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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Some Strong Points That Don't Hang Together,
By
This review is from: The Testament of Yves Gundron (Hardcover)
Most times, when I read a book that I don't really like, I will pretty much swear off the writer, but I won't do that with Emily Barton. The Testament of Yves Gudrun was ultimately a little too uneven for me and left me with too many unanswered questions; it just didn't make sense, when I think it was actually trying to. To her credit, Barton writes well, is imaginative, has a good ear for dialog, and has a certain uncanny knack for getting in these little zingers that make you think here and there in the narrative. The premise of the novel is pretty interesting. We read about a pre-industrial society that, we soon realize, exists in the current day. They are visited by Ruth Blum, a young anthropologist at the same time Yves invents a few technical improvements which begin to change their society. Barton also tells the story from an interesting point of view (instead of from Ruth's point of view, she tells it from that of Yves'.) But--there are also some problems with this novel. First of all, I just don't think the narrative hung together. It almost struck me as a first draft, one that needs a little work to become something wonderful, which was frustrating. Or perhaps it was a short story, that should have ended at page 30. Some things just made no sense, like why did Yves' wife sing the blues? Why did they focus on Ruth's love of toast? I also think this novel would have been improved with some research. It struck me that she just made things up about how a pre-industrial society would operate. The details just seemed a little too inauthentic. That being said, I think Ms. Barton is talented and will try her next effort.
12 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Challenging and enjoyable,
By Miphi Hall (Cambridge, MA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Testament of Yves Gundron (Hardcover)
Ms. Barton has written a thoroughly engaging and involving story. That it is her first novel makes it all the more remarkable! The narrative moves so seamlessly from one paradoxical episode to the next that I hardly noticed how my assumptions were being challenged. The testament is both innocent and wise, so the reader cannot help but share Yves' delight, sorrow, pride and wonder as he observes and records the marvelous events of his life. The other characters who inhabit the world of Mandragora are simultaneously bizarre and believable. Some very funny episodes balance the underlying seriousness of the novel's dilemma. As the novel moved toward what I understood to be the inevitable outcome, I became more and more reluctant for it to end. Despite the difficult choices she poses for her characters (and her readers), Ms. Barton has written a story that is easy and satisfying to read. I look forward with pleasure to her next novel!
17 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A simple harness,
By
This review is from: The Testament of Yves Gundron (Hardcover)
I was mystified as to how something as innocent as a simple harness could change so much in it's wake. Barton creatively written story kept me guessing. The harness, a cornucopia of geometrically explosive chain reactions. Barton's choice of the harness which normally represents constraint has been directly juxtaposed into an uncontrollable unleashing of one event triggering another. The book brings to mind Shangri-La from James Hilton's "Lost Horizon" and Lerner and Lowes' "Brigadoon." I enjoyed the book. It is a good book for the year 2000. For each step we have progressed we have lost part of ourselves. We are no longer in turn with nature, no longer kind to strangers. We've lost the beauty and richness of our language. We lost the ability to share our good fortune with our neighbors. We've lost our roots, our uniqueness. We still have wars, poverty, mental illness, and illiteracy. We have prolonged life at the cost of prolonging death. Basic amenities, growing with each successive generation, for some are never enough. It's a good reflective book that opens one's mind to all that we have lost and have little we have progressed in developing our humanity. We have more but are less for it. The San Francisco Chronicle Online Book Club chose Emily Barton's "The testament of Yves Gundron" for it's 1/16 - 2/19 selection. Please join us by chiming in our online bulletin board. We would love to hear any additional thoughts that you might have.
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