DESCRIPTION: From an O. Henry Prize-winner, this dazzling novel in stories marks the arrival of a powerfully original and beguiling new voice in American fiction. The linked stories that make up this spare and beautifully written novel follow the life of Ayela, the illegitimate daughter of a Mexican dressmaker, and create a portrait, composite yet intriguingly incomplete, that captures the complexity of who she was.
The Good Works of Ayela Linde
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
This delicately rendered debut episodically delineates the life and times of the most sought after girl in the village of Santa Rosalia, north of the Rio Grande. In "Parasols," set in 1934, Ayela Garzón, a girl from a traditional Mexican family, slips away from her seamstress mother and hooks up with her pal Druanne to meet men in bars. Druanne reverently addresses her friend as "You" throughout, imbuing the elusive, voluptuous, and terribly unimpressed Ayela with lovely indirectness. With each story, time advances, and Ayela marries the besotted Bostonian lawyer Frederick Linde; they find they are hopelessly mismatched, but also terribly in love. Ayela is gradually softened by motherhood and the profoundly decent nature of her gentle husband. One son after the other deserts her for professions and wives; the bride of Ayela's favorite, Freddie, narrates her first encounter with Ayela, and her touching sadness. Ayela's good works are small in scale: she recognizes the dejected gas station attendant's artisanship in making carved swans as incomparable; by 1995, the young night custodian of the local botanical garden sits and listens as the widowed Ayela lays out her picnic and talks of death and decay. This inventive debut deftly renders the full arc of a memorable character's life. (May)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Booklist
In 16 interconnected stories, Forbes presents a 360-degree view of the enigmatic Ayela Garzon Linde and her life in a sleepy Texas border town, Santa Rosalia. At once exotic and unconventional, Ayela breaks free from her bonds as the illegitimate daughter of a seamstress to marry Frederick Linde, a visitor from Boston who adopts Santa Rosalia as his own. How will others see us over the course of our lives? What, if any, impact or lasting impression do we leave in life? Forbes attempts to answer this question for Ayela from the ever-changing viewpoint of family, friends, village inhabitants, and acquaintances over her lifetime, from 1934 to 2004. Forbes is adept at the changing voices filling in the narrative of Ayela's life, and leaves the reader fascinated by the grace and dignity of this complex and indefinable woman, who determinedly chose her own path with little regard for doing what was expected of her. Each character is profoundly affected by their encounters with Ayela and left wondering, as readers are, about her true nature. Laurie Sundborg
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Good work mommy!,
A Kid's Review
This review is from: The Good Works of Ayela Linde: A Novel in Stories (Hardcover)
I am so happy for my mom!! I think she did a splendid job. I really liked the way she described Ayela with such detail;from the wild girl in "Parasols" to the wise old widow in "The Marvolous Yellow Cage". This is truly wonderful work of fiction! Hands down!!
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Good Works of Ayela Linde,
By
This review is from: The Good Works of Ayela Linde: A Novel in Stories (Hardcover)
What a lovely, elegant, powerful book! -so beautifully written that reading it is effortless and absorbing. You feel as if youre right there with Ayela living a life along side hers. A beautiful book which I think will become a classic.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Forbes' novel works,
This review is from: The Good Works of Ayela Linde: A Novel in Stories (Hardcover)
Charlotte Forbes' debut novel enthralls with quaint metaphor, showing that cows and coffee are much more than food and drink, sharing puzzle pieces of the beautiful Ayela Linde through the stories of a medley of characters, including grandchildren and teenage accomplices in debauchery. Hiding in the nooks of this novel, clothed in Forbes' mesmerizing fabric of words, revealing itself inelucatably, is the pungent truth that life is what you make of it. Forbes leaves her readers desperately wondering about the siestas between stories, and sneaking looks at the inside of the cover in hopes to get a glimpse of the face that launched these wonderful words.
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