The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox
16 journalers for this copy...
This is a wonderful book with well delineated characters and the past, partcularly India, is evocatively portrayed. I loved the way Esme would speak suddenly - her pronouncements so true to her situation. I'm sure you'll enjoy this Cat.
Years later, in the same city, a young woman named Iris Lockhart receives a letter informing her that she has a great-aunt in a psychiatric unit who is about to be released.
Iris has never heard of Esme Lennox and the one person who should know more, her grandmother Kitty, is too adrift in her own memories to answer Iris's questions. What could Esme have done to warrant a lifetime in an institution? And how is it possible for a person to be so completely erased from a family's history?
I loved this book and didn't want it to end. I kept thinking 'poor, poor Esme'.
I'm glad I chose this one for you, Debbie, and thank you for sharing it with me. X
She's on her way!
amberC - NT - read
scrapaholic - NT - read
nikkilovesbooks - NT - read
sorcha-sidhe - SA - read
FreePages - ACT - read
livrecache - VIC - read
lmn60 - VIC - read
BellaMack - TAS - asked to be skipped
Sujie - NSW - read
jeniwren - NSW - read
VeganMedusa - NZ - read
Captainsdoxy - NZ - read
Released 16 yrs ago (8/21/2007 UTC) at
WILD RELEASE NOTES:
Passing to Scrapaholic tomorrow.
_The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox_ started well; there seemed such a big build-up to the story, written in classic O'Farrell fashion, but then all of a sudden it was over. And did it really end? I cant be sure. I feel as though I've been left hanging.
I just cant help but feel there's a whole lot more to this story that we didnt find out. It seemed to be building up to something huge, but then the huge thing was a bit of a let-down because it just felt rushed.
I think O'Farrell tried too hard to write it in the same style as _After You'd Gone_, which is brilliantly powerful, but _The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox_ doesnt tug at the heart-strings in the same way. There are times when O'Farrell indicates her literary genius, but it's not constant like _After You'd Gone_. Which is a shame, because it certainly could have been, I just feel that O'Farrell didnt capture the full potential of her own idea.
I liked Esme, but I wanted to know more about her time in Cauldestone. I wanted to know more about her childhood. I wanted to know more, more, more!
I liked Iris, but how does she react to her news?
I could have liked Alex if I'd known more.
I probably would have disliked Luke if I'd known more.
I couldnt despise Kitty because she was scattered - more perspective would have been good.
Her parents seemed almost absent.
I'm always disappointed when a book leaves me wanting more for all the wrong reasons.
Still, it's a good, quick read. It holds interest.
It's just a shame there's not more of it.
"We are all, Esme decides, just vessels through which identities pass: we are lent features, gestures, habits, then we hand them on. Nothing is our own. We begin in the world as anagrams of our antecedents".
Sent to FreePages 15/11/2007.
Thanks to sorcha-sidhe for passing it on and to lakelady2282 for the ring.
Cheers
:-)
I liked the way it was written, had the odd twist I wasnt expecting and I was left wondering a bit at the end.
Certainly made Esme seem like the sanist person in the book!
Esme is off to livrecache in the mail today. Thanks to lakelady2282 for sharing and everyone else for passing it along. :-)
I'm looking forward to reading the book, particularly after seeing all the positive JEs.
Thanks for sharing LakeLady2822 (such an evocative name!).
I've contacted lmn60 and will send it to her, hopefully, later this week. Thank you for sharing lakelady2282.
Released 16 yrs ago (12/26/2007 UTC) at By mail in A BookCrosser, A Bookcrossing member -- Controlled Releases
WILD RELEASE NOTES:
Sending off later than I planned.
All the best for the New Year
More later.....
I was very pleasantly surprised to find this an accessible, well-written book that managed to engage me on an emotional level.
Unlike some of the previous journallers, I didn't mind the 'rushed' pace of the ending, and actually enjoyed the fact that we were not given 'too much information' about the characters and their motivations. (As a reader I find over-exposition and explanation MUCH more annoying than understatement!)
I found that this novel had a lot of cogent things to say about the role of women and of family - and as a worker in mental health, I was particularly interested in the depiction of Esme's response to the traumatic events that befell her.
Thanks for sharing this one with me lakelady2282 - you always seem to find intriguing books that I'd not have selected for myself!
BellaMack has asked to be skipped and I've just received Sujie's address.... so I'll send this one off next week.
She certainly could map the 'imaginative territory' of a child stifled by the immutable force of repressive, cold parents. In this way, and in tone and voice she reminds me of Kate Grenville's darker books, such as "Lilian's story" and "Dark places". I wanted the twist at the end, as expected as it was satisfying...but I wanted to walk out the door into what lay ahead for both Kitty and Esme. I liked O'Farrell's understatement - that doesn't keep me from wanting more of it!
Great read...looking for more titles and will start with "After you'd gone", sorcha-sidhe's recommendation.
PMed jeniwren.
This will be my first O'Farrell novel and reading through the previous journal entries I am looking forward to reading and will start in the next few weeks.
I have PMed the next Bookcrosser on the list and will send to New Zealand as soon as I have a response. Thanks again to lakelady2282 for sharing.
I'll PM captainsdoxy now for an address.
I was left quite satisfied by the ending, and it seemed completely in character with Esme - in fact, I cheered! It seemed the best ending there could have been (for her), as far as I'm concerned. :)
Posted this morning to Captainsdoxy.
I'm really looking forward to reading this - there are mixed views in the JEs so will be interesting to see which side I come down on. I'll make another entry when I've read it.
Esme seems to have been troubled from a small child, and may well have had an underlying medical/mental condition, but the treatment she receives following her trauma is apalling, but reflective of how society behaved back then.
The relationship between Kitty and Esme is intriguing. I enjoyed getting the flashbacks of lucid memory from an old woman slowly losing her mind, intermingled with Esme's story - as others on the ring have said, she seems to be one of the most sane in the book.
Iris, on the other hand, I found colourless and I remained indifferent to her story, and Alex and Luke. For me Iris was more of a plot device, supporting the main story but not really ever getting going in her own right.
I found the ending satisfying; what would a woman want who has had her entire life stolen from her? It is never fully spelled out, which I liked, but I believe she achieved what she needed to do.
Definitely a book I would recommend. Thanks all for sharing your thoughts on this book.
Released 13 yrs ago (6/20/2010 UTC) at Wellington City, Wellington Province New Zealand
CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:
To my squash buddy AD - who needs to read more!! :-)
Thanks lakelady2282 for starting this ring and to all the other readers who have kept it moving quite fast.
It has reached the end of the ring/ray and I know a bookcrosser in Europe who has it on her wishlist so after checking that she still wants it it will be souring across the world.
Released 13 yrs ago (2/2/2011 UTC) at Upper Hutt, Wellington Province New Zealand
CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:
My house guest did read it and although she found it slightly confusing in parts she enjoyed it.
Many many thanks, Sherlockfan, for your kindness!
Esme Lennox had a troubled childhood and had she been born in our modern day era she would certainly never have been treated in such an appalling way. She is sent to an asylum in the 1930’s by her parents who have found her somewhat eccentric behaviour impossible to deal with any longer! Some sixty years later it was decided to close such asylums and residents were released into the community, with the guidance of relations if possible. Enter the other protagonist Iris Lockhart who did not even know of the existence of her great aunt Esme until she is contacted as the next of kin. Her initial reaction is not surprisingly to steer clear of any involvement with a person she has never met. Curiosity however makes Iris decide to meet Esme and inevitably she finds that she does care about what is going to happen to her. After all she is her great aunt and she does not seem to be a lunatic. As they get to know each other Iris discovers that Esme is able to tell her things about her family that she had absolutely no idea about. for instance Iris had no idea that her own mother Kit, the third narrator in the story, even had a sister. Iris’s complicated modern life shows just how much times have changed for single young women since the thirties. Iris has the freedom to live her life as she wishes with behaviour that would have been frowned upon in the era when Esme was sent away for less.
A very sad story of familial deception with an ending that left me wondering about its abruptness, but I think this is probably what the author intended.
For more info visit LindyLouMac's Book Reviews
http://lindyloumacbookreviews.blogspot.com/2011/10/vanishing-act-of-esme-lennox-by-maggie.html
I'm so glad it has found a home with you. I hope you enjoy reading it and that you might take a few moments to jot down here what you thought about the book, or about finding it, or about bookcrossing.
You don't have to join or sign up or anything to bookcrossing to leave a comment here but if you do join, you will receive emails to alert you when others make a journal entry for this book and track its travels across the world. If you decide to join bookcrossing, now that you have discovered the site, I'd be delighted if you would mention me - LindyLouMac - as the person who introduced you to the site.
Happy reading
LindyLouMac
I am planning to release this book somewhere in Europe in the next couple of months. If you find this before I have done a Journal Entry please tell where you found it. Thankyou.
Released 12 yrs ago (1/18/2012 UTC) at Rendezvous Cafe in Machynlleth, Wales United Kingdom
WILD RELEASE NOTES:
I'm so glad it has found a home with you. I hope you enjoy reading it and that you might take a few moments to jot down here what you thought about the book, or about finding it, or about bookcrossing.
You don't have to join or sign up or anything to bookcrossing to leave a comment here but if you do join, you will receive emails to alert you when others make a journal entry for this book and track its travels across the world. If you decide to join bookcrossing, now that you have discovered the site, I'd be delighted if you would mention me - LindyLouMac - as the person who introduced you to the site.
Happy reading
LindyLouMac