Crooked Heart: ‘My book of the year’ Jojo Moyes

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This was such a well written historical novel. Told entirely in 3rd person, I got a good look into the lives of these people. The places are described beautifully, not that they are exactly beautiful, but I got a real feel for the locations. Also, the language and customs were right on point. This story takes place in England during WWII, so the slang required me paying close attention. It might be a bit difficult for readers who, like me, aren’t used to it. Also, there were a few gaps in the story but mostly when we were focused on Vee, who was the type of person to just take someone at their word. I’ve immediately begun the author’s next book ( ‘Old Baggage’), which includes some of the same characters, but the events of which take place before this book. The problem for me lies in the characters. Noel initially refuses to talk, Vee's mother can't talk, and her son is never around to talk. The characters carry on in their own orbits, sometimes not even circling the same planet. Other books that employ multiple perspectives and parallel narratives draw you in with well-developed characters, each with his/her own internal struggles and moral dilemmas. Not so in this case. We know so little about Vee's mother and son that we can neither empathize with nor understand their erratic behavior. They show no concern others, and I really felt no concern for them. They each had their own story arc, but honestly, the book would have been just as good (or bad) without them. Evans has created such tangible characters in Vee and Noel. My opinion of Vee changed as the book progressed - from dismissing her as a hustler, to getting to know her, to empathizing with her losses, and finally to cheering her on, hoping against hope that the ending I want would materialize. We get to know Noel slowly as he assesses his current situation and adapts as need be. I was immediately taken by him. Other supporting characters are just as interesting - I especially enjoyed the myriad letters that Vee's mute mother pens. Mattie makes only a brief appearance, but her presence is large in Noel's life and memories and we come to love her as much as he does. The wartime setting is also a character in Crooked Heart. The rationing, the attitudes, the bombings and more all shape, direct and change the course of Vee and Noel.

Crooked Heart - Penguin Books UK

But when Mattie’s mind began to fail, when she began to lose her memory and to act oddly, Noel struggled to cope. He didn’t ask for help, because he knew that Mattie wouldn’t want that. Tragedy ensued. Cleverly written, with shades of light and dark that manipulate the emotions, this easy-to-read novel is deceptively complex and utterly charming.’ Sunday Mirror Crooked Heart, while also delving into the seriousness of war without going as far as to take us to the battle lines, is also instilled with a dark humor that I feel is most appropriate for that day and age. Because even though there is sadness that is saturated into every nook and cranny and hangs over the city like a pall, there’s still some humor to be found and Evans characters use it as a coping mechanism to get through these trying times. Wonderful, wonderful novel, I’m so very glad I took the chance on this obscure little gem of a read. Special thanks to Tofu the pigeon and her keeper Maddy Joyce, as well as Mookie the turtle and her keeper, Kim Rose.For children, she has written Small Change For Stuart, shortlisted for the 2011 Costa Award for Children's fiction, the 2012 Carnegie Medal, and the 2012 Branford Boase Award. [4] Small Change for Stuart was published in the United States as Horten's Miraculous Mechanisms, and the sequel, Big Change for Stuart ( Horten's Incredible Illusions in the U.S.) was published in 2012. Another book for children, Wed Wabbit, was published in 2017 and shortlisted for the 2017 Costa Book Awards and the 2018 Carnegie Medal. Initially, I took the moral high ground when confronted with Vee's scams. But, my opinion rapidly changed as I got to know Vee and Noel. I found myself soundly in their corner - and hoping they could scam the scammers. Evans nicely explores right and wrong through many characters and situations in Crooked Heart. And by the end, it's impossible to say that a little bit of wrong isn't a little bit right. It spoke so very well about the lengths people will go to survive; about our need for love and support; and about how people can take you by surprise. This is my first foray into Dunmore’s writing (she won the 1996 Orange Prize—now the Women’s Prize for Fiction—for her book A Spell of Winter). Her writing is so adroit! See the stories that these few words paint:

Crooked Heart | Lissa Evans

The story starts in the London blitz, in a dazzling, tragicomic prologue… a miniature masterpiece of serio-comic writing’ The Guardian Poetry was very important to me from childhood. I began by listening to and learning by heart all kinds of rhymes and hymns and ballads, and then went on to make up my own poems, using the forms I’d heard. Writing these down came a little later.

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There are ingredients that could make this a very interesting book. There is the hard-working entrepreneur who has two wives (one after another) and a paternal concern for his much younger brother. There is the first wife, who is mother of his daughter, who slides into alcoholism. There is the second wife, who has little interest in the stepdaughter and whose interest in the entrepreneur is primarily in the material comforts he can provide. There is the younger brother who shuns the opportunities for legitimate business success that his brother offers him and prefers instead to get mixed up in criminal activities. And there is the young daughter, re-located from London to Yorkshire, and her new, male playmate. This is the dullest book I have ever read to the end. But I persevered with it because she had created enough interest in the characters for me to want to find out more about them. This is a beautifully written novel in a light and easy prose. I’m full of admiration for writers who simply let their period stories fall into place and flow naturally without the intrusion of sanctimonious modernist social commentary from afar, which for me, only succeeds in emotionally disengaging me from events. Any research in this novel is seamlessly interwoven. The recently deceased Anne Perry was another who would simply let her stories do the talking. Together they cook up an idea. Criss-crossing the bombed suburbs of London, Vee starts to make a profit and Noel begins to regain his interest in life. At around this time I began to write the poems which formed my first poetry collection, The Apple Fall, and to publish these in magazines. I also completed two novels; fortunately neither survives, and it was more than ten years before I wrote another novel.

I Walked Out One Evening - Academy of American Poets As I Walked Out One Evening - Academy of American Poets

Noel's mourning his godmother Mattie, a former suffragette. Wise beyond his years, raised with a disdain for authority and an eclectic attitude toward education, he has little in common with other children and even less with the impulsive Vee, who hurtles from one self-made crisis to the next. The war's provided unprecedented opportunities for making money, but what Vee needs - and what she's never had - is a cool head and the ability to make a plan. Together, they cook up a scheme. Crisscrossing the bombed suburbs of London, Vee starts to make a profit and Noel begins to regain his interest in life. But there are plenty of other people making money out of the war—and some of them are dangerous. Noel may have been moved to safety, but he isn’t actually safe at all. Letters string arrangement by Rob Moose; Pleasant Valley Reservoir strings arranged by Rob and Shane Leonard.

When I finished reading Crooked Heart by Lissa Evans, my first thought was that it reminded me of a cross between Cold Comfort Farm, I Capture The Castle and Goodnight Mr Tom. Those aren't comparisons I would ever make lightly - in fact, it's about as strong an endorsement you could get from me. Overall, when I finished With Your Crooked Heart, I was left feeling supremely dissatisfied. I just sort of sat there in disbelief, staring at the book in my hands, thinking "That's all?!" Only one thing puzzles me: Dunmore uses the phrase “it’s not Nova Scotia” twice in the book. As in: