Elizabeth Smither
Autor(a) de The mathematics of Jane Austen and other stories
About the Author
Elizabeth Smither was born in New Plymouth, New Zealand on September 15, 1941. She is poet, novelist, and short story writer. Her collections of poems include The Commonplace Book, The Lark Quartet, A Pattern of Marching, Here Come the Clouds, Casanova's Ankle, Professor Musgrove's Canary, The mostrar mais Tudor Style: Poems New and Selected, and The Year of the Adverbs. Her novels include First Blood and Brother-love Sister-love. Her collections of short stories include Nights at the Embassy and Mr. Fish. She also wrote a children's book entitled Tug Brothers and a collection of her journals entitled The Journal Box. She has received numerous awards including the 2012 Landfall Essay Prize, the Freda Buckland Award, the Prime Ministers Award for Literary Achievement in Poetry, the Lilian Ida Smith Award, and the 2016 Sarah Broom Poetry Prize. She is a member of the New Zealand Order of Merit. In 2018 Sarah also won the Volume Ockhameter award in the Poetry category with her title Night Horse. (Bowker Author Biography) mostrar menos
Séries
Obras de Elizabeth Smither
Associated Works
The colour of distance : New Zealand writers in France, French writers in New Zealand (2006) — Contribuinte — 2 cópias
Etiquetado
Conhecimento Comum
- Data de nascimento
- 1941-09-15
- Sexo
- female
- Nacionalidade
- New Zealand
- Local de nascimento
- New Plymouth, New Zealand
- Locais de residência
- New Plymouth, New Zealand
- Ocupação
- poet
short story writer
librarian
novelist - Relacionamentos
- Smither, Michael (ex-husband)
- Premiações
- New Zealand Order of Merit
New Zealand Poet Laureate (2001-2003)
Membros
Resenhas
(8.5) I am very much enjoying discovering this New Zealand writer/poet. she is a woman of mature years and I find myself relating to her thoughts on life. This is a quiet reflective novel and I am pleased I have discovered another of her books a t a book fair this weekend.
(8.5)This is my second book off the New Zealand Ockham Awards longlist for 2020 and I feel a more deserving one.
It is the story of three generations of women in one family. Sylvie of the title, struggled through her childhood, despite the attention of her loving grandparents, because of the absence of her mother Madeleine. Madeleine is described as fey by one reviewer and it is very apt. She disappears back to her life in Paris when Sylvie is 4 years old and sends random gifts and cards on occasion. The stars of the book, for me, were the grandparents, Isobel and Kit.
The story opens on Sylvie's wedding day as Kit rows her across a lake in bridal dress, to Isobel who waits holding the bouquet. Together they join her husband to be Ben for a simple informal exchange of vows. Neither mothers are present, as Ben's mother strongly objects to his choice of bride.
The story line moves from Auckland to Paris and Melbourne on a changing timeline which I found a made it a little disjointed.
The language is poetic and full of wonderful imagery and observations of human nature. There a many references to books and art, which I enjoyed.It is a quiet book, best read when one can focus and immerse. There are no chapters but the book is divided into four sections, the last I found poignant and moving as Isobel receives a terminal diagnosis and her family adjust to the thought of life without her. It is beautifully done without heavy handed emotion and the book comes to a satisfying conclusion.… (mais)
It is the story of three generations of women in one family. Sylvie of the title, struggled through her childhood, despite the attention of her loving grandparents, because of the absence of her mother Madeleine. Madeleine is described as fey by one reviewer and it is very apt. She disappears back to her life in Paris when Sylvie is 4 years old and sends random gifts and cards on occasion. The stars of the book, for me, were the grandparents, Isobel and Kit.
The story opens on Sylvie's wedding day as Kit rows her across a lake in bridal dress, to Isobel who waits holding the bouquet. Together they join her husband to be Ben for a simple informal exchange of vows. Neither mothers are present, as Ben's mother strongly objects to his choice of bride.
The story line moves from Auckland to Paris and Melbourne on a changing timeline which I found a made it a little disjointed.
The language is poetic and full of wonderful imagery and observations of human nature. There a many references to books and art, which I enjoyed.It is a quiet book, best read when one can focus and immerse. There are no chapters but the book is divided into four sections, the last I found poignant and moving as Isobel receives a terminal diagnosis and her family adjust to the thought of life without her. It is beautifully done without heavy handed emotion and the book comes to a satisfying conclusion.… (mais)
A very well-paced novel, in that that pace matched the plot, the characters and the themes.
It is a story about about people, the connections between them, and their need for love in different forms and different stages of their lives.
It's a novel you have to make yourself read slowly to capture the moods, characters and ideas. If you read it quickly, you would lose the slow feeling of the novel. It is a slow moving novel, and that is no criticism as I feel the characters do a lot of reflecting and thinking, and a little bit of remembering when times were better.
The characters are intriguing. It is not predictable. It leaves you thinking. Those all make this a recommendable read in my opinion.… (mais)
It is a story about about people, the connections between them, and their need for love in different forms and different stages of their lives.
It's a novel you have to make yourself read slowly to capture the moods, characters and ideas. If you read it quickly, you would lose the slow feeling of the novel. It is a slow moving novel, and that is no criticism as I feel the characters do a lot of reflecting and thinking, and a little bit of remembering when times were better.
The characters are intriguing. It is not predictable. It leaves you thinking. Those all make this a recommendable read in my opinion.… (mais)
Prêmios
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Associated Authors
Estatísticas
- Obras
- 26
- Also by
- 9
- Membros
- 104
- Popularidade
- #184,481
- Avaliação
- 3.3
- Resenhas
- 4
- ISBNs
- 53
- Favorito
- 1
However, it suffered a bit as I had been reading lighter material and there was much rereading. It is a quiet story with snippets of poetry. A reflection of the art scene in London in seventies and eighties.