Journal Entry 1 by tangledthreads from Derby, Derbyshire United Kingdom on Wednesday, July 14, 2004

Jacket blurb: "Manon Gaudet is unhappily married to the owner of a Louisiana sugar plantation. She misses her family and longs for the vibrant lifestyle of her native New Orleans, but most of all she longs to be free of her suffocating domestic situation. The tension revolves around Sarah, a slave girl given to Manon as a wedding present from her aunt, whose young son Walter is living proof of where Manon's husband's inclinations lie. This private drama is played out against a brooding atmosphere of slave unrest and bloody uprisings. And if the attacks reach Manon's House, no-one can be sure which way Sarah will turn..."

This book won last year's Orange Prize (fiction by female authors) and I remember at the time being surprised, although I can't at the moment remember what she was up against. Having now read the book, however, I give the judges their due: this is a very good novel. Martin's crisp prose effortlessly builds atmosphere, and the characters are strong. Although I enjoyed reading the book, I didn't really like it until the very last page. Now I think I would enjoy the book even more on a second reading.

The Orange Prize always seems to come up with good books. Past shortlisted titles and winners I've enjoyed are:
The Book of Colour by Julia Blackburn
A Spell of Winter by Helen Dunmore
Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
White Teeth by Zadie Smith
Fingersmith by Sarah Waters 

Journal Entry 2 by tangledthreads from Derby, Derbyshire United Kingdom on Sunday, August 15, 2004

I am starting a triple bookring to release this book, alongside 2 other books:
*Book 1: Property
http://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/1849963
*Book 2: A True Story Based on Lies
http://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/1514126
*Book 3: Like Water for Chocolate
http://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/982118

Please only sign up for this bookring if you can commit to reading all 3 books. Please send me a Private Message including your screen name and country if you would like to join (I will assume you are able to ship overseas unless you tell me otherwise).

*I will make a list below of members in the order the book will circulate (this may be amended later depending on shipping preferences/location etc).

*The current owner of the book will be shown on the list in bold and marked with an arrow (>).

*Please make a journal entry when you receive the book, then read, review and release the book within 1 month of receiving it, to keep the circle turning.

*When you are ready to release the book, send a PM to the next member on the list asking for their postal details.

*When the last person on the list receives the book, please send me a PM for my postal details, for the book’s return journey.

BOOKRING MEMBERS
1. TangledThreads (UK)
2. minx2012 (UK - prefer to ship within Europe)
3. Suzy26 (Netherlands)
on way to
4. phillycarol (USA - prefer to ship within US)
5. adah-price (USA)
6.

(Shipping order not yet finalised so above sequence may/will probably change) 

Journal Entry 3 by tangledthreads from Derby, Derbyshire United Kingdom on Monday, October 04, 2004

On way to first ring participant, minx2012 - hope you enjoy it! 

Journal Entry 4 by minx2012 on Saturday, October 16, 2004

I'm getting old.
I have a list on my computer of bookrings and rays I'm expecting, but for some reason, even though 'the Tangledthreads book spiral' was on there I'd forgotten all about it.
A nice surprise, and yet more proof that all books that are in rings and rays gather together and plot how best they can all arrive at the next participant's house at the same time!
 

Journal Entry 5 by minx2012 on Sunday, November 28, 2004

Manon Gaudet would make a good newsreader.
She readily confesses that she's switched off inside - that she's but a shell of her former self - because of her unhappy marriage, but for truly dispassionate statement-of-fact writing she still takes some beating!
Every now and again, you'll see a spark of her earlier, happier, character - the way her narrative seems to light up when she first speaks of Joel, and the slight hint of pride that comes across when she relates how brave the doctor thinks she has been after the night of horror - but this a woman who has largely given up on emotions.

Probably because of this, I didn't really warm to her at all until the end portion of the novel, and I agree with tangledthreads that the book is difficult to actually like until the very last.
Having said that, it's the same thing that makes the book a very quick read. I hurtled through it in one afternoon, not really wanting to put it down in case I missed the cracking of Manon's shell, and was left with a wry smile on my face when I closed it.

Have PMed Suzy26 for her address; I'll get it in the post to her as soon as I have somewhere to send it. 

Journal Entry 6 by Suzy26 from Delft, Zuid-Holland Netherlands on Saturday, December 18, 2004

Book arrived safely today. Thank you very much for sending it to me minx2012 and thank you tangledthreads for ringing it. I will probably start on it tomorrow (after I have finished my current ringbook). 

Journal Entry 7 by Suzy26 from Delft, Zuid-Holland Netherlands on Friday, December 24, 2004

This novel is truly about property in every sense of the word. A man is not taken seriously unless he is a man of property, owning a big house, a large plantation, lots of slaves; in those days (1828) a woman was considered to be her husband’s property; and saddest of all slaves were the property of their masters and nothing but a commodity. Even though Manon hates her husband, she still resents Sarah for spending time in her husband’s bed and giving him children. Sarah clearly hates him as well. This novel is rich in atmosphere, but it is a brooding, very gloomy atmosphere. It was impossible for me to feel any sympathy for either Manon or Sarah or any of the other characters, for that matter, until in the last sentences:

‘When you gets to the North’, she said, ‘they invites you to the dining room and they asks you to sit at the table. Then they offers you a cup of tea and they asks, “Does you want cream and sugar?”.
I was dumbfounded. It was more than I ever heard her say. My uncle was right, I thought. She had changed; she’d gone mad. I took a swallow of my coffee. ‘And this appealed to you?’, I asked.
‘Yes’, she said, raising her eyes very coolly to mine. ‘It appeal to me’.

 

Journal Entry 8 by Suzy26 from Delft, Zuid-Holland Netherlands on Thursday, December 30, 2004

Mailed to phillycarol today. 

Journal Entry 9 by phillycarol from King Of Prussia, Pennsylvania USA on Saturday, January 15, 2005

Received today. Thanks! I'll start reading it within a week. :) 

Journal Entry 10 by phillycarol from King Of Prussia, Pennsylvania USA on Thursday, February 10, 2005

I also had a difficult time identifying or empathizing with Manon or Sarah. I can't decide if I liked the book or not. It was well written and expressed the sentiments of the times very well but it was a little too gloomy for me. I can understand why it won the Orange Prize though.

I'm mailing the book to adah-price tomorrow. Thanks for sharing it with me! 

Journal Entry 11 by adah-price at Random wild releases in St. Louis, Missouri USA on Saturday, April 08, 2006

Released 6 yrs ago (4/10/2006 UTC) at Random wild releases in St. Louis, Missouri USA

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

RELEASE NOTES:


sending back to tangled threads. Good quick read, not as complex development on characters--but stillheld my attn...