The Cape Ann: A Novel
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Kindle Edition Verified Purchase. It was a good story, and a small glimpse at life in the depression era of the nation. There was also a good sense of the realities of migration from the Midwest to the Pacific coast and California during that time period. There's usually a sense of innocence and wonder to the story, and often a feeling of drawing the reader to see things through the eyes of the young kids.
A Novel was, in my opinion, truly one of the best novels I have read in quite some time. Be warned, however, that it is not the type of novel that is for everyone. I have recommended the book to two 2 different people so far, and I am not sure that either are in love with the book as much as I was. It's not that kind of novel.
It's basically just a little girl's "Lark's" story of growing up between the ages of 6 and 8 in fictional "Harvester," Minnesota during the era of the Great Depression, leading up to the Nation's entry into the 2nd World War. The situations and circumstances Lark encounters are told to the reader through Larks' eyes and thoughts. For me, I think the thing that I like most, was actually seeing Lark mature even if only from age 6 to age 8 as you read through the pages.
Her thoughts and feelings become more developed and succinct as you move forward through the book; Sullivan's writing tricks are so subtle they go almost unnoticed, as they should. Wodehouse on my list of "must-reads. One person found this helpful. I lived much of this book. The author, however, keeps the story uplifting and never bleak, thanks to the hope of a little girl and the love and growing strength of a mother. Six-year old Lark Erhardt lives in a railroad terminal with her mother, Arlene, and father, Willie. She still sleeps in a crib.
She and her mother dream about owning their own house. Lark has picked out a Cape Ann she'd found in a catalogue. Trouble is, her father, a railroad clerk, keeps losing their money in poker games. Undaunted, the mother begins to learn how to type, eventually setting up her own little business, saving up five hundred dollars for a down payment. The best part of Sullivan's novel is the relationship between the mother and the daughter. They're more like sisters than mother and daughter.
There's a game they play where Lark pretends to be Mrs. Brown and her mother, Arlene, is Mrs. The minor characters are also quite well drawn. There's feisty little Beverly Ridza, who teaches Lark how to swim. Sullivan's novel is a bit melodramatic in spots. Lark's Aunt Betty almost dies twice. Some of the dialogue sounds forced. I was also a bit bothered by Lark's narration. She doesn't sound like any six-year-old I ever heard of. She uses words like "inebriated" and "averred". The novel is set during the end of the Depression and the beginning of WWII and I would think the author expects us to imagine the narrator telling the story some time in the future, although she never tells us when that is.
Editors say the beginning and the ending of a novel are the two most important elements, and Sullivan's ending certainly saves the day. She's got us wondering if and when Arlene is going to dump that loser Willie. But for a little kid, leaving her Daddy, even though he beats her for chewing her fingernails, has got to be a traumatic experience. Sullivan's ending is darn near perfect.
Harvester is a farm town, a bit like Lakefield in southwestern Minnesota, where Sullivan grew up, and a bit like Pipestone, where she went to high school. Her books are less sequels to one another than they are companions, overlapping in time and with minor characters in one book springing to the foreground in the next. And she does that with such an exquisite eye for detail.
Now she uses a computer — reluctantly. Above, she led one of her twice monthly writers groups inside her Minneapolis home. Sullivan is 81 and looks 20 years younger. She is slender and lively, with gray hair, bright dark eyes and a laugh that can only be described as joyful.
It is here where Sullivan hosts her twice monthly writers groups, and here where Women Who Wine occasionally meet. And it is here where Sullivan writes — for many years on a manual typewriter that her husband, Dan, salvaged from the Los Angeles Times newsroom, and now, reluctantly, on a computer.
Novels about women are far too easily dismissed, Buchwald said. She writes about topics that everyone can relate to: How we hurt each other.
Author Faith Sullivan tells the story of a small Minnesota town
How we love each other. How we let each other down. This is the essence of what human life is about, and she does it so well. Sullivan never planned to become a writer. She graduated from Mankato Teachers College in with degrees in history and education and motored off to Cambridge, Minn. Anything would be better than that, she thought, and she later took a job in an employment office. It was OK, but it was still nothing she loved. Her college friend Dudley Riggs hired her to act in his Brave New Workshop, where she met Dan — then a music and drama critic for the Minneapolis Tribune, and a comedy writer.
She and Dan had three children and moved first to New York, then to Los Angeles, before eventually moving back to Minnesota. It was in California where Faith got an idea for a novel. This book is written from the perspective of the six-year old Lark.
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By the end of the book, she was barely eight. I found her thoughts and insights to be very grown-up and a little befuddling for such a young creature but lovable she is. I must stop before I give too much away. Funny and endearing at times. I enjoyed every minute of reading this book and I savoured every word. Here is my favourite quote: Everything difficult or painful that we can do with a merry heart, gives us Squaring her shoulders, she pronounced, "style. Yes, style and character.
Roosevelt has style and character, don't you know. Jan 03, Kathleen rated it really liked it Shelves: Lark Erhardt is the six-year old narrator of this novel that begins in Her observations about life, sometimes cobbled with her eavesdropping, are earnest, sometimes funny, and often heartbreaking as she tries to navigate the mysteries of her family and small town still struggling with the Great Depression. The men in this novel, perhaps as in the last one, are flawed, adding to the hardships in the family. A man of little imagination, threatened by his bright, independent, resourceful wife, Arlene, Willy holds narrow views about just about everything: Stanley, his brother-in-law, flaunts his adultery to his pregnant wife, Betty, and seems paralyzed by his reduced employment.
The dysfunction of the family permeates the novel, however, filled with anger, contempt, and great sadness. While I cheered for Arlene to follow her dreams, saving her sister and Lark as well, that comes at a cost. She writes with a certain purity and integrity, a fresh look at the courageous and visionary, the vulnerable and discouraged, the prejudiced who are limited by their fears, and those, like Lark and her mother, who are saved by their daring. Jan 17, Candice rated it really liked it. I was inspired to read this after reading Good Night, Mr.
Set in the same fictional town of Harvester, MN, this earlier book visits some of the same characters. Narrated by Lark Ehrhart who is 6 when the book begins and 8 when it ends, it gives a child's perspective on growing up in a small town in the late s to early s.
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Lark is a charming narrator whose youthful perspective on life is at times heartbreaking and at times amusing. My heart ached for her and her mother Arlene as I was inspired to read this after reading Good Night, Mr. My heart ached for her and her mother Arlene as they continually chased their dream of owning their own home, a Cape Ann. Through setback after setback, I could see Arlene's strength and resolve as she gained my admiration. Another gem by Faith Sullivan. Apr 02, Debbie rated it it was amazing. I very much enjoyed this book. It really was not the warm feel good book I expected.
Set at the end of the Depression in small town Minnesota, it is the story of 6 year old Lark Erhardt. Lark lives with her mismatched parents in a makeshift apartment attached to the train depot where her father works. Major events in Larks life and the lives of the townspeople and other relatives are filtered through Lark's keen but naive eye. I can't wait to read the sequel.
Apr 22, Michelle Barnes rated it it was ok. I've read about pages and the story is going nowhere fast. I hope it picks up. Ok the book did pick up a little about half way through and did have some really funny parts. But there was no real plot to the story, I didn't think. I probably wouldn't have finished had it not been a book club book.
I think "mama" could have benefited from reading Love and Respect. Sep 30, Kim Whitley-Gaynor rated it liked it. I enjoyed it quite a bit because it reminded me of being raised Catholic and not understanding many of the religious beliefs of that religion. The book is written from a 6-year old child's perspective. Frequently her observations about Catholicism, babies, what her mother told her, etc, were illuminating and some quite humorous. Here are a few quotes from the book: There were only three people in my family, and we were all headed for hell as things stood.
Mama said that being wise was knowing what to do with being clever. What you learned before twelve, you never put aside, Mama said. It gives them hope. Oct 28, Christine Schaffer rated it it was amazing. Each time her mother saves for the down payment her father gambles it away.
Set in the small fictional town of Harvester, Minnesota during the depression we see life through the innocent eyes of a child. Getting ready for her first holy communion Lark tries to understand her Catholic religion, unclear on what is a sin and what isn't and who will go to heaven. Will she, will her parents?
By her observations her whole family is headed for hell. She believes babies come from the stork and it is her responsibility to catch her aunt's baby when the stork drops it. She witnesses the marital problems of her parents, her harsh father and her strong willed mother. She see the hobos and wonders what their story is. She witnesses the shell shock of her neighbor and friend Hilly and hears the boots of the Germans in her sleep as America prepares for World War II. There is so much more to this book, but not much plot.
Customers who viewed this item also viewed. Your heart will ache for the members of the sleepy Minnesota town. AmazonGlobal Ship Orders Internationally. Mauk rated it liked it. Get fast, free shipping with Amazon Prime. Lark Erhardt, the six-year-old narrator of The Cape Ann, and her fiercely independent mother dream of owning their own house; they have their hearts set on the Cape Ann, chosen from a house catalog.
The characters are the book, Lark, of course, her driven mother Arlene, her hapless father Willie, her friend, war hero, Hilly Stillman, her Aunt Betty, both sets of her grandparents and more. I found this book after reading Faith Sullivan's Goodnight Mr. Written over twenty years after The Cape Ann.
The Cape Ann: A Novel: Faith Sullivan: bahana-line.com: Books
It returns to Harvester and this time focuses on the life of Hilly Stillman's mother. It's another great one, a little more plot driven. Jul 09, Loretta Kalamaroff rated it really liked it. This is my 2nd Faith Sullivan book. She's a wonderful Minnesota writer who captures Midwestern small town life with a keen, nuanced style, especially the women in her books.
And The Cape Ann is seen through the eyes of a very young girl, enabling the reader to remember the dizziness of trying to figure out adults, religion and fibs children are told about babies and Santa. Marriage and family life are finely plotted, including the old 'what will the neighbors think' point of view.
A lovely, love This is my 2nd Faith Sullivan book. A lovely, lovely book. Jun 03, Lori Adams rated it it was amazing.
The Cape Ann: A Novel and millions of other books are available for Amazon Kindle. The Cape Ann: A Novel Paperback – February 2, Faith Sullivan is the author of several novels including Gardenias, What a Woman Must Do, and Good Night, Mr. Wadehouse. Editorial Reviews. From Publishers Weekly. "This is the kind of old-fashioned novel whose period flavor is as enjoyable as the story it tells," remarked PW.
A must read and a staple on every bookshelf. Excellent story of a family during the depression and the start of World War II. Narrated by Lark, a 6 year old, who is learning life's lessons through her life and that of her family in small town Minnesota.
Such a wonderful read. So touching and interesting to see life through a young child's eyes. Their fears, happiness, anger, disappointments and dreams within this lovely, well-written book. I really liked this book at the beginning, but as the tale wore on I grew indifferent to most of the characters.
Their generally self inflicted wounds failed to elicit sympathy; rather I got increasingly frustrated with them.
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Maybe that was the point? In any case, not a book I could really recommend. Might feel differently had I read as part of a book group where hearing others' experiences of the story may have illuminated mine in another light.