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The Diviners, by Margaret Laurence (1974 🇨🇦) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Premise: When her daughter leaves home to find herself, an author recollects her own often difficult journey of self-discovery

Review: This is a deserved classic of Canadian literature, even if it left me feeling a bit empty. It succeeds best in its thematic exploration of storytelling, identity, and dispossession, and how those intersect with race, class, and gender. Cont.

I've read 24. Being a theatre major definitely helped there, lots of plays listed. And presently surprised by the amount of Canadian content.

Three of my all time favourites were on the list:
The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
Alias Grace - Margaret Atwood
The Diviners - Margaret Laurence

Thanks @dabbe for another fun #ThreeListThursday

Today I went to Stratford to see a play based on Margaret Lawrence‘s The Diviners and it was wonderful ❤️❤️❤️ I have loved ML for a long time, I‘m so glad the smart creative people do too.

In my July 20th episode: NYT Best Books; Persian cookery; Shakespeare under a tent; a Canadian feminist classic; literature about art; Canadian SSF; graphic nonfiction; two books about Puerto Ricans; etc

https://youtu.be/ZpcWmoUCc00

#readingtheamericas2023 #canada Wonderful character study of a young orphan who struggles to build a life for herself of her own design. The main character becomes a mother and a writer and the nature of storytelling in both these roles provides rich layers on top of her simple outer life, her deep inner life and her complicated loves. Plus she lives by a river that flows in two directions.

I am so glad I finally picked up this one. The final #Manawake novel offers a fascinating dive into #Canadian history and introduces a bunch of fantastic characters. We all need a Christie, Jules, Ella and Pique in our lives and a Morag of course. Narrator of this great book and what a woman! She is tough and authentic and a real literary heroine if you ask me.

#Roll100 #192025 #1974 #Booked2023 #InMemoriam #1001books #ReadingTheAmericas 🇨🇦

#WeeklyForecast 10/23

I don‘t have very high expectations of my reading time the upcoming week so I stick to these two in my forecast. I am having the Everett in progress and it‘s very good again.
I am looking forward to the tagged one, the final #Manawake book. Finally catching up!

A low Pick because I felt there were too many sex scenes. (I prefer to let the characters do their thing in private. Shut the door and let me know when you‘re done!) I liked the storytelling devices of the mini-movies and the headings to indicate when someone else was recounting a story.

Another Canadian classic. Loved it when I read it in university and still loved it when I re-read it last year with fellow #manawakans. Laurence's bildungsroman about becoming an artist is a complex weaving together of the past and the present.
#alphabetgame #letterd @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

I'm the slowest poke that ever poked for this group read but it felt like the book set the pace for me & I had to follow! I first read this as an undergrad in Winnipeg & appreciated it a lot, but reading it now made me understand just how ambitious & wide-ranging it is on the subjects of motherhood, writing, sexuality, & how narratives are constructed both for the individual & a society. Thanks #manawakans for this Laurence deep dive. I loved it.

And we‘ve finished the Manawakan Cycle. ?

Thank you, #Manawakans, for finally inspiring me to read them all and what a moving conclusion to this deftly interwoven series! I loved the central notion that Morag‘s story is also the story of Canada in so many ways, especially the complicated relationships between the British settlers and the Métis of the prairie provinces.

Just brilliant.

This book meant a lot to me when I first read it and now it means more & means differently. In my 20s, it was Morag's development as a writer that stirred me. Now it's her search for ancestors.
Like @vivastory, my thoughts are all over the place, but I do feel like Christie Logan, diviner of the Nuisance Grounds, might be one of the most memorable characters in Canadian fiction!
Thank you #manawakans! I've loved re-reading Laurence with you!

If you happened to be my neighbor, once a year you would hear approximately 10 minutes of Queen music (We Will Rock You/We Are the Champions) & the sound of a few books knocked from their shelves as I dance with abandon around my apartment with a glass of wine. The occasion? Meeting my yearly GR reading challenge, of course. I would then proceed to be quiet as a...well, bookworm for another year.

I was planning on finishing this tomorrow, but I simply couldn't stop reading. What a book! I'm going to have to think about this one for a bit before posting my review #Manawakans @merelybookish @LeahBergen @batsy @BarbaraBB

"Nutty as crunchy peanut butter." I have found a new vocab phrase.
#Manawakans @batsy @merelybookish @BarbaraBB @LeahBergen

I've had a strange reading week. I wasn't able to start this one until Thursday night, but I'm now at the halfway point. So far I'm really enjoying it. Morag seems to have a lot of conflict & I'm interested to see how Laurence addresses it. Christie reminds me of characters in past Laurence novels, but he definitely stands out as a favorite. And although it's still early, I'm getting the sense that Brooke is a schmuck. #manawakans

And even a reference to Hagar's son John! Remember he trades a family heirloom for cigarettes?
#manawakans @LeahBergen @BarbaraBB @vivastory @batsy

Look at this, #Manawakans…

Morag‘s first day of grade one and we already know a couple of her other classmates. 😁

Starting the final book in the Manawaka series. #manawakans

Thanks for the tag @erzascarletbookgasm !

1. Tagged book. One of those books that got under my skin and stayed there.
2. Shyam Selvadurai
3. Poutine! Now I want some and I can't have it 😭

#HappyCanadaDay and thanks for the opportunity @KVanRead ! Wanna give it a go @Billypar ?

I loved this book about a woman trying to escape her small town upbringing while growing to realize how much it shaped her. Highly recommended. #1001books

"A mother dreamed of her dead daughter and woke, she could swear, to the chilling sound of 'Mama, I'm home.' A Klansman who'd left his meeting in the woods to piss by an old tree jumped suddenly, as if he'd felt hanging feet dragging across his shoulders."

STOP. IT. RIGHT. NOW. ?
I am so glad my view is a cheery one on my morning walk because this book is turning into a creepfest!

#HumpDayPost @DebbieGrillo (and @MinDea we miss you!!!)

1. I found out I'm having a baby girl!
2. The Bell Jar or The Eyre Affair
3. #WeTheNorth
4. Margaret Laurence's The Diviners

This is my holiday book haul - including a new kindle paper white. Excited to get to these in 2019!

I started this and loved it, but haven‘t finished. I need to! 💟
#blackcatchallenge #purple @Clwojick

Book: The Diviners by Margaret Laurence
Author: Emma Donoghue
Movie/TV Show: D2: The Mighty Ducks
Food: Dark Chocolate

#ManicMonday @JoScho

Please excuse the ugly sticker. #freakyfriday book #5.
I liked this book as I was reading it, but I wasn‘t eager to get back to it and read if that makes sense. It took me a long time to finish.

Today‘s #bookmail ! I only need two more books to complete Margaret Laurence‘s Manawaka cycle! I want them ALL!

#bookhaul

So happy to have finally read this classic of Canlit. Margaret Laurence (at least in the books of hers that I have read) was wonderful at creating strong, independent women.

My #bookbag is any bag I happen to be carrying - you can bet there's always a book in there! This is my favourite bookish tote. Chapters-Indigo made these years ago, with Canadian literary, musical, and intellectual celebrities all over it. #love #marchintoreading
@RealLifeReading