Customer Reviews

Kingfishers Catch Fire

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

 

 

If you haven't read Rumer Godden before, you're in for a treat. Many of her books are set in India during British rule, and the patrician tone may be off-putting to some. But she sees the comedic humor in certain British government 'types' as well as the stereotypical Indian servants, landlords, and petty town mayors.
Kingfisher's Catch Fire is a classic cultural clash in which a clueless but well-meaning English widow with two children goes to Kashmir where she can live cheaply on her widow's pension - and one of her children is nearly killed in the process.
She is, of course, defeated in her attempts to change or 'civilize' the natives and...well, read the book yourself and find out what happens.
A good read.

LOve this book and have read it many times, I enjoy the exotic geographical location and culture clash with the charming but ignorant and foolish Sophie. It is so obvious that she will come to grief. This book is a kinder, gentler "Ugly American" kind of story about cultural insensitivty in a well meaning person. The language is poetic and the story flows really well.

This novel is a most enjoyable story, an adult story, about a widow with young children learning to live in an alien, not always friendly place, a remote village in Kashmir, in the 1950s. It shows great understanding of the villagers, the children, and Sophie herself, headstrong, risking her own and her daughter's life because of her faith in other people, never giving up that faith. More than any other quality, it has enormous charm

Was sad when the book finished, Rumer Golden is a wonderful storyteller. I felt as though I were in Kashmir with her. Recommend this book, Black Narcissus, and The River. Also the old movie, THE RIVER is worth renting or buying. It's one worth seeing every few years.

The book arrived in good time and I enjoyed reading it very much. I love old books.

I've read many rumer godden's books.She never disappoints including this book. It is the story of english snobbery and assumptions against the lives and culture that belonged to the area. Sophie's attitude was dangerously romantic. It brought tragedy to her and her children. The descriptions of the fountains and flowers were superb and so vivid. Very typical of rumer godden. She had a genius for sparing down adjectives to they are so powerful and bare bone. I recommend her to everyone. She (godden) lived in kashmir at one point in her life. I don't how much is art or life.