5.0étoiles sur 5
A great read, Oct. 14 2009
As the first reviewer has already provided a lengthy review, I will not add an excessive amount except to correct the reviewer's statement that Maude Taylor is a psychic - in fact, she is a medium, one who channels the spirits of those who have 'passed over.' The conflict about whether Maude Taylor really possesses "the gift" or whether she is simply a gifted charlatan exists throughout the book.
This book is a great read. I picked it up last night intending only to read a few more chapters (I had already read the first two chapters) and ended up not putting the book down until I finished it in the wee hours of this morning.
The widowed Maude Taylor and her 5 daughters are fictional, but there is much real historical detail in the book as well. The Tredwell house in New York City where Maude Taylor conducts a seance really exists; Gertrude Tredwell, the youngest of the family, lived in the house until her death in 1933 at the age of 93. The house, known as The Old Merchant's House, became a museum in 1936 and is open to the public. Some refer to it as 'the most haunted house in New York.'
The town of Spirit Vale in the book is a thin disguise for the real community of Lily Dale, a community of spirit mediums founded in 1879 and located about an hour south of Buffalo, N.Y. As the book inexorably draws closer to its climax of the sinking of the Titanic on April 15, 1912, the pages are liberally sprinkled with the names of well-known figures, some of whom make actual appearances in the book and some who are mentioned by name only: the Fox sisters of New York (Talking to the Dead: Kate and Maggie Fox and the Rise of Spiritualism), Nikola Tesla, Thomas Edison, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Harry Houdini, John Jacob Astor IV, Benjamin Guggenheim, Maggie Brown (later known as the Unsinkable Molly Brown), the journalist and spiritualism believer W.T. Stead, who predicted both the sinking of the Titanic and his own death in the disaster (Maiden Tribute: A Life of W.T. Stead), and Morgan Robertson, author of Futility or the Wreck of the Titan, a book he published in 1898 that detailed his eerily prophetic vision of a gigantic ocean liner he called the Titan hitting an iceberg on its maiden April voyage and sinking.
A highly recommended book for anyone fascinated by spiritualism and/or the Titanic.
|
|
|
5.0étoiles sur 5
Courtesy of Teens Read Too, Avril 28 2009
What would you do if you had foreseen the sinking of the Titanic?
DISTANT WAVES is one of many re-tellings of the mysterious happenings surrounding the greatest shipwreck of all time, but Suzanne Weyn's version stands out with its breadth of historical research and, most importantly, with its allusions to the paranormal.
Maude Oneida Taylor is a famed psychic, one of the most respected clairvoyants in Spirit Vale, a small liberal town teeming with spiritualists and feminists. Mrs. Taylor's five daughters grow up in rather unusual circumstances, and none of them are typical American girls.
Mimi, the oldest, is stunningly beautiful, leaving home to pursue a more luxurious lifestyle and travel through Europe, though she can never truly escape her heritage. Jane, a budding journalist, is the most logical of the bunch, and the story is told through her perspective. Emma and Amelie, twins, seem to have inherited some of their mother's powers. Blythe, the youngest of the group, is completely mesmerized by the power that accompanies fame and fortune.
Growing up in Spirit Vale, the Taylor girls have seen so many clairvoyants, some who perhaps really have the gift and others who are clearly frauds. Jane has even seen her mother cheat, scribbling her own messages during "automatic writing" that are supposedly from loved ones that have passed on. There have been times though, when even Jane's jaded self doesn't know what to believe, such as during her sister Amelie's dangerous sleepwalking episodes.
Jane's life is influenced greatly by the ideas and attitudes of physicist Nikola Tesla. After a chance meeting in a man-made earthquake in New York City when she was only four, she has followed his career carefully, regarding him as a father-figure of sorts. Tesla's manipulation of electricity and inventive mind are incredible, only eclipsed by his generosity and lack of capitalist greed. Though Jane admires Tesla, it is his handsome assistant, Thad, who captures her heart.
As the Titanic sets sail from London, all five sisters find themselves on board, despite multiple predictions of its sinking. Sailing toward what might very well be their demise, Jane and her sisters must hope that somebody or something is out there watching out for them.
Weyn clearly understands the time period thoroughly, though occasionally the incorporation of facts seems slightly forced and almost weighs the story down. Readers do gain a wealth of knowledge, including little-known trivia about many celebrities of the era.
This book is a must-read for anyone who remembers Leonardo DiCaprio's "I'm king of the world!" line from the movie, or for anyone who has ever entertained the idea that maybe clairvoyancy isn't so far-fetched after all.
Reviewed by: Amber Gibson
|
|
|
|
de Michael Grant
de Kelley Armstrong
