Journal Entry 1 by KathyB25 from Arlington, Texas USA on Saturday, October 03, 2009

My mother called me Silver. I was born part precious metal, part pirate.

Orphaned and anchorless, Silver is taken in by blind Mr. Pew, the mysterious and miraculously old keeper of the Cape Wrath lighthouse. Pew tells Silver ancient tales of longing and rootlessness, of journeys that move through place and time, of passion and betrayal. His stories center on Babel Dark, a local nineteenth-century clergyman who lived two lives: a public one mired in darkness and a private one bathed in a beacon of light. Pew's stories are, for Silver, a map through her own particular darkness, into her own story and, finally, into love.

With Lighthousekeeping, Winterson begins a new cycle and a return to the lyrical intimacy of her earliest work. One of the most original and extraordinary writers of her generation, Winterson has created a modern fable about the transformative power of storytelling.
 

Journal Entry 2 by KathyB25 from Arlington, Texas USA on Friday, October 16, 2009

On it's way to Finland to Potok-fan who won it in the Raiding the Bookshelves BookObsessed swap! 

Journal Entry 3 by potok-fan from Turku, Varsinais-Suomi Finland on Monday, October 26, 2009

Just arrived! What a pretty cover. *blush* I haven't sent my own swap book out yet - this should light a fire under me. 

Journal Entry 4 by potok-fan from Turku, Varsinais-Suomi Finland on Tuesday, November 10, 2009

I enjoyed the first bit of the book, although I found the depiction of the abusive (not to put too fine a point on it) Babel Dark painfully disheartening. I was perhaps reading too quickly, but I found the latter part of the book to be too disjointed for me. I am not cut out to be a postmodern reader, really.

* * * * * *

Looking around for reviews of the book, I see that I am not alone. Here are some highlights from Joanna Briscoe's review review in the Guardian: A slim but lovely Winterson classic that briefly unravels, shoots into the ether, and then remembers, just in time, what it's all about. ... You have to hand it to Winterson. For all her intellectual blustering, all her poetic indulgences, she continues to probe the big questions. She refuses to make life easy for lazy readers, even as the disenchanted fans howl. ... Lighthousekeeping sees her back at her fragmented but brilliant best...