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Map of Glass
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Manufacturer: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Author: Jane Urquhart
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
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Our Price:
You Save: $ ( % )
Manufacturer: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Author: Jane Urquhart
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Average Customer Rating:
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Map of Glass Description
Binding: Hardcover
EAN: 9780747580720
ISBN: 0747580723
Label: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Manufacturer: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Publication Date: 2005-11-07
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Studio: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
EAN: 9780747580720
ISBN: 0747580723
Label: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Manufacturer: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Publication Date: 2005-11-07
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Studio: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Editorial Review of Map of Glass
Jane Urquhart’s stunning new novel weaves two parallel stories, one set in contemporary Toronto and Prince Edward County, Ontario, the other in the nineteenth century on the northern shores of Lake Ontario.
Sylvia Bradley was rescued from her parents’ house by a doctor attracted to and challenged by her withdrawn ways. Their subsequent marriage has nourished her, but ultimately her husband’s care has formed a kind of prison. When she meets Andrew Woodman, a historical geographer, her world changes.
A year after Andrew’s death, Sylvia makes an unlikely connection with Jerome McNaughton, a young Toronto artist whose discovery of Andrew’s body on a small island at the mouth of the St. Lawrence River unlocks a secret in his own past. After Sylvia finds Jerome in Toronto, she shares with him the story of her unusual childhood and of her devastating and ecstatic affair with Andrew, a man whose life was irrevocably affected by the decisions of the past. At the breathtaking centre of the novel is the compelling tale of Andrew’s forebears. We meet his great-great-grandfather, Joseph Woodman, whose ambitions brought him from England to the northeastern shores of Lake Ontario, during the days of the flourishing timber and shipbuilding industries; Joseph’s practical, independent and isolated daughter, Annabel; and his son, Branwell, an innkeeper and a painter. It is Branwell’s eventual liaison with an orphaned French-Canadian woman that begins the family’s new generation and sets the stage for future events.
A novel about loss and the transitory nature of place, A Map of Glass is vivid with evocative prose and haunting imagery — a lake of light on a wooden table; a hotel gradually buried by sand; a fully clothed man frozen in an iceberg; a blind woman tracing her fingers over a tactile map. Containing all of the elements for which Jane Urquhart’s writing is celebrated, it stands as her richest, most accomplished novel to date.
Sylvia Bradley was rescued from her parents’ house by a doctor attracted to and challenged by her withdrawn ways. Their subsequent marriage has nourished her, but ultimately her husband’s care has formed a kind of prison. When she meets Andrew Woodman, a historical geographer, her world changes.
A year after Andrew’s death, Sylvia makes an unlikely connection with Jerome McNaughton, a young Toronto artist whose discovery of Andrew’s body on a small island at the mouth of the St. Lawrence River unlocks a secret in his own past. After Sylvia finds Jerome in Toronto, she shares with him the story of her unusual childhood and of her devastating and ecstatic affair with Andrew, a man whose life was irrevocably affected by the decisions of the past. At the breathtaking centre of the novel is the compelling tale of Andrew’s forebears. We meet his great-great-grandfather, Joseph Woodman, whose ambitions brought him from England to the northeastern shores of Lake Ontario, during the days of the flourishing timber and shipbuilding industries; Joseph’s practical, independent and isolated daughter, Annabel; and his son, Branwell, an innkeeper and a painter. It is Branwell’s eventual liaison with an orphaned French-Canadian woman that begins the family’s new generation and sets the stage for future events.
A novel about loss and the transitory nature of place, A Map of Glass is vivid with evocative prose and haunting imagery — a lake of light on a wooden table; a hotel gradually buried by sand; a fully clothed man frozen in an iceberg; a blind woman tracing her fingers over a tactile map. Containing all of the elements for which Jane Urquhart’s writing is celebrated, it stands as her richest, most accomplished novel to date.
Customer Reviews of Map of Glass
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: By the end I really liked it
Review: I had mixed feelings about this book, but by the end I really liked it. It was a very interesting exploration of memory, loss, impermanence, and the fragmentary nature of life. It was a very atmospheric book, evocative and descriptive, not a driven by twists and turns of plot or dialogue, but it is thought provoking, and multi-layered. I am surprised by how long it has stayed with me, and how many times I find myself thinking about it and recommending it to others...
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: A CANADIAN MASTERPIECE
Review: Jane Urquhart's new novel, A Map of Glass, is a richly rextured and complex work of genius. Magnificent descriptive passages illuminate and delight.
This novel is deeply insightful,exceptionally thought provoking and remarkably moving.
Intelligent readers eveywhere, will be delighted by this rare literary jewel.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Pretentious and contrived
Review: The first chapter of this book is unusual and interesting, describing a photographer, Jerome, and the photos he takes on an island near Lake Ontario. Then the story switches to the other main character, Sylvia, an autistic woman in her 40s or 50s. Both characters' stories eventually become preposterous, told in a poetic language that got on my nerves.
Everyone speaks as if they were characters in a pretentious novel. What a surprise -- they are!
I also couldn't make sense of all the "meaningful" descriptions of scenery and all the metaphors about maps. And who is Sylvia's friend, Julia? Why does this character need to be blind? Must be another metaphor I missed. We never meet Julia. As far as I could tell, she's just an excuse for revealing things about Sylvia.
Then, in the middle of the book, I encountered a 140-page "novella" about people living in the same area in the 19th century. This cursorially told tale is full of cliches including the rich family's son who impregnates the maid, and the old maid sister who has a sudden, intense ridiculous love interest. This novella is like a sketch for a real book.
Then we're back to the future, so to speak, with Jerome and Sylvia, who continue to speak in either stilted or unnatural language. Plus Jerome's too-good-to-be-true girlfriend, Mira, and Sylvia's pompous not-believable-as-a-real-person husband, Malcolm.
Come on. What is this stuff? The author does everything possible to connect up all this baloney in some meaningful way. The reader is left to guess whether Sylvia's story is true, and to accept Jerome's sudden, cathartic realizations about his childhood.
The whole thing is far from believable which, for me, is a real problem.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: A wonderful tale - please read this book!!!
Review: As always, Jane Uquhart is a master story teller. She writes like an angel. I don't want to give "too much of the plot away" but it's set in both modern day Toronto and in the 19th century. You will love it...
Review Summary: By the end I really liked it
Review: I had mixed feelings about this book, but by the end I really liked it. It was a very interesting exploration of memory, loss, impermanence, and the fragmentary nature of life. It was a very atmospheric book, evocative and descriptive, not a driven by twists and turns of plot or dialogue, but it is thought provoking, and multi-layered. I am surprised by how long it has stayed with me, and how many times I find myself thinking about it and recommending it to others...
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: A CANADIAN MASTERPIECE
Review: Jane Urquhart's new novel, A Map of Glass, is a richly rextured and complex work of genius. Magnificent descriptive passages illuminate and delight.
This novel is deeply insightful,exceptionally thought provoking and remarkably moving.
Intelligent readers eveywhere, will be delighted by this rare literary jewel.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Pretentious and contrived
Review: The first chapter of this book is unusual and interesting, describing a photographer, Jerome, and the photos he takes on an island near Lake Ontario. Then the story switches to the other main character, Sylvia, an autistic woman in her 40s or 50s. Both characters' stories eventually become preposterous, told in a poetic language that got on my nerves.
Everyone speaks as if they were characters in a pretentious novel. What a surprise -- they are!
I also couldn't make sense of all the "meaningful" descriptions of scenery and all the metaphors about maps. And who is Sylvia's friend, Julia? Why does this character need to be blind? Must be another metaphor I missed. We never meet Julia. As far as I could tell, she's just an excuse for revealing things about Sylvia.
Then, in the middle of the book, I encountered a 140-page "novella" about people living in the same area in the 19th century. This cursorially told tale is full of cliches including the rich family's son who impregnates the maid, and the old maid sister who has a sudden, intense ridiculous love interest. This novella is like a sketch for a real book.
Then we're back to the future, so to speak, with Jerome and Sylvia, who continue to speak in either stilted or unnatural language. Plus Jerome's too-good-to-be-true girlfriend, Mira, and Sylvia's pompous not-believable-as-a-real-person husband, Malcolm.
Come on. What is this stuff? The author does everything possible to connect up all this baloney in some meaningful way. The reader is left to guess whether Sylvia's story is true, and to accept Jerome's sudden, cathartic realizations about his childhood.
The whole thing is far from believable which, for me, is a real problem.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: A wonderful tale - please read this book!!!
Review: As always, Jane Uquhart is a master story teller. She writes like an angel. I don't want to give "too much of the plot away" but it's set in both modern day Toronto and in the 19th century. You will love it...