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60 of 60 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
No Hollywood, no car chases, just fine reading..., May 28, 1999
I found this to be an extraordinary novel because it really didn't seem like fiction at all. No plot, no bodice ripping, no contrived literary conventions, nothing; Sarah Orne Jewett constructs each episode to blend into the next as seamless as a conversation with a close friend, and the overall effect makes something like a landscape painting, only in print form. Each character she writes about was deformed by the weather, the soil, the isolation, the struggles, and the sea, yet in their faults, they are human and thus dignified--it is beautiful in a simple way. I would recommend reading this book some afternoon with the telephone unplugged, sitting on a porch with a teapot full of Earl Grey nearby, with your feet propped up and your cares let down. It's as subtle and delightful as a waft of air from the garden after an afternoon shower. It's a haiku in prose--the memory of the book is better than the reading. Enjoy!
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43 of 43 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Balm for the soul, January 13, 2004
By A Customer
I'd have to disagree that this title is for older readers. But I can see how, in general, a more sedate pace is required to truly enjoy the read. I'm 27 and currently undergoing chemotherapy for metastatic breast cancer. I'm an avid reader, but since treatment began I haven't been able to focus so well. I happened to pick up this book on a whim, and I do no regret it. While there is no plot, and the chapters are really just a series of character sketches, this book is pure magic. You have to be in the right frame of mind to appreciate it though. I've been sick a lot through treatment and when I've tried to read "lighter" books, they've barely aroused my interest for long. This book is in no way light. It is quiet and subtle and still and profoundly deep. It is exactly what I needed, a literary balm for the soul--taking me to a place and allowing me to meet people long lost to time, immersing me in a beautiful world I don't really wish to leave. It draws you in, as if it's winter and you are welcomed into a warm room with a cozy fire--and it wraps around you with all the comfort of heaven. I'll be disappointed when I reach the last page and thus the end of this particular journey.
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27 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Visit the Country, April 15, 2005
Sarah Orne Jewett's THE COUNTRY OF POINTED FIRS is a visitor's tale. Set in the fictional Maine coast town of Dunnet Landing where the author/narrator has settled for the summer to write. As a visitor, the narrator inevitably recounts only the pieces of history she comes in contact with through her landlady and the people she meets in the community. The stories are portraits, bits and pieces, of lives that exist outside the narrator's brief visit. As a result, the reader feels like a companion on this holiday. The novella moves at the pace of a quiet seacoast village, and is refreshing to read for that very reason. Like a vacation, outside cares fade while focusing on the lives, habits and landscape of this place. The writing is finely wrought. A real affection for a place and people one knows briefly shines through the work and makes one wish for a time and place when travel, life and writing unfolded at a the speed of a long walk. Some editions incorporate other stories written about Dunnet Landing into the body of the novella. This can lead to a change in the narrator's voice that is incongruous with the rest of the work. Look for a version that preserves the order of one of the early publications with other short works in a separate section.
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