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My Ghosts
From Mary Swan, the bestselling author of the Scotiabank Giller finalist The Boys in the Trees , comes a dazzling and intricate new novel that tracks one family across 150 years, unearthing long-buried secrets and capturing moments that reverberate unexpectedly across the generations.
In My Ghosts , with an uncanny eye for the telling detail, Mary Swan brings to vivid life a household of Scottish orphans trying to make their way in Toronto in 1879. The youngest, Clare, has rheumatic fever; the oldest brother has run away. The fate of them all rests on the responsible Ben, the irrepressible Charlie and the two middle Kez, sarcastic with big ears and a kind heart, and Nan, benignly round but with a hidden talent for larceny and mischief. Fascinating lives spool out from these a cast of indelible strivers and schemers, spinsters and unhappy spouses, star-crossed lovers and hidden adulterers, victims of war and of suicide--proof of how eventful the lives of "ordinary families" can be.
Swan leaves us with the contemporary Clare, widowed and moodily packing up her house. She isn't sure what she'll do next, and she knows nothing of her family's past. But we we recognize the ghosts and echoes, the genetic patterns and the losses that have shaped her as much as her own choices and heartbreaks.
My Ghosts is entrancing fiction that pulls you into its characters' lives at the same time as it inspires you to think about your own ghosts, your own forgotten past.
In My Ghosts , with an uncanny eye for the telling detail, Mary Swan brings to vivid life a household of Scottish orphans trying to make their way in Toronto in 1879. The youngest, Clare, has rheumatic fever; the oldest brother has run away. The fate of them all rests on the responsible Ben, the irrepressible Charlie and the two middle Kez, sarcastic with big ears and a kind heart, and Nan, benignly round but with a hidden talent for larceny and mischief. Fascinating lives spool out from these a cast of indelible strivers and schemers, spinsters and unhappy spouses, star-crossed lovers and hidden adulterers, victims of war and of suicide--proof of how eventful the lives of "ordinary families" can be.
Swan leaves us with the contemporary Clare, widowed and moodily packing up her house. She isn't sure what she'll do next, and she knows nothing of her family's past. But we we recognize the ghosts and echoes, the genetic patterns and the losses that have shaped her as much as her own choices and heartbreaks.
My Ghosts is entrancing fiction that pulls you into its characters' lives at the same time as it inspires you to think about your own ghosts, your own forgotten past.
304 pages, Hardcover
First published September 10, 2013
4 people are currently reading
337 people want to read
About the author
Mary Swan
16 books13 followersMary Swan is a Canadian novelist and short story writer. She is also a trained librarian with a keen eye for history. Her novel The Boys in the Trees, a shortlisted nominee for the 2008 Scotiabank Giller Prize, was inspired by a newspaper clipping concerning a death within a family.
Swan was the winner of the 2001 O. Henry Award for short fiction for her short story "The Deep", which was published in The Malahat Review. That story later became the title story of her debut short story collection The Deep and Other Stories in 2002.
A graduate of York University and the University of Guelph, she currently resides in Guelph, Ontario with her family.
Swan was the winner of the 2001 O. Henry Award for short fiction for her short story "The Deep", which was published in The Malahat Review. That story later became the title story of her debut short story collection The Deep and Other Stories in 2002.
A graduate of York University and the University of Guelph, she currently resides in Guelph, Ontario with her family.
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February 8, 2015
“If you cannot get rid of the family skeleton, you may as well make it dance.”
---- George Bernard Shaw, an Irish playwright, socialist, and a co-founder of the London School of Economics
Mary Swan, a Canadian novelist and short story writer, spun a spectacular family tale, My Ghosts which tracks the history of a family for 150 years down the line.
Synopsis:
In My Ghosts, with an uncanny eye for the telling detail, Mary Swan brings to vivid life a household of Scottish orphans trying to make their way in Toronto in 1879. The youngest, Clare, has rheumatic fever; the oldest brother has run away. The fate of them all rests on the responsible Ben, the irrepressible Charlie and the two middle sisters: Kez, sarcastic with big ears and a kind heart, and Nan, benignly round but with a hidden talent for larceny and mischief. Fascinating lives spool out from these siblings: a cast of indelible strivers and schemers, spinsters and unhappy spouses, star-crossed lovers and hidden adulterers, victims of war and of suicide--proof of how eventful the lives of "ordinary families" can be.
Swan leaves us with the contemporary Clare, widowed and moodily packing up her house. She isn't sure what she'll do next, and she knows nothing of her family's past. But we do: we recognize the ghosts and echoes, the genetic patterns and the losses that have shaped her as much as her own choices and heartbreaks.
To be honest, it's a very difficult novel, and it takes patience to comprehend the underlying storyline or rather say the memories. This is the family history of McFarlane family which traces some evocative memories of the six orphans of this family for 150 years, and the astounding past is that the story begins with one Clare and ends up with another Clare, who are only related by a bloodline!
Well, the storyline is quite unique and I never read anything so unusual- a story about family memories tracing for 150 years down the line, and each chapter in this book is a sketch of a particular family member- his/her accounts of memories about his/her family, legacy, some hidden secrets, some past ghosts, some regrets. But all the while, we never actually get well acquainted with those featured characters. Sometimes, it will make you hate the book, since every other character in this book is diverse and is easy to differentiate, thus making us fall for their demeanor and mannerism quite easily, and that leaves us with an emptiness. Since all we get to know is the memories and trying to figure out the interconnectedness among his/her forefathers.
The narration was gripping and very captivating from the very first page, but it lacked depth. Though the author's prose was articulate enough to pull us into the flow of the memory-line but it wasn't eloquent enough to make us fall in love with it. Well, I'd like to hats off to the author for featuring objects like a banjo, a miniature tea-cup, a slingshot and the characters trying to figure out the distinct memories attached with them. Moreover, the author's intricacy over minute details of such objects makes the tale interesting.
The author's portrayal of the ancestral timeline through some distinct characters and objects and the repercussion caused by their memories, was in a way quite poignant. There's a similarity between both the Clares in this story, both lost in their thoughts about time and history! And their thoughts about time acted as a bridge to traverse the whole family saga for a century and a half!
Verdict: If you want to absorb the beauty of this author's words, then go for it, otherwise, you can give it a miss, if challenging storyline are not your cup of tea!
Courtesy: Many, many thanks to the author, Mary Swan, for giving me an opportunity to read and review her novel.
---- George Bernard Shaw, an Irish playwright, socialist, and a co-founder of the London School of Economics
Mary Swan, a Canadian novelist and short story writer, spun a spectacular family tale, My Ghosts which tracks the history of a family for 150 years down the line.
Synopsis:
In My Ghosts, with an uncanny eye for the telling detail, Mary Swan brings to vivid life a household of Scottish orphans trying to make their way in Toronto in 1879. The youngest, Clare, has rheumatic fever; the oldest brother has run away. The fate of them all rests on the responsible Ben, the irrepressible Charlie and the two middle sisters: Kez, sarcastic with big ears and a kind heart, and Nan, benignly round but with a hidden talent for larceny and mischief. Fascinating lives spool out from these siblings: a cast of indelible strivers and schemers, spinsters and unhappy spouses, star-crossed lovers and hidden adulterers, victims of war and of suicide--proof of how eventful the lives of "ordinary families" can be.
Swan leaves us with the contemporary Clare, widowed and moodily packing up her house. She isn't sure what she'll do next, and she knows nothing of her family's past. But we do: we recognize the ghosts and echoes, the genetic patterns and the losses that have shaped her as much as her own choices and heartbreaks.
To be honest, it's a very difficult novel, and it takes patience to comprehend the underlying storyline or rather say the memories. This is the family history of McFarlane family which traces some evocative memories of the six orphans of this family for 150 years, and the astounding past is that the story begins with one Clare and ends up with another Clare, who are only related by a bloodline!
Well, the storyline is quite unique and I never read anything so unusual- a story about family memories tracing for 150 years down the line, and each chapter in this book is a sketch of a particular family member- his/her accounts of memories about his/her family, legacy, some hidden secrets, some past ghosts, some regrets. But all the while, we never actually get well acquainted with those featured characters. Sometimes, it will make you hate the book, since every other character in this book is diverse and is easy to differentiate, thus making us fall for their demeanor and mannerism quite easily, and that leaves us with an emptiness. Since all we get to know is the memories and trying to figure out the interconnectedness among his/her forefathers.
The narration was gripping and very captivating from the very first page, but it lacked depth. Though the author's prose was articulate enough to pull us into the flow of the memory-line but it wasn't eloquent enough to make us fall in love with it. Well, I'd like to hats off to the author for featuring objects like a banjo, a miniature tea-cup, a slingshot and the characters trying to figure out the distinct memories attached with them. Moreover, the author's intricacy over minute details of such objects makes the tale interesting.
The author's portrayal of the ancestral timeline through some distinct characters and objects and the repercussion caused by their memories, was in a way quite poignant. There's a similarity between both the Clares in this story, both lost in their thoughts about time and history! And their thoughts about time acted as a bridge to traverse the whole family saga for a century and a half!
Verdict: If you want to absorb the beauty of this author's words, then go for it, otherwise, you can give it a miss, if challenging storyline are not your cup of tea!
Courtesy: Many, many thanks to the author, Mary Swan, for giving me an opportunity to read and review her novel.
January 10, 2014
I wanted to like this book. I usually enjoy multi-generational stories and a lot of the characters in the book were, or should have been, interesting to me. However, the book jumped about so much, from person to person and generation to generation, that I often had a hard time figuring out who was who and where they fit into the family. In the end, I gave up on trying and just read each section as if they were a series of connected stories. There was some good writing in this book but, all in all, I found it frustrating
November 7, 2013
My Ghosts follows several generations of the McFarlane family over a period of approximately 150 years. The book is divided into different sections with several different narrators often, as is the way with families, with the same names. The book begins in 1879 with Clare, one of six siblings and ends in the present with another Clare. The original Clare is a 16-year-old orphan living with her six brothers and sisters in a poor area of Toronto and, from her, we learn the themes of the tale. Clare spends a great deal of her time thinking about, well, time:
“Thinking about what it is and why it is. Thinking about how it can be Eternal, and yet gone forever."
Time and memory and the interconnectedness of families are the major themes of this novel. But time here is not always linear. Each section moves the story forward but within the sections, it is much more fluid as each narrator shares their memories as they ponder their lives and their pasts. And, in the way of memory, the sections are divided into short vignettes, sometimes following some set order but often seemingly random:
"how strange it was, how you could go years without thinking about a thing, but then it popped up"
And as important as memory is, so are the gaps in memory. Although, we may not remember the previous generations, they trail us like ghosts, sometimes in a single memory or in a name, sometimes in a familial trait, and sometimes in the repeated family legends and, as time and memory change, so do the stories and their outcomes.
The last section belongs to the second Clare. She is older, retired, and recently widowed. She has sold her home but, when her new house is not ready for occupancy, she takes the time to follow an earlier path and reclaim earlier memories. Like the first Clare, she thinks a great deal about time:
“They’ve always happened, she realizes, these moments when she seems to wake up and wonder where she’s been, sometimes for years. I’m a ghost haunting my own life, she thinks, and then says, ‘What on Earth does that mean?’”
My Ghosts is both beautiful and haunting in its portrayal of one family over generations and about how time and memory define us. It is also, in some ways, frustrating in that we only learn small fragments of these characters, many of whom we wish to know better but, then, isn't that the way of families as time and memory shift and bend and our ghosts slowly fade but never fully disappear from our collective memories, their legacy remaining if only in the shape of an ear.
“Thinking about what it is and why it is. Thinking about how it can be Eternal, and yet gone forever."
Time and memory and the interconnectedness of families are the major themes of this novel. But time here is not always linear. Each section moves the story forward but within the sections, it is much more fluid as each narrator shares their memories as they ponder their lives and their pasts. And, in the way of memory, the sections are divided into short vignettes, sometimes following some set order but often seemingly random:
"how strange it was, how you could go years without thinking about a thing, but then it popped up"
And as important as memory is, so are the gaps in memory. Although, we may not remember the previous generations, they trail us like ghosts, sometimes in a single memory or in a name, sometimes in a familial trait, and sometimes in the repeated family legends and, as time and memory change, so do the stories and their outcomes.
The last section belongs to the second Clare. She is older, retired, and recently widowed. She has sold her home but, when her new house is not ready for occupancy, she takes the time to follow an earlier path and reclaim earlier memories. Like the first Clare, she thinks a great deal about time:
“They’ve always happened, she realizes, these moments when she seems to wake up and wonder where she’s been, sometimes for years. I’m a ghost haunting my own life, she thinks, and then says, ‘What on Earth does that mean?’”
My Ghosts is both beautiful and haunting in its portrayal of one family over generations and about how time and memory define us. It is also, in some ways, frustrating in that we only learn small fragments of these characters, many of whom we wish to know better but, then, isn't that the way of families as time and memory shift and bend and our ghosts slowly fade but never fully disappear from our collective memories, their legacy remaining if only in the shape of an ear.
June 13, 2017
Overall, it was ok. Just ok. I get that the book jumps from narrator to narrator, but I didn't know until I was into a section as to who the narrator was and how they were connected to the characters in the first section. Confusing, but the writing style is descriptive and flows well, but just didn't do it for me.
October 23, 2015
This family saga is a wonderful read. It traces the lives of various members of a family over a century and a half. The novel begins in Toronto in 1879 with the first narrator Clare, one of the five MacFarlane orphans. Six other narrators follow, all of whom are somehow related to the MacFarlanes; each gives a glimpse into his/her life and that of other family members and moves the story forward in time until the last narrator, another Clare, brings the story to an end in the present. There are joys and sorrows and secrets – the experiences most ordinary people have.
A novel with seven narrators poses challenges in terms of characterization, but the author’s use of vivid details means that each narrator emerges as a distinct individual. The reader has no difficulty differentiating the many characters since each has a distinguishing trait or mannerism. Of course since the book explores the “many things that bind us,” certain characteristics reappear, whether they are “sticking-out ears” or a flare for the dramatic. At times it is as if “the same few stories [are] playing themselves out in different times, with different actors” - yet each story is different because the choices made are different and, therefore, so are the outcomes.
A major theme is the ancestral echoes that reverberate through generations: “Sometimes the smallest seeming hurt can have an enormous effect” and sometimes “the traces . . . left . . . are all dirt and damage.” A character may know little about the people on his/her family tree, but the reader will recognize the “ghosts from layers of time” that haunt the present. Ghosts trail everyone; one character speaks about feeling that she “was passing pieces of myself, that they were all falling into step behind me, trailing along.” Another speaks of “Lives overlapping through years and years, and we’re part of it for our own brief time . . . [and] it will go on and on.” A third character speaks about an idea for a one-woman show: “And it would be about a long line of women through time, she wasn’t sure how far back, and with each one she’d wrap herself in another layer until she’d be so swaddled she could barely move. ‘And at the very end . . . I’ll start whipping those layers off, one by one, and they’ll end up in a pile on the stage again, but it will be a different pile.’”
As a natural corollary, the book also examines time and memory. Several characters muse about time. Maybe “the past is another country” or “maybe there is a fold . . . in time” or maybe “time is just a short side line that will soon link up with the main track again”? We’ve all experienced “how strange it was, how you could go years without thinking about a thing, but then it popped up” so we may find ourselves agreeing with one character’s suggestion that “Maybe those moments are clues, a string of essentials” because memory is “Not a file in a drawer but a fluid thing, which changes each time you recall it.”
I think this book will leave an indelible mark; it will have readers looking for their own “ghosts that trail” and listening for the echoes of their own forgotten pasts. In this novel, Mary Swan inspires people to think about their own lives while reading an interesting tale about the lives of others. I will be much surprised if this book does not make an appearance on short lists for major literary awards.
Note: I received an ARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley.
Please check out my reader's blog (http://schatjesshelves.blogspot.ca/) and follow me on Twitter (@DCYakabuski).
A novel with seven narrators poses challenges in terms of characterization, but the author’s use of vivid details means that each narrator emerges as a distinct individual. The reader has no difficulty differentiating the many characters since each has a distinguishing trait or mannerism. Of course since the book explores the “many things that bind us,” certain characteristics reappear, whether they are “sticking-out ears” or a flare for the dramatic. At times it is as if “the same few stories [are] playing themselves out in different times, with different actors” - yet each story is different because the choices made are different and, therefore, so are the outcomes.
A major theme is the ancestral echoes that reverberate through generations: “Sometimes the smallest seeming hurt can have an enormous effect” and sometimes “the traces . . . left . . . are all dirt and damage.” A character may know little about the people on his/her family tree, but the reader will recognize the “ghosts from layers of time” that haunt the present. Ghosts trail everyone; one character speaks about feeling that she “was passing pieces of myself, that they were all falling into step behind me, trailing along.” Another speaks of “Lives overlapping through years and years, and we’re part of it for our own brief time . . . [and] it will go on and on.” A third character speaks about an idea for a one-woman show: “And it would be about a long line of women through time, she wasn’t sure how far back, and with each one she’d wrap herself in another layer until she’d be so swaddled she could barely move. ‘And at the very end . . . I’ll start whipping those layers off, one by one, and they’ll end up in a pile on the stage again, but it will be a different pile.’”
As a natural corollary, the book also examines time and memory. Several characters muse about time. Maybe “the past is another country” or “maybe there is a fold . . . in time” or maybe “time is just a short side line that will soon link up with the main track again”? We’ve all experienced “how strange it was, how you could go years without thinking about a thing, but then it popped up” so we may find ourselves agreeing with one character’s suggestion that “Maybe those moments are clues, a string of essentials” because memory is “Not a file in a drawer but a fluid thing, which changes each time you recall it.”
I think this book will leave an indelible mark; it will have readers looking for their own “ghosts that trail” and listening for the echoes of their own forgotten pasts. In this novel, Mary Swan inspires people to think about their own lives while reading an interesting tale about the lives of others. I will be much surprised if this book does not make an appearance on short lists for major literary awards.
Note: I received an ARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley.
Please check out my reader's blog (http://schatjesshelves.blogspot.ca/) and follow me on Twitter (@DCYakabuski).
April 26, 2014
The lives interweaved in this book makes a kind of palimpsest: each character, place, and time period leaking through the narrative, giving an uncanny sense of the interconnectedness of all our lives.
There is a moment near the beginning of My Ghosts where one of the character’s - Clare - remembers her deceased mother; the narrator describes the memory of Clare’s mother as if she’s disappeared into a fold in time by explaining, “Not a place, exactly, but something like a fold, like that part of the let-down hem that has stayed as bright and clean as it was in the beginning, while all the rest fades and fades” (12). This image of the past so close, so real haunts this novel in a beautiful way – objects, especially, become more than inanimate things, but echoes of other lives, other people, other moments, other memories: a slingshot, a miniature teacup, jeweled cuff links, a flattened nickel, a banjo with curled strings, an old backpack, and (especially) photographs. Objects serving as reminders of what came before - so close and so vivid while so much else fades.
My Ghosts is a wonderful puzzle; one that makes you look deeply at the complexity of this experience; this shared experience. Time in the novel gets braided like hair, layering and layering. And, Mary Swan does it all with just a blank white page and little black marks – objects themselves, really, echoing through the folds of time, reaching out to the reader for one more connection.
It's not an easy read, but oh-so rewarding.
There is a moment near the beginning of My Ghosts where one of the character’s - Clare - remembers her deceased mother; the narrator describes the memory of Clare’s mother as if she’s disappeared into a fold in time by explaining, “Not a place, exactly, but something like a fold, like that part of the let-down hem that has stayed as bright and clean as it was in the beginning, while all the rest fades and fades” (12). This image of the past so close, so real haunts this novel in a beautiful way – objects, especially, become more than inanimate things, but echoes of other lives, other people, other moments, other memories: a slingshot, a miniature teacup, jeweled cuff links, a flattened nickel, a banjo with curled strings, an old backpack, and (especially) photographs. Objects serving as reminders of what came before - so close and so vivid while so much else fades.
My Ghosts is a wonderful puzzle; one that makes you look deeply at the complexity of this experience; this shared experience. Time in the novel gets braided like hair, layering and layering. And, Mary Swan does it all with just a blank white page and little black marks – objects themselves, really, echoing through the folds of time, reaching out to the reader for one more connection.
It's not an easy read, but oh-so rewarding.
August 9, 2016
I won this book as part of the first reads program. Full review to come when it arrives.
UPDATE: I feel like rating this book a 1 is a bit harsh, but it's probably the most reflective of how I feel about it. "My Ghosts" has one of the slowest starts of any book I have read in recent memory. The first three chapters had me absolutely slogging through them, to the point where I didn't even want to be reading. But, because it's an ARC, I felt kind of obligated to press on.
Once the book shifted to Robbie's perspective, things picked up a little bit, but it quickly went downhill again when his mother picked up the thread. The more modern chapters were definitely more readable than those at the beginning of the book, but I still found myself struggling to be interested in any of the characters or their stories.
A good premise, but I found myself pretty disappointed.
UPDATE: I feel like rating this book a 1 is a bit harsh, but it's probably the most reflective of how I feel about it. "My Ghosts" has one of the slowest starts of any book I have read in recent memory. The first three chapters had me absolutely slogging through them, to the point where I didn't even want to be reading. But, because it's an ARC, I felt kind of obligated to press on.
Once the book shifted to Robbie's perspective, things picked up a little bit, but it quickly went downhill again when his mother picked up the thread. The more modern chapters were definitely more readable than those at the beginning of the book, but I still found myself struggling to be interested in any of the characters or their stories.
A good premise, but I found myself pretty disappointed.
February 26, 2017
I enjoyed this book very much. Mary Swan does not write typical novels. She uses unusual techniques to great effect. She doesn't follow one character all the way through a novel, but rather likes to cover multiple generations and/or multiple characters. She also explores issues like memory and family connections in way that resists the temptation to provide simplistic answers; her books therefore reflect the true complexity of our lives. The result is writing that has great depth and is thought provoking. Her books, and this one in particular, are well worth reading.
December 16, 2019
I ran out of patience waiting for something, anything, to happen. There are too many good books out there to waste time with one you're not enjoying, so I gave it up. Didn't read very far to be honest (page 34) but it was such a slog I saw no reason to continue. Lots of people seem to have loved it. Definitely not my thing though.
November 5, 2013
Rambling and difficult to follow. Did not immediately engage my interest and I found it tough to plough onwards.
May 6, 2018
An interesting book, although I had problems following all the lineages. It was well written, but perhaps a family tree would have helped me keep the storyline straight.
January 19, 2021
"The longer I waited the more clearly I understood the uselessness of a truth that comes too late, when it can do nothing but harm."
May 20, 2018
It took me a bit to get into this book but I am glad that I did as I enjoyed it overall. I would like to give more details but this book was published by one of the big five publishing companies (see note below).
Note: I used togive full reviews for all of the books that I rated on GR. However, GR's new giveaway policies (Good Reads 2017 November Giveaways Policies Changes) have caused me to change my reviewing decisions. These new GR policies seem to harm smaller publishing efforts in favour of providing advantage to the larger companies (GR Authors' Feedback), the big five publishers (Big Five Publishers). So, because of these policies from now on I will be supporting smaller publishing effort by only giving full reviews to books published by: companies outside the big five companies, indie publishers, and self-published authors. This book was published by one of the big five companies so will not receive a more detailed review by me.
Note: I used togive full reviews for all of the books that I rated on GR. However, GR's new giveaway policies (Good Reads 2017 November Giveaways Policies Changes) have caused me to change my reviewing decisions. These new GR policies seem to harm smaller publishing efforts in favour of providing advantage to the larger companies (GR Authors' Feedback), the big five publishers (Big Five Publishers). So, because of these policies from now on I will be supporting smaller publishing effort by only giving full reviews to books published by: companies outside the big five companies, indie publishers, and self-published authors. This book was published by one of the big five companies so will not receive a more detailed review by me.
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October 3, 2013I really thought that I'd like this, but it wasn't for me.
September 29, 2024
there are stories told that keep you entertained with plots and characters, and then there are books that shine a light onto your own life. this is one of those books. the first part was so beautiful and so moving to me that I had to take a break and let it settle within me. it opens with characters that are not exactly central to the main arc (to me, at least) but are so necessary in order to have the compassion you need for the main arc to establish itself. a clever way to sneak into your heart, for sure.
quotes that stayed with me:
the worst thing, I see now, was not that I fooled them, or thought I did, but that my mind somehow turned them into people who deserved to be fooled. how ridiculous they became then, with their penny-pinching and their silly jokes. aunt Clare lost in her reading while the supper burned on the stove, and the annoying way her glasses slid down her nose. aunt kez poking her nose into everyone's business, but not caring enough to notice mine, and how she tried to make an adventure out of her dull life, telling every little detail of her walk to the butcher. I even felt scorn for poor jack, his clumsiness, and when aunt nan sais, 'be careful, Bella," as I left the house, I saw nothing but a silly old woman, one with no idea what it was to burn like I did.
his paper name was Francis James Robert sears.....the first two names were for his mother's lost brothers, the last, she said, for his father, who'd been dead all along. Robbie didn't know much about him, and there were times when that mattered. he knew that he'd done something brave, and that he was an orphan as his mother was, and Edie's parents too. he'd never really thought of that before, how rare it must have been to keep a family whole, in the old, harder times they'd come through.
how easy it was, even if I didn't know it, when Robbie was small, and the two of us were enough. he learned his numbers from the brass ones on the hotel doors, his colours from the boats in the harbour...when he was old enough, he helped me lay the tables and turn out the rooms...
it was easy until it wasn't, until I had to drag him from his bed in the mornings, until he began to leave tasks half done and vanish, never where he should have been
(Bella) kept the house but went back and forth to the city, where Edie was studying, where her aunts and uncle lived together in a main floor apartment, the people above them always rapping with a broom handle when the piano playing got too loud. Robbie told me how jolly it was there, with music and singing and all the tricks they played. like a second childhood, he said; their minds were alright, except maybe Charlie's, but it seemed they'd decided to do whatever they wanted, and nor care who minded. and I could imagine it, knowing them all from those years they came to stay at the Lakeview. I noticed other families, of course, but those McFarlands always made me think what it could be like, growing up, growing old with my own sisters and brothers.
on the train home from our appointment in the city, Edie said she'd realized she no longer missed it. the bustle and the entertainments, the crowds of people who didn't know the first thing about you. she said that maybe a place like Inverhaven was better, like a family in the way everyone knew everything about everyone else and you could be whoever you are, and know that you still belonged.
Robbie and Edie have done everything to make me comfortable here, make me welcome, an I know I am, but I don't think they understand how it feels, living at the edges of other people's lives. not a thing I know how to explain without seeming ungrateful...
quotes that stayed with me:
the worst thing, I see now, was not that I fooled them, or thought I did, but that my mind somehow turned them into people who deserved to be fooled. how ridiculous they became then, with their penny-pinching and their silly jokes. aunt Clare lost in her reading while the supper burned on the stove, and the annoying way her glasses slid down her nose. aunt kez poking her nose into everyone's business, but not caring enough to notice mine, and how she tried to make an adventure out of her dull life, telling every little detail of her walk to the butcher. I even felt scorn for poor jack, his clumsiness, and when aunt nan sais, 'be careful, Bella," as I left the house, I saw nothing but a silly old woman, one with no idea what it was to burn like I did.
his paper name was Francis James Robert sears.....the first two names were for his mother's lost brothers, the last, she said, for his father, who'd been dead all along. Robbie didn't know much about him, and there were times when that mattered. he knew that he'd done something brave, and that he was an orphan as his mother was, and Edie's parents too. he'd never really thought of that before, how rare it must have been to keep a family whole, in the old, harder times they'd come through.
how easy it was, even if I didn't know it, when Robbie was small, and the two of us were enough. he learned his numbers from the brass ones on the hotel doors, his colours from the boats in the harbour...when he was old enough, he helped me lay the tables and turn out the rooms...
it was easy until it wasn't, until I had to drag him from his bed in the mornings, until he began to leave tasks half done and vanish, never where he should have been
(Bella) kept the house but went back and forth to the city, where Edie was studying, where her aunts and uncle lived together in a main floor apartment, the people above them always rapping with a broom handle when the piano playing got too loud. Robbie told me how jolly it was there, with music and singing and all the tricks they played. like a second childhood, he said; their minds were alright, except maybe Charlie's, but it seemed they'd decided to do whatever they wanted, and nor care who minded. and I could imagine it, knowing them all from those years they came to stay at the Lakeview. I noticed other families, of course, but those McFarlands always made me think what it could be like, growing up, growing old with my own sisters and brothers.
on the train home from our appointment in the city, Edie said she'd realized she no longer missed it. the bustle and the entertainments, the crowds of people who didn't know the first thing about you. she said that maybe a place like Inverhaven was better, like a family in the way everyone knew everything about everyone else and you could be whoever you are, and know that you still belonged.
Robbie and Edie have done everything to make me comfortable here, make me welcome, an I know I am, but I don't think they understand how it feels, living at the edges of other people's lives. not a thing I know how to explain without seeming ungrateful...
November 27, 2022
The concept of this book was a cool one in theory - it follows a family through it's history, weaving stories/experiences from the first characters into the future, hinting at the subtle impacts of those on the family's progeny, a sort of generational trickle effect. Unfortunately though, you never really come to love any of the characters because it switches perspective every few chapters, and never really digs into a lot of the plot points, which left it feeling overall very vague. There were a lot of things throughout that were hinted at but never outright confirmed or only mentioned in passing, which left me wanting answers I would never get. In some cases I got the feeling that I would almost have to read it through a second time to get the full impact of some of what was implied, but sadly I can't say I found it engaging enough to put on my list of books to read again in the future.
Read
February 27, 2021I’m gonna stop doing star reviews because I hate their arbitrariness, so just written impressions from now on.
I really enjoyed this book. It’s a family chronicle of sorts, or anthology, but the way the threads of their lives weave with each other through the years, it almost feels like a mystery novel at times. Swan drops little details into paragraphs so that you almost miss them, but then you think, “Wait, what was that about the tiny teacup?” or what have you, and you recognize an echo tracing down the bloodline from one or three stories ago, so you flip back to clarify a thrilling little clump of five words when your memory fails.
It ended a bit abruptly, after a bit of a slow craw toward the finish, but overall a nice read. Would recommend.
I really enjoyed this book. It’s a family chronicle of sorts, or anthology, but the way the threads of their lives weave with each other through the years, it almost feels like a mystery novel at times. Swan drops little details into paragraphs so that you almost miss them, but then you think, “Wait, what was that about the tiny teacup?” or what have you, and you recognize an echo tracing down the bloodline from one or three stories ago, so you flip back to clarify a thrilling little clump of five words when your memory fails.
It ended a bit abruptly, after a bit of a slow craw toward the finish, but overall a nice read. Would recommend.
July 30, 2023
3.5
I enjoyed the premise of this book very much but the execution needed some more work. I didn't catch on to what was happening for a while, and by then I was really confused, wondering when the first characters were going to come back in to the story.
I think this confusion would have a simple fix; a family tree at the beginning of the book, and some kind of chapter headings in addition to the dates that would have given some context for each story. Perhaps the whole book could have a descriptor that indicates that it's more of a collection of short stories about descendants along a particular family line.
I enjoyed the premise of this book very much but the execution needed some more work. I didn't catch on to what was happening for a while, and by then I was really confused, wondering when the first characters were going to come back in to the story.
I think this confusion would have a simple fix; a family tree at the beginning of the book, and some kind of chapter headings in addition to the dates that would have given some context for each story. Perhaps the whole book could have a descriptor that indicates that it's more of a collection of short stories about descendants along a particular family line.
May 12, 2024
After having read ‘the boys in the trees’ and loving the character development and alternative storytelling perspectives I thought I’d love this too.
I was frustrated with the lack of character depth, even though it’s not lost on me this is intentional and relates back to the overall theme of oral family histories and each family members subjectivity to certain details. I feel like a family tree on one of the leaflets would have really helped to enjoy the book more.
This was a laborious read and I find I’d recommend the aforementioned Mary Swan novel before this one.
I was frustrated with the lack of character depth, even though it’s not lost on me this is intentional and relates back to the overall theme of oral family histories and each family members subjectivity to certain details. I feel like a family tree on one of the leaflets would have really helped to enjoy the book more.
This was a laborious read and I find I’d recommend the aforementioned Mary Swan novel before this one.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 3, 2018
Picked this up at a bookstore on a recent trip to Toronto. Although I love historical fiction that is over several generations, this one was hard to get through. Too disjointed and rambling for my taste. Was like a thesis or dissertation prospectus that goes no where (and I have had to read my share of those believe me), but like a good committee member I stuck with it until the end!
October 5, 2020
The writing was beautiful and some of the narratives were interesting, but mostly it was kind of boring and very confusing at times. I had a hard time differentiating the later characters and time frames. My favourite parts were the the beginning with the orphaned siblings and then Robbie’s story in the hospital.
May 5, 2018
I found this book terribly boring. There was no individual voices of the characters. The only way I knew who was talking is because the author told us, nothing distinguished one character from another.
August 1, 2018
Imagine you live in a gigantic mansion in which generations of your families have lived, back to the beginning. All their stories, pain, hopes, dreams and aspirations are trapped there. They are your ghosts. Good book. Now for something light.
July 11, 2021
blah blah blah blah - stream of consciousness - blah blah blah - ugh!
September 13, 2021
I enjoyed the inner character perspective of this narrative, it was written well with an excellent sense of place and time.
September 27, 2022
Slow going
June 18, 2024
How can a reader keep track of the different characters when the names keep getting repeated?
I had to make a chart. And so many times I kept wondering who was talking. Very distracting.
I had to make a chart. And so many times I kept wondering who was talking. Very distracting.
March 14, 2017
I received this book as a Goodreads giveaway. I really wanted to love this book but found myself unable to get through it. I was not drawn into the story and did not connect with the characters in this book. The author was unable to make me want to read further and I because I received an advanced copy there was pressure to finish the book. This book was not enjoyable to read and I would not recommend it.
September 16, 2013
For full disclosure, I did receive an uncorrected proof of this book as a First Reads Giveaway.
This book was one of the most difficult for me to read and finish in a long time. The premise was interesting for me - following a family through many generations - however, the execution was horrible. Separated into different parts, only 1 of the 3 "parts" actually has a timeframe listed which lead to confusion on my behalf as to when the story was occurring. Another problem was a lack of character development; each chapter seemed to be from another character's perspective but after completing the chapter I'd find out that it was the same character, a different person than I had thought, or a totally different timeframe than I thought the events were occurring in. Overall this book was confusing. I am not really sure what the plot is other than following a family through blurred and undefined generations. Many of the relationships between characters were further confused by giving multiple characters the same first names! A great idea but poor execution.
This book was one of the most difficult for me to read and finish in a long time. The premise was interesting for me - following a family through many generations - however, the execution was horrible. Separated into different parts, only 1 of the 3 "parts" actually has a timeframe listed which lead to confusion on my behalf as to when the story was occurring. Another problem was a lack of character development; each chapter seemed to be from another character's perspective but after completing the chapter I'd find out that it was the same character, a different person than I had thought, or a totally different timeframe than I thought the events were occurring in. Overall this book was confusing. I am not really sure what the plot is other than following a family through blurred and undefined generations. Many of the relationships between characters were further confused by giving multiple characters the same first names! A great idea but poor execution.
January 11, 2014
I so, so loved The Boys in the Trees (as well as Mary Swan's other earlier works) and was thrilled to see that she finally had a new novel out. Sadly, I was really disappointed in My Ghosts.
The writing is still lovely, lyrical and flowing, but the use of narrative voices and plot (or lack therof) fell flat for me. Where Swan was successful with alternate voices in TBITT, here they did not feel distinguished from one another, especially those that used the 1st person POV. The voices merged, and I was left with a lack of grounding in the story. The sections that used the 3rd person were more successful (Robbie and Clare) and they felt more immediate, perhaps also because here we also saw more of an actual plot. Much of the first third of the novel felt like it meandered, and I was left waiting for something to really happen.
I'll still read Mary Swan--I love her use of language, her ease with image and phrasing. I just wish there was more distinct development in this novel.
The writing is still lovely, lyrical and flowing, but the use of narrative voices and plot (or lack therof) fell flat for me. Where Swan was successful with alternate voices in TBITT, here they did not feel distinguished from one another, especially those that used the 1st person POV. The voices merged, and I was left with a lack of grounding in the story. The sections that used the 3rd person were more successful (Robbie and Clare) and they felt more immediate, perhaps also because here we also saw more of an actual plot. Much of the first third of the novel felt like it meandered, and I was left waiting for something to really happen.
I'll still read Mary Swan--I love her use of language, her ease with image and phrasing. I just wish there was more distinct development in this novel.
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