Green Dolphin Street [Hardcover]

Elizabeth Goudge (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 512 pages
• Publisher: Buccaneer Books; Reprint. edition (June 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0899661130
• ISBN-13: 978-0899661131
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.8 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (31 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #403,121 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

68 of 68 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Moving and enlightening, February 3, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Green Dolphin Street (Hardcover)

I read this book to shreds when I was a teenager. It is quite old-fashioned in its setting, but the strong story and the personalities could never be old-fashioned. The two sisters, Marguerite and Marianne, are very different and represent two different possibilities for a woman's life. Strong-minded Marianne's personality is more stylish according to the standards of today, but gentle Marguerite has a strength and wisdom of her own that one could also learn from. The part where the sisters talk to each other as old ladies is one of my favorite things in all literature. I also love the depiction of the (really clueless) character William that the girls are both in love with and how he grows as a man, even though he is never that bright. If you read this, you won't be sorry. As one reader noted, there is some silly thinking about people from other races in certain parts of the book, but although I am black, I found this only mildly annoying and I think it can be easily skipped over.
And one of the most interesting sections in the book is when Marianne is forced to live as a Maori and learns a great deal of respect for them and their way of life, in spite of herself. The destruction of their culture is presented as a tragedy, in a very thoughtful way.
Goudge was a very intelligent writer and should be better known. You need to read this book with an open mind; the characters don't behave as we are taught to expect to in the late twentieth century, but there is much to think about and much to learn. Certainly it will make you question some of your assumptions about women's lives.

34 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Making a good job of a, January 8, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Green Dolphin Street (Hardcover)

I first read Green Dolphin Street as a teenager after seeing a television replay of the MGM movie version of the book and becoming curious about 19th century New Zealand and the Maori civil wars. Since then, IÕve reread it two or three times and always find myself engrossed in the characters and the wonderful descriptions of the landscapes they inhabit. Goudge is a very lyrical writer whose vivid portrayals of people, places, and things stimulate your imagination and make you feel you are right there living the story with them. A strong thread of spirituality or religion runs through her books, which isnÕt my personal cup of tea, but the author never lets these elements take center stage. Her focus is very much on character and character development, and she creates complex individuals who are multi-dimensional Ð never black and white. They keep you interested and turning the pages to find out whatÕs going to happen next.

The basic plot in Green Dolphin Street follows the life choices of two very different sisters, Marianne and Marguerite, and the man they both love, William Ozanne. All three form a bond as teenagers living on the island of Guernsey in the English Channel during the mid 1800s. The author does a truly marvelous job depicting the charm of the windswept city of St Pierre Ñ its sunny sheltered streets, high-walled gardens, and tall granite houses, all softened by roses, hydrangeas, lavender hedges, and tangled vines. Marianne at age 16 is dark, elfin, and intelligent: ÒThere might have been beauty in her black eyes had they not been so needle sharp under the heavy black brows . . . and so full of a hunger that disturbed one in the eyes of so young a girl . . . and the lips, folded in so mature a repression of her passionate temper, and the brain that was too quick and hard and brilliant for her years and sex.Ó Marguerite, at age 11, is gentle and easy-going: ÒShe had taken to herself her motherÕs fair beauty and as muchÑand no moreÑof her fatherÕs intelligence as it was desirable that a pretty child should have, and to them some good fairy had added something else, the best of all gifts, the power of enjoyment, not just animal enjoyment of good health and good spirits but that authentic love of life that sees good days.Ó

Each sister quickly and secretly determines that William is the love of her life. William, in turn, is immediately drawn to one of the girls, but he is a somewhat absent-minded and indolent lad and when as a young adult, making a living harvesting lumber in New Zealand, he sends for his true love, he writes the wrong name in the letter! The consequences of his mistake and how he and his new wife hammer out their relationship (over the next 40 years) is the focus of most of the book. The changes each of the three main characters goes through during the course of the novel reflect three deep cravings of the self: the restless craving that makes man a wanderer looking for a better country, the craving of the lover searching for the perfect mate, and the inner craving for perfection and spiritual purity.

In contrast to civilized St. Pierre, life in turn of the century New Zealand settlements was rough, crude, and often dangerous. Again, Goudge does a great job evoking the atmosphere of New ZealandÕs primitive forests and WilliamÕs lumber camp. ThereÕs also some great actionÑan earthquake and a frightening attack by rebellious MaorisÑas well as wonderful secondary characters, including the foul-mouthed parrot Old Nick, WilliamÕs mentor Tai Haruru (a former Englishman gone ÒnativeÓ), colorful Captain OÕHara and his glorious clipper ship, and the crippled fiercely loyal first mate Nat. For those who enjoy a complicated romance taking place in exotic historical settings (think Forever Amber and Gone With the Wind), I think youÕll like this book.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great story, June 9, 2005

By 

dandysmom "dandysmom" (washington, dc United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Green Dolphin Street (Hardcover)

I too read this book in my teens and loved it. Recently picked up a copy of The Dean.s Watch at a yard sale, which reminded me how much I liked her novels... got this and was enchanted all over again. Old fashioned..yes. Wordy...yes. Racially preduciced...yes. But, remember the context; just after WW II. We don't expect political correctness in Dickens or Wilkie Collins ...just consider the era it was written in and enjoy a well-written love story,