[QD2]≡ Download Gratis The End of Always A Novel Randi Davenport 9781455573073 Books

The End of Always A Novel Randi Davenport 9781455573073 Books

Download As PDF : The End of Always A Novel Randi Davenport 9781455573073 Books

The End of Always A Novel Randi Davenport 9781455573073 Books

This is an amazing novel. The physical setting of the story, the time period, the author's amazing research into her family's past all make this novel enticing. I won't spend time on the actual story, other reviews have said it all. It's the author's writing style that knocked me out the most. I spent a LOT of time highlighting passages and descriptions. The author has a vivid imagination, for me it's reminiscent of Alice Hoffman. There are too many passages to quote as examples of the author's exquisite prose that make you not just SEE it, but FEEL it. Here are but a few.

A silent city made empty by snow, the quiet of a deep northern plain.
I pictured its sparks showering down like blue fireflies.
When I breathed out, I could see my breath as if my very soul kept escaping.
Confident as death.
The house creaked like a ship coming undone from its moorings.
He kissed me until I felt my blood and bones and skin and muscle turn to shivering water and the water that I had become flooded toward him.

And then there are the descriptions/statements put in most unique ways:

"This is an American concept. We pray for justice above all else, even if we do not love the law and do not love our lawyers or our litigation. We like to think that everything we do is based in fairness. This is our most dearly held illusion."

"No one knows why we are drawn to the ones we love. Perhaps the things that happen to us when we are children explain everything that comes later. Perhaps after all the mistaken ideas our parents have about us we feel that we have met someone who recognizes us for who we are and who will hold our spirit like a flame. Some things just lack definition. Love is not always like a love song. It is the darkest emotion and has to masquerade as joy or else we would never dare swim in its river."

Then there is the passage painfully relaying the character's attraction to an abusive man as a result of her being raised by an abusive father: "Then he gripped my hands so tightly that the bones moved beneath the skin and I nearly cried out, and then I did cry out. He smiled a little and said that I must like that and then I grew angry and leaned into him harder and into the bottomless pain that felt so familiar and so much a part of me that I knew he truly loved me."

Rather than bearing witness to a story filled with detailed descriptions of abuses, I liked all the subtle references to it, i.e. you knew exactly what the author meant when she had a character say how "she knew what cold come next by the look in her father's eyes".

And finally there is the author's delivery through the main character of what it is like for an abused female: "People do not believe that a girl's life can change in an instant, but it happens all the time. Look around. You are surrounded by girls who have just learned that no matter how careful they have been to do exactly as they have been told, never to question, never to show their underthings, never to speak unless spoken to, their lives are not their own."


Tags : The End of Always: A Novel [Randi Davenport] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. A stunning debut novel, THE END OF ALWAYS tells the story of one young woman's struggle to rise above a vicious family legacy and take charge of her own life.</i> In 1907 Wisconsin,Randi Davenport,The End of Always: A Novel,Twelve,1455573078,Coming of Age,Historical - General,Domestic violence;Fiction.,Family life;Fiction.,Wisconsin;Fiction.,AMERICAN HISTORICAL FICTION,Contemporary Women,FICTION Coming of Age,FICTION Family Life General,FICTION Historical General,FICTION Women,Family Life,Fiction,Fiction - General,Fiction-Historical,GENERAL,General Adult,Historical fiction,United States,Wisconsin

The End of Always A Novel Randi Davenport 9781455573073 Books Reviews

The story of Marie, a woman struggling to deny the brutality of her existence even as she is the object of violence from one man after another is richly told by Randi Davenport. The historical research she obviously did makes the story come alive with details as varied as cultural fairy tales to the daily horrors of working in a commercial laundry in the early 20th century. Highlighting both the gender and economic disparities of the time Davenport takes you on a narrative ride that will have you turning pages rapidly to see what becomes of Marie, her acquaintances and her family.

The book opens with the presumed murder of her mother by her father, a deed that is never fully explored or explained, lending a bit of mystery that some may find frustrating, and progresses through Marie finding love, unfortunately, with a flawed young man who does not understand either love or marriage. High hopes are built up for Marie and her beau, eventually her husband, but it all comes crashing down, fueled by misogyny, alcohol and brutality.

I highly recommend this book, you will not be able to forget Marie and her journey and it will resonate with the current struggles by women to obtain equality and justice.
Marie Reehs Bathke - the narrator of this novel - has been whispering in my ear for two days now, ever since finishing this book. I can't get her out of my head - her story, her heartbreak, her determination, her ultimate triumph. Hers is the voice of powerless women everywhere, and it offers courage to those who think they can't break the cycle, helps them see that you do have power even when you think you don't. Your own strength can be your light, your salvation - if you let it. If you enable it, believe you have the right to be safe in this world, safe from anyone who would hurt you.

This is a novel about power and violence, but that's not all it is. It's also a novel about love - what it is, what it isn't - about the kindnesses human beings can offer one another, and about how such kindnesses can create hope in someone who thinks they have no hope. It reminds us not only what women have suffered in the past, but what they still suffer - in America, though it occurs less often than it once did, and in many places all over the globe - and it prods us to look around ourselves and be more watchful. Who can I help today? Can I offer hope and kindness to someone who feels helpless in her situation? Because any one of us could be Martha, the older sister who encourages Marie to return to her abusive husband, who thinks Marie has no future outside of her marriage; but any one of us could also be Bertha, who protects Marie, nurses her wounds, drives her to the lawyer who will fight for a divorce at a time when women simply were not granted divorces. We might also be the nameless woman who saves Marie one last time. We could even be an Edwin, a flawed person, an outcast, who nevertheless sees a wrong and tries to right it, even though society hasn't been particularly good to him.

The language in this book is what gripped me at first. Marie has a simple, believable voice, but her descriptions are lyrical and lovely - not flowery, but vivid, real, tangible. I could see the leaves on the path at her feet, the black ribbon of the river under the stars. I could feel August's fingers in her hair. And sadly - almost horrifically - I could feel August's charm in my heart, the charm of a man who knows he is charming, who can, at the flip of a coin, spin a perfectly believable lie, one with all the required details such that anyone would believe him. And because of his lovely smile, his gentle touch, we believe him. We think he is kind. But such a monster beneath it all.

I just really have no words that are adequate to describe how this book affected me. You will never forget Marie. But please - whatever you do, do not read the author's note at the end until you have finished the book. The book and its characters will have more impact for you if you wait. The author's words hit me like a blow in the chest, and I am still getting over it.

I paid much more for the book - $12.99 - than it is currently being offered for ($4.99 at this writing). But it was well worth every penny. I love historical novels and generally prefer strong male characters - but I will never forget Marie. Not ever. She will live in my heart always. Give her a chance to live in yours, too. You won't regret it.
This is an amazing novel. The physical setting of the story, the time period, the author's amazing research into her family's past all make this novel enticing. I won't spend time on the actual story, other reviews have said it all. It's the author's writing style that knocked me out the most. I spent a LOT of time highlighting passages and descriptions. The author has a vivid imagination, for me it's reminiscent of Alice Hoffman. There are too many passages to quote as examples of the author's exquisite prose that make you not just SEE it, but FEEL it. Here are but a few.

A silent city made empty by snow, the quiet of a deep northern plain.
I pictured its sparks showering down like blue fireflies.
When I breathed out, I could see my breath as if my very soul kept escaping.
Confident as death.
The house creaked like a ship coming undone from its moorings.
He kissed me until I felt my blood and bones and skin and muscle turn to shivering water and the water that I had become flooded toward him.

And then there are the descriptions/statements put in most unique ways

"This is an American concept. We pray for justice above all else, even if we do not love the law and do not love our lawyers or our litigation. We like to think that everything we do is based in fairness. This is our most dearly held illusion."

"No one knows why we are drawn to the ones we love. Perhaps the things that happen to us when we are children explain everything that comes later. Perhaps after all the mistaken ideas our parents have about us we feel that we have met someone who recognizes us for who we are and who will hold our spirit like a flame. Some things just lack definition. Love is not always like a love song. It is the darkest emotion and has to masquerade as joy or else we would never dare swim in its river."

Then there is the passage painfully relaying the character's attraction to an abusive man as a result of her being raised by an abusive father "Then he gripped my hands so tightly that the bones moved beneath the skin and I nearly cried out, and then I did cry out. He smiled a little and said that I must like that and then I grew angry and leaned into him harder and into the bottomless pain that felt so familiar and so much a part of me that I knew he truly loved me."

Rather than bearing witness to a story filled with detailed descriptions of abuses, I liked all the subtle references to it, i.e. you knew exactly what the author meant when she had a character say how "she knew what cold come next by the look in her father's eyes".

And finally there is the author's delivery through the main character of what it is like for an abused female "People do not believe that a girl's life can change in an instant, but it happens all the time. Look around. You are surrounded by girls who have just learned that no matter how careful they have been to do exactly as they have been told, never to question, never to show their underthings, never to speak unless spoken to, their lives are not their own."