Customer Reviews

The Fox's Walk

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I enjoyed this book about the decline of Anglo-Irish society in Ireland during World War I although there was little dialogue and the author has a fondness for long run-on sentences using semicolons and dashes. These long sentences sometimes made the original thought hard to follow. I liked the main character, a little girl named Alice (narrating as a grown-up) who's left in the care of her genteel grandmother and great-aunt. Unsure of why she's been left, lonely, isolated, and given to sleep-walking, she still has a strong, observant character and develops a love for her new home. She worries about her future. It's made known that little Alice eventually marries a wild and rebellious local boy. I liked how that part of the story foreshadows Ireland's eventual revolution. After reading this book, I'd like to go on and read a history book about Ireland.

This is a book that demands a little time. The narrator's voice, recalling an arid, lonely childhood during World War I, seems at first more plaintive than engaging, her circumstances more pitiable than interesting. But wait. Alice Moore is a curious, winsome child with awakening sensibilities. She soon draws you into a world so small and self-assured and complete its inhabitants cannot see the precipitous brink before them.

After a factual exposition of the case of Roger Casement, a protestant who tried to raise an army to drive the British from Ireland (these asides into the wider world occur throughout the narrative), Alice's story opens in 1912 Ballydavid, Ireland, at the estate of Alice's maternal grandmother, a woman of deep Anglo-Irish principles and conventions. "The entertaining of children was not, either in my family or in society at large, given the importance that it now has," Alice recalls, 50 years later. Hours of boredom and starched discomfort were punctuated by meals and sleep, with the occasional excitement of adult visitors. Alice would strive for invisibility, so as to hear their conversation.

After an interlude at their home in London, Alice and her mother return to Ballydavid the summer after the war begins. Her father, a frugal, unpretentious New Zealander, has never been completely accepted by her mother's family and seldom stayed long at Ballydavid. "When Mother was with her family, she was in the position of silently defending him from their silent criticisms, these unspoken thoughts batting around the room like shuttlecocks, inhibiting and coloring even the occasional remarks of day to day family life."

Much communication remains unspoken, from what is served at tea for visitors (or if tea is served), to articles of dress, deportment, and table manners. Much more communication is between the lines, the sort of bland, pointed remarks the British excel at, in novels, at least. And as the war drags on and signs of Irish unrest increase, culminating in the 1916 Easter Rising, more subjects become off limits.

But by then Alice has begun to note the contradictions in the world. Her mother, almost unhinged by a favorite brother's death in the war, has left Alice behind on her return to London. This abandonment in a grieving house of rigid, but largely unknown (to Alice) rules, leaves her desperate for love and stimulation. She is captivated by the unusual and the kind - the colorful Jewish wife of a neighbor, a down-on-her-luck refugee posing as a psychic countess, the noisy, brash son of a prominent Catholic, the kindly, superstitious servants.

Out of loneliness, Alice learns to love Ireland and question the order of her grandmother's life. A quiet pond in the midst of a raging storm, its surface cannot stay unruffled forever. And when that calm is shattered, Alice has a dilemma.

Davis-Goff ("The Dower House," "This Cold Country") creates this world in exquisite, telling detail. A captivating novel of manners and change, written with subtlety, wit, and deep understanding.

I agree with the other reader who reluctantly gave this book only two stars. I think that a strong editor could have turned this into a fine and memorable book, but the combination of interminable, irrelevant historical detail and an apparent policy of "tell, don't show" makes this book very frustrating to read.

Alice, the narrator (however one may sympathize with her repressed childhood) is a colorless woman who seems to think in textbook paragraphs and throws everything she can think of into her narrative. Does she sleepwalk? Who cares? It has no bearing on the story.

If I were the editor, I would have recommended
- that this book be written in third person rather than first person, unless the narrator can be given some personality.
- that the background information about politics be separated from the general text, perhaps in italics or in a clearly delineated preface to each section.
- that every incident and observation be fleshed out with details and substantiated by some evidence (however subjective), instead of being summarized. (For example, why does Alice consider O'Neill, her grandmother's manager, to be overbearing to his wife? Could the reader be shown an example of this?)

Too much of this book reads like an initial sketch or summary of a story, with pages of a history book inserted, instead of a finished work.

I hate to give this book only 2 stars, because I thought the characters were so interesting. In particular, the little girl who is the main character was very intruiging. I really wanted to find out what was going to happen to her next as the book unfolded. Unfortunately, I had to slog through some pretty dull stuff! I appreciated the author's attempt to describe a very important time in Irish history, but the chapters on the historical stuff were not intertwined well with the rest of the plot. It was as if you got a taste of a good story, then all the sudden you had to tramp through a chapter of "Irish History 101." Very clunky.

Can't recommend buying this book. If you are still curious to read it, I suggest checking it out at the library. (If this were a movie, I'd say "wait for the video.")

Annabel Davis-Goff has written an absolutely gorgeous novel describing the intricacies and delicacies of a bygone era. Narrated in the first person, almost sixty years after the events depicted, Alice Moore recounts her life as an eight year old at Ballydavid, her ancestral home in Ireland. David-Goff expertly infuses Alice's narrative with minutiae of a quietly peaceful domestic life with the background of the 1916 Easter uprising and the wider turmoil of the Great War. The result is a story that is intimate and personal, yet sweeping and broadly historical in tone. Much is made of the Irish Nationalist heroes, particularly Roger Casement who is actively working for the cause for Irish Independence. We never meet Casement, but his life and struggles, as with the other figures of the time, are seen through Alice's intelligent, thoughtful eyes. Although life seems to continue as usual at Ballydavid, the Troubles, and the War in Europe are not far away, and reminders are always constant.

Fox's Walk is really a tale of reminiscence and loss. The great Anglo-Irish families of Ireland stuck in their stuffy Edwardian mentalities are gradually disappearing as the world changes, and embraces twentieth century modernism. And Alice's Grandmother and Aunt Kate with their rigid, austere, morally strict and socially conscious ways are as much a part of the disappearing world as the house itself. This was a time when children should be seen and not heard and when manners, good grammar and the right party invitations were of utmost importance. Davis-Goff recreates this world in such beautifully descriptive, and "clipped" prose: the tennis party, the fox hunt, the luncheons, and the dinner preparations of a privileged existence are all brought vividly to life. The author captures the simple mood of a scene - the blustery rain showers coming off the ocean; the starched blouses and dour clothes of Grandmother and Aunt Kate; the descriptions of Ballydavid - the old and slightly shabby house and farm; the blooming hedgerows surrounding the estate; the mists that descend over the house in Autumn, and tea with cucumber sandwiches, a light sponge cake and barley water tea.

Although the plot in Fox's Walk is secondary, the real strength of the novel is this enormous capacity that Goff has for recreating the particulars of time and place. There's also an overwhelming sense of melancholy pervading this book, as Alice looks back with so much sadness at a life she obviously loved. Towards the end of the story she comments on a particular moment, which marks the beginning of loss, "an hour or two on a sunny afternoon of pure happiness of a kind we would never again find." The Fox's Walk is quite a profound piece of literature - tender, delicate and astutely observed - it is a terrific read.

Michael

"The Fox's Walk" is a slow, reflective tale, filled more with observance and description than events. The events that do occur mostly happen elsewhere and are reported. Alice Moore is 8 years old and staying at the Ballydavid estate with her maternal grandmother. Her mother married below her station to a man from New Zealand who treats her brusquely and results in the mother's apparent nervous breakdown. This effects Alice being left with Grandmother, her Aunt Katie, and her Uncle William, who repeatedly drops by for tea.

Not too unlike "Alice in Wonderland," this Alice is constantly trying to understand what is going on around her. The Irish maid Bridie, the teacher Miss Kingley and the stable manager O'Neill have the more Catholic opinion, while playmate Clodagh & family and Alice's family represent the more Protestant viewpoint. As this is interpreted by Alice, it is a strange mix of stately decorum and revolutionary chaos, seemingly from a distance, but closing in. All of this is kept in abeyance until the ending arrives like a lightning bolt.

The subplots swirl about Alice who grasps as much as she can. Uncle Sainthill is killed in the war, sending her family into depression. Uncle Hubert is stationed in the East and may or may not have a fiance, the flirtatious Rosamund Gwynne. Houseguest Sonia appears to have assumed an identity as a countess and was Mara in London, although Alice is never quite clear. Added to this are fox hunts, croquet and the sinking of Lusitania.

Author Annabel Davis-Goff gives lots of description to the society of manners as it existed in pre-independent Ireland from 1912-1916. The strength of the novel is its exquisite sense of place, combined with the manners of the social structure as seen through the eyes of a child. The novel reads as a slow-paced methodical march towards Irish independence. It is a tale lovingly told, worth the trip! Enjoy!

Wow, you think this book is about family in the war as it starts, but it is really about the nuances of human interaction, and it is thoroughly enjoyable, quietly fascinating. Truth lies behind this "fiction," human truth: in relationships, reactions, thoughts, and the seemingly mundane daily routine that is really just a backdrop for the inner thoughts of a woman making sense of her past and her life. Their daily life in their home, rather unremarkable at the surface, explodes with the depths of a human heart, as you turn each page. Each character is unfailingly believable. So much quiet wisdom went into this beautiful tale.

This book is well-written; the style is elegant but accessible and the book is not a chore to read, despite the heavy emphasis on historical information. I truly came to care about the narrator and be interested in the characters that surrounded her life. It does move a little slowly; this did not bother me, but if you like your books action-packed, I wouldn't recommend it. I also wasn't thrilled by the ending. It felt a little abrupt to me, and I would have liked the book to continue past that point in the narrator's life. However, I still enjoyed the book a lot over all.

As a quick synopsis, a young girl is left behind by her parents in Southern Ireland during World War One, under the care of an autocratic Grandmother and an inconsistent, kind Grand Aunt. The current of the book is of a child's discovery of family and of an Anglo-Irish way of life, just as that way of life spirals down into the Rising, the Troubles, and the end of Edwardian norms.

This is a book about language and culture, not description of natural beauty or of compelling, fast-paced conflict and action. First, the voice of the child is far too nuanced and the language too subtle - rather it is a voice of a sixty year old woman looking back at her childhood through the imprint of her life, and of her class. Children are actually much more physical, and visceral than this little girl. But, the point the author brings us is not child-like verisimilitude, but is the narration, and the grace of the words that the child / woman uses to tell us of her life. Second, this book is about discovery. The principle vocation of the girl is to deduce how things work in this adult world, not to be a child - and so this book is less of a coming-of-age than it is an implication of an era.

Some minor problems - the interwoven history of Ireland is less compellingly portrayed than the movement of the family towards its destiny. In fact, the first painting of Irish context for the book occurs shortly into the first chapter and is a jarring right turn. Second, the book peaks with a scene of action, well prepared and even expected, but the book has so little description of movement and action in it that the culminating moment doesn't have as much force and drama as it could.

Why should you read this book? - because it is about a time we will never see again, because it is true in what it says about human beings, and because it speaks to us in an elegant stately voice that is a pleasure to hear.

Characterization: B
Plot: B
Dialogue: A
Craft: A
Language: A
All rights reserved, Scott Jones, posted also on our personal website

The personal story in this book, the little girl Alice and the difficult familial situation she finds herself in--the eccentrics that come and go --the timid, kind, but neglectful mother--the self-absorbed and self-congratulatory Anglo-Irish society of the early 20th century before the Troubles--all are beautifully rendered. The embedded story of Casement and the other historical figures is less artfully handled. Rather, these pieces of history are clumsily and irritatingly peppered into the narrative in a disturbingly unconnected and distracting way. Perhaps this effect is deliberate in order to show how the historical events register in the consciousness of a child, but Alice is so sophisticated in parsing the various strata and relationships I would have expected her to do a better job with those outside her own small arena. Nonetheless, this book is worth a read if only for the very nuanced understanding of social interaction of a bygone era with the best kind of ending, one that is both organic and surprising.