9 Jul 2010

A MERCY.



On the day that Jacob agrees to accept a slave as payment for a debt, little Florens's life changes. With her intelligence and passion for wearing the cast-off shoes of her mistress, Florens has never blended into the background and now, aged eight, she is taken from her family to begin a new life. She ends up part of Jacob's household, along with his wife Rebekka, their native-American servant Lina and the enigmatic Sorrow, who was rescued from a shipwreck. Together these women face the trials of their harsh environment as Jacob attempts to carve out a place for himself in the brutal landscape of the north of America in the seventeenth century.


....... From the outer back cover.

FIRST SENTENCE: Don't be afraid.

MEMORABLE MOMENT: He believed we would love God more if we knew the letters to read by.

At only 165 pages long this should have been a quick read and yet I found it to be anything but - re-reading most pages several times, I found myself looking for a deeper meaning in the words.

A bit like the folks in the story of THE EMPEROR'S NEW CLOTHES I so wanted to see something beautiful, something of merit and yet, to be honest, I just didn't.

Try as I might, I just couldn't find anything exceptional in the plot and as for the characters? I felt I should have felt something for the women and yet, truth be told, I just couldn't bring myself to care for them.
A real disappointment, I somehow can't help but feel guilty that given the subject matter I should have been moved by A Mercy and it's tale of humanity.

A Mercy was a book club read.

9 comments:

Tastemaster said...

Nice review. I don't think we get these books in India.

NabilaHazirah said...

another brilliant review! i'll have a look at this book soon. (i still have two books to finish up)

p.s. rated R means R21. people who are 21 and above are the only ones who are allow to watch.

xo

Black Disaster Fairy said...

Hop Hop Hopping! Hippity Hop!

Dropping by to say Hello!

Elyssa

http://literarydaydreams.blogspot.com/
Personal Book Blog

http://ikissbooks.blogspot.com/
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Black Disaster Fairy said...

Hopping back! Thanks for liking my blog. Variety is the spice of life :) or maybe I'm just all over the place.

purplume said...

Thar first paragraph pulled me right in. I'm grateful for your take on it. It sounds like the writer couldn't reach the reader in the reader';s heart?

Last night I saw the movie THE ROAD. I was sad and slow moving yet something kept me hooked. The ending was ultimately satisfying, way more than the ending I was envisioning.

Gina said...

Oh goodness...too bad on the disappointing read. It happens to the best of us and the books we have the highest hopes for sometimes. *pats on the back*
Perhaps this weekend will bring you a fresh crop of GREAT reads...here's wishing anyway. Have a great weekend! ^_^

Short Poems said...

Great review, lovely work. Well done :)

Tracie said...

I listened to the audio version of this book and it didn't really draw me in the way I hoped it would, either. Audio books can be hit or miss though - depends so much on the actor who records them.

susan s. said...

Petty,

This is the way I feel about most of her books. They are very dense and yet don't say anything to me.