Customer Reviews

A Student of Weather

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This elegiac novel is full of contrasts: light and dark, truth and deception, love and rejection. Written in prose that illuminates, the story unfolds through the eyes of the youngest of two motherless sisters, Norma Joyce. Small, dark and exotic, Norma Joyce is a square peg that refuses to fit in a round hole. In contrast with her older, golden-haired sister, Lucinda, Norma is passionate about nature, curious and tenacious. From the time Maurice Dove enters their lives, Norma Joyce wraps him through her life as simply as winding her dark hair around a finger. Maurice permeates her world, her interpretation of reality and her definition of beauty for years to come.

The tension between the sisters is as old as mankind, and Norma Joyce is unable to do anything but what speaks to her true nature. The sisters peaceful coexistence is threatened by the reality of Maurice, ultimately defining each young woman in unexpected ways.

Norma seems at times driven by her own dark desire, even as a child. Her challenge is to live in a way that is self- rather than other-defining. Her true identity remains in shadow until she learns to walk comfortably through the rooms of her own soul, accepting the limitations of her family's inability to express love.

The texture of this novel is extraordinary. A first-time read is only the beginning; A STUDENT OF WEATHER will take on new incarnations with each reading.

Beginning in the "dust-bowl" era in Saskatchewan, "A Student of Weather" brings us to the home of the Hardy family. There, we meet Ernest, a bitter man and the farmer-father of the family. His wife has died, leaving behind two sisters: Lucinda, literally the treasured one, and Norma Joyce, our heroine of the story, blunt and somewhat odd.

When a student of weather arrives at their home, both Lucinda and Norma Joyce tumble into a love for him, and the story begins there.

Norma Joyce is a wonderful character, and her character is often both a joy and hurtful to read. There is an extreme level of pathos and empathy to this work, and all of it important. The story meanders from Saskatchewan to Ottawa and even to New York as we follow Norma Joyce, and as the secrets of her family are uncovered, and her deceits and kindesses are explored, we find a woman of remarkable iron strength.

For myself, the benchmark of a good solid work of literature will always be a strong character base, and "A Student of Weather" definately has that. Between the Hardys, and the student of weather, Maurice Dove, for which the novel is named, there are no weak characters here. I've re-read my copy a few times, and still find something new to its pages.

If you are at all a fan of recent-historical fiction, or simply a lover of strong characters, especially strong women, then this is a book for you. Elizabeth Hay is a name to watch out for.

This little story was truly a wonderful surprise. I expected a cozy little family saga, but got much more. This quiet unassuming novel about ordinary people builds slowly into a gripping tale that once it gets going is impossible to put down.

It begins in 1938 on a farm in Saskatchewan, Canada with two lonely motherless sisters, nine years apart in age and worlds apart in looks and personality. Norma Joyce is small, dark, wiry, homely, inquisitive, provocative, and restless, while older sister Lucinda is a ravishing redhead, quiet, serene, the hard working homemaker for father and younger sister. Although Norma is just a kid, when Maurice Dove, a 'student of weather' visits the farm, both sisters, each in their own way, fall desperately in love with him, a love to last a lifetime, but with tragic consequences. The presence of Maurice will be the wedge that drives the sisters apart and alters the family fate, although the personality of each character will also determine the outcome of the story, which later shifts to Ottawa and then alternates between Ottawa and New York City.

What makes this novel stand out from the crowd aside from its careful plotting and lovely descriptive passages about foliage, flora, and of course weather, are the ways in which the author makes brilliant use of small details of personality and psychology to drive what would otherwise be an ordinary story into high gear and to create unforgettable complex characters. She gets it right on target, too, so much so, that the reader feels that he/she is a witness to real peoples' lives. This book is one of my top picks of the year!

It's an interesting experience to encounter a book in which none of the major figures is likeable. Yet that very circumstance is a tribute to Elizabeth Hay's eloquent portrayal of two sisters in drought-ridden central Canada. Her people are deep and complex, intensely drawn and immensely real. Even the peripheral characters ring true, without the blemish of contrivance. Hay's descriptive ability in both urban and rural settings gives this book further enhancement. She vividly depicts the impact of environment on her chief protagonist, providing a framework for change of mood throughout the narrative. Hay, too, is clearly a student of weather. And a keen observer of people.

Norma Joyce Hardy initiates a life-long adoration of Maurice Dove with a touch on his cheek. That she's but a child is of little moment. That she's overshadowed by her sister's beauty becomes even less so. Even at nine years of age, she's driven by determination to find the means to supplant Lucinda. Resentful of her sister's looks, industry, and favoured place with their father, she becomes secretive, duplicitous, devious. Lucinda, having replaced their dead mother, is vulnerable, and Norma Joyce takes advantage of that exposure. Maurice becomes the tool for expressing Norma's envy, but she becomes the victim of her own machinations. Maurice, unsurprisingly, is following his own agenda, and Norma's place in it is problematic.

In pursuit of Maurice, Norma Joyce's life orbits like an erratic comet. From the most rural to the most urban environments in North America and back again, her loci remain vague. Only Maurice is a fixed point, but that seeming stability actually is the cause of her displacements. She is torn between seeking and avoiding him, particularly when the attainment of her goal leads to the inevitable result. Hay brings the Hardy family out of dry Saskatchewan to "golden" Ontario. Ottawa, however pleasant and green, fails to bring rest, and Norma pursues Maurice to New York City. A greater contrast to Prairie Canada can hardly be imagined, but Hay guides us through Norma's transition flawlessly. New York, however, doesn't resolve her situation with Maurice, which grows ever more complicated. Nor is the relationship of the sisters granted an easy path. Who carries the burden of Lucinda's fate will be the topic of endless debate.

Hay's account is admirable in its prowess in compelling attention to people and places. The factual nature of her characters, their failure to fulfill simple expectations is a credit to her skills. A love story of sorts, this is hardly a "romantic novel." It is a richly rewarding story, worthy of your attention. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]

I thoroughly enjoyed A Student of Weather, but I did not like the story. It was the language of the book--the metaphors, the plays on words--the style of the story that Elizabeth Hay set on paper that held my attention.

A Student of Weather is the story of two sisters in love with the same man. It is the story of Norman Joyce and her unrequited love for Dove, the student of weather. It is the story of how she tries to gain his love and the tragic aftermath of it. It is the story of betrayal to her sister, the lovely Lucinda. Lucinda, the sweet one, but was she?

To me, though, the book is mainly about the language. Ms. Hay can make the drab look beautiful. One passage which held my attention was:

". . . who boasted that his women could survive on the food they licked off the spoon that stirred his pot? A remark she'd come across in a book about the far north, and never forgotten. A fantastic statement; no less so when applied to love."

A story of unrequited love told in moving metaphors.

If you are in a bookclub, (or just appreciate excellent fiction) this novel would make a wonderful choice. It is the story of two sisters, one beautiful and reserved, the other homely and odd. Their lives are forever changed and influenced by their encounters with Maurice, the "student of weather". The writing is beautiful and provocative, and the story provides much fodder for disussion. I would highly recommend this book.

Setting her story in the Saskatchewan Dust Bowl in the 1930's, where "children grew up never tasting an apple and thinking Ontario was heaven," Hay tells of Norma Joyce and her sister Lucinda, opposite in appearance and personality, who have little to keep their minds and hearts occupied on the flat prairie and on their farm, where they have only their stern and uncommunicative father for company. The sisters fixate on the homely details of their lives, beautifully and vividly described by Hay--strange, little Norma Joyce collecting (or stealing) bones, buttons, and small objects, which she displays in the unused room which once belonged to her mother, while shy, beautiful Lucinda cleans every corner of the house and concentrates on being the perfect housekeeper. Into this emotional void steps Maurice Dove, a handsome student of weather and fascinating story teller, who quickly becomes the focus of both sisters' attentions while he stays with them and studies the native grasses which have apparently protected their farm from the ravages of the wind and weather.

In the hands of a lesser writer, the story could have become a romantic pot-boiler, at this point, but Hay's insights into the differing thoughts and motivations of all the characters, all of them with faults, combined with her beautifully realized setting, her lovely, often quiet, descriptions of weather and nature in all seasons, and her use of common sights and objects as symbols make this an absorbing story of a woman's search for fulfillment. As Norma Joyce grows from a spunky 9-year-old, suffering from early puberty, to a woman in her mid-40's, moving from the farm to Ontario and New York and back, Hay shows how external social forces, combined with Norma Joyce's powerful memories of the farm and Maurice Dove, continually affect the choices she makes as an adult, even when she urgently attempts to free herself from these influences and take full control of her life. Sometimes selfish to the point of cruelty in her desire to manipulate outcomes, Norma Joyce is not a typical "heroine," but Hay creates such believable contexts for her behavior that the reader will have no difficulty empathizing, if not, identifying, with her. This is an absorbing story of a woman's attempt to come to grips with her past--both the good and the bad--and to use it in forging a fulfilling life in the present.

Maurice Dove is a visitor to the Saskatchewan farm of widower Ernest Hardy and his two daughters: Lucinda and Norma-Joyce. Beginning in the Prairie Dust Bowl years of the 1930s and spanning the decades following World War II, this story of human emotions, obsessions, and self-discoveries moves back and forth between Ottawa and New York City in a beautifully written debut novel by Elizabeth Hay. Her descriptive text of the story's varied backdrops, the cast of eccentric and memorable characters; and her richly textured, physically emotional writing style combine to present a unique and satisfying work that lingers in the memory long after A Student Of Weather has been finished and set back upon the shelf. Also highly recommended is Small Change, Elizabeth Hay's collection of short stories.

This wonderful book is full of contrasts - the dust of Willowbend, Saskatchewan and the snow of Ottawa, Ontario; farm life in the dust bowl days and urban life of New York City; the "bad" sister and the "good" sister; remembering and forgetting. The details are so evocative that you can taste the grit, feel the scrape of a twig, smell the roses in the botanical garden. The best part, for me, were the unexpected little twists. I would think, from the author's hints, that I knew what was going to happen - that this was going to be just another trite "woman's book" - and time and again I would be wrong. And all the wonderful little details (such as Norma Joyce eating the rose) jump out and stick with you. It is primarily a book about character, and by the end of the book you love them all in spite of their very human flaws. After you are finished reading, you can't help thinking about the characters and whether they ever really knew each other, and by extension, you can't help wondering how well we understand the motivations and actions of those nearest to us.

A Student Of Weather is the story of an enduring conflict between two sisters and the man who walked into their lives when they were young. Spanning more than three decades, A Student Of Weather begins in the Prairie dust bowl of the 1930s, and in the decades following World War II, moves back and forth between Ottawa and New York City. As a novelist, Elizabeth Hay has the ability to evoke characters and scenarios that are both eccentric and familiar, surprising, richly textured, and totally engaging. Her debut novel, Elizabeth Hay is a writer of substantial ability. Also very highly recommended is Small Change (1997), her earlier collection of short stories.