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Book Reviewed by:Sarah Blake's triumphant novel tells the story of a family and a country that buries its past in quiet, until the present calls forth a reckoning.
A lifetime of secrets. A history untold.
No. It is a simple word, uttered on a summer porch in 1936. And it will haunt Kitty Milton for the rest of her life. Kitty and her husband, Ogden, are both from families considered the backbone of the country. But this refusal will come to be Kitty's defining moment, and its consequences will ripple through the Milton family for generations. For while they summer on their island in Maine, anchored as they are to the way things have always been, the winds of change are beginning to stir.
In 1959 New York City, two strangers enter the Miltons' circle. One captures the attention of Kitty's daughter, while the other makes each of them question what the family stands for. This new generation insists the times are changing. And in one night, everything does.
So much so that in the present day, the third generation of Miltons doesn't have enough money to keep the island in Maine. Evie Milton's mother has just died, and as Evie digs into her mother's and grandparents' history, what she finds is a story as unsettling as it is inescapable, the story that threatens the foundation of the Milton family myth.
Moving through three generations and back and forth in time, The Guest Book asks how we remember and what we choose to forget. It shows the untold secrets we inherit and pass on, unknowingly echoing our parents and grandparents. Sarah Blake's triumphant novel tells the story of a family and a country that buries its past in quiet, until the present calls forth a reckoning.
One
THE FALL HAD TURNED to winter and then back again without conviction, November's chill taken up and dropped like a woman never wearing the right coat until finally December laughed and took hold. Then the ice on the black pathways through the park fixed an unreflecting gaze upward month after month, the cold unwavering through what should have been spring, so that even in April, in the Bowery in New York City, the braziers still glowed on street corners, and a man trying to warm his hands could watch the firelight picked up and carried in the windows above his head and imagine the glow traveling all the way along the avenues, square by square above the streets, all the way uptown and into the warm apartments of those who, pausing on the threshold to turn off the light, left their rooms and descended in woolens and furs, grumbling about the cold—good god, when will it end?—until it turned without fanfare one morning in May, and spring let loose at last. All over the city,...
Here are some of the comments posted about The Guest Book in our legacy forum.
You can see the full discussion here.
Central to Paul's academic work is the idea that "there is the crime and there is the silence." How does that statement echo throughout the novel?
I found this piece of the book very timely, as there has just been in the news more discussion of American companies who took advantage of the war and Nazi investments. - matchmaker
Elsa tells Mrs. Lowell, "[I]t is a mistake to think news happens somewhere else. To others. The news is always about you." Do you agree?
The news generally has an effect on all of us in one way or another, as long as we pay attention and do not hide our heads in the sand. - dianaps
Evie teaches her students that "history is sometimes made by heroes, but it is also always made by us.” Do you agree with her? How do the characters in this novel shape history?
Yes, of course we each make our own history, good or bad. The characters in the book had their own opinions about life and the Island. Later generations had to determine what to do with the Island and what might be the after effects to their ... - marthas
How did Moss's optimism set him apart from the other members of his family? How did it turn out to be his fatal flaw?
Moss wanted to believe that he was different than his parents. He did not feel racist, and therefore, he did not see the problem of having Len and Reg attend the party. Moss was a part of the younger generation who believed that all are equal and ... - corinne
How do Moss and Reg differ in their beliefs about race relations in America? Whose belief system did you think more accurate, and whose did you relate to personally, if either?
I think it's easy to dismiss Moss as a clueless optimist, especially alongside Reg who has the personal experience that Moss lacks, but Moss was courageous to some extent in stepping outside of his family's belief system. Also, it's important to ... - LisaBB
Three generations of intriguing women. An exclusive family-owned island off the coast of Maine. Lives of privilege versus lives without. A strict sense of matriarchal duty. Secrets. Regrets. All elements that draw me in for a good read. All elements in Sarah Blake's The Guest Book. An artfully written book with fresh and vibrant descriptions; some characters are imbued with such passionate joy and hope that I felt I was walking beside them (Sheryl M)...continued
Full Review
(587 words)
(Reviewed by First Impressions Reviewers).
Jessica Shattuck, New York Times bestselling author of The Women in the Castle
I loved The Guest Book. Sarah Blake has managed the extraordinary feat of writing both an intimate family saga and an ambitious excavation of the subterranean currents of race, class, and power that have shaped America. This is a vivid, transporting novel, written by a master conjuror of time and place. Nancy Horan, author of Loving Frank and Under the Wide and Starry Sky
Sarah Blake's powerful, beautifully written story portrays a couple's secret choices that come to haunt succeeding generations. The Guest Book is richly atmospheric and morally compelling in a way that stirs the mind long after the last page. Paula McLain, New York Times bestselling author of The Paris Wife and Love and Ruin
Sarah Blake is such a beautiful writer she can make any world shimmer, but The Guest Book is particularly fascinating?an intergenerational exploration of memory, identity, love, and family loyalty?of what it costs to inherit a name, a place, and a difficult alignment with history. Powerful and provocative storytelling.
Sarah Blake's The Guest Book is set predominantly on a private island off the coast of Maine owned by the Milton family. There are roughly 3,000 islands in Maine's territory, some that are popular vacation spots, others that are entirely uninhabited.
Islands like Chebeague, Vinalhaven and Mount Desert are some of the most popular vacation destinations, and also have relatively sizable year-round populations. Chebeague is located just 10 miles from Portland and features beaches, scenic hikes, blueberry patches and the Chebeague Island Inn. Vinalhaven is a 2 hour ferry trip from Rockland and contains the largest year-round population of all the Maine islands. Popular tourist sites include the swimming quarries, nature preserves and the ...
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