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Title: A Far Country (Vintage)
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Manufacturer: Vintage
List Price: $13.95
Our Price: $7.49
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| Customer Reviews: |
| A Far Country (Vintage) by Vintage Achingly beautiful | This is a beautifully written book! It is very simply written, the accumulation of specific details sketching a reality that is very different than ours, and letting us enter into it, and understand it.
The heroine, Isabel, grows up in a hard-scrabble rural community periodically ravaged by drought and hunger. She is close to her brother Isaias, a naturally-talented musician, and is able to sense his presence, wherever he is. Isaias leaves for the Big City to pursue his fortune.
Drought engulfs Isabel's community and she is sent to the Big City to live with her cousin because her family can no longer support her. She goes to "The New Settlements." She tries to understand this new city and tries to find her brother. We are inside her mind as she learns about the city and about urban life.
This book gripped me with its vision. It made me understand those struggling to simply exist in our world. It made me begin to understand those people outside my experience - people in the "third world," the "developing world."
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I enjoyed reading "The Piano Tuner" immensely, and enjoyed reading this book as well. This book is very different than the previous book, but equally gripping. I am in awe of Daniel Mason's talent.
If you are reading this review, get the book, read it ... I don't think you will regret it.
| | A Far Country (Vintage) by Vintage It's "remote" but does touch the heart | At first when reading "A Far Country" I was bothered by the fact that I really didn't know where this country was - it seems possibly South America, but the country remains unnamed. It did take me a while to get into this; everything seems vague, distant, and rambling. Isabel never became a real character although at the same time, I felt like I somewhat understood her fears and her naivety. There were times when I actually felt like I wasn't following the story correctly. For example, I never did understand her "job" of waving the flag in New Eden (maybe once for a candidate's appearance, but every day?)
Nevertheless, this book does leave a strong emotional impact dealt particularly through the last chapter. The "poor" in far away countries seem so remote; perhaps their fear isn't as great as ours, perhaps they have a higher tolerance for pain, perhaps they just don't care as much. "A Far Country" allows the reader not just walk in the shoes of the "poor" but also allows one to take on the life of a simple young girl whose life is totally at the mercy of others and the elements. Although it took me a while to get into this, it was worth the effort to finish. It will make you think and be thankful.
| | A Far Country (Vintage) by Vintage Main character is very well written | This is a far different tale than the author's first, bestselling book, The Piano Tuner, although it shares some elements like the search through a jungle, and a sense of loss. This book is about the young girl Isabel and her search for her beloved brother, Isias, who has left home to seek his fortune in the big city.
It is also a clear, unyielding look at the lives of subsistence farmer in a hot country, where one year, rains may bring in a bountiful sugar harvest, and the next, a crop-killing drought which starves the people. The country is never named, but it has a vaguely South American air with its description of "the cane," and the lives of the poor in the country's interior contrasted with the coastal cities, where the people must go and seek work during dry years. There is even a description of a large port city with a huge cross on the mountains around it. The peasants from the plains are not welcome in the cities; they are seen as job thieves and worse, and must live in separate quarters called the Settlements.
Isabel is devoted to her brother Isias and believes he is capable of great things--until eventually he believes it too. During a particularly severe drought, he goes away to the "the city" to seek his fortune by playing his guitar. Isabel `misses him severely.' Then one day when he has stopped writing or phoning his family (there is one phone in their village, and everyone uses it on the weekends), she sees the chance to go and find him. Her mother agrees that the family must have more money for food, and sends Isabel to help her cousin Manuela raise her new baby-and look for her brother.
This is a novel of simple, lucid prose, yet it brings home how very tenuous the subsistence farmers' hold is on life, and how dependent they are on Nature. It is also a story of faith--one girl's faith that she can find her brother and the people's faith that the rains will come again.
Armchair Interviews says: A moving story with a special glimpse into the lives of people different than us in their way of life, yet in their emotions and family loyalties, very much the same. | | A Far Country (Vintage) by Vintage Not as Good as the Piano Tuner | | I loved the Piano Tuner and have waited a long time for Mason to write another book. It was well written and the characters were compelling, but the story took a long time to reach a conclusion that didn't really satisfy...and didn't make me feel that it was worth the effort (though that's not a very good word for what I mean) it took to get there. All in all, disappointing. | | A Far Country (Vintage) by Vintage Well-written, entertaining, but falls short | | I really enjoyed this writer's prose. And the story has many engaging elements. But combined with the lackluster plot, it's hard to rate this novel any higher than one star above mediocre. This is a good book, not great. I agree with the first critic review on this listing... the story could have been better. | | A Far Country (Vintage) by Vintage Product Description | From the bestselling author of The Piano Tuner, a stunning novel about a young girl’s journey through a vast, unnamed country in search of her brother.
Fourteen-year-old Isabel was born in a remote village with the gift and curse of “seeing farther.” When drought and war grip the backlands, her brother Isaias joins a great exodus to a teeming city in the south. Soon Isabel must follow, forsaking the only home she’s ever known, her sole consolation the thought of being with her brother again. |
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