Starcarbon: A Meditation on Love: A Novel [Paperback]

Ellen Gilchrist (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1995

The story of three couples searching for love and inner peace--as tornadoes devastate middle America and the Soviet Union falls apart on television--features the Hand clan and explores the varied aspects of modern love. Reprint. 25,000 first printing. NYT.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Gilchrist's marvelous storytelling gifts are abundantly lavished on her new novel, which continues the saga of the Hand family and its intricate network of kinfolk, who can be found scattered through Victory over Japan , Drunk with Love and The Anna Papers . Set in the summer of 1991, Starcarbon focuses on the younger generation of Hands introduced in I Cannot Get You Close Enough . Olivia, Daniel Hand's illegitimate daughter, returns to her Native American family in Tahlequah, Okla., to study Navajo and reunite with Bobby, the boyfriend she left behind when she schemed her way into her father's affluent lifestyle. Her half-sister Jessie is stuck in New Orleans with a new baby and a faltering marriage to the feckless King, the spoiled son of Daniel's distant cousin Crystal. Gilchrist skillfully makes these complicated relationships clear even to those who haven't read her earlier books by delineating sharply individualized characters. She writes with a distinctively Southern toughness about people who are selfish, demanding and often cruel to those closest to them, but who invariably gain the reader's sympathy with their total honesty and fierce need for love. Starcarbon, a ranch in Montana where Bobby worked, symbolizes the characters' longing for "somewhere clean to be," free from the maddening bonds of family. Yet Gilchrist's multi-volume narrative, which grows deeper and richer with each additional book, compellingly shows how those bonds nurture as well as damage; her work offers a tart antidote to the rootlessness of so much American fiction.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Gilchrist's (I Cannot Get You Close Enough, LJ 9/15/90) story is a loosely woven tale about a charming, albeit dysfunctional, family and their relationships. Daniel, the alcoholic father--"elegant, so endlessly kind and tall and funny and lovable and powerful and tortured"--has depleted his fortune and failed in love relationships. He dearly loves his two daughters, Jessie and Olivia, but has a tough time relinquishing control and allowing them to live their lives. After her first year of college, Olivia returns to her grandparents in Oklahoma to join her boyfriend and delve into her Cherokee roots. The beautiful Jessie is living in New Orleans, struggling to raise her newborn son and save her troubled marriage. The striking thing about this novel is its characters' preoccupation with love, both familial and passionate. The characters are struggling with commitment and intimacy--and ultimately winning. Recommended. Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 12/93.
- Kimberly G. Allen, MCI Corporate Information Resources Ctr., Washington, D.C.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 306 pages
• Publisher: Back Bay Books (May 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0316314625
• ISBN-13: 978-0316314626
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,681,471 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The book is as interesting as it's title., January 7, 2000

By 

Polly (New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Starcarbon: A Meditation on Love: A Novel (Paperback)

This book is fabulous. This was the first book I read about her crazy, intertwined Southern clan. Once I read this, all I wanted to do was sit down and read every book she ever wrote about these people. What impressed me the most was the descriptions of the emotions people felt throughout the story. Each of her characters has a distinct and slightly zany personality. Equipped with a wide range of strong emotions, they all are pondering major life decisions throughout the book. She blends the three stories together masterfully. As I read her other books, I am impressed with how she creates an entire world that revolves around a massive network of characters who are all related by blood or situtation. In case you can't keep up, use the family tree at the front of Starcarbon.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars glorious southern disfunctional family..(what else?), July 30, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Starcarbon: A Meditation on Love: A Novel (Paperback)

I have just discovered how to connect onto Amazon.com and I am thrilled to be able to get (and give) so much information on READINGS! One of the first authors I looked into wasd one of my very favorites, Ellen Gilchrist. I typed in Starcarbon randomly (I have read all of her works) and was amazed to find that noone had reviewed it. Although it's been a fre years since I read it and had tro go back to my notes to refresh my memory, the enthusiasm I felt (feel) for this book is current. The story is a continuation in the vibrant and evey so interesting lives of the Hand family (We were introduced to them in earlier books). The protagonist is Olivia deHavilland Hand, a young woman, whose mother is a Cherokee Indian. Although the better part of the book deals with her dropping out of Carolina and her going back to Oklahoma (where her tribe lives) to get a better handle on who SHE is , we are reintroduced to other menbers of her family Before Rebecca West had th! e Yaya's, Ellen Gilchrist has the Hand Family. Someos its various settings are New Orleans, Boston, Charlotte - and all of them come alive, as do the wonderful Hands. I particularly appreciated the family chart in the front of this book so that I could connect to the family faster when new books come out. Anyone wanting a sample of Gilchrist's should try her short stories in IN THE LAND OF DREAMY DREAMS. Y'all enjoy!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Story, Great Writing, July 25, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Starcarbon: A Meditation on Love: A Novel (Paperback)

I actually read this novel without knowing that it followed a previous work of Ellen Gilchrist's. However, I STILL enjoyed it immensely. Starcarbon is intellectual and interesting and moves at a quick over-lapping pace. I often fold over a small corner of a page when I read an interesting bit of prose to go back to later - page after page is dog-earred in my copy of this book. Don't be alarmed by the family tree outlined in the first few pages; it is easy enough to follow along. You'll find yourself in several heads during the course of this book - even if it gets confusing, enjoy the writing and ride it out.