My reading friends and I have complained from time to time about books that didn't have any characters that we liked. In these books there really isn't anyone that I don't like. I like some more than others, but no one is really unpleasant. In this volume of the Eliot saga, we have David Eliot hating himself and a new character, Sebastian Weber hating him as well. The main thread of the plot is decoding Weber's hatred for David. As a reader, I really want it resolved because I like them both and because at many levels, they have so much in common that they shouldn't hate each other.
Goudge's focus on the children continues with the introduction of David and Sally's Meg and Robin. I sometimes want to think that her children are the product of some sort of fantasy - but somehow she makes them seem real in spite of their insight, intuition, and apparent maturity.
I can believe in her children - but I'm not so sure about the compelling beauty of the countryside she describes. Most years we receive a calendar from a relative with pictures of the region of England in which he and his family live, I don't suppose it is the same region Goudge describes, but, to me, the scenes are at best banal. Maybe it is simply poor photography, but I'm afraid it really is just boring. I grant that those of us who live in the western US are terribly spoiled by the spectacular beauty that we have easy access to. I wonder if the scenes and setting of these stories exist - I would like to see them and make my own judgement. I suppose that for those who are susceptible to the appearance of "my own, my native land" nothing could possibly compare - regardless of where that spot is and what it looks like. Personally, I'm not sure about a place where a fire is appropriate in August.
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