The characters in this posthumous collection walk down heather-lined trails where adult conventions are tossed to the wind. ("The middle of the road is ugly and brown, like rice pudding.") The little girl in "The Child Who Loved Roads" invents stories on her summer strolls to dull the pain of growing up. In "A Mystery," Mrs. Arnold takes walks to reclaim her pathetic fantasies. The bitter wife in "The Child" ambles down crunchy gravel paths to drown out the sounds of her own despair. Sandel, a Norwegian author with universal appeal, writes about the oppressed, the exiled, and the lonely with compassion, humor and cold anger. Her portraits of children, and their bewilderment at the adult world, are brilliant. December
Copyright 1985 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Review
These stories are a series of detailed, sympathetic portraits of people often ignored or judged without being understood: Lola, the conniving artist's model; Shit-Katrine, the prostitute; Adele, the aging prima donna and her nondescript sister Tora; Mrs. Larsen, the shopkeeper, who thought she caught a romantic dream only to realize she had merely been caught. The son of a couple who has everything but happiness "doesn't suspect that he constitutes the living chain of flesh and blood and nerves binding two incompatible people together, and that he will have to pay for it." The young girl who resists taking on the trappings of womanhood comments, "To dress up in all that, strut around in it, stumble in the long skirts, mimic the grown-ups and make them laugh where they sat on the garden steps, was fun enough for a while. But it was nothing to base a life on." Through the intensity of her own gaze, Cora Sandel makes us look at these people, and understand the intricacies of individual moral dilemmas, the courage of small rebellions, and the tragedy of any one person's everyday life. Dismissing the operating morality of society, she sees through clear eyes and describes the beauty, sadness, and strength of lives that are often overlooked. -- For great reviews of books for girls, check out Let's Hear It for the Girls: 375 Great Books for Readers 2-14. -- From 500 Great Books by Women; review by Erica Bauermeister
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