An interesting novel about Clara Callan and her sister Nora. It takes place mostly in the 1930s. Different.
Interesting story written primarily in letter form between two Canadian sisters, one now living in New York. Details their lives and loaves and losses. Pretty good.
The story is told first-person through exchanges of letters between Clara (the central character) and others in her life as well as entries Clara makes in her journal. The letters and journal are from 1934-38. Clara and her younger sister Nora grew up in a small town in Canada. Both parents are deceased. Nora, seeking fame and fortune in the enterainment industry, has recently left for New York; Clara, a school teacher, remains in the family homestead and teaches in her home town.
I would have given this book 3.5 stars if that was an option; I downgraded to a 3 rather than upgrading to a 4 because I found Clara to be a very unlikeable character. The more I got into the book, the more I disliked her. Clara seems to have a certain disdain for the town folk, including her next door neighbors, Marion (a childhood friend who has a club foot), and even Nora (because of her career choice and lifestyle). Clara justifies her snobbish attitude on the fact that her home town is very small and everyone knows everyone else's business. Clara comes across as arrogant and judgmental. While in Italy with Nora and Nora's beau, they toured an author's house. The tour guide was an English woman and Clara commented in her journal about how homely and poorly dressed this woman was. Clara assumed, based on the woman's plain appearance, that she probably had a pathetic, lonely life. Clara was shocked when this woman later departed with a young, good looking man. I found Nora to be a much more likeable and honest person than Clara.
*****SPOILER ALERT*****: Clara eventually has an affair with a married man (she initially didn't know he was married but once she found out, she continued the relationship because she believed the man's explanation for why he was driven to seek out other women). She breaks it off for a few months at one point but then finally contacts him and resumes the relationship. Clara ends up pregnant and decides to keep the baby even though she knows she will probably lose her job and her standing in the community (she decides to stay in her home town). It's unclear why she even wanted to keep the baby. When Clara told Marion, Nora, and the neighbors of her predicament, they were all surprisingly supportive of her. I expected that Clara would then have an epiphany and realize that her own judgments about people could be flawed. Unfortunately, that didn't happen. The afterword of the book suggests that she was a bitter woman and an unloving mother.
I would have given this book 3.5 stars if that was an option; I downgraded to a 3 rather than upgrading to a 4 because I found Clara to be a very unlikeable character. The more I got into the book, the more I disliked her. Clara seems to have a certain disdain for the town folk, including her next door neighbors, Marion (a childhood friend who has a club foot), and even Nora (because of her career choice and lifestyle). Clara justifies her snobbish attitude on the fact that her home town is very small and everyone knows everyone else's business. Clara comes across as arrogant and judgmental. While in Italy with Nora and Nora's beau, they toured an author's house. The tour guide was an English woman and Clara commented in her journal about how homely and poorly dressed this woman was. Clara assumed, based on the woman's plain appearance, that she probably had a pathetic, lonely life. Clara was shocked when this woman later departed with a young, good looking man. I found Nora to be a much more likeable and honest person than Clara.
*****SPOILER ALERT*****: Clara eventually has an affair with a married man (she initially didn't know he was married but once she found out, she continued the relationship because she believed the man's explanation for why he was driven to seek out other women). She breaks it off for a few months at one point but then finally contacts him and resumes the relationship. Clara ends up pregnant and decides to keep the baby even though she knows she will probably lose her job and her standing in the community (she decides to stay in her home town). It's unclear why she even wanted to keep the baby. When Clara told Marion, Nora, and the neighbors of her predicament, they were all surprisingly supportive of her. I expected that Clara would then have an epiphany and realize that her own judgments about people could be flawed. Unfortunately, that didn't happen. The afterword of the book suggests that she was a bitter woman and an unloving mother.
