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Carregando... The Kitchen Madonnade Rumer Godden
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Registre-se no LibraryThing tpara descobrir se gostará deste livro. Ainda não há conversas na Discussão sobre este livro. The Kitchen Madonna. Rumer Godden. 1967. I knew I had to read this book when the lady who has taught me to “write” icons told me about it. It is a children’s book set in England. Marta, the housekeeper fascinates Gregory and Janet, but Gregory worries about her because she seems so unhappy. One afternoon Marta describes her mother’s kitchen in the Ukraine, and explains that every kitchen had a special place, a shelf or the top of a cabinet for a special picture—an icon of “Our Lady and the Holy Child.” Gregory decides Marta must have an icon to make her happy. When he realizes he cannot afford one, Janet encourages him to make one. “An icon is more than a painting. It is meant to be a link between earth and heaven, a window opening onto sacred things.” Spare and unsentimental, Rumer Godden's The Kitchen Madonna is a short children's novel of astonishing emotional power. Isolated and withdrawn, Gregory's own family find him cold, but buried beneath his reserve is a heart capable of being touched, and a spirit of compassion waiting to be awakened. When his new nanny Marta, a Ukrainian refugee, longs for a "good place" - a space in which to keep an altar and an icon of the Virgin and Child - Gregory sets out to provide her with one. This is a deeply satisfying story, on so many levels. Gregory's ingenuity in creating a home-made icon will appeal to anyone who has ever felt that "where there's a will, there's a way." His gradual emotional awakening, and growing sense of connection to those around him, is a joy to observe. Never didactic or overdone, Godden's gentle narrative invites the reader to consider the connections between respect and compassion, and the fact that we do not need to share (or even understand) the spiritual beliefs of others in order to enter into their feelings. A beautiful, beautiful book. This is a simple, lovely work, of fine literary quality, about a thoroughly modern brother and sister and their blunt Ukrainian maid, who feels out-of-place in London and misses having a "good place" in the kitchen. A good place, according to Marta is something like this: "In my home, Ukrainian home, we make a good place...A place on top of cupboard, perhaps, or perhaps on shelf. Little place but it holy because we keep there Our Lady and Holy Child." When questioned by the children, she explained further. It wasn't a statue and not a picture. "Like picture but more beautiful. They in our churches too. Pictures, but prickled with gold." The children wrap themselves up in the quest of finding a kitchen Madonna for their Marta. I shouldn't really tell you much more. It's a short story, though not really a kids story; a story for everyone. Very sadly, it is out of print; but it's well-worth your own quest. :) sem resenhas | adicionar uma resenha
For Gregory and his sister Janet, Marta, with her Ukrainian accent, good cooking, and stories, is the anchor of the house. Sensing her unhappiness, 9-year-old Gregory, with Janet in tow, set out to find her a Ukrainian icon in busy, modern London. Não foram encontradas descrições de bibliotecas. |
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Google Books — Carregando... GênerosClassificação decimal de Dewey (CDD)823.91Literature English & Old English literatures English fiction Modern Period 1901-1999Classificação da Biblioteca do Congresso dos E.U.A. (LCC)AvaliaçãoMédia:
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