Customer Reviews

Anger

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Much before the popularization of the Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus books, May Sarton put to a few pages this gently told story of a young marriage. And in this small novel, I found, she illustrated in a richly eloquent, and somewhat edited style, the 'big idea'. I read this one wintry week-end as a close friend from Boston was soaking in my bath tub avidly reading MMWV. She had come to visit me in the 'country' of western Mass., seeking answers to a failed relationship, needing the solace of our friendship, and some get-away time from the big city/the 'scene of the crime'. In Sarton's pages was the whole story told with mastery and objective kindness. I have since felt they should be sold side by side. I prefer her rendition. It's a slower read, but, I thought, it was just perfect.

I love this author, but I was a bit disappointed with this one. Her main characters came across the page to me as being very shallow. There are great one-liners in this book. Many times there are references to wonderfully thought-provoking situations worded in a way that makes one think about the world a bit differently. It's worth the read, but not one of my favorites.

May Sarton knows how to get to the heart of any relationship, and build the layers in a way that makes the characters so true to life. And this is not my favorite of her novels.

PC

Per Anna in the first 40 pages of the book:

"Ned is formidable because he is so controlled, mother. Deep down inside I feel a coldness. Or perhaps an inability to give, to pay real attention to another human being."

And dang if she doesn't marry him anyway. What a perfect compilation of the crazy-making experiences of being in love and then being in marriage, the separate realities of men who worship women and the women who drive them crazy whilst loving them.

That said, it all wraps up too quickly, too neatly, and in a wildly improbable way. A thought-provoking read, but not Sarton's best.

Ned Fraser did not see himself as a husband. He became the unknown admirer of the singer, Anna Lindstrom. Anna was 34 and feared that her opportunities to make a mark with her art were passing. Ned encountered her at the swan boats and went for a ride with her. He had recognized her feeding the swans and introduced himself. He forgot his appointment at the Ritz. They ate together at the Somerset Club. Ned was a banker. He tells Anna during another dinner that her voice has blood, life in it. He claims that being defensive is very Bostonian.

During the second meal together Ned asks Anna to marry him and she says yes. She warns him that he is marrying a tigress. She is fascinated by his dry manner of speaking. Anna says that getting married is like entering a foreign country. Anna finds the absence of endearments in Ned's speech off-putting. Ned finds Anna's criticism insulting.

There is a shift and it is two years later. Anna and Ned have different temperaments. Their only safe talk is food and drink. Ned tires of Anna's scenes. The scenes help Anna to relieve tension. Anna receives a bad review of her singing with the Boston Symphony. Ned is afraid to come home to what he considers Anna's irrational anger. Fortunately she seems calm.

Among other things this is a brilliant exposition of how an artist is able to use anger to serve her art. Bravo.