∎ Libro Paths of Peace Kate Alexander 9780312598013 Books

Paths of Peace Kate Alexander 9780312598013 Books

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Paths of Peace Kate Alexander 9780312598013 Books

I don't know when I've ever been so disappointed by a novel as I was by this one. PATHS OF PEACE begins well -- the young war widow, Anne, returns to Britain from Canada with her young daughter, to live with her parents in the small steel mill town where she was brought up. Anne wants to be independent. She determines to take up a profession and begins to train for it.

But then the soap opera sets in. There are two men in her life - Jeff, the working-class man, and Jocelin the upper-crust man; rivals for Anne's affection as well as at the factory. Love and marriage, particularly a good marriage, must take precedence over a career in the 1950's, so Anne ends up with Jocelin, although there is a tiny secret craving for her one-time, love'em & leave'em lover, Jeff. The marriage progresses, happily more than not; there are children; Jeff marries too - Jocelin's sister, and has difficulties.

Anne's daughter Melanie grows up troubled. Around this point, the story makes an arch away from Anne's story into Melanie's saga, and when I say saga, I mean saga. Melanie's story becomes even more of a soap opera than Anne's. There's a teenage abortion; a very unsuitable older lover, an escape back to Canada to find herself, and to top it off, an utterly dull romance with her eventual husband, Steve, who's hiding in Canada from the Vietnam War draft. It's odd for me to admit to hating a fictional character, but Steve was so utterly charmless (for all the author's efforts) and such a drag that I really disliked him.

The last third of the book was painfully boring and predictable to boot. The confused and troubled Melanie finds herself emotionally and artistically through her love for Steve. Two negative characters trying to make a positive ending. Blah!

Melanie's life story, for all that it contains just about everything bad that could happen to a woman emotionally, is just plain boring.

I'm granting it 2 stars for the character of Jeff, who along with Anne, is probably the most fully realized and interesting character, and for the story's beginning, when Anne first returns home to England and all the part set in the 1950's, even including Anne's somewhat predictable marriage. The author's writing still has a bit of a spark there. Jeff may be a bit of a neer-do-well with some maturing to do, but at least he's alive and kicking, and toward the end, a rather sympathetic character who tries to do the right thing for the first time in his life. But when all's said and done I can't recommend PATHS OF PEACE.


Tags : Paths of Peace [Kate Alexander] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Anne Hardwick, a young widow, returns from Canada to her hometown of Brinthorpe, an English steelmaking town,Kate Alexander,Paths of Peace,St Martins Pr,0312598017,073110025,General,Yorkshire (England);Fiction.,FICTION General,Fiction,General Adult,Great BritainBritish Isles,POPULAR ENGLISH FICTION,Yorkshire (England)

Paths of Peace Kate Alexander 9780312598013 Books Reviews

I don't know when I've ever been so disappointed by a novel as I was by this one. PATHS OF PEACE begins well -- the young war widow, Anne, returns to Britain from Canada with her young daughter, to live with her parents in the small steel mill town where she was brought up. Anne wants to be independent. She determines to take up a profession and begins to train for it.

But then the soap opera sets in. There are two men in her life - Jeff, the working-class man, and Jocelin the upper-crust man; rivals for Anne's affection as well as at the factory. Love and marriage, particularly a good marriage, must take precedence over a career in the 1950's, so Anne ends up with Jocelin, although there is a tiny secret craving for her one-time, love'em & leave'em lover, Jeff. The marriage progresses, happily more than not; there are children; Jeff marries too - Jocelin's sister, and has difficulties.

Anne's daughter Melanie grows up troubled. Around this point, the story makes an arch away from Anne's story into Melanie's saga, and when I say saga, I mean saga. Melanie's story becomes even more of a soap opera than Anne's. There's a teenage abortion; a very unsuitable older lover, an escape back to Canada to find herself, and to top it off, an utterly dull romance with her eventual husband, Steve, who's hiding in Canada from the Vietnam War draft. It's odd for me to admit to hating a fictional character, but Steve was so utterly charmless (for all the author's efforts) and such a drag that I really disliked him.

The last third of the book was painfully boring and predictable to boot. The confused and troubled Melanie finds herself emotionally and artistically through her love for Steve. Two negative characters trying to make a positive ending. Blah!

Melanie's life story, for all that it contains just about everything bad that could happen to a woman emotionally, is just plain boring.

I'm granting it 2 stars for the character of Jeff, who along with Anne, is probably the most fully realized and interesting character, and for the story's beginning, when Anne first returns home to England and all the part set in the 1950's, even including Anne's somewhat predictable marriage. The author's writing still has a bit of a spark there. Jeff may be a bit of a neer-do-well with some maturing to do, but at least he's alive and kicking, and toward the end, a rather sympathetic character who tries to do the right thing for the first time in his life. But when all's said and done I can't recommend PATHS OF PEACE.