The Book Theif

I apologize for neglecting this blog. I've decided from now on I am just going to post a new book at the first of every month. You can comment on the book whenever you finish reading it. Feel free to suggest new books as well.

This month we will be reading "The Book Thief" by Markus Zusak. I know many of you have already read this or are currently reading this, so bring on the discussion. I love this book and will read it again and again. I can't wait to hear what you think.

Falling Angels

The book I read was called, "Falling Angels" by Tracy Chevalier. This is the same author who wrote "The Girl with the Pearl Earring," if you have read that.

The book is set in the early 1900's in London. It tells the story of two well to do families and how they cope with the turn of the century and how times are changing. The plot is centered around the daughters of the two families, Lavinia Waterhouse and Maude Coleman. The Coleman's are very modern and the mother Kitty is a forward thinking woman. The Waterhouses are a more traditional sort of family. The two girls become best friends, even though they are totally opposite people. The book goes through an 8 year period and we watch how the girls mature, and how their mothers influence their lives, even when they are distance like Kitty is.

The climax of the book is when Kitty Coleman has an affair and get pregnant. Then she has an abortion-not described in detail thankfully. We watch as she turns inward away from her family and then outward away her family as she joins in the suffrage movement. Her poor choice in neglecting her family eventually leads to prison and then death as she is trampled by a spooked horse in a suffrage parade. 

This is a short summary, but the book was really involved. It was an interesting read to see how families cope with deceit and change and the influence mothers can be on their children for good and bad. Maude's mother wasn't very doting, but Maude turned out to be a wonderful young woman. Lavinia's mother gave her everything she wanted and she turned out to be quite a brat really.  I liked how the book was written in different perspectives so you could kind of get each person's view on the situation. I enjoyed the book and highly recommend it.