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Random Passage #2
Waiting For Time
This sequel to "Random Passage" continues the saga of the inhabitants of Cape Random. It also tells the story of today's Newfoundland--a place where the past overshadows the present and shapes the future. This is the story of lonely, unplanned journeys, of courage and pride, of loss that must be endured again and again until we understand the nature of the path we have taken and the place at which we have arrived.
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First published December 1, 1993
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews
March 8, 2018
3.5 stars. The book eventually answers the questions as to what happened to many of the main characters at the end of the first book, Random Passage. It starts with Lav Andrews, a present day descendant of one of the main characters in Random Passage. I must admit that I didn't find the present day portions of the book as interesting as the section that went back to the time of the Random Passage characters. This section is told from the perspective of Mary Bundle who is recounting her memories of the early days of the settlement. Mary is in her 90's and has her great granddaughter read the original Lavinia Andrews' journal entries to her. Mary disagrees with Lavinia's recounting of their history so she has her great granddaughter write the "true" history in the margins of the original journal. An interesting literary method.
April 6, 2009
I thoroughly enjoyed this sequel to Random Passages. Ms. Morgan's style of writing is full of historical detail. She writes with clarity, descriptiveness and the novel flows well. I can't imagine living the life that the Andrews' and the Vincents' did. I don't know that I'd have the wear with all to withstand that kind of life, although I suppose if you were there you wouldn't have much choice.
I hope Bernice Morgan writes a third novel and continues her history of these families through future generations.
I hope Bernice Morgan writes a third novel and continues her history of these families through future generations.
July 15, 2018
This is a bittersweet novel which continues the story of the families of Random Passage, through the eyes of now centenarian Mary Bundle until her death, and through those of Lavinia Andrews in the 1980s-known as Lav & much later as Vinnie when she returns to her roots in a now abandoned & uninhabited Cape Random & environs, having been inspired by the journal kept by the original Lavinia Andrews-her remote ancestor-& added to by Mary Bundle dictating to her daughter. She encounters many close & distant relatives. Initially working as a scientist for the DFO on a mission to Newfoundland from her home in Ottawa, to document the endless bounty of the Northern cod fishery, but shocked into discovering the opposite- that the stocks are exhausted from overfishing- documented by her young lab assistant in a report which he publishes without permission, and which leads to the death of the fishery. Political intrigue is well documented in this sad story, but Lav is a survivor who when she is fired from the DFO, reinvents herself, settling in on the island & acquiring new skills & interests, having a lover & a son & maintaining the memory of her ancestors by taking care of the graves on Cape Random.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 30, 2018
I enjoyed this book. I read Random Passage earlier in the year. This book expands on the character of Mary Bundle through a journal that is found in close to the year 2000. The novel explores life of Lavinia Andrews,a scientist who comes to Newfoundland to do work re the cod fishery. There are a lot of references to the declining cod stocks in Newfoundland and the impact on so many. It was interesting to see the common names from the late 1700’s then used in the modern years. I enjoyed reading Random Passage and this answered some of the questions I had when I finished that book. I always think about the harsh reality of life when the people initially settled in a place like Cape Random. Thank you Bernice Morgan for sharing these stories.
August 29, 2020
Excellent sequel to Random Passage. Mary’s story was as fascinating as Lavinia’s and it was nice to see the continuation of all the families.
The backdrop of the more current era of the fisheries and the effect of the moratorium on the families brings home the effect governments can have on generations of people when they bargain with our livelihood.
The backdrop of the more current era of the fisheries and the effect of the moratorium on the families brings home the effect governments can have on generations of people when they bargain with our livelihood.
June 25, 2017
A sequel to Random Passage, the novel follows a modern day character, who, as a result of a broken relationship, heads to Newfoundland for work and while there discovers her heritage and relations. Not as good as the first but enjoyable read nonetheless.
January 21, 2024
This book is a beautiful continuation of Random Passage.
Ms. Morgan writes with such detail and imagery that as one reads i can picture the scenery as i am reading .
I felt like i was actually there with the characters, experiencing everything and feeling the same emotions.
Ms. Morgan writes with such detail and imagery that as one reads i can picture the scenery as i am reading .
I felt like i was actually there with the characters, experiencing everything and feeling the same emotions.
December 22, 2018
Only two stars because it took too long to get to the real story.
May 12, 2019
5.0/5.0
July 21, 2020
Loved the middle section, which took me back in time to “Cape Random”, but the modern-set bookends never grabbed me as much.
January 12, 2023
As sequels go, this was very different from Random Passage. I enjoyed it, but not as much as the first one. I question the direction the main character took as believable.
February 14, 2024
Better than the first book, Random Passage. But not as many interesting characters.
October 8, 2024
DNF at 60% couldn't get engaged in the story.
October 21, 2024
2.5 Rating
January 29, 2018
This book was a little harder to get into than Random Passage. Still well written and believable.
October 9, 2022
This novel continues the story Bernice Morgan began in Random Passage, a saga that began as one huge volume but was later divided into two separate novels. It brings back The Andrews and Vincent families, Mary Bundle and Thomas Hutchings as they struggle with their lives on Cape Random, a small outport fishing community on the Newfoundland coast. This volume has a different perspective on history as readers see the past through the eyes of Mary Bundle and events they wondered about from the past are seen in a very different way.
Morgan continues unfolding her saga by moving her narrative back and forth from two time periods, the past with the early settlers and the present with their descendants and characters in modern times. Readers learn how the small community has grew over time, as the families intermarried and new settlers arrived. Mary Bundle is at the center of this narrative just as Lavinia Andrews was in the first volume and readers learn about her past before she landed on the Cape. It tells how she and her sister had left England as orphans and arrived in St John’s to work as servants; how Tessa died after she was whipped for a crime she did not commit and how Mary ran off with Tim Troop, a boy she knew from home. When she became pregnant and delivered a baby girl called Fannie, Tim who did not want the responsibility of a wife and child, loaded them on a ship visiting the outports and Mary worked on board as a cook. She left the ship at Cape Random and stayed there for the rest of her life. She was a strong woman who had known poverty all her life and shaped by hardship to be a survivor, comes across as a powerful character. She is a smart, determined and outspoken woman who never cared what others thought of her and has much to say about the inhabitants of the Cape.
Modern day Lavinia is the ancestor of her nineteenth century namesake, the modern day descendent of the original Lavinia Andrews readers met in Random Passage, the first volume in this saga. She is a marine biologist in Ottawa with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, sent to St John’s to oversee a report on the state of the cod stocks. Using her ancestor’s old journal, she tracks down some of her former family and meets them for the first time, recovering some of her family’s past. The history of her family comes to her through that two-hundred-year-old journal which has been added to by subsequent generations. One of the most moving stories from those pages is Mary Bundle’s account of what happened to Tessa, a story Mary tells her great granddaughter Rachel. During the telling of that dark disturbing tale, it is clear Mary was haunted most of her life by shame at her inability to save her sister.
As the modern-day Lavinia works on her report, readers learn how the impending disaster of the modern fishery could have been avoided if this abundant resource had been more carefully cared for in the years when fish were abundant. Families in the outports depended on fish for their living and little thought went into the future of what seemed at the time to be an abundant resource; they were more concerned with their day-to-day survival. Only a few could see that the fish could not be tapped year after year by increasing numbers of people before the supply would outrun those drawing on it. The danger posed over the years by the decreasing numbers of fish had been reported many times, but was ignored by those who could not face the news or was purposefully suppressed by the politicians. When the fishery ultimately collapsed in 1992, a moratorium on fishing was issued, sending the province into an economic collapse.
This second volume fails to capture the poignancy of the first book that described the first descendants and their struggle to survive, although it still carries the underpinning of strong fierce women, with Morgan’s vibrant characters and clear writing filling the text. But the turbulent and passionate battle of women and their families who refused to be undone by time, circumstance and the tough landscape is missing, and that was the true heart of Random Passage. These formidable women played a vital role in Newfoundland’s history but in a different way than the men. They did not rage and fight against the tough landscape, but accepted it and simply did their best to help their families survive.
This brings the story of the families at Random Passage to a satisfying close, but often, like other sequels, is not as good as the first book.
Morgan continues unfolding her saga by moving her narrative back and forth from two time periods, the past with the early settlers and the present with their descendants and characters in modern times. Readers learn how the small community has grew over time, as the families intermarried and new settlers arrived. Mary Bundle is at the center of this narrative just as Lavinia Andrews was in the first volume and readers learn about her past before she landed on the Cape. It tells how she and her sister had left England as orphans and arrived in St John’s to work as servants; how Tessa died after she was whipped for a crime she did not commit and how Mary ran off with Tim Troop, a boy she knew from home. When she became pregnant and delivered a baby girl called Fannie, Tim who did not want the responsibility of a wife and child, loaded them on a ship visiting the outports and Mary worked on board as a cook. She left the ship at Cape Random and stayed there for the rest of her life. She was a strong woman who had known poverty all her life and shaped by hardship to be a survivor, comes across as a powerful character. She is a smart, determined and outspoken woman who never cared what others thought of her and has much to say about the inhabitants of the Cape.
Modern day Lavinia is the ancestor of her nineteenth century namesake, the modern day descendent of the original Lavinia Andrews readers met in Random Passage, the first volume in this saga. She is a marine biologist in Ottawa with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, sent to St John’s to oversee a report on the state of the cod stocks. Using her ancestor’s old journal, she tracks down some of her former family and meets them for the first time, recovering some of her family’s past. The history of her family comes to her through that two-hundred-year-old journal which has been added to by subsequent generations. One of the most moving stories from those pages is Mary Bundle’s account of what happened to Tessa, a story Mary tells her great granddaughter Rachel. During the telling of that dark disturbing tale, it is clear Mary was haunted most of her life by shame at her inability to save her sister.
As the modern-day Lavinia works on her report, readers learn how the impending disaster of the modern fishery could have been avoided if this abundant resource had been more carefully cared for in the years when fish were abundant. Families in the outports depended on fish for their living and little thought went into the future of what seemed at the time to be an abundant resource; they were more concerned with their day-to-day survival. Only a few could see that the fish could not be tapped year after year by increasing numbers of people before the supply would outrun those drawing on it. The danger posed over the years by the decreasing numbers of fish had been reported many times, but was ignored by those who could not face the news or was purposefully suppressed by the politicians. When the fishery ultimately collapsed in 1992, a moratorium on fishing was issued, sending the province into an economic collapse.
This second volume fails to capture the poignancy of the first book that described the first descendants and their struggle to survive, although it still carries the underpinning of strong fierce women, with Morgan’s vibrant characters and clear writing filling the text. But the turbulent and passionate battle of women and their families who refused to be undone by time, circumstance and the tough landscape is missing, and that was the true heart of Random Passage. These formidable women played a vital role in Newfoundland’s history but in a different way than the men. They did not rage and fight against the tough landscape, but accepted it and simply did their best to help their families survive.
This brings the story of the families at Random Passage to a satisfying close, but often, like other sequels, is not as good as the first book.
November 28, 2015
Waiting for Time is a sequel to Bernice Morgan’s Random Passage which not only continues the stories of the Andrews and Vincents but also their descendants in the later 20th century. I found Waiting for Time a much better read than Random Passage as the story and narration is a lot more focused than the first book. In fact, you may be just fine reading this book first as Mary Bundle retells some of the previous events of the book anyway. Not to say Random Passage was a bad book at all, I just found that the main protagonists and story of the first novel was never really clear or consistent, at least in my mind. Here, Morgan improves upon the mild inconsistency of the first novel with the 18th century portion being told by Mary Bundle and her great-granddaughter Rachel and then placing Lav Andrews (Mary’s descendent) as the centre and focus of the 20th century portion. Morgan does a fine job intertwining the two different generations and time periods together so as to coincide with her themes of time, belonging, continuity, and change. The purpose of having these two time periods was to demonstrate that past, present, and future are really one in the same, and how events in the past are directly connected to the present. Morgan uses Cape Random as an effective tool to demonstrate the passage of time and history, that despite all the change and flux on the Cape, people and events do eventually come full circle reminding us to respect and honour the past and being honest by accepting the dark elements of our past as well as the good. History not only tells us where we came from, but it also tells us what we may eventually become.
February 3, 2017
I have given this five stars, but it is so difficult to separate it from the previous book, Cape Random: A Novel. Does the book really stand on its own? I am, of course, trying to come up with five Canadian books for a class. This books seems to develop themes that are more discussable than Cape Random, but there are so many characters that I wonder whether anyone could understand the second without having read the first.
I must admit that I did not at first bond with the modern characters and was very pleased when the book went back to the past. I loved seeing the same events through Mary's eyes, and to learn her past. When the book went back to the modern people, though, I was more ready is like Lav.
The first book is longer than I like to assign my class, and Faye will be making out geneological charts and lists of names, but the second has the conclusion. What to do? What to do?
I must admit that I did not at first bond with the modern characters and was very pleased when the book went back to the past. I loved seeing the same events through Mary's eyes, and to learn her past. When the book went back to the modern people, though, I was more ready is like Lav.
The first book is longer than I like to assign my class, and Faye will be making out geneological charts and lists of names, but the second has the conclusion. What to do? What to do?
March 20, 2016
This book was highly recommended by a friend because I am travelling to Newfoundland in June. At first I had trouble getting into it and did not connect with the character, Lav Andrews, set in the present day, but once we went back to Mary Bundle's section, I was hooked. It is a chilling portrayal of how difficult it was to be poor in England, Newfoundland and anywhere in the 19th century. I ended up really enjoying it.
February 26, 2014
This book is a beautiful continuation of Random Passage. Ms. Morgan writes with such detail and imagery that as one reads, one can clearly picture the scenery around the characters. This book is rich in history and detail that pone feels one is actually there with the character, experiencing with them the surroundings or the area.
October 28, 2014
I enjoyed the whole sequence - Random Passage and this sequel Waiting for Time. I would have liked it better if it had been one integrated book without so much going back and forth in time. Still the books served as an excellent companion piece to my recent trip to Newfoundland, very well written and crafted, helping me understand the nuances of this remote land and its people.
December 4, 2016
I discovered this sequel to Random Passage, the multigenerational saga of this Newfoundland family & was easily engaged. The story is told from the POV of 3 characters over 4 generations & begins with a Canadian maritime drama. I enjoyed the writing & characters but found
myself bored at times. Overall a good read & may be worth reading the first novel.
myself bored at times. Overall a good read & may be worth reading the first novel.
September 15, 2009
The sequel to Random Passage (or Cape Random) IT filled in some gaps from the first book but was more a rewrite of the same story in a different voice. The tie to the persent was not as compelling as the original story.
February 18, 2015
I enjoyed this sequel to Random Passage but I could not connect with the modern day character, Lav. I think the two books together would get a 4 star rating from me but separately, I'm rating them each a 3.
November 29, 2016
Two stories in one, modern and historical. I appreciated the geographical descriptions of life along the Canadian coast, the fog, the harshness, the rocks. A harsh life too, and that was harder to read about, maybe due to the events of our day as well.
October 11, 2019
This is the sequel to Random Passage and continues the saga of the main characters. It begins with Thomas Hutchings heading away from the community into the town but also continues the story back in Random Passage as well. While I didn't love it quite as much as Random Passage, still very good.
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February 17, 2009I read this before Random Passage, and found the people and their relationships to each other and the land very compelling. It added so much to my experience of Newfoundland.
January 4, 2010
Loved it!
July 31, 2011
Found it a little hard to get started but once I got going...it was great!
February 24, 2012
I enjoyed the second book as much as the first, I wish there were more! Bernice Morgan describes everything in such detail. I loved it.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews