Customer Reviews


1 Review
5 star:
 (1)
4 star:    (0)
3 star:    (0)
2 star:    (0)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
Share your thoughts with other customers
Create your own review
 
 
Only search this product's reviews
Most Helpful First | Newest First

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Frame's Classic Novel About A Woman Alone, May 9, 2000
By 
Craig W.Young (Palmerston North, New Zealand) - See all my reviews
This review is from: A State of Siege (Paperback)
Frame's book deals with the last days of Malfred Signal, a retired single art teacher who nursed her mother through her final illness. Malfred has shifted from her South Island provincial city to an isolated island community.

At first, there are no hints that anything is amiss, but then, Malfred starts to hear noises outside, and makes a panicked telephone call. One becomes aware that the telephone line is not connected. Over the next few days, she becomes increasingly disoriented. One evening, a stone is thrown through her window...

The theme of a man alone is one of the staples of a particular period in New Zealand fiction,which highlights a man isolated from the city, dependent on his own wits for survival. Malfred Signal is a response to this- an indictment of a society that could find no purpose for older women, and also indicative of a general humanist need for human community in circumstances of adversity.

Malfred's psychological disintegration is handled well and sensitively.

Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No


Most Helpful First | Newest First

This product

A State of Siege
A State of Siege by Janet Frame (Paperback - 1990)
Used & New from: $90.89
Add to wishlist See buying options