Tourmaline: A Novel (2003)

Book Info

Author

Joanna Scott

Genre

Nonfiction

Rating

3.15 of 5 Votes: 3

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ISBN

0316608483 (ISBN13: 9780316608480)

Language

English

Publisher

back bay books

Shops

Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble

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About book Tourmaline: A Novel (2003)

What a shame. I liked it until I hated it. On page 194 I had to close it, give up on it. It changed tone completely, got kind of abstract and stream-of-consciousness-y. Oh well. I'm sorry.I liked the era and the setting but not enough to find out what happened to Adriana Nardi or the Murdoch family. And it's not that the writing wasn't beautiful--it was.But I think it's useful to note that at any particular point in our lives our minds are full not just of our own memories but of the experiences of characters from the books we've been reading. That's if we are lucky to have the education and leisure to read at all. And the curiosity. p. 64Those who forgot their dreams upon waking drank blackberry tea to help them remember. p. 136 the peste di sogni--the plague of dreamsWhat else do I remember? Looking for a gold earring I lost on the street in Porto Azzurro. Watching six fishermen in a row pass along a single wooden match to light their six cigarettes. p. 147The Elbans were suspicious of him. Suspicion being the action of accusation held in suspense. p. 155

Think of Elba and two things likely come to mind: Napoleon and the famous palindrome. Now I'll also think of Tourmaline, a novel set largely on this little island. There's much to like about it -- a rich sense of place and well-drawn characters -- but the story is disrupted by the switches in point of view. Those switches happen too infrequently to be anything but a distraction. Tourmaline is a quick read, though, and convincingly took me to a place I knew little about but was glad to get to know.

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My God, I admire the sheer writing skill of Joanna Scott. I've rarely read a more beautiful, original and poetic start to a novel than the one in Tourmaline. For those first pages alone, I would give Scott 5 stars, even though I must admit I lost a tiny bit of interest later on. But Joanna Scott won't let go of you. She is poetic, she creates strong memorable characters, and she is good at structuring her novels. Because of these gifts I begged her - I BEGGED HER - to write a blurb for my first US novel, The Tsar's Dwarf. She graciously accepted. So read her. Joanna Scott is a writer's writer. No wonder she was short listed for the Pulitzer for The Maniquin - a novel that's on my list of books to read before I die.
—Peter H. Fogtdal