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A review of half a book
Feb. 20th, 2004 04:53 pmI've been reading Lost, by Gregory Maguire, and I'm feeling inclined to begin reviewing it, even though I'm only half done with it.
Our unfortunately named heroine is Winifred Rudge (which, at least sometimes, rhymes with "Scrooge.") Winifred, or Winnie, is a writer searching for her novel, ostensibly about a woman investigating the possibility of Jack the Ripper being entombed in a family property in England. Almost from page 1, Winnie is passively hostile to the people she encounters, with the predictable result that few seem to like her. I'm intrigued by the fact that Maguire can make Winnie seem so unsympathetic, and yet my response is to like her nonetheless. I'm still trying to figure out how he does this.
Winnie travels from her home in Boston to her stepcousin's home in England on the second day of the novel, only to find that her stepcousin is missing and two workers are tearing apart his kitchen. The workers, Mac and Jenkins, influenced by ghosts and stories of their own, and Winnie, influenced by the more imaginative elements of her potential novel, soon become embroiled in what may (or may not) turn out to be a "real-live" ghost story. Is Winnie's missing cousin, John Comestor, buried within the kitchen wall? If not, where is he? Winnie does some less-than-friendly questioning of John's acquaintances and associates, and receives less-than-helpful responses from all. No reason for her harshness with others is given, which makes me wonder what Winnie herself is hiding. Is there more to this blocked writer than we're seeing? If I know Maguire, (who also wrote "Wicked" and "Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister"), there certainly is, but we may not have the privelege of finding out exactly how much more.
More reviewing after I'm finished reading the book.
Our unfortunately named heroine is Winifred Rudge (which, at least sometimes, rhymes with "Scrooge.") Winifred, or Winnie, is a writer searching for her novel, ostensibly about a woman investigating the possibility of Jack the Ripper being entombed in a family property in England. Almost from page 1, Winnie is passively hostile to the people she encounters, with the predictable result that few seem to like her. I'm intrigued by the fact that Maguire can make Winnie seem so unsympathetic, and yet my response is to like her nonetheless. I'm still trying to figure out how he does this.
Winnie travels from her home in Boston to her stepcousin's home in England on the second day of the novel, only to find that her stepcousin is missing and two workers are tearing apart his kitchen. The workers, Mac and Jenkins, influenced by ghosts and stories of their own, and Winnie, influenced by the more imaginative elements of her potential novel, soon become embroiled in what may (or may not) turn out to be a "real-live" ghost story. Is Winnie's missing cousin, John Comestor, buried within the kitchen wall? If not, where is he? Winnie does some less-than-friendly questioning of John's acquaintances and associates, and receives less-than-helpful responses from all. No reason for her harshness with others is given, which makes me wonder what Winnie herself is hiding. Is there more to this blocked writer than we're seeing? If I know Maguire, (who also wrote "Wicked" and "Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister"), there certainly is, but we may not have the privelege of finding out exactly how much more.
More reviewing after I'm finished reading the book.
