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There are currently 21 member reviews
for The Barrowfields
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Daniel A. (Naugatuck, CT)
The Barrowfields
I liked this book very much. The story was riveting, and a good read. The characters seemed to be were standing next to me as the book unfolded. 4 stars
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Barbara H. (Thomasville, GA)
I was beginning to understand....
This book was so frustrating – the author made me so angry with his awkward characters and rambling plot that suddenly went into great detail for several pages, then skipped over major issues as we do in life to avoid reality and unpleasantness. I could not understand the actions and reasoning of the characters with all that was going on around them. I almost put the book away a couple of times but the beautiful prose kept me reading – until suddenly it all came together in one sentence. I then understood each character's actions and then their subsequent path to healing. This book was so full of the beauty of life in spite of all the ugliness of the sadness the story carried.
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Joyce K. (Conway, AR)
Promising but disappointing
I started this book with great enthusiasm. The first third to one half of the book held my interest but begin to lag. I felt like some of the characters were not well developed especially the mother. Certainly did not like the father in this book at all. I can't imagine someone so absorbed in a project that never comes to fruition and just abandons every sensible act of being a husband and father. Some of the characters such as the grandparents were reminiscent of people I could have met as a child growing up in Appalachia. I actually found them more interesting than others.
Just could not give it better than 3 stars.
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Bonnie B. (Fairbanks, AK)
"I hear my father's voice and his incantations."
This novel is told from the perspective of young Henry Aster, Jr. who spends his childhood watching his father drink too much and try, unsuccessfully, to write a great novel. Eventually, Henry's father leaves the family. Henry's family live in an unusual and rather unwelcoming house in North Carolina, a home that many think is haunted. I found the characters rather shallow and the short, choppy sentences did not work for me. The narrative meanders and didn't seem to find its way. What I did find interesting is how Henry moves on with his life and in some ways, probably subconsciously, re-enacts aspects of the life his father once chose.
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Veronica J. (Green Valley, AZ)
The Barrowfields
The Barrrowfields had moments of sheer delight. The old mansion was a character in the book and captured the feel of gothic novels. There were moments of good humor. The early years of the son and father's relationship reminded me of Norman Rockwell days. But the writing was not consistant, and perhaps tried to take on too many subjects. Enjoyable but frustrating as well.
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Gail B. (Albuquerque, NM)
Wanted to Like It Better
Sad to say, Barrowfields may belong in the burial ground of coming-of-age novels. On the plus side, the author created some elegant passages describing North Carolina's Great Smokey Mountains, the misty Blue Ridge Parkway, the magnificent night sky.
His character development -- in particular, Mother and sister Threnody -- leaves us suspended in the alcoholic haze that obscures his entire cast. And did the protagonist go home again to stay or merely to revamp the family fixer-upper? Why call it "haunted" when it was simply an architectural nightmare?
And then, his gratuitously pedantic vocabulary. Ultimately, he took a break for a few pages and then hit us with a girl's "erubescent" fingernails. Really! In short, to borrow a word from Lewis, who borrowed it from Thomas Wolfe, Barrowfields is, well, inchoate.
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Bobbie D. (Boca Raton, FL)
A Wasteland
"The Barrowfields lay off to the left - a wasteland of nothingness". That is how I feel about the book.
This novel is told in the first person singular by the son, Henry. It takes place in a small mountain town in North Carolina. The title refers to an area of the town, not the people. The book rambles on for what seems an eternity. We are introduced to Henry, the father, who lives with his family in a large house where unsolved murders occurred many years before. He is a bibliophile, a musician, a lawyer and a heavy drinker who never quite manages to finish the book he is always writing. Henry, the son, seems destined to follow in his father's footsteps. FINALLY, the son leaves for college, eventually meets a girl named Story (!!!) and the book gives us something of interest. The author throws in some vulgar language which seems totally out of place for this staid novel. If you are a lover of music books and stargazing, you MIGHT find something redeemable. My favorite character is young Henry's son's dog Buller, rescued as a puppy who becomes a huge crazy animal. Near the end, the book reverts back to more rambling about Henry's mother and her gardens!
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