About this title: A first novel set in St. Elizabeth's, a Kentucky home for unwed mothers run by nuns. Rose Clinton turns up there, pregnant but by no means unwed, and fleeing from her life by means of a series of lies. She learns to cook from elderly Sister Evangeline, and ends up marrying Son, the handyman, who narrates the second section of the novel, describing the random series of events that led him to St. Elizabeth's. The novel's last section is told by Rose's daughter Cecilia, who finally discovers the truth about her mother's life.
Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Date Published: 1992
ISBN-13:9780395613061ISBN:039561306X
Description: A wonderful copy with some minor edgewear to the cover. Dust Jacket may have chips and close tears. -, Hard Cover, Very Good / Good. read more
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Date Published: 2003
ISBN-13:9780060540753ISBN:0060540753
Description: A wonderful copy with some minor edgewear to the cover. Previous owners name inscribed inside front. -, Trade PaperBack, Very Good / read more
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Date Published: 1996
ISBN-13:9780449912058ISBN:0449912051
Description: A good reading copy only. A former library book with the usual identifiers. Small stain to page edges. -, Trade PaperBack, Good / read more
Description: Good. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Good. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Good. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
"Hmm, I'm sensing a trend here. Books by Ms. Patchett just aren't as good as her stellar "Bel Canto." I should remember this, but I always have a shred of hope that another one of her books will be half as good as that one.
In the late 60s, Rose, three months pregnant, suddenly decides that she doesn't love her husband. She gets into her car and drives to Kentucky from San Diego to a Catholic home for unwed pregnant women. She marries, has the baby and ends up staying on as the cook. The book is narrated by herself, her husband and her daughter. There are some back stories of course, but nothing really intriguing about any of the three characters. Rose likes to drive and is a bit cold to everyone save a nun. Her husband, Son, is a lost soul who has a secret. Ceclia, the daughter, is happy (what else does she know) in a place where her best friends are old nuns and teen women who come and go every nine months.
Not much to talk about. It would have been nice to learn about the nuns. Their pre-nun life had hints of spark to them."
"I don't know why I kept myself from reading Patchett's novels for so long - this one especially is absolutely delightful. I equate it to putting on your favorite sweater at the onset of fall after a long summer, just waiting to wear it again. I got that same feeling of "rightness" reading this book.
I was taken by surprise when Patchett shifted the narrative voice from Rose to Son. Not only that, but all the affection I had for Rose was washed away, and the failings that I had forgiven so easily when she told her own story were suddenly magnified. I said several times, "what a b****!" when reading about the way she treated her daughter and husband.
But it was these character flaws that really made Rose, Son and Sissy come alive. They were so perfectly imagined and described that I could find no flaws in the telling, only in the characters themselves. This was a magnificent read, very satisfying, especially for a first novel."
"Ann Patchett's first novel, published when she was 29, is not your typical autobiographical first effort. Although I don't think it is quite as successful as her later work, it is still a very good book.
Except for a brief opening chapter about the novel's setting, the whole book is told in first person by three characters: Rose, Son, and Cecilia. The setting is St. Elizabeth's, a Catholic home for unwed mothers located in an old hotel in rural Kentucky. Rose doesn't really belong there, because she is married, but she has become increasingly restless and dissatisfied with her California life, and the discovery that she is pregnant appears to be the last straw. With the help of her priest, a family friend, she finds a place as far as possible from her home and takes off driving. It is 1968, but the ferment of those years seems hardly to touch her. Even the AWOL soldier she picks up hitchhiking doesn't really talk about the war. Rose seems removed from her time, even before she arrives at isolated St. Elizabeth's.
At the home, Rose learns the rules, both written and unwritten; befriends the elderly nun who works in the kitchen, and discovers a talent for cooking. Shortly before her baby is due, she marries Son, the one man at St. Elizabeth's, and continues working as the unpaid cook for the home.
Son (Wilson) is 25 years older than Rose. He is also removed from his time in that, while he had enlisted in the Marines on the day after Pearl Harbor, a stupid accident in boot camp removed him from the formative experience of men in his generation. Another accident caused him to leave his home and parents and wander the mid-South until he settled at St. Elizabeth's.
Their daughter Cecilia, born in 1967, goes to school in the little town of Habit, Kentucky, but grows up amid the pregnant girls and nuns at St. Elizabeth's. She is also mothered by June Clutterbuck, who owns the land on which the home stands, and grandmothered by Sister Evangeline, the kitchen nun who mothers and befriends Rose. Cecilia feels deeply the emotional absence of Rose, who does all the correct physical tasks of mothering but none of the emotional ones, keeping her core self hidden from her husband, daughter, and even from Sister Evangeline.
Many important events take place in this book, which might be spoilers if recounted in a review. At the end we are left with some understanding of Rose and Son, and of the peculiar family that is St. Elizabeth's; and we wonder what will become of Cecilia. Patchett is not the type of author who writes sequels, but I do wish that some day, with the craft and wisdom she has shown in later books, she would revisit Cecilia."
"My experience with Patchett has been limited - I could not get through Bel Canto but loved Truth and Beauty and thought perhaps her style was best suited for memoir. I was somewhat pleased then to find this novel to be very readable though I still fail to see what is so celebrated about her. This book is about a home for unwed mothers - a rather anachronistic idea - and the One Who Stays. While women all around are going off to give brith and return to their regularly scheduled programs, Rose stays on, keeps her baby and ends up working for the home. The strengths of this novel lie in setting up the eerie quality of this sort of environment which was strongly reminiscent of The Handmaid's Tale. The culture of a world that shifts so regularly and exists on shame is certianly fascinating, and Patchett tackles this nicely though I question if she could have done more. The weaknesses though were in her characters. While Rose, her eventual husband and daughter were each consistant, i often wonder if that's a nice way of saying flat. You could sum them each up pretty quickly, and they fell in lines of good and bad with too much ease. Rose marrying happens too suddenly and the non relationship is either wholly unrealistic or just plain sad. The characters end up being either too unlikeable or too good to be true. The storyline at times was entirely unrealistic (a girl who never learns how to drive successfully gets her father to a hospital an hour away) and somewhat magical, which, given the weighty content did not bode well. We are left to question the motivation of the characters too much - Rose's original husband's love for her is weirdly quiet and seems to only be about her looks, yet lasts for decades even after she leaves. Her second husband seems to be more of the same, and certianly doesn't get much from Rose in return - which only makes him weak in the reader's eye. Rose herself, so passionate about keeping her child, then completely mistreats her - so what was it all for? It could be an intereting conflict except Rose seems to be a vaccuum of anything that can explain it. Patchett leaves a lot of loose ends, either because she thinks its artsy or because she herself couldn't decide what to do, but it didn't feel like anything more than that. The book was intriguing and certainly the world she created pulls you in, but there was an absence of depth where there needed to be more explored. Perhaps I notice this more because it will be our next book club and I am wondering what exactly we'll talk about, but I think Patchett echoes this when someone is asked to tlak about Rose and the character can only say, well, she loved driving. That's all I know."
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