Don't You Know There's a War On? (el. knyga) (skaityta knyga) | knygos.lt

Aprašymas

- An ordinary woman's life and dreams are blighted by the Second World War, post-war society, and a complex mother-daughter relationship - A disquieting psychological fiction, with elements of black humour. - Evocation of physical and emotional unravelling, original, courageous first quietly then dramatically shocking - breaks one of the last taboos in mother-daughter relationships - Expert authorial tone - a woman who has no power and voice, in her later year, gains one through writing her diary; an innovative novel form - monologue from the suburban setting, combined with intricate details of 1940s and 1950s life. Domestic, claustrophobic atmosphere. Todd's considerable talents give a remarkably sighted view into the bleak alleys of the female psyche. - Protagonist Joan is the kind of woman whom society and writers tend to ignore - she is unlikable but ultimately sympathetic. Think of her akin to a Flannery O'Connor or Alice Munro character in a drab, small British post-war town. Todd uses a carefully constructed foundation to build to a shocking, multi-layered story. Skilfully grafts disparate psychological suspense, obsession, capturing distortions and complicities that poison familial relationships and intimacies between women. - Todd's fine command of language and her character means that the reader is almost unaware that the circuitry of Joan's mind overtakes her. Is she inhumane or merely unempowered? Unreliable narrator or justifiably jaded? Superbly told story of how inner turmoil and hidden past morph into outer destruction. - Joan's diary is bitter, wise, morbid, yet witty, searingly sharp. The writing is controlled yet fresh and ultimately thrilling. Todd creates a wonderful tension between wanting to slow down and bathe in the language and imagery, and the impulse to race to see what will happen, how the past has informed the present, and constricts the characters' futures. - Key themes for analysing the experiences of 20th century English and North American women - sexual assault, anorexia, depression, loneliness, jealousy, female coercive/emotional control, escape from background through work and education; the opportunities, and trauma caused by war - For fans of Elizabeth Stout, Amy Bloom, Pat Barker, Jane Smiley, Alice Munro (esp. Lives of Girls and Women), Anne Tyler (esp. Amateur Marriage), Ann Patchett (esp. Patron Saint of Liars), Elizabeth Harrower, Otessa Moshfegh (Eileen), Claire Messud, Zoe Heller (Notes on a Scandal) - Author inaugurated women's writing and literature and life writing/memoir courses in US and UK - book will appeal to teachers of creative writing, fiction, memoir, literature of novels of 1940s, and 70s, illness. - Author has successful sales track record with 40+ non-fiction trade and academic books, and her novels. Comp Aphra A Secret Life Janet Todd 9781909572065 Fentum Press 2017 2000 The Cambridge Introduction to Jane Austen, Janet Todd 9781107494701, CUP 2017, 15,000 A Man of Genius, Janet Todd 9781908524591 Bitter Lemon 2016 2500 Banshee, Rachel de Woskin, 9781948340113, Dottir, 2018, 2000 Eileen, Otessa Moshfegh, 9780143128755, Penguin, 2018, 30,000 Warlight, Michael Ondaatje, 9780525562962, Vintage, 2019, 25,000