Basic Information : Synopsis : Characters : Thoughts : Evaluation : New Words : Book References : Good Quotes : References
Basic Information:
Author: Felicity Hayes-McCoy
Edition: eBook on Overdrive from the Fresno County
Public Library
Publisher: Hachette Books Ireland
ISBN: 1473621062
Start Date: August 7, 2018
Read Date: August 17, 2018
339 pages
Genre: Fiction
Language Warning: None
Rated Overall: 2 out of 5
Fiction-Tells a good story: 2 out of 5
Fiction-Character development: 2 out of 5
Synopsis (Caution: Spoiler Alert-Jump to Thoughts:
Hanna is a divorced woman in her 50’s finds herself
back at home, living with her mother in an isolated part of Ireland.
Nothing changes here. She is a librarian at the local branch of the
library. She is a strict librarian-no talking, no gum chewing, get
you book and get out type of a person.
She decides to take a big leap and fix up a house which
she inherited from her aunt many years ago. So she hires a local fix
up man, Fury, or it should be said that he places himself on the job.
While the work on the house is a minor part of the story, it is Fury
who understands her more than she understands herself.
Hanna is content to run the library until one day her
boss let it be known that the area is going to consolidate services
along with build a major dock to attract tourists. This will mean she
will have her library close down. The library is located on the
grounds of an old convent and there are two nuns still reside there.
Sister Michael hears of what is going to happen and sagely nudges
Hanna to rally the townspeople. As part of the coming together, a web
site called the Edge of the World is created and the whole movement
is considered by the name-get it? The Library at the Edge of the
World.
This rallying of the townspeople falls short on the
night when Hanna’s daughter gets into a car wreck. Jazz has major
surgery but will recover. But Hanna realizes she will lose her job.
But Fury has friends of influence. One has a very rare Psalter which
he will give to the library if the library stays open, thus saving
Hanna’s job. That is the end of the story.
Cast of Characters:
- Hanna Cassey-Main character. Divorced mother to an adult child. Librarian, trying to break through to independence.
- Mary Cassey-Mother of Hanna. Bossy, inquisitive, gossip
- Jazz-Hanna’s daughter. Airline stewardess
- Conner-Hanna’s assistant at the library. Rides a Vespa.
- Malcolm-Hanna’s ex
- Fury - carpenter, fix up guy, curmudgeon, but understands the people of the area.
- Sister Michael - resident of a covenant where the library is situated.
- Tim Slatterly - a minor character, but Hanna Cassey’s boss
Thoughts:
Hanna realized after her divorce that her husband used
jokes as a means to divert from an issue he did not want to face.
It is not until the 12th chapter when something
interesting is said. Up until this time, you are learning to really
dislike both Hanna and her mother. The mother comes off as being
obnoxious and too much involved. Very opinionated, but the wrong way.
But at the end of the 12th chapter, Mary says that One
day she’ll [Jazz] find out the kind of man her father is. And
that’s the day she’ll discover that both of her parents are
liars. Mary hits the nail on the head. Hanna
tries to protect a grown up daughter from finding out why they
divorced. Instead of protecting, Hanna is really deceiving and is
walking around on eggshells.
There was a web of personal and communal
relationships that linked people together, offering mutual support.
This is a revelation to Hanna. But she really does not use this
thought until her job is in jeopardy and until it is forced on her by
a nun.
One of the problems I have with the Hanna character is
that she is more interested in decorum than interest. When suggested
she have a book group for mothers, all which she can think about is
the noise and problems rather than the enthusiasm of getting people
involved in reading. Connor, her assistant, thinks that Half
the fun of a library is stumbling on treasures by chance. (42)
in contrast, Hanna thinks that these people are time-wasters, and
that libraries are not to be fun.
Something which is never addressed in the book is why
should people care for Hanna Cassey? She obviously does not care for
others. The only reason why she lets others get involved in her life
is that she is about to lose her job.
The closest Hayes-McCoy gets to an overt philosophical
statement is when she points out the fallacy of the
most important thing is to be happy thought.
This is because happiness is dependent on the actions of others. The
daughter, Jazz, thinks it is to experience things. Both seems rather
temporary. Happiness is fleeting; experiences are there only while
you are experience them. Once the moment is gone, it is memory.
Memory is good only as long as you have them, either until your death
or you lose them, such as with dementia. Sounds really sad.
There is a minor discourse about some important men in
Hanna’s life which thankful does not devolve into a discourse that
all men are liars. But it does go into how she was a fool to believe
them. The prompt for this discourse is Hanna meeting Sister Michael
who asks a few key questions. Sister Michael will be the wise woman
in this book. She gently leads Hanna to the understanding that Hanna
is not a fool for believing her husband or friend, but she is a
time-waster for obsessing over them. (Sister Michael does not note
that she seems to have poor taster in the men in her life.) From this
point on Sister Michael will be Hanna’s guiding light in the
actions she takes.
Quotes Ecclesiastes on time.
Hayes-McCoy says that seniors have plenty of time. Sort
of ironic isn’t it that seniors are the most likely to have their
lives cut off sooner than later? Even more so, many seniors tend to
be very busy people, rather than people who are sitting on the porch
doing nothing all day.
Malcolm, Hanna’s ex and Jazz’ father, after winning
a case said that the one sure way to be a
winner was to make your opponent feel like a fool.
In this case, in confrontations with both is ex and his daughter,
that is his tactic, making them feel bad about themselves.m the
author uses this tactic in other settings, such public meetings.
Evaluation:
Does
this story have a point?
The best which I could come up with was that if you open up, people
will rally around you. I am a sucker for books about books, so from
the title, it sounded really interested. Maybe that is the problem,
Hayes-McCoy has lots of references to book titles, but instead about
two-thirds of the book talks about a woman who mopes around in
self-pity, not being honest with her mother or daughter. not as
someone who is in love with the books.
So I ask myself, why should I read the book? Are the
characters particularly interesting? Not really. Does her writing
draw you in, making you feel like you want to read more? No it is
pretty average writing. What is important in what is being brought
out? It is pretty much we can do great things when we work together,
nothing revealing or earth shaking. So why read this book? I do not
know.
New Words:
- chignon (3): a knot or coil of hair arranged on the back of a woman's head
- pied-a-terra (5): a small apartment, house, or room kept for occasional use.
- besom (8):a broom made of twigs tied around a stick.
- eejit (10): Irish and Scottish form of idiot.
- diktats (20): an order or decree imposed by someone in power without popular consent.
- Poreens (20): from the book, it seems like it is small potatoes
- Perfidy (38): deceitfulness; untrustworthiness.
Book References:
- Dance Music of Ireland by O’Neil
- Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable
- The Charwoman’s Daughter by James Stephen
- U;ysses unknown which version
- Mrs. Jordan’s Profession by Claire Tomalin
- Stones of Venice by Ruskin
- Beowulf unknown version
- Elizabethan Lyrics by Kenneth Muir
- Early Irish History and Mythology by O’Rahilly
- Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by JR Rowling
- Story of the GAA by Vincent McDonnell
- Ice Man by Vincent McDonnell
- Charlotte’s Web by White
- The Mysterious Affair at Styles
- A House Divided
- A Long Way to LA - a made up book
- Life of Emily Dickinson by Sewall
- Heart of Darkness
- The Female Eunch
- Barbara Cartland
- Barbara Pym
- God’s Garden-probably a fictional book
- The Book of Kells
- Wouldbegoods
- The Secret Garden
- Little Woman
- What Katy Did
- Cranford by Mrs Gaskell
- The Collected Poems of Edith Sitwell
- The Anatomy of Melancholy
Good Quotes:
- First Line: the turquoise sky reflected the color of the ocean.
- Last Line: And the taste of windblown salt on her lips was mixed with the honey scent of flowers.
- Half the fun of a library is stumbling on treasures by chance. (42)
References:
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