Customer Reviews

Drumveyn

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

A thoroughly enjoyable read on a weekend when it's raining, everyone you know is out of town, there's nothing on TV and you need a book you know you won't put down. I can only give this book four stars because Alexandra Raife uses a storytelling technique that somewhat ruins the read: She uses an excessive amount of flashbacks to tell the story instead of allowing us to experience events with the characters as they are happening. Often, she will start a paragraph with the character having leapt forward in the story only to quickly flashback and tell us how that character got there by using sentences like, "Madeleine had to smile to herself as she remembered Lisa telling her this morning that..." This technique begins to appear as laziness in storytelling, as this "summing up" will certainly end up meaning that in-depth details about an event are going to be left out in a way that they would not have been had we simply been allowed to watch events unfold. Imagine if, in "Pillars of the Earth", Ken Follett had decided to summarize events by having us experience them through different characters remembering things in flashback form. Instead of 1150 pages, we would have had 550. Raife had the makings of an 800-page saga: Family intrigue, divorce, abandonment on several levels, the large family estate, outsiders who infiltrate the inner circle, etc. Why not make use of these wonderful "saga tools"? For those who have read it, imagine if we had SEEN Stephen invite Lisa to come live with him instead of having this fact revealed through Madeleine's flashback of Lisa TELLING Madeleine, "I'm going to live with Stephen. Please be happy for me." We are deprived of at least 40-50 pages of romance and story development by not being allowed to watch the relationship between Lisa and Stephen unfold but rather having it "summed up" in a flashback. However, "Drumveyn" does entertain. That alone makes it worth four stars!!

Having read just about all of Brit writer Alexandra Raife's other books, I finally treated myself to her very first, "Drumveyn," and I was simply enchanted.

Here is a deceptively simple tale of a modern Scottish family, far-flung and near to home, facing the typical stresses of everyday life, from divorce to infertility to adoption and all the rest. The home base is Drumveyn, a family seat fairly crumbling under the moldy tapestry of its ancient past--and the borderline cruel rules and regulations of the domineering father, Sir Charles Napier, who has just died when the book opens. Charles' widow, Madeleine, is a forty-something attractive woman whose true nature has been beaten down over the years not only by her husband, but by her horrid (and thankfully dead) mother-in-law, Lady Napier, and even the servants.

Madeleine's life is stifling, which is why her two married children have long-ago escaped the home front. But suddenly, everything changes, as circumstances bring first an orphaned aristocratic South American child, and then a surprisingly refreshing cast of characters, to Drumveyn. Madeleine begins to come alive--and the resulting story is wonderful. I was sad when the book ended, and glad to know that Raife has written a sequel, which I missed, and plan to order immediately!

If I could rate this book at over 5 stars I would....it is so well written and deals with relationships with family members in an honest and loving way. Totally took me away -- and in this day and age what a blessing......keep writing those novels.....wonderful !

I thought the book was quite a find. Scotland comes alive in this book. The story line is quite delightful I couldn't put it down. I felt sad when it was over. I don't generally read love stories, and bought this book because it took place in Scotland, I consider it a gift, I loved it.

For over a quarter of a century, Madeline Napier was married to Sir Charles, but had no real life of her own as she buried her own needs for her spouse's desires. She does not even know her two married children. When her spouse dies, Madeline inherits ad dilapidated house and a chance to start anew. ..... Her son Archie loves his wife even though they are unable to have children. They agree on artificial insemination. Her daughter Lisa's life is shattered when her spouse suddenly leaves her. He leaves her with money and a child that he had with another woman. Lisa takes the child with her and flees to Madeline's Scottish home. Suddenly the home that tottered on the brink of extinction starts coming back to life as everyone's spirit is renewed through a simultaneous and refreshing catharsis. Though the three surviving Napiers have had some shots to the ribs, they are bravely standing, looking forward to a bright future. ...... In her first novel, Alexandra Raife demonstrates a great depth into the human psyche, especially the uncanny ability to risk all for hope, love, and a future. DRUMVEYN is an uplifting novel that readers will finish in one sitting, just as they will want to peruse more works from this new talent. Harriet Klausner ----

What a wonderful book! Endearing characters, warm story. I look forward to reading other books by this author.

Iwould never have found this book but for Amazon's "recommendations list" as a frequent shopper, but it is one of the best books I have read in a long time. I felt for the heroine, who is not the most beautiful woman in all of England, and her family in all of its imperfection and humanity - something one doesn't always find in "romance" novels. A definite keeper and one to pass on to friends. I was only sorry the author has only one book and look forward to more from her.

Raife's books are so frickin', compulsively readable to me, and Drumveyn, her very first novel, is no exception. It is my favorite Raife novel so far (I've read 2 others), and it examines what it means to have a frozen life. The main heroine, Madeleine Napier, is very relatable as she explores widowed life without her controlling, emotionally distant husband of 26 years. Her quest to find herself and find fulfillment in her life at age 46 is one that touched and moved me. Secondary characters including her two grown children, a daughter-in-law, and a young cook weren't as successfully portrayed IMO, but still have much to offer the reader.

The thing I admire most about Raife's writing style is that even when she presents the reader with some unbelievable story lines, or characters that don't behave in normal, reasonable ways, you're still invested in the overall story and want to read it from start to finish. I think in the hands of another writer some of Raife's plot ideas or character attributes would make me throw the books into a wall in disgust and disbelief, but in her hands I can almost, almost not only accept these wild leaps of illogic, but also understand why they happened. That's a skillful writer, folks...

So far, Raife is my favorite "newly discovered" writer in 2011. I look forward to many more reading hours in her Scottish highland world.

Book was exactly what I expected, condition was as described. Author did a good job of making reader feel as tho' they were actually in Scotland.

Entirely enjoyable reading that is perfect for one of those weekends when everyone you know is out of town, it's raining, there's nothing on TV and you need something you won't want to put down. I could not give this book five stars for a couple of reasons: 1) Alexandra Raife uses throughout this novel flashbacks to tell story. It is a technique that gets a bit trite and hackneyed by the book's end. She'll start a paragraph with the characters having leapt forward in the story only to backtrack and fill us in by saying, "Madeleine had to smile to herself as she thought about Lisa coming to tell her this morning that..." It begins to give the impression that Raife was lazy in her storytelling. Rather than having events and all of their accompanying consequences unfold naturally, Raife jumps straight to the consequences then quickly explains how we got there. It allows her to take shortcuts that deprive us of some of the more intimate details of an event, as this flashback tactic will inevitably mean that details are left out. Imagine if Ken Follett had, in "Pillars of the Earth", simply "summed up" how this or that character had arrived in a certain place? Instead of 1150 pages, we would have had 550. Alexandra Raife had the makings of an 800-page saga had she gone into detail about events instead of just summing them up in flashbacks. For those who have read it, imagine if we could have SEEN Stephen asking Lisa to come live with him instead of Madeleine just flashing back to Lisa saying, "I'm going to live with Stephen. Please be happy for me." There were at least 30 to 40 more pages of story in the development of Lisa's and Stephen's love story. What a shame that Raife did not treat us to more details. Unfortunately, this is not the only plot point that is revealed to us in this manner. Fortunately, the book DOES entertain. That alone makes it worth four stars!