Unravelling [Paperback]

Elizabeth Graver (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 12, 1999

From a small, bogside cabin in rural New England, 38-year-old Aimee Slater unravels the story of her life, attempting to make sense of the tangled thread that leads from her mother's house-a short, unbridgeable distance away-to the world she now inhabits. It is soon after the Civil War; Aimee lives alone, but is graced with visits from two friends, a crippled man and a troubled eleven-year-old girl. She is perpetually caught between the sensual world she so desires and the divine retribution passed down to her by her mother's scorn. How Aimee ultimately creates a life for herself and bridges that distance makes for a moving story of love and loss. Told in a voice of spare New England lyricism, Unravelling is a remarkably haunting account of the power of redemption.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Aimee Slater is a young women struggling to find herself among the traditions of a 19th-century New Hampshire town and the burgeoning factory life of Lowell, Massachusetts. Alternating between her past and present experiences, she melds a story of family relations, her desire to succeed, and her attempt at an independent life. Her parents reluctantly allow her to leave home for the "City of Spindles," yet almost immediately she mourns their absence. Is the wedge between her and her family created by her headstrong choices, as her mother claims, or does she simply draw deeper inside herself as a result of events she cannot understand? Like Ellen Glasgow's Barren Ground (1925), Aimee's struggle takes place in the absence of any strong male presence. This is a captivating novel about regrets, action, and reaction and the final achievement of understanding and contentment. Graver's first attempt to deviate from her well-received short stories (Have You Seen Me?, LJ 7/91) is a success. Recommended for readers who enjoy history, women's development, and mother-daughter issues.?Laurel Duda, Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, Mass.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Aimee Slater, born in 1829, grows up on a small New Hampshire farm, always wanting, always filled with desire for something else, for more. In a story that moves back and forth in time from Aimee's childhood, to her year from 15 to 16 in the textile mills of Lowell, Massachusetts, to her present when she lives alone on the edge of her parents' property, Graver holds us in Aimee's heart and mind. It is a scary place, so full of need. In exquisite prose that draws on contemporary accounts, history, and local folklore, Graver spins out the relationships between Aimee and her siblings, the townsfolk, the other girls at the mill, her lovers, but most especially, her relationship with her mother. Its unrelieved and tangled intensity is the book's core. Occasionally, Aimee's voice sounds a bit too modern, and incest, pregnancy out of wedlock, and mental and physical disabilities are sometimes cast in ways that seem too twentieth century, but Graver's mastery of emotional resonance carries the reader along. GraceAnne A. DeCandido --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Mariner Books (August 12, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0156006103
• ISBN-13: 978-0156006101
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #163,994 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Elizabeth Graver is at work on a project titled Plants and Their Children, a novel set in a summer community on Buzzard's Bay from 1942 to 1999. She is the author of three novels: Awake, The Honey Thief, and Unravelling. Her short story collection, Have You Seen Me?, won the 1991 Drue Heinz Literature Prize. Her work has been anthologized in Best American Short Stories (1991, 2001); Prize Stories: The O. Henry Awards (1994, 1996, 2001); The Pushcart Prize Anthology (2001), and Best American Essays (1998). Her story "The Mourning Door" was awarded the Cohen Prize from Ploughshares Magazine. The mother of two daughters, she teaches English and Creative Writing at Boston College.
For more information, visit http://Elizabethgraver.com/

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A breathtaking novel!, October 16, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Unravelling (Paperback)

I cannot remember a book so beautiful or so moving. I found myself holding my breath for the protagonist, crying for her, hurting for her, cheering for her--and was altogther immersed in the world author Graver has created. I read dozens of novels each year and recommend this as the very best I have encountered in years.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars GREAT WRITING FROM MANY ANGLES, ON MANY LEVELS..., November 13, 2002

By 

Larry L. Looney (Austin, Texas USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Unravelling (Hardcover)

This novel is a pretty amazing creation - Elizabeth Graver has created a story and characters here that are at once compelling and, although set firmly in the mid-19th century, have a lot of valuable insight for us in the present. I picked up this book after being impressed by her newer novel, THE HONEY THIEF - and I have to say that I enjoyed this one even more than that wonderful novel.

The central character here, the narrator, Aimée Slater, is, I think, the key to the book's depth. Born in the first half of the 19th century, she is both a product of and a reaction to the age. Her parents are good, if simple people - she and her family live on a farm in New Hampshire. She has siblings - the closest to her in age being her sister Harriet and her brother Jeremiah. All of the other children seem not merely to accept, but to seek the niches awaiting them in society and family - Aimée is headstrong and independent, always questioning the `why' of things. This trait exasperates her parents - and sets the course for her life at an early age.

Straining to break the stifling bonds of her household - but still holding a deep love for her parents in her heart - Aimée embarks from the rural area where her family lives to Lowell, Massachusetts, to work in one of the textile factories that have sprung up there. She does this against the wishes of her parents - especially her mother - but they give in to her when they realize that their hope of convincing her to do otherwise is nil. In the city, she encounters a world she has never seen before - and at fifteen years old, she is scarcely emotionally equipped to cope with it, despite what she may think. Like many other young girls away from home for the first time, in a time when sexuality and eroticism were repressed to the point of complete non-discussion, she is left by her first love affair pregnant and alone. Her mother makes no secret about being completely shamed by Aimée's situation - but at the same time, she finds a wealthy family who agrees to adopt the babies when they are born, who will support Aimée monetarily during her pregnancy. After the birth of her twins, even though she has agreed to the adoption, she is devastated by their departure - it is a sadness that, along with other events she has experienced, that will color her life.

One of the most moving passages in the novel, for me, was the depiction of an incident of a suppressed memory from Aimée's childhood being triggered by a scent. When she was a girl, one Christmas, her father produced a piece of chocolate candy - a rarity - without telling her that she was meant to share it with her sister. So taken was she by the taste and scent of the treat that she popped it whole into her mouth. Her father reacted angrily - another rarity - and forced her to spit out the candy, slapping her and calling her `a selfish girl'. Unused to such treatment from him, the young girl was traumatized by this - only as an adult, when offered a piece of chocolate, did the scent cause this memory to resurface.

Another incident that casts a lasting shadow over her life - and that of her brother Jeremiah - is an instance of brother-sister `touching' that occurred in the upper loft of the barn. As depicted in the story, I believe that it was more a result of a combination of natural curiosity, combined with the emotional repression and ignorance of the times, incestuous perhaps in one sense, but not an out-and-out case of abuse. I say this because it didn't involve any sort of attempt by either participant to exert control over the other - both children were left very uncomfortable by it, and it never happened again. Nonetheless, it changed their relationship forever, and it created a darkness that hovered over Aimée long past her childhood.

The sense of reality with which the author illuminates both of these incidents is incredible, and done with great insight and sensitivity. Any time events such as this are depicted in literature - or in film or on stage - in a sensitive and intelligent manner is an important step forward in society's understanding of them, and as such is extremely valuable.

The progress of Aimée's life - her emotional healing and growth - is told beautifully and realistically, without dripping sentimentality. She manages not only to heal her own emotional wounds, but also to reach out and touch the lives of those around her as well - and that touch is a blessing, coming from such a source. The story is a moving and compelling one - and it is one from which the reader can come away feeling his/her knowledge augmented in relation to this process. It is different, of course, for everyone who passes through it - but this story, of one woman's determination, pain, healing and courage, is an inspiring one, as well as being an `old fashioned' good read. I came away from this book uplifted and moved, and very impressed with Ms. Graver's writing abilities. Her sensitivity to her characters, combined with her apparent exhaustive research into the era, make this quite an accomplishment.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A thoughtful book, February 3, 2000

By 

"gwilson12" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Unravelling (Paperback)

Elizabeth Graver has written a thoughtful book that spoke to me on many levels. First of all, it is a book that makes one realize the importance of forgiveness, and yet how hard the truth is to see when you're in the middle of conflict, hurt. Secondly, the mother/daughter relationship is portrayed in all it's complicated mess so beautifully here. The push/pull relationship is very poignant. Aimee's conflicted feelings about wanting to leave her childhood home, yet how she cannot forgive her mother for letting her leave is very realistic. And Aimee's mother's feelings are palatable. Loved this book!