Customer Reviews

Colony: A novel

5 star:		(37)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

That is the way a friend described this book to me and I have to admit it is certainly a diamond among the stones. This is an author who takes you to the place that lies deep between the pages or soul of her book. The main character is reflective and strong with undiminished courage. Maude is one of the most memorable characters I have ever come across.

The book begins as she arrives at Retreat, also know as The Colony, her in-law's summer home in Maine. A staunch and uppity "Blue Blood", the matriarch Mother Hannah, is not quick to take to a southern belle of the French persuasion. Maude with her husband Peter by her side, is going to show these Bostonians her strength for decades to come.

The book covers nearly 70 years of her life along with the family and friends that grow close to her heart as well as yours. There are times where the author's language is shear poetry. I place this book on my best books of all times list. It's not one to be missed. Kelsana 10/29/01

Colony is the type of book you can't wait to lend to a friend as soon as you've read the last page. That friend, you'll soon discover, cannot return it because it's been passed on to a family member, a colleague, or another friend (you see the cycle). While on vacation last July, I actually sought out the seaside village in Maine where the story takes place. I wanted to find the haven I had visited through Siddons' vibrant description. Her pine trees and salty air couldn't become more vivid by scratching and sniffing the pages.

Siddons' ninth effort details the life of Maude Gascoigne, a Southerner whose story begins upon her wedding engagement to a privileged Bostonian. Maude recounts her passage from a lazy existence in the South Carolina swamplands to a life of summers at Retreat, an old-money colony in Cape Rosier, Maine. The unsophisticated Maude arrives at the blueblood colony as the young fiancee of the socially prominent Peter Chambliss. Peter soon marries the olive-skinned, French- blooded Maude, defying his mother, the venerable Hannah Chambliss.

Maude joins the fair-skinned young brides who spend their vacations serving their mothers-in-law, the pampered matriarchs of the aristocratic enclave. She finds a comrade in Amy Potter, a sister in servitude who educates her in the escapist art of the feigned migraine. As Peter sails, Maude serves -- to fulfill a pre-ordained tradition and sit among the new order of matriarchs, rocking away their payback years on the sun porches.

Through many seasons, Maude faces antagonizing opposition by jealous contemporaries, including a vengeful beauty who failed to capture Peter's heart. In the face of much personal heartache, she eventually earns the hard-won compassion of the friends who see her through children and grandchildren, marital strife, death, separation and renewal. Maude finds an irreplaceable ally in Micah Willis, a salty townie whose similarly humble roots assisted their initial bonding. Micah's rough-hewn strength becomes part of her own backbone, and their deepening affection eventually causes her to explore long-submerged feelings.

Colony is as much about relationships as it is about Maude. As in her earlier Outer Banks, Siddons uses the main character's bird'seye view to breathe life into the supporting characters, infusing dramatic plot turns to enrich Maude's story. Maude and Hannah finally develop a mutual respect, finding common ground through discovering the sturdy stuff of which each is made.

Maude did not spend her summers vying for a seat on the coveted sun porch, but aimed for a peace closer to her soul: the preservation of Retreat's bountiful nature, an enriched family life, and the hard-won respect of the Colony. Upon Hannah's death, Amy acknowledges, "We don't get up for old women any more. We're the ones with porch privileges." "Oh, Amy," a weary Maude responds, "I never wanted to get there."

After a challenging, off-season life in New Hampshire, a widowed Maude eventually finds peace in Retreat, her last oasis of true respite and enduring family tradition. With the help and hindrance of her granddaughter, Darcy, she successfully tugs Retreat from the grasp of an ill-intentioned developer. Siddons leaves us to believe that Darcy will carry on the Retreat tradition, accepting the torch that has been passed to her generation.

I actually found Cape Rosier last summer, after driving as far as the old, Down East roads could take me. I was disappointed that there were no signs for Retreat. The weather-worn cottages dotted the quiet shore, sitting carefully out of site beyond long, winding driveways. I thought how nice it would be to relax on a sun porch, and reread Colony. Then I remembered, I lent it to my sister.

This is one of my all time favorites. A southern woman marries a
wealthy man and spends her summers at Retreat in Maine.
Her mother-in-law makes no secret of the fact that she finds
Maude totally unacceptable as a wife for her son. At Retreat,
Maude learns the older women rule and they do everything they
can to make Retreat perfect for the men. The book spans
70 years as we watch Maude try to fit in and tolerate her
mother in law. Peter, Maude's husband, is a weak man,
but Maude loves him and carries on the tradition of making
the summers perfect for him. The scenery is as much a
character as Maude and the rest of the blue bloods that
populate it. Anne Rivers Siddons is a master at creating
a setting and making us love the people she has created.
I read this book slowly and savored it because I loved
Maude and didn't want to say good-bye. After I finished it,
I didn't immediately begin another book, as is my usual
custom. I spent several days thinking about it and
accepting the fact that I wouldn't be visiting with Maude
any more. I miss her.

I read this book oh so many years ago and it's still my favorite Siddons book to read again and again. The setting in The Colony reminds me of the little village in Michigan by one of her numerous lakes ~~ where I had spent my summer vacation. The love, passion and friendships, complicated relationships span over the years and the ending is just as enthralling as the opening paragraph. You just don't want to put this book down. Out of all the Siddons books, this is the best written one.

The book starts off strong and then slogs to Daniel Steel-esque melodrama in the middle complete with wayward, mentally unbalanced, children and a roaming, weak, husband. Thus, I really didn't care for half of the book and almost gave up reading it halfway through. At least the end picks up and is an improvement over the middle of the book.

The book is at its finest when Maude is in Retreat. (With the descriptions of life in Retreat and the rugged New England coast.) Outside of Retreat, I found myself not caring at all for the story and the people in it (except for Maude.) I think the much better book would have been entirely focused on life in Retreat and left the crazy daughter and other melodrama behind. I didn't care enough about the daughter, Peter, or the son, to want to read the parts of the book that took place outside of Retreat.

The other thing that bothered me about this book is that the author would have people (Like Elizabeth, or her son) do terrible things to Maude or her granddaughter. YET, they still let these people walk all over them. It was incredibly frustrating while reading. Elizabeth is a siren, she sucks men in and then destroys their lives, and yet Maude lets her hang all over Peter, while any nitwit could see the consequences of that. (This of course has more to do with the characters themselves and not the writing.)

Overall I could see why someone wouldn't care for this book. I gave it three stars because there are some really good things about it, but not enough to make one REALLY good cohesive story that would deserve more stars.

This was the seconed Siddons book I have read. The first was "Upcounty" which I found to be splendid. In "Colony" we are introduced to "Maude", who, marries into a very wealthy and prominent family. In the book we follow her from being a new bride thru every stage in her married life. Maude is a women that feels all the emotions that we have felt as wifes, mothers, daughters and daughters-in-law. This will tug at your heartstrings, make you laugh as well as cry (I found myself crying quite a few times actually). On my top ten list, this is definatly number 1. Enjoy!!

I just reread this book for the first time since it was published in 1992. Back then I would have given it five stars if this system had been in place, and now I wish there was a way to give it even more. In the decade since I first devoured this 600+ page novel in one weekend I have become a wife, a daughter-in-law and a mother, so those relationships in this story now have an even deeper meaning to me. I don't think I can express strongly enough how thoroughly I was pulled into this tale, caught up in the weave of Siddons masterful storytelling and reluctant to extract myself at the end. I cried for these characters, laughed with them, hated some of them as passionately as I loved others, and finally thanked God that I am not, and never will be, anything like them. Siddons has created a world that I fervently hope has no equal in reality, as the thought of the extremes encountered in good and evil in this tale coexisting in one place, in one lifetime, is almost too much to bear. This is an enchanting story that may put you through the wringer, but it is so very worth it.

Colony was the first novel I ever read by this author. I actually bought this book very cheaply second-hand and left it on my bookshelf for months before finally reading it. Once I started, I just couldn't stop. I fell in love with each character and found them all to be intriguing. I was able to imagine the beach and sunsets and houses with such ease that it was a pleasure to read and I wished the story wouldn't end. I am looking forward to reading all of Anne Rivers Siddons other novels.

Colony was written by Anne Rivers Siddons sometime ago, but I only just read it recently. And now that I have, I imagine that this title will always remain one of my very favorite books from this author.

The reader of this book is treated to 70 odd years in the life of the main character Maude Chambliss as she spends the season at a small summer colony in Maine. You come to know her life and its joys as well as its tragedies. You also learn about her life, not only with her husband and domineering mother-in-law, but with her children and other islanders.

And when you close the last page of this book you will sigh, wish it could have lasted longer and think about the characters and plots as I did.

I am new to the works of Anne Rivers Siddons, this being the second novel I have read. I found this one very hard to put down. The story involves 4 generations of the Chambliss family's summers at Liberty, their house at the Retreat summer colony in Maine. The author understands the relationships between summer residents and locals more than most novelists, and uses this knowledge to enhance an already gripping tale. I loved the Chambliss women and their story.