An Alert, Well-Hydrated Artist in No Acute Distress--Episode Thirty-Three: In the Clench of Critics

A serial about two artists with incurable neurological disease sharing fear, frustration and friendship as they push to complete the most rewarding creative work of their careers. Read Episode Thirty-Two: Blank and Full of Expectation. Or, start at the beginning: An Illness's Introduction. Find all episodes here. My novel was not going to get published. I'm sorry to have taken so long to read Catherine Armsden's fine and singular first novel, especially since I won't be making an offer for it. Her approach to the experience of going home after a long absence is utterly original, thanks to her training as an architect, but I'm afraid the novel as a whole was a bit too traditional for my somewhat peculiar tastes. I very much enjoyed Ms. Armsden's deep and complex portrait of a middle-aged woman coping with familial loss, her living relatives, and the smaller everyday struggles of life. The relationships witnessed in the narrative felt fluid and natural, especially in the revealing of the past through Gina's journey back to Maine. And I especially loved how the house itself was treated as a separate character, with a personality of its own. Yet, despite its merits in capturing authentic familial situations and the visions of our pasts that remain imprinted in our minds and memories, I'm afraid I felt my traction with the emotional side of the narrative begin to slip a bit as I read on. While there were many heart-moving aspects to the novel, I'm afraid I just never lost ...
Source: Healthy Living - The Huffington Post - Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news