Winifred Holtby (1898–1935)

“We're so busy resigning ourselves to the inevitable that we don't even ask if it is inevitable. We've got to have courage, to take our future into our hands. If the law is oppressive, we must change the law. If tradition is obstructive, we must break tradition. If the system is unjust, we must reform the system.”

This is a classic novel set in a village in Yorkshire, the author’s home county, first published in 1936 after Holtby had died at age 36 of kidney disease. The book takes in a range of issues such as local politics, socialism, poverty, and the impact of the war and the influenza pandemic. It also has a colourful array of characters: the village councillors, in particular, the feisty female alderman Mrs Beddows, the straying minister Huggins, and returned spinster school ma’am Sarah Burton. Holtby describes the villagers with wit and charm reminiscent of Jane Austen.

Sarah is a strong, feminist character with modern ideals and a zest for life, who finds herself attracted to Robert Carne, a struggling conservative upper class landowner who is battling with the financial challenge of maintaining his estate, dealing with his institutionalised wife and with his own failing health. Sarah deals with her own work-related challenges: a frustrated scientist become science teacher, a talented student whose impoverished home situation steals her opportunities, and Robert’s turbulent daughter Midge.

I loved the writing in this book. Strangely I usually detest writers that use tell instead of show techniques but this story illustrates that it can be done well with some humour and insight. I have not seen the TV mini-series connected with this, but am now inspired to do so. What a shame this author’s life was so tragically cut short, she seems like a fascinating person.… (mais)

As part of my Pulitzer winners project that I neglected for too long, I read Ernest Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea today. I finally read this famous novel that won the prize in 1953.

This is the story of the old man Santiago, an old and very poor fisherman who lives by himself in a ramshackle hut and has only one friend, the young Manolo, who Santiago has taught how to fish. Since the old man seems to have run out of luck and catches practically no fish anymore, Manolo’s parents have forbidden him to accompany the old man at sea again.

Then one day when Santiago is alone at sea he catches the biggest swordfish he ever saw and what follows is his battle with the fish and his terrible struggle to get back home.

The big swordfish is a character in itself, as is the sea in a way. I liked it and can see why it is widely seen as a masterpiece. And where I shy away from Hemingway in his writings about killing animals by hunting or “entertainment” like bullfighting, here I could stomach it because fishing is this old man’s only livelyhood.

Written in Hemingway’s sparse style which succeeds in conveying emotions all the same, a sign of great penmanship. And all the big themes like endurance, the battle between (wo)manhood and nature, loyalty, suffering made for a compelling read.… (mais)

As part of my Pulitzer winners project that I neglected for too long, I read Ernest Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea today. I finally read this famous novel that won the prize in 1953.

This is the story of the old man Santiago, an old and very poor fisherman who lives by himself in a ramshackle hut and has only one friend, the young Manolo, who Santiago has taught how to fish. Since the old man seems to have run out of luck and catches practically no fish anymore, Manolo’s parents have forbidden him to accompany the old man at sea again.

Then one day when Santiago is alone at sea he catches the biggest swordfish he ever saw and what follows is his battle with the fish and his terrible struggle to get back home.

The big swordfish is a character in itself, as is the sea in a way. I liked it and can see why it is widely seen as a masterpiece. And where I shy away from Hemingway in his writings about killing animals by hunting or “entertainment” like bullfighting, here I could stomach it because fishing is this old man’s only livelyhood.

Written in Hemingway’s sparse style which succeeds in conveying emotions all the same, a sign of great penmanship. And all the big themes like endurance, the battle between (wo)manhood and nature, loyalty, suffering made for a compelling read.… (mais)