Book of the Week: The Stone Angel

4 Stars

For the book of the week, I had to go through my shelves and find something different. This is what I unearthed. The Stone Angel, by Margaret Laurence.

I remembered reading this a while ago, and I found myself liking it again. So, here it is, this week’s novel. 7

What I like is that the characters are strong, and stay very consistent. There are no weird changes in them that make you wonder where they whipped that out from, so I have no complaints there whatsoever.

The story line is good, the flashbacks essential, even if the tone of the story was a little…heavy.

What I did not like was the strangeness of who Hagar was, is and how she treats others. I mean, at times it was really confusing. I did not like it. I also found the ending to be disappointing, and awfully a buzz kill.

I also did not like that the story was violent, and the way that everything was tied up. But that was just me, and trying to put certain feelings to paper (keyboard) is a little tricky.

Overall? A good, read, but not one to take lightly.

Hagar Shipley has lived through hell, and now her life is drawing to an end. It’s the late 1960′s and Hagar finds herself being drawn back into the past, replaying over the events that made her the bitter woman that she finds herself to be today.

With that, comes the sad consequences and questions that cannot be answered. But there is one last grope at freedom before her ninety years plus years are up.

In a novel that it questioning and deep, The Stone Angel is a book for those who have their own lives to question, and what the consequences might be.

Author: Margaret Laurence

Published: January 1st 2004 by McClelland & Stewart (first published 1964)

Page Count: 344

ISBN: 0771047088    (isbn13: 9780771047084)

Quick Review: The Book Of Negroes

5 (Yes, 5. This is a rare occasion)

So I meant to write this a few days ago, but I totally forgot, so, here is a quick review of `The Book of Negroes’ by LAWRENCE HILL, which I found to be such a great literary work that I think everybody should really read it or at least glance at it.

It is a breathtaking account of a young woman’s tale fighting through her slavery and what she does to make her life worthwhile to her.
While I admit that I was slightly hesitant to read this book at first, because somebody told me it was horrible (how wrong they were…I should have known better anyways, they hate books like this),  I read it.
How glad am I that I have!
The writing is great, the plot (for the most part) fast paced as well as descriptive. It was perfectly researched and written with such care and ability that it was a book that I know for a fact I will be reading again.

I would recommend this book for those that like history-like novels, but also to those who are ready for a combination of love, pain, as well as bitter action.

All I can say now, is read it, and enjoy great Canadian writing!!!

I think what I liked the most about the novel was the fact that it was based on a piece of history, and that we got to grow with Meena, got to see what she had been through and understand that this had actually happened to some people.  We got to experience a woman’s trials and know that somebody had probably gone through something similar. I also liked that it was done in first person; if you know me, then you know that I love fist person narration.

The one thing that I partially did not like in the novel was the fact that you would go back to Meena writing her account. I would have preferred that it had just gone straight through, but, it was nothing big.  Nothing that would really bug me.

Aminata Diallo is a eleven-year old girl when her world is shaken roughly. She watches when her parents are killed, her village burned, and she is put into a slave coffle to walk three months across Africa to be put on a slave ship. There she is forced to grow up quickly and learn how to survive in a rough world where white men dominate. She quickly learns the ways of the white men, and of the South Carolina Negroes alike. It all falls apart on one mistake, and Meena, as she is know to others, is forced to change once more. Soon she has changed owners once more, leaving her lover and husband behind to the unknown. Eventually Meena  ends up in places she never thought she would go.

In a novel that is filled with true facts and history, this work will make you ponder; what would you do?

Author:  Lawrence Hill

Published:  October 4th 2007 by Harper Collins Canada (first

published 1993)

Page Count:  486

ISBN:  1554681561

http://www.lawrencehill.com/the _book_of_negroes.html