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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Scottish Angst in the Alps,
By James Walker (West Perth, Australia) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Pocketful of Rye (Hardcover)
A Pocketful of Rye tells the story of Lawrence Carroll, whose childhood A Song of Sixpence so brilliantly described. Carroll is now in the early years of his career as a doctor - something Cronin in the tradition of Conan Doyle and Raubelais knows well.Lazy, opportunist, yet with a redeeming sense of humour, he obtains the perfect sinecure as medical director of a clinic for sick children in Maybelle, Switzerland. But he has forgotten how swiftly the fabric of comfort, from his cheery Swedish lover to his nightly touch with Kirsch, can be worn away. Carroll's Puritan blood and Catholic conscience, for he is a product of Levenford's distinct societies, tug at him from his roots in urban Clydeside. Most dangerous of all is the clinging affection of a remarkable small boy called Daniel. His arrival, with his mother Cathy Davigan from Caroll's past, disrupts the young doctor's Swiss idyll and threatens the easy future he has so cleverly contrived for himself. Cronin writes best about fictional Levenford, based on the small west coast town of Dumbarton; with its descriptions of Carroll's earlier life the book fairly comes alive. His vision and touch for a European life almost extinct is also sound, and excuses his rather epiphanous conclusion. Fine work from a master.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Timeless, Imaginative..,
By Nightingale (CA,USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: A Pocketful of Rye (Hardcover)
This was my first A.J Cronin book, and i want to go back for more... Simplicity, wit and imagination are a unique combination which keeps you hooked on to this book. I wondered what the storyline would have to do with the title, until i came across its use almost towards the end of the novel... and then so beautifully used...
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Rather disappointing as a sequel,
This review is from: A Pocketful of Rye (Hardcover)
As a long-time fan of A. J. Cronin's work, I found this particular novel not to be of the quality of most. Normally, his writing had a richness and depth of expression which was enchanting in itself, much as his plots tend to be rather melodramatic. In this case, whether because of editing or seeking to sound more modern, the beauty of his language was compromised.
Though ostensibly this work was a sequel to "A Song of Sixpence," it was rather disappointing in that regard. The main character remains Laurence Carroll, but he is totally changed in character, the action has skipped ahead (Laurence is perhaps ten years older, but the setting is at least 30 years in advance), and there is practically no continuity with the first book. Aside from a brief mention of his winning a bursary (which happened at the conclusion of A Song of Sixpence), and a very vague reference to his deceased parents, none of the incidents of the first book, nor the vividly drawn characters about whom I had hoped to learn more, appear. It is a good 'train book,' entertaining enough in itself, but of inferior quality to what one would normally expect from Cronin. The only hint of Cronin's usual depth is in the powerful "Hound of Heaven" obsession - which I shall not mention in depth lest it be a spoiler.
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