Lovesong

by Nikki Gemmell

This is the story of Lillie, a young woman from a closed religious community who one day finds herself in the freedom of a strange new world, England, accused of murdering a man. But it is here, in this land of cold, dark skies and scuffed, tumbling streets, that she first finds the pleasure and the love she desperately seeks. Lovesong is at once a celebration of the human spirit and a powerful story of exile, identity and love.

Genres: Fiction, Audiobook, Australia

Paperback

First published August 24, 2001

About the author

Nikki Gemmell has written four novels, Shiver, Cleave, Lovesong, The Bride Stripped Bare and The Book Of Rapture, and one non-fiction book, Pleasure: An Almanac for the Heart. Her work has been internationally critically acclaimed and translated into many languages.

In France she's been described as a female Jack Kerouac, in Australia as one of the most original and engaging authors of her generation and in the US as one of the few truly original voices to emerge in a long time.

The French literary review "Lire" has included her in a list of what it calls the fifty most important writers in the world - the ones it believes will have a significant influence on the literature of the 21st century. The criteria for selection included a very individual voice and unmistakeable style, as well as an original choice of subject. Nikki Gemmell was selected along with such novelists as Rick Moody, Zadie Smith, Jonathan Safran Froer, Rohinton Mistry, Tim Winton, Colum McCann, Michel Faber and Hari Kunzru among others.

Born in Wollongong, Australia, she now lives in London.

Reviews

[Suz · Rating 2 out of 5]

Gosh Nikki Gemmell a good writer. Geeze this was not for me. I needed more conventional story telling. Review to follow.

[Marianne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love Song is the third novel by Australian author, Nikki Gemmell. It is narrated by Lillie Bird, a young woman who has lived in a cloistered community all her life. For the final eight years she has been kept in virtual isolation by her parents due to an incident when she was just thirteen. All she knows of the outside world is what she reads in books and magazines, and hears on her short-wave radio, brought by a visiting librarian. When she reaches adulthood, she is impatient to gain her freedom, find love and truly start her life: her parents send her to stay with her grandfather in England. The narration takes the form of an expectant mother writing down her story for her unborn child (thus creating intrigue: who is the father? Where is he now?). It switches continually between first and third person and lacks quotation marks for dialogue, both of which can be irritating and confusing, so Gemmell is making the reader work for the pleasure of reading the gorgeous, often sensuous prose. “Like an orphan I could veer from loving too much to not loving at all: opening out like an anemone that’s softened in the tide’s silky swirl and then jamming up tight if anything prodded, got too close” and “The day’s finding its feet, behind a first scrim of cloud there’s a higher heaven and I smile at the optimism in the sky and it dawns on me then, as the train slows through the city that’s never clean, that this freedom should be seized and not worried at” are two examples. Gemmell gives the reader characters with depth and appeal (or occasionally repellence) and her plot has a few twists to keep it interesting. The story is quite slow-moving at first, but perhaps this is meant to give the reader a taste of the impatience that Lillie feels. Exile, self-sacrifice, freedom, love, heartbreak, independence, confession, grief and a fundamentalist religious community are all part of this beautifully written love story.

[Josie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am so glad I stuck with this. I was quite frankly 'bored' with this book for the first 60 or so pages, and had begun to dislike the change in Gemmell's style in this, her 3rd book. Admittedly I found her 2nd book “Cleave” to be somewhat clunky and unpolished – the work of an inexperienced storyteller almost. However, I am so glad I didn’t give up on her or on this book, because this is by far the best book I have read in a while. I polished off the remaining 187 pages over the course of a rainy Saturday morning, accompanied by many cups of tea.
This is one of the nicest, love stories I have read in years. It is without the usually cliché of boy meets girl, but at the same time not one of those ridiculous tragedies either.
It was also the first book I have read written by an Australian author that switches between Australia (where I now live) and England (where I spent the first of my 23 years). There were many lines that made me smile to myself, such as the comment about pointless plastic bowls in sinks.
This was a great reminded to myself of why I read an Author’s works in the order they were written. It has been great to see Gemmell improve over the course of her first 3 books. I now can’t wait to finally read A Bride Stripped Bare which has sat on my “to be read” pile patiently for years!

[Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Listening to the audiobook that I got from the library and now have to buy for my book shelf ...the words ... She paints pictures with her words ... Her sentences are genius.

[Judy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gemmell's style is literary and poetic with beautiful phrases and sentences. She almost reinvents the language as she tells her story so that I often found myself pondering this or that image. But it becomes too much of a good thing; the language slows down the story and takes a long time to reveal it. Perhaps that says as much about me as reader as it does about the story-telling, but I became impatient to get to the heart of it and when it came, I felt somewhat let down.

[Kim · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved the words. Beautiful. Loved the story most when I finished it and started it again to reread the beginning from a different perspective.

[Js100 · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the tale of a girl brought up in a largely closed religious community,in Australia, who doesnt accept it, and rebels, as might be expected. Forced to remain at home for her teenage years, having confessed to arson, she is the quintessential loner, nourished by books and a a sympathetic librarian- and wanting to write. The rest of the tale follows a fairly predictable path of escape and encounter, with some somewhat unlikely twists.

What makes this novel stand out is the writing, a lyrical, passionate prose poetic style. It reminds me somewhat of that great prose poem, " By Grand Central station I sat down and wept".
I found it an enjoyable read, one to take slowly, not rush to the end.

[Bridget · Rating 3 out of 5]

It took me picking up and putting this book down 5 times before I could get past the 5th page- I feel relieved that I finally read it. It was nothing like I expected and kind of like a dream all the way around. I take umbrage with books about religious cults that never explicate the basis of their beliefs.

[Paulinesteele · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Nikki Gemmell's novels - the characters are flawed & vulnerable, the paragraphs are heavy with imagery. She has an amazing ability to draw the reader into the landscape. I have friends who can't get past the first couple of pages and I understand that but I persevere and feel enriched for having read each book.

[Chel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yamba bookshop

Gemmell's style of writing is poetic, albeit hard to follow.
Story of a young girl who spent 12 years 'imprisoned' from the small society that she lives in with her family for her crime of pyromania.

[Sara Cole · Rating 3 out of 5]

Finally finished this book. I did not hate it, I just didn't love it. I felt the blurb on the inside cover made the story sound more intriguing than it actually was. Nothing bad to write. The story was a bit bland, that's all.

[Corrina · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting format. A lot of alliteration does not make a literary masterpiece.

[Jess · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ugh!!
Didn't like the writing style at all!!!
Skipped, ran, hopped, ....through the book.
Good one- liners though.
I enjoyed her book ' The bride stripped Bare' but this one was ugh!
🤔🤔

[El · Rating 2 out of 5]

The style of a book can make or break it for me and, sadly, this one's style broke it. Two things which really annoy me are the use of "for" for "because" and using "And" repeatedly at the start of consecutive sentences/phrases. This work had these two in droves. The author also uses a stylistic feature of noun plus past participle to describe things - salt-scoured/fern-bowered/light-flooded/joy-thrummed - which initially I liked but then I realised that this was practically her sole means of description and it lost its effect and became tedious. The story itself was peculiar. A very slow start and a plot difficult to believe and one which raised so many questions: Why did Lillie's parents accept the Leader's behaviour? Why didn't Lillie ever question anything? Why could she not see that Dan was a controlling stalker? As the book progressed I became more and more indifferent to the action as it all seemed so unbelievable. The written style was often dreamlike and I wondered if we'd learn in the end that it was all fantasy but apparently this wasn't the case. Two stars from me because I didn't not like it but I can't claim to have liked it either.

[Mary Monks · Rating 1 out of 5]

I gave up on this book after about 50 pages ..... it was beautifully written with great use of language BUT it just did not grab me at all.

[Sonia Mcintosh · Rating 3 out of 5]

29. A book with LOVE in the title

[J. R. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm glad I listened on audiobooks,I'm not sure if I would have finished otherwise. The beginning is so slow and tedious. But after settling in and just sort of letting the words flow over me, I began to really like the book. One reviewer said the author painted with words and I'd have to agree. To me the book was much like a poem in that if you want to pick it apart about missing details or amazing coincidences, etc. you could but, I felt the author glided over details in favor of the bigger picture that she wanted to paint about this unique girl/woman (due to her upbringing and the environment in which it occurred) and how she found the love and life she sought.

[Kathryn Henion · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this but it was a slow start and I had to get used to the very clipped language and at times awkward use of nouns made into verbs such as a tongue "slugged" into an ear. In general I like Gemmell for her tendency to disrupt traditional male/female relationships and the value she places on independence in relation to her female characters' identity and creativity.

[Rana Gediz Iren · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love it - one of my favourite books...

[Jordan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Couldn't not get past page 40... Pushed and pushed myself to read it but just could not get interest. The way it was written was very hard to get used to

[Debbie · Rating 1 out of 5]

1.5

[Marion · Rating 3 out of 5]

The language is beautiful, almost poetic at times, but the plot is not altogether believable, nor the characters especially enchanting. I was bored at times, but am glad that I did finish the book.

[Fiona · Rating 4 out of 5]

I registered a book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/12980605

[Tania · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful imagery ... Of nature