Stones for Ibarra: Amazon.ca: Harriet Doerr: Books

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Two Americans, Richard and Sara Everton, are the only foreigners in Ibarra. They live among people who both respect and misunderstand them, and gradually, the villagers--at first enigmas to the Evertons--come to teach them much about life and the relentless tide of fate. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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First Sentence
Here they are, two North Americans, a man and a woman just over and just under forty, come to spend their lives in Mexico and already lost as they travel cross-country over the central plateau. Read the first page

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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover

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Customer Reviews

16 Reviews

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
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Average Customer Review

4.4 out of 5 stars (16 customer reviews)

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a flawless narrative - a minor masterpiece, Sep 24 1999

By	Sharon E. Murphy (alto, nm USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Stones For Ibarra (Paperback)

The comments by some of the reviewers are instructive more about themselves than about the work they review. The reviewer from Miami states that the narrative is exactly what one would one expect from such a character recounting her experiences to,let us say, her daughter. That is exactly the point of the book. The main character is not a sociologist. She simply received impressions, as most of us do, when we travel to Mexico or Greece or Italy, without either wholesale condemnation of people who live differently from middle-class Americans, nor extensive exoneration of their behavior by recourse to sociological explication of the effects of the history of exploitation and oppression. Let us understand plainly: the narrator is not the author, but a narrative voice (a character in the story) whose observations must correspond to the limitations of her concerns and her remembrances. The narrator plainly does not have any deep understanding of Mexico (she is no Octavio Paz), but that is much of the point of the story. Much of the value of the book is precisely the revelation of the disconnect between the Americans and the Mexicans - the inability to comprehend each other. If the narrator were truly to understand the Mexicans, or they her, the whole point of the book would have been lost. The reader from Seattle, on the other hand, has taken too many literature courses: she insists on a central character and a motif - preferably some kind of symbolic motif. The narrator in the story is not apt to construct her reminiscences in such a way as to revolve them about some central motif. She herself is the central character - everything is seen through her eyes and takes significance in terms of her own fate - culminating in the death of her husband and her departure from Mexico. Mexico remains unchanged. She has not the capacity, the inclination, or the will to change Mexico, or to change herself. To insist that she be different is to demand a different book. Finally, the Miami reader says that John Steinbeck was only joking: perhaps she may recall the tale of the young Mexican woman with many children who could afford only beans for her children: the American servicemen in California took pity on her and provided meat for her children. They all took deathly sick at the change in diet, and when they recovered, she found herself pregnant again. There is humor in his work, as well as in Stones for Ibarra, but it is the kind of humor that leads to redemption: the very counterpoint of mockery and denigration. Revelation of the disconnect between cultures can lead to thoughtfulness, which is the precursor of sympathetic understanding. Let us not confuse the characters with the authors, and let us pray that Steinbeck and Doerr find the readers they deserve.

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5.0 out of 5 stars Read it Again in 15 Years, Jul 8 2003

By	Barbara Grcar (Mountain View, CA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Stones For Ibarra (Paperback)

I bought this book when I was in my mid-30s, but it took until my late 40s to understand and appreciate it. Now I can only hang my head ask myself, "Was I really that stupid?"

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5.0 out of 5 stars BEST OF THE BEST, Jan 22 2003

By	MalibuRamos "MalibuRamos" (Malibu, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Stones For Ibarra (Paperback)

This is one of the most beautiful novels I've ever read. Ms. Doerr's writing is lyrical, sometimes even poignant and comical in the same sentence (which is absolute magic.) Amazing writing that touched and inspired me.

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Most recent customer reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars A big mistake
Richard and Sara Everton move from a sophisticated life in San Francisco to an old adobe house in super-rural Mexico where, on some harebrained idea, they think they can make a go... Read more

Published on Jan 2 2004 by Peggy Vincent

5.0 out of 5 stars Stones for Ibarra
There is a quiet poignancy to Harriet Doerr's first novel, "Stones for Ibarra." Harriet Doerr writes of ordinary events in the lives of ordinary people. Read more

Published on Jul 31 2003 by K. Breda

5.0 out of 5 stars I was deeply touched
I found Stones for Ibarra to be excellent. Previous reviews have picked it apart in ways I consider missing the forest for the trees or perhaps the mine for the ore, to stretch a... Read more

Published on Oct 19 2000 by A Denver reader

5.0 out of 5 stars Pause
People really shouldn't assume much when they decide to read this book. Nothing can really tell you what YOUR going to find inside, because it feels more like it's up to you. Read more

Published on April 30 2000 by Thessaly La Force