Reading 1001 discussion

Rating: 4.25 stars

I was almost positive someone had read this recently, but I was unable to find any previous reviews. If this is a duplicate, I apologize. I did try hard to find one, though.

It, apparently, is the last book in a series. I read one of the other books in the series, but I didn't find it essential to reading this one as it is a completely different story with a different main character. This book read well as a stand-alone novel.

This is the story of Morag, a young woman who is orphaned during girlhood and sent to live with a childless couple in another part of Canada. Childhood is tough for Morag. She grows up, goes off to college, and falls in love with a much older professor. Throughout the book, from childhood to middle age, we follow Morag in her quest for love and belonging.

Overall, a wonderful book with a strong female main character.

Diane wrote: "Rating: 4.25 stars

I was almost positive someone had read this recently, but I was unable to find any previous reviews. If this is a duplicate, I apologize. I did try hard to find one, though.

I..."
You are the first.

Just finished this one and also gave it 4 stars. I do have a strong bias for Canadian books by women authors, but I think it's really devastating and touching just like real life-enough for people other than Canadians with an interest in women's lit to really enjoy it too.

I also like that this book largely takes place in Manitoba, as most of the books from Canada on this list are from Ontario (the greater Toronto area specifically it feels like), or Quebec, with a tiiiiny smattering of the prairies and Maritimes.

Morag's grit yet sense of romanticism for a life that feels like home makes her an engaging protagonist to follow. As well, the loving but complex relationship between her and her semi-drifter daughter Pique really caught my attention.

When the book opens, Morag Gunn is a writer living in Ontario, with an 18-year-old daughter who is worryingly intent on hitchhiking to the west of Canada. In flashbacks (called "memorybank movies") we slowly hear about Morag's childhood as an orphan in the small rural town of Manawaka, where she was taken in by an impoverished couple, and how she survived and escaped to college while always carrying that life in her deepest being.

I loved this book! I've enjoyed everything I've read by Margaret Laurence but this is the peak. Morag is both troubled and brave, living life on her own terms, and I could have read on and on about her and the supporting characters, especially Jules and Christie.

This was my first Margaret Laurence and it will not be my last. The author takes us through childhood to middle age of the character Morag Gunn. Much of the story takes place in Manitoba and the flat farm lands of southern Ontario which are very important to the nature of the novel. Morag was orphaned at a young age and adopted by a struggling couple. If viewed from the point of view of Morag's rich inner life, her father was a great philosopher and story teller. From the point of view of her real growing up experience, her father was the town scavenger or trash collector and her mother suffered from eating disorders and withdrawal from the world at a time when no one would have had names for such things. We see Morag's not entirely reliable memories through memory bank movies sections and we move back and forth through her experiences as she gets married, divorced, has a child, writes books and always attempts to find her own way in the world and secure love on her own tenuous terms. As we meet her early in the book at middle age struggling with how to communicate to her daughter how much she both wants her to go out on her own and how much she wants her to stay with her, we know in the beginning where we are headed. This is not as important as Morag maturing, questioning, and finding foundations in storytelling and ultimately story writing. All the characters come alive even if we only meet them briefly or even if Morag only sees them once every 10 years. We can feel Morag's fear about her daughter but also the strength and determination she has gifted her. As with the gift of divining for water, there are other gifts that this life gives us that are withdrawn to be given to others.