Ruth by Elizabeth Gaskell

 

This month I've chosen Ruth by Elizabeth Gaskell.  

Is this a book way ahead of its time? It contains the richness of plot that all the 21^st century gurus say we must have, including two rather nasty things happening just before it ends.  The characters are believable and rounded.

Yes, it's a classic and the print is rather small. Yes, there is a lot of description.  There is also a lot of head-hopping. Novelists had not yet mastered the discipline of a constant close third person narrative. Elizabeth Gaskell jumps into the text frequently.

The story is at once harrowing and promising of hope.  Ruth is a fallen woman and there was not much sympathy for such as her then. Yet she takes on a brave task and her illegitimate son may be proud of her, not ashamed.   

I'm now tempted to read more by this insightful novelist. 

This particular text was very well annotated which made the whole process even more rewarding. 

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East of Eden by John Steinbeck

 

This month I’m recommending another John Steinbeck: East of Eden

This time we are dealing with a man who has plenty of money.

Yet there are still struggles. He has a strained relationship with his half-brother, partly caused by his father’s expectations. His wife flees the family home. She seems to have some sort of personality disorder. He and his manservant bring up the twin sons who have something of Cain and Abel about them; indeed their behaviour rather reflects that.

In the end this is about a dysfunctional family but we can forgive them. Another long text, but John Steinbeck keeps the reader engaged through his well-drawn characters in this classic novel, East of Eden. 

           

The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

 

A farming family struggles as the Dust Bowl and the banks put them out of business.  

John Steinbeck creates believable characters with whom we can empathise. He gives us a good sense of time and place. He presents the struggles of the times that in many ways still exist today. As the Joad family move to California they encounter all of the prejudice and fear that migrants face today. These working people struggle to make a living, always with hope but rarely with success. There is a little state aid: special camp sites, help with funeral costs and something almost like our modern day foodbanks. Further drama is added as Tom becomes a man on the run; he has served a jail sentence for man slaughter. As he is out of state he has not met the conditions of his parole – and then he kills again.

A long text, but John Steinbeck keeps the reader engaged in this classic novel, The Grapes of Wrath.           

Sketches by Charles Dickens

 

I’ve gone back to one of the masters this month: Charles Dickens. In fact, the great work I read took most of the month. I’ve made my way through his Sketches.

It’s a long read but the title is so apt. It’s a collection of sketches of and anecdotes about people and places.  Dickens was so ahead of his time. Monty Python didn’t really bring us anything new.  And although he satirises the behaviour of people there is also respect and fondness.

He apologises at the beginning of the book.  He was very young and an inexperienced writer when he created these works. Fine.  We can see here his writers’ craft growing.

The collection also acts as time machine for a 21^st century reader; we are transported to a London, an England and a society very different from the ones we know now.           

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