Duet for Three

by Joan Barfoot

Aggie, June, and Frances--grandmother, mother, and granddaughter--gain a shared understanding, through private memories and personal experiences, of the forces that bind their lives together

Genres: Fiction, Canada, Womens

288 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1983

About the author

Joan Barfoot is an award-winning novelist whose work has been compared internationally with that of Anne Tyler, Carol Shields, Margaret Drabble and Margaret Atwood. Her novels include Luck in 2005, nominated for the Scotiabank Giller Prize, as well as Abra, which won the Books in Canada first novels award, Dancing in the Dark, which became an award-winning Canadian entry in the Cannes and Toronto Film Festivals, Duet for Three, Family News, Plain Jane, Charlotte and Claudia Keeping in Touch, Some Things About Flying, and Getting Over Edgar. Her 2001 novel, Critical Injuries, was longlisted for the 2002 Man Booker Prize and shortlisted for the 2001 Trillium Book Award. In 1992 she was given the Marian Engel Award. Also a journalist during much of her career, she lives in London, Ontario, Canada.

Reviews

[Story · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars. I absolutely loved this novel describing (in alternating POV chapters) the relationship between the earthy, curious, huge and strong 80 year old Aggie and her frightened, sensitive, prim and repressed 60ish caregiver-daughter June. Barfoot is one of my favourite authors on the theme of how terrifyingly impossible it is to ever truly know and understand another, especially if the other is part of your family.

[Pavlina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Aggie is 80 and faces the prospect of a nursing home. Aggie resists, June, her daughter insists. There is also Frances, June's daughter and Aggie's beloved granddaughter, who should arrive for the weekend. Both women are waiting in expectation whose side she would take. Meanwhile, Aggie recollects her life, she remembers her happy childhood, her unsatisfying marriage, her disappointment with her daughter, but also her joy of reading and the freedom of her own small business.

"She has, herself, been at times a splendid Aggie, a new woman rising to each occasion - what other Aggies might there have been in other circumstances? Now, however, she's afraid that the next Aggie to appear will be the dead one." (129)

[Jack · Rating 3 out of 5]

Explores women’s familial relationships and roles, especially in relation to each other.

[Sammy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wasn’t expecting much out of this book given the cover, not that it was horrific or misleading, more so a bit grotesque with the style. I guess I should thank it though, as it is the reason why it caught my eye and I picked it up in the first place.

Duet For Three follows three women’s lives, all in the same family. A grandmother named Aggie, her daughter June and granddaughter Frances. It mostly focuses on Aggie and June though, as well as their relationship.

That’s all the story is really: focusing on these women's lives and what has led them to this point. There isn’t an overarching goal or even a general story really, just analyzing these women's experiences and thoughts. Sometimes it’s best just to keep it simple and DFT really nails its storytelling in that aspect. Honestly, it was a pleasant surprise, and I am almost saddened I wasn’t in the best frame of mind to appreciate it. Bleh, it’s always hard to describe this sorta thing, as there isn’t a specific moment you can pick apart. Hopefully, I will be able to express myself better upon a re-read, but for now I shall think of it fondly.

Rating: 8/10

[Janet Barclay · Rating 5 out of 5]

The "three" referred to in the title are Aggie, her daughter June, and June's daughter Frances. The basic story takes place over a very short time, but is interspersed with memories from Aggie and June's pasts from their own points of view, and reveals how their individual lives were shaped by certain pivotal events.

The novel itself is quite compelling, but what I found most fascinating was seeing shades of my own mother in both Aggie and June, despite the fact that they are so very different from one another.

Most of all, I was amazed at the way Barfoot was able to explore the characters so deeply in only 250 pages.

[Cate Helgeson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book depicted aging realistically and its impact on famiky.. I laughed and cried. When I was finished it I gave it to my Mother, who read it and lent it to her bridesmaid. It was a huge hit all the way around.