The narrator has plumbed the depths but seems to be surfacing…
Stag’s leap (poem)
Published on by Wendy Kirk
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The narrator has plumbed the depths but seems to be surfacing…
it’s hopeful, funny, touching, thoughtful….
Although this novel deals with challenging themes – domestic violence, death, judgement, small town prejudices – it’s really infused with a strong sense of hope and resilience. And the writing is just beautiful – haunting, earthy and lyrical.
Persuasion takes us on a journey from despair to happiness, from loneliness to love. I think you can hardly ask any more from a novel than that – it’s a real literary antidepressant.
She tells tales of the everyday and gives voice to people you can actually imagine meeting in your daily life. But in bringing these people to life on the page and narrating everyday experiences, she suffuses the apparently ordinary with the truly magical.
At the end of the book you feel although she is indelibly shaped by her childhood, she is not defined by it.
Besides being a good read, this novel has made me re-assess present day family and community relationships and interdependence.
It’s an illuminating examination of the points at which an Eastern and a Western culture intersect, a remarkable exposure of the flaws in common stereotypes, and a convincing portrait of a young woman discovering herself against the backdrop of urban Britain.
It just filled me with joy when I came across it, it’s empowering in the way that only telling it like it really is can be.
The female characters particularly stand out as they are both very individual and don’t give in to pressure to act a certain way during a time when I think that would be particularly difficult.