The Visionist

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and despite entering the fold with less physical purity than the believers, polly seems to have a mind that is more innocent. Actually, I'd like to give this book 3.5 stars...or maybe even 3.75. More about why I didn't, later. I was aware of the Shakers, but not much beyond the fact that they made great furniture, lived sparsely and believed that sex was filthy...therefore, men and women were never together...therefore, there are no more Shakers. This book filled in a lot of gaps in my knowledge.

In August 1837, a group of girls aged ten through fourteen in a one-room Shaker schoolhouse received "signs from the world beyond." One by one they began singing, jerking, chanting, and reciting Latin. This miraculous phenomenon went on for hours. Elder Sister Agnes, the schoolteacher, witnessed it all. Thenceforth these and other Visionists — the name given to those deemed to be "chosen instruments" of Mother Ann, the Shakers' founder — "were allowed to make things that were not simply functional but beautiful, for they had created them under divine inspiration." Do you believe in Visionists? Is it possible that Polly and the other girls were capable of communicating on another level with a world most of us deny exists? for polly, this is unacceptable, because she has taken a maternal role towards ben ever since the incident that left him more or less dependent upon her and her mother in nearly all aspects of his life. she submits to her new surroundings because she has to, but she tries to make opportunities to see ben, despite the scrutiny this places her under in the eyes of the believers. This pair of classic loafer has multiple ventilation gills ensuring great comfort and breathability. They are perfect for boating but for me personally, they can go with any outfit as long as you are not wearing them with full suit!The novel takes place at a time when America is shifting from an agrarian to an industrial economy. How does that change play into the story?

Polly has secrets to hide from this community, big secrets. However a mysterious event soon after her arrival leads them to hail her as a “Visionist” the first of their community. They believe she is a vessel sent to speak the words and wishes of Mother Ann and this subjects her to heavy scrutiny and pressure. Polly knows that eventually they will discover her secrets and judge her despite the protection of Charity, a young Sister. Tja, und das zweite Gesicht? Die haben alle drei Charaktere nicht. Nur Polly verfällt anfangs mal in Trance. Aber mehr auch nicht. Es bleibt nun einmal belanglos.For a religion that engineered its own oblivion by forbidding procreation amongst its adherents, Shakerism has had a remarkable influence on modern society. What are those influences and why do you think the Shakers have remained topical when most other fringe religions in America have fallen by the wayside?

The episode begins with Polly witnessing her family's home being burned down by a group of men who had a grudge against her father. She manages to escape through a window and flees into the nearby woods. She is eventually found by a Shaker woman named Sister Anne who takes her to the community. The Shakers are a religious group who follow celibacy and live a simple life free from material possessions. Sister Anne takes care of Polly and introduces her to the other members of the community including the leader, Elder Samuel. The Visionist is both a haunting, beautifully imagined tale of lives devastated by cruelty and transformed by love, and a gorgeously evocative portrait of an 1840s Shaker settlement that is as startling as it is convincing."— Cathy Buchanan, author of THE PAINTED GIRLS Of course she has left behind a big secret and Pryor, a man is investigating a crime that she and her family are trying to escape. So much of this novel was entertaining. but I never felt that I really got to know the girls, did not feel close to them, although I did like both.

MULBERRY – MARTY

The plot is one that jumps between different narrators. We switch between the same three characters and through that the reader gets different insights into the story, which was a great choice on the part of Urquhart because when an integral part of your plot takes place within a community as closed of as the Shakers it is important to have different characters with different opinions. The switch between narrators also meant that each character's story remained fresh and exciting because the reader wants to know how the other characters are affected by what happens. Urquhart's writing style was incredibly interesting and found the right balance between being descriptive and emotive. She also changed style between different characters and the reader gets a real feeling for each of the characters and their positions in life. I struggle with this question even now, more than a decade after starting to write this book, which must mean that some part of me believes in the inexplicable. Of course, I have a very rational side. I've read all about contagious hysteria and could well imagine the Shaker Visionists fitting neatly into that theory. I've researched PTSD and can view Polly's hallucinations through that lens. And finally, as a mother, I am quite aware of a teenager's talent for manipulation. But most religions are full of myth and magic, and the reason for that, in part, is that there is simply so much we cannot know about our world. One of the things that most intrigued me about this particular time in Shaker history was that, in spite of their rigid practicality, through worship, they found a way to embrace what they couldn't explain. And I found much of that behavior magical. Very strange, yes, but magical. So I guess the simplest answer is that I both believe and don't believe, depending on the situation. With the anti-bacterial mesh liner and inner sole, the anti-slip grip and non-marking sole,breathable ventilation gills for air circulation and water drainage, their loafers are perfect for any summer holiday! Everyone needs a pair of dark wash jeans as they go well with pretty much every piece of clothing you own in your existing wardrobe. I like the fitting of these Dylan slim fit jeans because they are not as tight as skinny jeans but the cutting of the jeans is excellent. This book is quite a hard one to review. Some you sit down and the words flow easily, it’s more a problem of stopping them! But for this book, I’m finding it very difficult to articulate how I thought about it. On one hand, the writing is very good. Polly is a fabulous character, so very deserving of the reader’s sympathy. She has faced unspeakable things in her fifteen years, been subjected to truly horrible acts to go with her day to day existence of work, poverty and abuse. She takes action but that doesn’t mean it sits easy with her and her life doesn’t get much easier after the fact. She finds herself abandoned to the Shaker community, something she knows nothing about. She has to basically ignore her brother, which causes her enormous emotional distress and the added pressure of the tag of being a Visionist, a vessel is also stressful because she eventually knows that it cannot last. Before becoming a true Shaker, you must confess to an elder and adopt their ways. Polly doesn’t think anyone would understand her confession (which turns out to be much more complicated than even she first suspected) and she also gets the feeling that an Elder Shaker doesn’t expect her to stay in their community – but they are clinging to Ben.

Reading this book left me feeling a little like I'd been peeking in someone's windows - the inner workings of The City of Hope were portrayed that intimately. Simon Pryor is a fire inspector hired to investigate the situation surrounding the fire on the Kimball farm and for him, it is an opportunity to free himself from tyranny and also, redemption. He is unable to talk to Polly without her mother as appropriate escort and May Kimball has disappeared. There are others who wish to find May first, to get their hands on what she has that could thwart efforts to get the Kimball farm. Simon needs to find her first, for the sake of not only the whole Kimball family but also himself. The voices of three main characters tell the story. Polly Kimball, a traumatized 15-year-old farm girl who sets fire to her home, takes refuge with the Shakers, and is then mistaken for a Visionist. Charity, a young Shaker sister who has grown up since birth in the settlement and, in befriending Polly, gambles her faith on the honesty and purity of her new companion. And Simon Pryor, a cynical, small-town arson inspector and private detective who investigates the fire and finds himself increasingly drawn into the circumstances surrounding Polly’s predicament. Urquhart has created a world rich in details and vibrant in its historical dimensions...Urquhart captures how the Shakers live, dance, dine, garden, heal and worship, but she also has a genuine feel for her characters' longings and devotion...The true virtue of this story is the meditative consideration of the value of hardship and the transformative nature of ecstasy. Like Marilynne Robinson's Gilead and Edward P. Jones's The Known World, The Visionist aspires to illuminate our understanding of faith, resilience, shame and forgiveness." - Amber Dermont, New York TimesThe storyline is rich and interesting primarily featuring Polly, a girl who has escaped an abusive father by murdering him only to find shelter with the Shakers who believe she is a "visionist," one especially selected to have spiritual insights and messages. We also follow another character's crime procedural as he ferrets out Polly's secret. And, finally, we are brought into the mind of the Shaker sister who takes Polly into her heart and takes us into the intimacy of the community. The three narrations carry the novel adding depth to the story. Polly and Sister Charity experience an intense friendship. Can you talk about that? What were you exploring when you were writing about their attachment? this scrutiny only intensifies once polly begins to experience episodes that the shakers interpret as those of a visionist; one who has a direct link to the holy mother and reveals her holy messages in mystical fits. when her father began to come to her in the night, polly coped by going away inside her head and being comforted by visions of angels and these dissociative episodes manifest once more when she is provoked in the shaker community. most of the shakers begin to revere her, but there are some who have doubts that her behavior is that of a true visionist, and are jealous of her apparent favor. her mother rouses herself from her emotional stupor long enough to bring polly and ben to the nearby shaker community, and leave them there for sanctuary, before she heads off into her own uncertain future.