A Bird in the House

A Bird in the House: Stories | Margaret Laurence

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And book four of the Manawakan cycle is completed.

Much like my fellow #Manawakans, I feel this to be the slightest of the series thus far and I too think it must be due to the episodic nature of a group of interconnected short stories. That being said, I still found myself fully immersed in young Vanessa MacLeod‘s world and enjoyed keeping an eye out for any links to our previous reads in the series.

merelybookish, batsy, vivastory, BarbaraBB

LeahBergen My father lives in this part of the world and I also had fun figuring out the real locations of places mentioned: Galloping Mountain = Riding Mountain Natl. Park, Diamond Lake = Clear Lake, etc. 😊 3y

merelybookish Your collection is so pretty and fun to learn about the geography. I bet knowing the region adds to your reading experience! 3y

LeahBergen @merelybookish It does! I‘ve visited the Margaret Laurence House Museum in Neepawa and it‘s a yellow brick Victorian as she describes in these books. Oh, and she and her mother moved there when Margaret was nine to live with her Grandfather Simpson. Hmm… parallels or what? 🤔 3y

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merelybookish @LeahBergen Oh right. The afterword suggested this book was somewhat autobiographical. 3y

vivastory I agree with @merelybookish Hopefully someday I can visit! Also, although this has been my least favorite there were definitely strong autobiographical elements as the group has pointed out 3y

BarbaraBB Such beautiful editions 🥰. Looking forward to Diveners 3y

batsy So cool that you've visited the house and can link to the actual places. Stuff like that really enriches the reading 💜 All of those covers are so pretty in a row! 3y

LeahBergen @vivastory It makes me hate that grandfather a bit more just thinking that he might be based on a real person. 😠 3y

LeahBergen @BarbaraBB I am, too! 3y

LeahBergen @batsy I like the mid century colours that Penguin chose. 👌 3y

TheKidUpstairs These editions are gorgeous! @BarbaraBB The Diviners is one all time favourite CanLit reads, I hope you enjoy! 2y

BarbaraBB @TheKidUpstairs I have high hopes! 2y

60 likes12 comments

merelybookish

A Bird in the House: Stories | Margaret Laurence

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This is my least favorite of Laurence's Manawaka series, but still worth reading! My issue, I think, is I still didn't feel like I KNEW Vanessa by the end. And since Vanessa is an adolescent for most of the book, I think that was intentional. She probably didn't really know herself. Instead we get to know other people through Vanessa's eyes. The stories are well done, just less engaging somehow. Also, poor Nanuk! ☹️🐶
#manakwakans

merelybookish @vivastory @BarbaraBB @batsy @LeahBergen 3y

BarbaraBB Excellent review. I think you‘re right about Laurence‘s intentions but it didn‘t have as much effect on me either. 3y

vivastory That's very interesting about her not knowing herself. I think that was definitely my issue, it felt like all of the other characters were more real. And, I completely agree about Nanuk. That section broke my heart. 3y

merelybookish @vivastory @BarbaraBB I think it speaks to Laurence's craft that she is able to write Vanessa in this way. She never felt unreal to me, but just elusive. But not like she was intentionally hiding anything. Just that was un-developed in a way. It comes through often how much she doesn't understand what she is witnessing. 3y

batsy The Nanuk bit was just quietly devastating 💔 3y

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LeahBergen

A Bird in the House: Stories | Margaret Laurence

Oh no, y‘all! It‘s the Tabernacle from A Jest of God! 😮

merelybookish, batsy, vivastory, BarbaraBB

BarbaraBB I didn‘t notice since I haven‘t read that one yet but I love that name! 3y

batsy Ooh! I didn't clock that reference 🙈 3y

shawnmooney Surely she jests!? 😎 😎 3y

vivastory Good catch! The father's response made me laugh 🤣 3y

merelybookish I didn't catch that! But Noreen did make me like the church any more. 😆 3y

47 likes5 comments

batsy

A Bird in the House: Stories | Margaret Laurence

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This book is a series of interconnected stories told from the POV of an adult looking back at her childhood. The way these quiet stories unfurled reminded me a bit of Alice Munro's Lives of Girls and Women or Joan Chase's During the Reign of the Queen of Persia. I missed the wit, anger, idiosyncrasy & uncompromising vision that characterised the protagonists in A Jest of God and the Fire Dwellers, but these stories exerted a subtle, tender power.

batsy I found Isabel Huggan's Afterword thoughtful in how it outlines the "writerly eye" that Vanessa has, a character that partly reflects Laurence's own life. The way Vanessa, as a child who is largely alone with no particular confidante, absorbs the circumstances of her life & the people around her, & then sifts through the moods, emotions, & experiences to create stories out of them is an extended metaphor of the writer's creative coming of age. 3y

batsy But otherwise as @BarbaraBB and @vivastory have mentioned this one didn't quite hit the mark as the previous two I read with the group! @LeahBergen @merelybookish #manawakans 3y

Butterfinger I love reading your reviews. If you are not already, you should be professional. 3y

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LauraBeth Agree with @Butterfinger! 3y

batsy @Butterfinger @LauraBeth Thank you, you're very kind 💜💜 3y

nathandrake1997 Exquisite review ❤️❤️❤️❤️ I wish I could write even half as brilliant as this someday ❤️❤️❤️❤️ 3y

BarbaraBB You should, Suba, your reviews are always so on point! 3y

LeahBergen Lovely review! I‘m the slow poke reader of the group for this one. 😆 3y

CarolynM I agree with @Butterfinger too. Your reviews are always thoughtful and so well expressed. I wish I could put my thoughts into words the way you do. 3y

batsy @nathandrake1997 @BarbaraBB @CarolynM Thank you so much 😘😘😘 3y

batsy @LeahBergen Thank you! And I'm surprised at not being the slow poke this time 😁 #SlowPokesUnite 3y

merelybookish Great review! I just finished (count me with the slowpokes!) I didn't think of her as a writer when I was reading but agree the Huggan afterword made me reconsider. 3y

batsy @merelybookish Thank you! Yes, I found the afterword helpful in thinking through some of the stories; I went back to reread some passages because of it. 3y

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vivastory

A Bird in the House: Stories | Margaret Laurence

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I'm frankly a bit at a loss to explain why this didn't work as well for me as the previous books in Laurence's Manawaka sequence. Initially I thought that it was because Laurence uses a first person narrative. Prior to Bird in the House, my last experience with an interconnected collection was Strout's Olive Kitteridge & Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles. Both read in the past month, & both notable for being narrated in the third person, I was👇

vivastory under the brief impression that my issue with Laurence's work might be her narrative decision to use first person. However, a look through my books dispelled this as I recalled that both Ogawa's Revenge & Johnson's Jesus' Son are both narrated (at least partially) in the first person. Laurence's book is Vanessa MacLeod's coming of age story. It tells of her conflict with her irascible grandfather & her beloved Aunt Edna. My favorite (edited) 3y

vivastory stories were the title story, “The Mask of the Bear,“ & the devastating “Horses of the Night.“ In Horses of the Night, Laurence writes of a character, “...the unreal solutions to which he'd clung because there were no others, the brave and useless strokes of fantasy against a depression that was both the world's and his own.“ This moment arrives late in the story for a character who persists with new careers, regardless of how menial & temporary 3y

vivastory they clearly are. This moment arrives like a literal gut punch. Although Bird in the House is sparkling in places & def worthwhile, it is shorter on the epiphanies. #Manawakans (edited) 3y

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vivastory @barbarabb @merelybookish @batsy @leahbergen I will be ordering my copy of The Diviners later this week, to read next month. I have heard that it is one of her best! I was planning on ordering it today but I *may* have been distracted by the NYRB Noir flash sale (edited) 3y

merelybookish I'm halfway through and I have similar meh feelings but hopefully can say more when I finish. But we will finish strong with The Diviners which is her best, imo!! 3y

vivastory @merelybookish I've heard it's her best & honestly after reading her first 3 it just boggles the mind 😂 3y

LeahBergen Wait … wasn‘t The Stone Angel first person? I have to check! 3y

vivastory @LeahBergen It did. I didn't explain that well. I initially thought that maybe part of my issue with Bird in the House is using first person in a collection of interconnected stories. After thinking about it that wasn't really the problem. 3y

LeahBergen Ah, okay. I‘ll chime in when I‘ve read more than the first few pages. Forgive my premature “butting in”. 😆😆 3y

batsy It didn't quite work for me too, but that's because I'm not quite sold on the interconnected short stories form. The individual stories can be brilliant, even, but as a book something about its form doesn't quite *stick* with me. It's kind of a weird taste thing on my part, I think 😆 3y

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vivastory

A Bird in the House: Stories | Margaret Laurence

#Manawakans @BarbaraBB @LeahBergen @batsy @merelybookish

LeahBergen Stacey Cameron! 👉 😆😆 3y

vivastory @LeahBergen 😅 It made my day 3y

BarbaraBB I didn‘t even notice! But I love it! 3y

batsy Yes! 😁 3y

batsy (There's a person that came up that we'll be meeting in The Diviners!) 3y

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LeahBergen

A Bird in the House: Stories | Margaret Laurence

Okay, #Manawakans … I‘m diving in.

merelybookish, batsy, vivastory, BarbaraBB

vivastory 👏👏 I read most of it today. Looking forward to your thoughts. I love your edition BTW 3y

shawnmooney 🙌🙌🙌. Happy memories of studying this one at university! 3y

LeahBergen @vivastory I‘m actually enjoying the design of these new Penguins a lot. 👍🏻 3y

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LeahBergen @shawnmooney How many of the Manawakan series have you read? 3y

batsy Those editions are fab! 😍 And sadly unavailable on Book Depository. 3y

BarbaraBB I love your edition too. I‘m surprised it‘s Penguin, I haven‘t been able to find that one either! 3y

Mirazzles What a wonderful book and edition! 3y

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vivastory

A Bird in the House: Stories | Margaret Laurence

This passage is giving me flashbacks to Jest of God. Laurence on religion 🔥
#Manawakans

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BarbaraBB

A Bird in the House: Stories | Margaret Laurence

#BookReport 41/21

Life keeps getting in the way of my reading. Just these two in the past week. The Moss is great, the Laurence a bit less.

Cinfhen

Megabooks I‘m excited to read Summerwater 💜 3y

BarbaraBB @Megabooks I hope it‘ll reach you soon! 🤍 3y

TrishB Great summary 👍🏻 I agree about the Moss. 3y

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vivastory

A Bird in the House: Stories | Margaret Laurence

"In winter my Grandfather Connor used to wear an enormous coat made of the pelt of a bear... The coat was so heavy I could not even lift it by myself...In my mind I sometimes called him The Great Bear" #manawakans

Jess Looks like Edward Gorey. 3y

Soubhiville I love that image. 3y

vivastory @Jess It is 🙂 3y

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Jess Nice! Thanks for the picture. Love it. 3y

vivastory @Soubhiville In the story I'm reading the coat that is described is not as glamorous as this one, but I couldn't pass up the opportunity to post this 3y

LeahBergen 😆 So cool! 3y

vivastory @LeahBergen 😅 I aspire to this level of IDGAF 3y

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vivastory

A Bird in the House: Stories | Margaret Laurence

#Manawakans
I just now realized that this a book of interconnected stories. I love interconnected stories, I'll be curious to see how it compares to her previous work. @BarbaraBB @merelybookish @LeahBergen @batsy

LeahBergen I was surprised when I saw it was stories, too. 3y

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BarbaraBB

A Bird in the House: Stories | Margaret Laurence

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#Manawakans

Margaret Laurence has an extraordinary way of creating characters, dialogues and expressions. This book consists of interweaving short stories about a girl coming of age in Manawaka. It was good again but I prefer her books about women taking charge of their lives.

LeahBergen, merelybookish, batsy, vivastory

batsy I'm not finished yet and though I'm liking it so far I agree with your last sentence! 3y

sarahbarnes All of your travel books! 😍 3y

vivastory I just read the back & realized it's an interlinked collection & then I saw your review. It'll be interesting. One of my favorites of the year was an interconnected collection. 3y

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LeahBergen I‘m just starting today! 3y

BarbaraBB @vivastory Which one was that? 3y

BarbaraBB @LeahBergen Curious to hear where you‘ll end up! 3y

BarbaraBB @sarahbarnes Yes! Those were the days! 3y

vivastory Olive Kitteridge. I really need to take your advice & read

My Name Is Lucy Barton: A Novel

BarbaraBB @vivastory I can understand that. Olive Kitteridge is great. This one is good too but because it‘s a coming-of-age story it‘s very different from both other books I read by her. 3y

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vivastory

A Bird in the House: Stories | Margaret Laurence

Hey #Manawakans I haven't forgotten about Laurence. To say that this has been a difficult week at work would be an understatement. I am planning on diving in this weekend. @BarbaraBB @LeahBergen @batsy @merelybookish

LeahBergen I‘ll start then, too. 👍🏻 I hope your week improves! 3y

vivastory @LeahBergen Thanks! I'm holding on knowing that it's nearly over 🤣🍷 3y

BarbaraBB No rush Scott, take care. And take wine 🍷 3y

vivastory @BarbaraBB Thanks! There will definitely be wine this weekend 📚🍷📚🍷 3y

batsy Yep, definitely no rush where our lowkey buddy read is concerned! I hope you have a good weekend to decompress and get some reading in. I started this but I'm slow to make progress; it's very different in terms of her usual narrators but it's also giving me Queen of Persia vibes (in parts). 3y

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merelybookish

A Bird in the House: Stories | Margaret Laurence

I love fall! Look at those colours! 😍
From my morning walk. I also started tagged book today. #manawakans

TiredLibrarian Beautiful! 🍂🍁 3y

LeahBergen Gorgeous! 3y

Hooked_on_books I haven‘t lived in a place with fall color for a while now, so thank you for posting this beautiful view! 😍 3y

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BarbaraBB Gorgeous 😍. I‘ll start it later today! 3y

merelybookish @Hooked_on_books My pleasure. I'm back here for the first time in many years and am kind of in awe of the beauty! 3y

Cathythoughts I love the colours too .. it‘s such a beautiful time in the year 💫 3y

vivastory That's incredible! With temps being out of control because of global warming I've noticed a lack of changing leaves in kc the past few years 3y

Centique Wow! That‘s gorgeous 😍 2y

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merelybookish

A Bird in the House: Stories | Margaret Laurence

Is this our next read #manawakans? And if so, do we have a scheduled start date? I haven't read it before so am excited to see how it relates to the others!
@vivastory @BarbaraBB @LeahBergen @batsy

vivastory This is it! I'm ready to start as soon as the group have copies 🙂 3y

vivastory And yes, I agree. It'll be interesting to read a collection of stories rather than a novel 3y

LeahBergen I‘m ready to go when the group‘s ready, too! 3y

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BarbaraBB I have my copy and and ready when you are. 3y

batsy I'm not sure what happened with this book and The Diviners that the paperbacks are so expensive when converted to local currency 😭 But I've managed to procure an ebook so I'm ready to start when everyone is ready 👍🏽 3y

vivastory @merelybookish @LeahBergen @BarbaraBB @batsy How does this upcoming Sunday sound? 3y

LeahBergen @vivastory Sure! That should work. 3y

batsy @vivastory Sounds good. 3y

merelybookish @vivastory Works for me! 3y

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vivastory

A Bird in the House: Stories | Margaret Laurence

I stopped by HPB following training this morning. Found a few friends to take home.

Leftcoastzen I enjoyed the Guest Cat, Chandler & Vonnegut anything. (edited) 3y

vivastory @Leftcoastzen This is one of only 2 or 3 Vonnegut novels I haven't read. I'm glad to hear that about The Guest Cat. The New Directions logo was promising. The High Window was discussed on an older backlisted episode & reminded me I'd like to round out my Chandler collection 3y

LeahBergen Another Margaret Laurence! 👍 3y

vivastory @LeahBergen I almost bought a hardcover edition of Stone Angel. Only reason I didn't was it was a bit too worn. 3y

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aloslibrary

A Bird in the House: Stories | Margaret Laurence

The best way to drink #booksandbooze 🥃📚🖤😂👍

Chelsey I don't have a single flask. I have no idea why not, but this is one I need! 7y

aloslibrary @Chelsey it's from book riot, in case you're interested 😁🍻 7y

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ItsAnotherJen

A Bird in the House: Stories | Margaret Laurence

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This is our #bookclubbook for March! It is collection of short stories, each from Vanessa's point of view.
Vanessa is a young girl growing up during the Depression in a small town. The stories are not chronological. You get to see how the family dynamic changes through the years.
I did enjoy the style of writing. Seeing the world through the eyes of a child offers a unique perspective. (*Sunglasses added for my enjoyment😎)
3/5 stars

MrBook Nice review! 7y

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Nebklvr

A Bird in the House: Stories | Margaret Laurence

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Written much as a collection of memories from the Great Depression era. A look at the many conflicts of culture and obstacles families faced.

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Nebklvr

A Bird in the House: Stories | Margaret Laurence

Working on this month's bookclub selection

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aloslibrary

A Bird in the House: Stories | Margaret Laurence

beautiful book

SurfWrtrEryn This book sounds like a fantastic read! I can't wait to pick it up, thank you for sharing! 8y

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TheBrockUEnglishMajor

A Bird in the House: Stories | Margaret Laurence

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A collection of short stories revolving around a young girl (Vanessa) and her family during the depression in small town Manitoba. I loved the family dynamics displayed in each story. Filled with characters that evoke strong reactions/connections, there wasn't a character I didn't care about. 4/5

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TheBrockUEnglishMajor

A Bird in the House: Stories | Margaret Laurence

"I got this theory, see, that anybody can do anything at all, anything, if they really set their minds to it... you have to focus on it with your whole mental powers ... You take most people, now. They can't concentrate worth a darn."

3 likes

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