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0 of 1 people found the following review helpful
So many coincidences reminded me too often 'this is only fiction'. I want to forget that while I'm reading.
18 Mar 2010
Format:Paperback
I can't make up my mind if I liked this book or not. There was a good story (or couple of stories) in here, and it started off well. The move from Africa to Dublin was interesting through young and scared 18 year old eyes.
I think If this book had been called Coincidences, and not 'The umbrella Tree', then the succession of unlikely coincidences, and the last in particular, might have been more acceptable to the reader. I wouldn't expect a Hollywood ending from this writer, and I wouldn't want one, but there is a middle ground! I finished this book yesterday and already I'm struggling to remember the name of the main character, although it has come to me now, it's Helena. Helena's life seemed to slip past at an astonishing speed. I had been rooting for her to get a bit more out of life. I wished she'd go back to Kenya and try to connect with her mother, or get a job, or make another friend besides Conti, do SOMEthing... One second she was at university, 200 pages later her son was a teenager. Her neighbour and friend Conti was a central character, while her husband Fred got the odd mention. By the very end of the book, you're not drawn in enough to care as much as you should. I raised my eyes to heaven when I read the last few pages. I felt a bit conned.
I think If this book had been called Coincidences, and not 'The umbrella Tree', then the succession of unlikely coincidences, and the last in particular, might have been more acceptable to the reader. I wouldn't expect a Hollywood ending from this writer, and I wouldn't want one, but there is a middle ground! I finished this book yesterday and already I'm struggling to remember the name of the main character, although it has come to me now, it's Helena. Helena's life seemed to slip past at an astonishing speed. I had been rooting for her to get a bit more out of life. I wished she'd go back to Kenya and try to connect with her mother, or get a job, or make another friend besides Conti, do SOMEthing... One second she was at university, 200 pages later her son was a teenager. Her neighbour and friend Conti was a central character, while her husband Fred got the odd mention. By the very end of the book, you're not drawn in enough to care as much as you should. I raised my eyes to heaven when I read the last few pages. I felt a bit conned.
1 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The Umbrella Tree is a beautifully written and convincing portrait of a life. Stanley's impressive characterisation of Helena Wolff encompasses the blueprints of birth, the emotional inheritance of childhood and the lasting imprints of adversity. Far from being a bleak picture, The Umbrella Tree addresses itself to the choices we make, how we survive what life throws at us and how, despite misfortune or ill-luck, we gain acceptance and a sense of belonging. It is a novel written with elegant symmetry and a powerful and enduring message.
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