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Echo

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    Has anyone tried...

    in Food, Cooking & Recipes

    Posted

    I like Rooibos mixed with spices, as many of the "pure" blends taste like boiled grass more than anything else. But I do like it a lot!

     

    What kind of spices do you use? I usually just put honey in it, but I'll try anything to get rid of the medicinal taste!

    Snacks

    in Food, Cooking & Recipes

    Posted

    I LOVE Trader Joe's! I look forward to their Fearless Flyer and am so happy when it comes in the mail. There's one just down the street from me and I'm going to be sad to leave it when we move next week!

    Two Women by Marianne Fredriksson

    in Women's Fiction / Chick Lit

    Posted

    Two Women by Marianne Fredriksson

     

    Date of Publication: 1999, Ballantine Books

     

    Number of Pages: 195

     

    Synopsis (from back cover): They meet on a spring day in the local garden center: Inge, a native Swede, lovely and refined, a woman ruled by reason and her own deeply held moral beliefs; Mira, a Chilean immigrant who still feels out of place in the cold Scandinavian north. Through many shared afternoons in Inge's garden, Mira slowly reveals the horrors of a shadowed past and the heartbreak involving her beloved daughter. As Mira and her family begin a wrenching journey of discovery, Inge unwittingly uncovers secrets in her own life that make her question the very order of her world. An elegant novel of time and memory, love and distance, and the wounds they create and conceal, Two Women is Marianne Fredriksson's most affecting work of fiction to date.

     

    Review: There are many novels out there that deal with relationships between women, but Two Women is unlike any of them. This book deals with extraordinary issues, like rape, torture, and incest, as well as the usual issues, like marriage, sex, and trust. Inge and Mira are very different. One is restrained by her logic, while the other is caught in a web of violent emotions stemming from her tragic past. Important questions arise early: Should the past remain buried? Or should it be sought? How easily should we trust other people? At what point does love become a burden?

     

    Like all Fredriksson's books, love is dealt with openly and frankly, almost unrealistically. There's none of the common coyness that one usually encounters, both in books and in the real world. Instead, people are heartbreakingly honest with each other, if not entirely honest with themselves. Lessons are learned by everyone, and often in unexpected ways. One character finds his true self by learning to paraglide , while another finds rebirth in a violent storm. In the end, the two families are strengthened by their connection, yet their imperfections persist, making them believable. Any reader will find themselves relating to these characters, despite their sometimes extraordinary circumstances.

     

    Rating: 8.5/10

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