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Ann-Marie MacDonald

Teoksen Armon yö tekijä

11+ teosta 8,419 jäsentä 219 arvostelua 33 Favorited

Tietoja tekijästä

Ann-Marie MacDonald was born in Baden Sölingen, in the former West Germany on October 29, 1958. She attended Carleton University before moving to Montreal to train as an actor at the National Theatre School of Canada, where she graduated in 1980. She has performed in theatres across Canada, and näytä lisää continues to act in film, television and theatre. She has appeared in several independent Canadian films including The Wars and Better Than Chocolate. She won a Gemini Award for her role in the film Where the Spirit Lives and was nominated for a Genie for her role in I've Heard the Mermaids Singing. Her play Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet) won the Governor General's Award for Drama, the Chalmers Award for Outstanding Play, and the Canadian Authors' Association Award for Drama. Her first novel, Fall on Your Knees, was published in 1996. Her other novels include The Way the Crow Flies and Adult Onset (Bowker Author Biography) näytä vähemmän
Image credit: Ann-Marie MacDonald

Tekijän teokset

Armon yö (1996) 5,432 kappaletta
Linnuntietä (2003) 2,240 kappaletta
Adult Onset (2014) 262 kappaletta
Fayne (2022) 95 kappaletta
Belle Moral: A Natural History (2005) 36 kappaletta
The Arab's Mouth (1995) 7 kappaletta
The Attic, the Pearls & Three Fine Girls (1998) — Playwright — 6 kappaletta
L'età adulta (2017) 1 kappale

Associated Works

Better Than Chocolate [1999 film] (1999) 64 kappaletta
Dropped Threads 3: Beyond The Small Circle. (2006) — Johdanto — 41 kappaletta
No Margins: Canadian Fiction in Lesbian (2006) — Avustaja — 31 kappaletta
Writers on writing (2002) — Avustaja — 29 kappaletta
Where the Spirit Lives [1989 film] — Actor — 1 kappale

Merkitty avainsanalla

Yleistieto

Jäseniä

Kirja-arvosteluja

Fayne is as close to literary magic as it gets. What an incredibly complex and well-written book! It is epic. After the last page, which I read at 4 am cause I just couldn't put this down, I thought this deserved a standing ovation.
Fayne is massive, more than 700 pages, and like the isolated estate whose name it bears, it is full of secrets and mystery. It is by no means perfect, but nature prefers making things different, not perfect by human standards, as one of the characters states in the book.

Charlotte Bell is a daughter of a seclusive aristocrat growing up on this ancient estate in the late 19th century, hidden from the world due to her "condition". She grows up thirsty for knowledge, hoping to one day be admitted to a university where she could continue her studies despite such a thing being unheard of for women of her social class. Charlotte's mother is a rich American heiress, who we learn about in letters she wrote as a young bride. She supposedly died after giving birth to Charlotte, soon after the death of her elder brother Charles. Other characters living at Fayne and Charlotte's spinster aunt living in Edinburgh also have their secrets that will slowly start to unfold.

There are many characters in the story, all very well-developed. There are also some great, unexpected twists. The big twist concerning the main character was not that difficult to guess, but it didn't take away the magic of the story. The atmosphere is phenomenal, almost gothic and fairytale-like at the same time while at Fayne, but we are often pulled out and thrown into the real world.

The range of topics Fayne covers is very broad, in the tradition of great Victorian novels; science, social class, traditional roles, class, morality, marriage, education... Had there been trigger warnings about it, I might have never picked it up. Some parts were very difficult to read due to the emotion bursting from the pages. But, I am so glad I did.
… (lisätietoja)
 
Merkitty asiattomaksi
ZeljanaMaricFerli | 7 muuta kirja-arvostelua | Mar 4, 2024 |
Un libro colpevolmente poco conosciuto (almeno in Italia) e che invece meriterebbe molta più risonanza.
E' una saga familiare cupa e morbosa, in cui l'aspra bellezza delle coste della Nuova Scozia di inizio novecento si armonizza perfettamente con le vicende torbide dei personaggi.
La passione è il motore della storia, declinata in tutte le sue forme: dal desiderio malato all' amore travolgente, passando per l'estasi religiosa ed una "cupio dissolvi" di matrice mistica. Lo si potrebbe definire un libro di tentazione e redenzione, in cui tutti i protagonisti assaggiano il frutto proibito e dovranno pagare il prezzo del peccato prima di poter ritrovare la pace interiore; una definizione del genere per quanto calzante è però limitante, perché non tiene conto della tridimensionalità dei personaggi o della scrittura intensa eppure delicata dell'autrice, entrambi elementi fondamentali al pari della trama. Anche la storia con la S maiuscola fa capolino tra le pagine ed affrontiamo tanto gli orrori della vita al fronte quanto la desolazione degli anni della Grande Depressione. Peccato solo che il finale perda mordente, è una sorta di epilogo per tirare le fila che risulta tuttavia un po' troppo didascalico e sbrigativo.
In conclusione un libro imponente, spietato ma mai davvero "cattivo", che non può lasciare indifferenti.
… (lisätietoja)
 
Merkitty asiattomaksi
Lilirose_ | 123 muuta kirja-arvostelua | Jan 30, 2024 |
In the late 19th century, 12-year old Charlotte lives with her father at Fayne (in Scotland or England). Her mother died in childbirth and her brother died when she was young, as well (Charlotte does not remember her brother). Charlotte is extremely smart and her father hires a tutor for her (who is initially perturbed that he was brought to tutor a girl). She wants to attend university.

This did not turn out as I’d expected. It was very long and I’m rating it ok. There were parts I liked (more toward the beginning of the book), but whenever we switched perspectives, I felt like I was starting over (even though after the first couple of times, we were mostly going back and continuing from where the last switch left off), and wasn’t interested for the first bit (of every switch). It took time to get interested again, but just as that happened, we switched again.

So, the other perspective is Charlotte’s mother. I honestly didn’t find this nearly as interesting, overall, as Charlotte herself. Though, after a bit, I was interested (then… switch!). Clarissa (Charlotte’s aunt) was a piece of work, wow! I didn’t like her from the start. The end was a bit weird: Did Charlotte live to about 140 years old!?
… (lisätietoja)
 
Merkitty asiattomaksi
LibraryCin | 7 muuta kirja-arvostelua | Jan 13, 2024 |
There are many layers to this book, because of all the perspectives it takes. (A little bit like [b:The Poisonwood Bible|7244|The Poisonwood Bible|Barbara Kingsolver|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1165609814s/7244.jpg|810663] by [a:Barbara Kingsolver|3541|Barbara Kingsolver|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1198341619p2/3541.jpg] in that respect.) It's not for the faint-hearted or young, because of the mature subject matter. But it's gripping story, well-written, and moving.
 
Merkitty asiattomaksi
LDVoorberg | 123 muuta kirja-arvostelua | Dec 24, 2023 |

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Teokset
11
Also by
8
Jäseniä
8,419
Suosituimmuussija
#2,862
Arvio (tähdet)
3.9
Kirja-arvosteluja
219
ISBN:t
153
Kielet
15
Kuinka monen suosikki
33

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