Customer Reviews

Martha Moody

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

 

 

Martha Moody is definitely a book I'll be reading again. It's a keeper.

It's kind of an unusual book. The main character, Amanda, is given to rather fantastic type daydreams and musings.

She is wed to a somewhat taciturn man named John Linger, but neither of them appear to be in love with the other.

She becomes quite captived by Martha Moody, a woman who runs the general store in town. She takes her cow, Alice's, butter into town to sell to Martha.

Soon Amanda is spinning fantastical yarns in her head about Martha.

The book is written in a delightful, captivating style, and the women in it are quite unique and interesting characters.

Susan Stinson's Martha Moody is an extraordinary and evocative book. Set in the "Old West," it tells the complex and uneasy story of two women loving each. I wanted this book to keep going, never to end, so that I could stay suspended in Stinson's poetic voice. Contrary to the dismissive Publishers Weekly review, this book is anything but predictable, boring, or silly. It is unconventional in many ways (its characterizations, its lush language, its integration of stories within stories) and seeks to fully explore how two individuals choose and are forced to act within their social and personal circumstances. A gorgeous read.

I was so excited to pick up this book after having it in a pile by my bed for months. It seemed like it would be a delicious summer read. I was wrong. Predictable, uninspired, and boring, I would not suggest this book if you are looking for a summer read. I tend to enjoy Stinson's poetry much more and if you're looking for a summer read, try "Fat Girl Dances With Rocks".