Customer Reviews

What Is Left the Daughter

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This tenderly-written novel builds meticulously to a central climax and then leads away from it in a long dying fall. It is a sad book, shaded with evanescent emotions that are remarkably hard to pin down. But while I suspect it will resonate strongly with Howard Norman's fans, it did little to alter my previous opinion of his work, which was somewhere between admiration and annoyance.

The new book has many elements in common with the only other Norman novel that I have read, THE MUSEUM GUARD. Foremost, a beautifully evocative portrayal of life in Nova Scotia; Halifax in both books, but here also a small fishing community on the Bay of Fundy. Beyond that, the unstoppable encroachment of WW2, an important uncle/nephew relationship, an enigmatic love-object who goes her own way, the magnetic pull of distant Europe, and a curious fascination with menial jobs and long-stay city hotels. Both books also combine a fine-grained reality of detail with a certain fantasy of plot that some people will call poetic but merely perplexes me. If at times THE MUSEUM GUARD read almost as a fable, I accepted this as a fresh approach to writing about the Holocaust. Here, with less potent forces in play, the fabulous element is less strong, but I still felt torn between surrender to its pervasive melancholy and resistance against its implausibilities.

The narrator, Wyatt Hillyer, is orphaned at 19 by the simultaneous but separate suicides of his father and mother, both of whom were in love with the same woman. Very little is made of this sensational start, but it results in Wyatt moving down the coast as an apprentice to his uncle, a craftsman who builds toboggans. There, he falls in love with his cousin Tilda (adopted as a baby and so no blood relation). But Tilda is a free spirit with ideas of her own, one of which is to become a professional mourner, paid to weep spectacularly at other people's funerals. She also forms her own attachment to a German student, Hans Mohring. Although the son of anti-Hitler refugees, Hans in 1942 is still an object of suspicion along a coastline continually menaced by German U-boats. The events triggered by his arrival in the small village, and the long story of what happened afterwards, are the subject of Wyatt's narrative, in the form of a long letter to his daughter Marlais on her twenty-first birthday.

This could have been a good book, and for a while it drew me in. But I found it hard to see Tilda as a believably rounded character, I got annoyed with Wyatt's relative passivity, and found it impossible to like Hans. Since the three of them form the main love triangle, these are heavy liabilities. More serious still, I simply could not credit Wyatt's actions during the book's central crisis, which in turn affected all that followed. The place and the social atmosphere were well captured, but a chance use of the phrase "shipping news" made me long for Annie Proulx's novel of that title (THE SHIPPING NEWS), portraying emotional life in a very similar community with a hard-hewn compassion that Norman simply cannot touch. [3.5 stars]

I have read 3 previous books by Mr. Norman ("The Bird Artist", "The Museum Guard" and "The Haunting of L.") and enjoyed them all very much. I therefore came to this book with high expectations, and they were not disappointed.

Mr. Norman has a way with his stories of telling them in a calm and sure voice that reassures the reader while at the same time advancing the plot effortlessly. This plot involves a protagonist whose parents both commit suicide on the same day, by jumping from different bridges. He's then taken in by an Aunt and Uncle who have a daughter about his age. The uncle has a sled and toboggan making business, and our young man joins him in this.

It is 1941 and, in Nova Scotia, the threat of ship sinking by German subs is never very far from everyone's thoughts.In fact, the uncle has become obsessed with it, and papers the wall of his workshop with newspaper clippins and pictures about subs and sinkings.

The plot really takes off when the daughter brings home a young German student whose family fled to Denmark to escape the Nazis. Despite this, he is looked upon as a potential enemy by almost everyone in the small town where the action takes place. His arrival sets off a chain of events that is both tragic and heartfelt. To say more would be to ruin the book for potential readers.

All that I can say is that, if you enjoy a small story with believeable characters that is told in an excellent way, you will definitely find this book to your liking. It is highly recommended!

WHAT IS LEFT THE DAUGHTER by Howard Norman is a literature novel by writer Howard Norman. I usually stick more to suspense thrillers, but picked this novel up through the Amazon Vine program because it sounded interesting.

Wyatt is seventeen years old when both of his parents commit suicide on the same evening because they were in love with the same woman. Wyatt goes to live with his aunt and uncle and cousin by adoption, Tilda. Wyatt immediately falls for Tilda, but complications arise when the dashing Hans Lohring enters the picture.

The novel is a straight character drama, filled with love, tragedy, loss and hope. Norman takes the novel to a level above most with the setting and characters. The novel is set in Canada , just as World War II is beginning and German U-boats are terrorizing the innocent. Hans is a German student studying in Canada , so he is faced with much hatred. Wyatt's aunt and uncle have there own problems in dealing with the war.

Even though I rarely read books like this, I really enjoyed this novel, which is an letter from Wyatt to his daughter explaining the twists and turns that his life took over the years in hope that he can be close to her once again.

34.[ What is Left the Daughter] by Howard Norman

I have to admit that at first I had a difficult time with what seemed to me to be short clipped sentences in the dialogue. I have never heard anyone speak like that for an extended period. Once I was able to get past that, I was drawn deeply into this story of a star crossed family in Nova Scotia during WWII.

We immediately learn that Wyatt Hillyer is suddenly orphaned when both of his parents leap from different bridges on the same day. Thus begins the story of Wyatt's life.

The story is in the form of a letter being written from Wyatt to Marlais that is both the history of his life, and perhaps a plea for understanding and forgiveness.
The characters are all so compelling,quirky and frankly unusual that I could not help but be drawn in.

Things take an understandably tense turn when Wyatt's cousin Tilda becomes involved with a German. Hans Mohring is a student, his family does not support Hitler, and in fact moved to Denmark to escape his reign of terror. Hans is not embraced by Tilda's family, nor accepted by most in the small town where they live.

The pace of this book is somewhat slow, but it seems to fit Wyatt's quiet and painfully honest narrative .

Bottom line is this is a book worth reading, a story worth hearing and in fact, I suspect that you will be unwilling to put it down once you begin. I know I was.

In "What is Left the Daughter", teenager Wyatt Hillyer begins the book by writing a letter to his daughter as an explanation of why life has turned out as it has. His story begins when he is a teenager and his parents commit suicide separately on the same night. He then moves in with his aunt & uncle and his adopted cousin. As time goes on, Wyatt realizes that he is in love with his cousin. although it may be too late. A series of events complicates Wyatt's life beyond imagining and permanently changes his life. Suicide, murder, love, tragedy, all of these things figure prominently in the book but Howard Norman's writing style gently guides you through it so that you transition from one sad situation to another.

The one theme that ran throughout the book is that love (and thus life) can be incredibly complex. The unattainable love that drove Wyatt's parents to suicide, the inconvenient love that alienated his cousin, the unrequited love that stunted him, the mourning for love that drives the uncle to an irrevocable crime-- no relationship is simple in this book.

I enjoyed "What is Left the Daughter" and the dark Nova Scotian days that surrounded this story set in WWII. Norman gives his characters simple language, but his descriptions are vivid and evocative.

This story is written in an old fashioned style, in letters from a father to the daughter he has not known.

The characters are quirky and it is their quirkyness that holds your attention. At times scenes and conversations seemed to go on much longer than neccessary without adding anything to the story. But in the sequences that did not drag, the story was very captivating.

This is a story of unrequited love, wartime tensions, and people trying to break out of the mold that others force them into.

My first Howard Norman. I'll definitely watch for others by him.

I have read and enjoyed all of Howard Norman's books, but this is by far my favorite. I thought the writing was stunning, especially for such a short book. I will confess to having a soft spot in my heart for books set in Nova Scotia having spent much time there. Norman does an excellent job of developing characters that are unique and yet believable. In addition, to all of this you will get a short history of Nova Scotia during WWII. And, most importantly it is an absorbing story you won't want to stop reading until you have finished the book.

Those who read this review will no doubt read my criticism of Norman's novel Devotion. I was viscerally outraged by that book because, no doubt, I thought I had lost a supremely talented writer who had succumbed to success. You must understand that my favorite contemporary writer, Kasuo Ishiguro, only came much later. But fifteen years ago, I had already discovered Howard Norman. This I know to be a long introduction, but stay with me. The Bird Artist and its trilogy introduced me to the eerie beauty of Newfoundland and Nova Scotia. I went with my sons there on a holiday fraught with wonder and ultimate tragedy. I don't imagine any greater immensity than that enchanted land. Northern Lights was a brilliant first novel. Even Norman's children's fables are perfect.
Norman's perfection is the subtety of his craft. The dialogue between even minor characters is so revealing of human nature as a pearl is to the ocean's sea floor. Canadians are this way. In the simple day to day banter, they can hit you over the head with blunt force even before you know you were struck.
In many ways, What is Left the Daughter is the most incredulous of Norman's novels. It is impossible to imagine the premise: both parents independently committing suicide within an hour of each other from different bridges, both having had an affair with the same woman. It is impossible to believe that a Canadian family, in war time, would allow a German citizen to stay under their roof and even marry their daughter. Only Howard Norman would dare us to believe. Only Howard Norman could keep us spellbound by his sharp prose that captivates us to the last word. Riveting, he creates a masterpiece of memories about average people's souls and hearts torn by war and grief.
I am so happy about this master technician and storyteller. He is back again, and this work, in many ways, is his glory realized with such mature craftsmanship reminiscent of Gunther Grass' later work, Crabwalk. Bravo for a stunning achievement, intimate portrait of human emotions,Canadian style. amid heartbreaking events in the face of war. robert rubenstein. Author,
Ghost Runners

Though he teaches in the MFA program at the University of Maryland and lives in Vermont, in novels like THE BIRD ARTIST and THE MUSEUM GUARD, Howard Norman has succeeded in making the rugged coastal towns of Nova Scotia and the people who inhabit them his own. He continues that mastery with WHAT IS LEFT THE DAUGHTER, a thoughtful story of one man's quiet triumph over adversity --- some self-inflicted and some cruelly thrust upon him.

Norman's novel is structured as a single, long letter from Wyatt Hillyer to his daughter Marlais, written a quarter century after the events in the early 1940s that form the core of the story. Wyatt's account opens with the double suicide of his parents, who leap from different Halifax bridges on the same evening, grief-stricken over their love for the same woman. Nearly 18, the orphaned young man moves to the town of Middle Economy, where he takes up residence with his Uncle Donald and Aunt Constance. Donald, a maker of sleds and toboggans to whom Wyatt is apprenticed, is obsessed with the activities of the German U-boats that prey upon civilian shipping off the Canadian Maritimes. He pins newspaper clippings about ship sinkings to the wall of his workshop and strains to hear static-filled news broadcasts. The obsession that places him "in the throes of a desperate imagination," as he puts it, will bring about tragedy for the Hillyer family.

When Wyatt arrives at this new home, he meets Tilda, the adopted daughter of his aunt and uncle who seeks the odd career of "professional mourner." His attraction to her is instantaneous, but she returns from a brief trip to Halifax with Hans Mohring, a German student of philosophy at the university there, with whom her relationship quickly deepens. Hans' ancestry heightens the story's tension, and when the ferry Caribou, carrying one of the novel's principal characters, is torpedoed on its way from Halifax to Newfoundland, his presence precipitates a cataclysmic series of events that end with Wyatt convicted as an accessory to murder.

That shocking episode serves as the crucible in which Wyatt's character is forged. What is most distinctive and rewarding about Norman's novel is the placid, patient voice of his narrator recounting, without a trace of self-pity or self-justification and occasionally with dry humor, how he has absorbed the rough blows life has dealt him. From the bizarre death of his parents, to his unrequited love for Tilda, to his humble life as a "detritus gaffer" in Halifax harbor after the terrible crime that sunders the novel, he's the victim of more than a lifetime's worth of hardship.

Yet in the face of his travails, Wyatt perseveres, with regrets, certainly, but with an understanding that he has achieved the hard-won status of survivor. As Cornelia Tell, Wyatt's friend and the owner of a bakery shop where many of the novel's intimate conversations occur, reminds him, "In your life happiness is either cut to your length or it isn't." It's a statement of homespun wisdom that sums up as well as any the outlook Wyatt has on his fate as he acknowledges to Cornelia in stark terms, "It's how life's turned out."

As satisfying as is his depiction of Wyatt Hillyer's life is the unerring sense of place that Norman brings to the story. In a recent interview, he explained his persistent fascination with Nova Scotia as a setting for his novels: "To me the Canadian Maritimes is a very compelling region; it's tragic, it's melancholy; it has a long history with the sea; it's elegiac. In the cemeteries, there are so many graves that are empty because the people were lost at sea. I'm comfortable with the disturbing paradoxes and haunting qualities of the area."

Those characteristics all resonate in Norman's painstaking recreation of the spartan but warmly human life of the province's inhabitants --- the harsh climate and rugged landscape, the need to earn a living from the sea or other hard manual labor, the simple pleasures of a small town existence in a less complicated time. There's a shared recognition that life is rarely, if ever, fair, but that even the characters not connected by blood are looking out for one another. With his latest novel, there's no sense that Howard Norman has come close to exhausting the vein of stories Nova Scotia offers up to him.

--- Reviewed by Harvey Freedenberg

This book has it all: morality, wisdom, real relationships, humor, intelligent vocabulary, historical fiction, symbolism, and it's pretty short! In other words, a real gem.
Crazy stuff happens fast in this book. For example, not spoiling anything here, one of the main characters is a professional mourner. I didn't know there was any such thing.
There are a number of surprises and I'm not going to give you any hints to ruin it. It's very well written and will leave you wanting to read more by the same author. A lot to think about with this one. Can't wait to recommend it to the book group.