Random words, poems, rhymes
they don't really take any time,
just float away out of my mind
into the air.

Hard to believe that thoughts are held
for ransom by some people
it's easy to forget some people
need words
some people don't

Piles of letters on the table
words printed out from a word processor
meaningless maybe not but maybe

The Family Tree

The Family Tree by Carole Cadwalladr ~ (a very rickety review)

I've abandoned Persuasion (Jane Austen) for the moment. I had to get away from reading about people I don't like.

I opted instead, for what I thought might be a way to reflect on my constant need to understand families and why they stay together despite all the craziness and moodiness and truly weird things that happen in them.

This book contained a secret. Seems all families, except Indians, have secrets.

I remember my sister telling me once about a show she saw on Indians, and how they share all the information of the tribes with the young, so that they grow up with the knowledge .... I didn't get the part of *what exact knowledge* they grew up with, but I figured, knowledge is a good thing, and secrets can destroy lives.

The Family Tree had a secret in it. I don't want to give it away, but most likely, here's what might happen to you if you read it; you will begin the book and look for the possibilities because you will suspect something; you will read slowly through till about the middle and then you will stay up all night to get to it; to get the _part_ that tells you what you think you suspect.

There are three generations of women involved. Each a flawed woman and a cookie cutter product of their time. Are we all that? The reason these women hang in there together is not quite clear to me. Could be just that family-blood-thicker-than-water thing. Could be they have no other friends outside of the family that would like them if they knew everything. Maybe it’s beyond me still, and that’s the way families are until the end. Secrets are bonding with some kind of lovey glue.

But, when I think about it, I haven't hung in there with my cousins. It has nothing to do with secrets that I am aware of. There have been reasons I've let the relationships go. But most of that has to do with other people, my parents, their parents, or the way they treated my children… something. But I felt no reason to pursue the relationships. Good or bad decision, God will judge me on that.

However, back to The Family Tree ~ it does the telling of the story in a flip back and forth motion. I’m not crazy about that style. And I read quickly through the chapters on her present life, only looking for clues as to how her old life might have affected her current life.

I did notice as a child, no one answered our story tellers questions, And people really do that to kids, ignore their questions because the adults have decided the reasons for the questions, in their way of thinking, they are not worth addressing, but the child is innocent many times in their questions, but adults sometimes, they just can’t figure out how to answer them, so they ignore them, or maybe no one answered theirs, so once again, handing down that which has been handed down to us.

There is a great wire that passes through families. A wire connecting our looks, our tendencies, our gifts, our disabilities ~ there are things passed down of which we have no control. And the people who are set in the position of our parents and grandparents may have not a clue how to handle such things about us.. So, it’s a hop, skip, and a jump …and there you are a grown up, and if you can’t work with what you have, oh well, good luck then ….

But the book is okay. Not great, but okay, maybe even good, maybe not though, just okay maybe.

There were details in it that I didn’t deem necessary to the story or maybe I just didn’t see the connection for these things. Certain details of people's very personal minutes don't really interest me all that much.

I thought of a song line after I finished the book, "Looking for love in all the wrong places," because, after all, aren't we all just looking for love?

Persuasion - Chapter Four- Jane Austen

So finally now, all the Persuading that happened, that must have influenced the title of the book, has been officially mentioned. Up until this point, if one had read nothing but the novel, one would not have known.

But. It seems that 10 years ago, our heroine Anne Elliot, was in love, at 19, with a sailor! And it's seems that since her family, mainly her father the baronet of mass destruction, did not approve because of all the snobby reasons that people who do not approve of things have ~ according to Hoyle, what those of the baronets ilk require are:

1. Title
2. Wealth

And even though her father did not approve, it was not on his word alone that we found Anne dumping the love of her life because of; it was Lady Russell’s. (See. I kind of knew she was a secret snob. And I hate to say, “I told you so.”)

Anne did allow herself to be persuaded to break off the engagement, and now it seems that she is persuading herself to believe that all will be well, as it is Captain Frederick Wentworth, the very man she loves, who’s sister is going to be renting Kellynch, and now he has made his fortune and gained suitable rank and will be returning. And, I think, she thinks, they will reunite.

Anne didn’t hold Lady Russell to blame, as she felt she would have guided anyone at the age of 19 in such a choice of situation, begging forth that the decision that one was making for marriage, to the whom she was choosing, would be the wrong one to soon.

I'm looking ahead and noticing there are 28 chapters. And nothing really exciting is happening in each one. I think, perhaps, combining some chapters might be a good idea.

I have also read some opinions that Persuasion is Jane Austen's best work. I'm not sure why yet. Maybe there is some deep dark hidden knowledge here. I don't see it yet. I'll have to admit, though, I'm curious.

Persuasion - Chapter Three - Jane Austen

You know, there's not really much here in Chapter Three. Basically Sir Walter de Vanity has decided to rent his place out to a naval officer. And if one didn't have a dislike for Sir Vanity already, one would certainly have it now. He's a bore and a stuffed up ole peacock who even judges Navy men in a negative light because the sea years age them and they come up in the ranks of society without deserving it. That is, he was 'born' so, therefore, he is deserving ...see what I mean?

Anywhoo,
There's a lot of blah, blah, blah about who can walk in his park and who might be some rank of distinction in connection to the rental person, but, alas after much insulting of anyone whom he mentions, he decides to give it a go.

Elizabeth is pleased with the decision being made because she is ready to go to Bath and party, and I love the way Miss Austen phrases that feeling, she explains, 'her inclination was growing so strong for a removal, that she was happy to have it fixed and expedited by a tenant at hand...." I love that!

Mrs. Clay is mentioned and shows a bit of good character in actually defending people's looks to Sir Vanity. And Anne shows herself again kind and a bit dreamy, I think, as she walks alone around the grounds thinking perhaps that the love of her life might very well be walking there soon.

I think it's interesting that Anne walks and Lizzie Bennett from Pride and Prejudice walked. I wonder if Miss Austen walked, and perhaps it was on her walks that she discovered things about herself and developed her characters and her stories. Perhaps she has her heroines walk as a way to show some kind of strength in them.

Persuasion - Chapter Two - Jane Austen

Chapter Two

Thusly now, we find the continuation of the conversation dealing with the situation of the necessary retrenchment of Sir Vanity, and his charges, which all seemed to be caused by his unnecessary way of being to generous with his fine self.

In the opening moments we find that Mr. Shepherd, whom I presume it is safe to assume is a competent lawyer and a good friend, has found his way clear of delivering anything unpleasant to Sir Vanity's ear, and is leaving all of that bearing of bad news business and shooting the messenger testimony, to Lady Russell, as Mr. Shepherd thinks, methinks, that she would be saying what he would have said in the first place, so leaving it to her to share the plan with Sir Vanity in lieu of his place, he then escapes the place of being any bearer of bad tidings and looking like a nasty old devil to his friend and not be the one who would deny a baronet their continuous bad habits of over spending on things for no good reason whilst plunging into the black hole called debt.

But as it were, and is, everyone is really wanting to tip-toe around the feelings of the brooding baronet Sir Vanity, including Lady Russell, as it so seems she is trying not to disturb his state of well-being, and I can only suspect that she, too, is blinded by that circle of pomp and arrogance associated with a false appreciation of loving rank first above all else, otherwise, I have not quite figured out how he has everyone so falling over him so, aside from the fact his name is proceeded by a title, albeit it one that makes you think of a weapon. I am hoping there must be a good reason to like him beyond his rank and favor of privilege just because he was born, but it’s not here in chapter two that I have found at this point

.

I will say, he is a fortunate man in that his late wife secured such a wise friend as the Lady Russell, who seems to have some influence with him, and has recognized a sort of sweet wisdom in the daughter Anne. And, to the shock of all readers it seems, has actually sought out the advice of Anne regarding this need of retrenchment in their family! Back in this day, well, to ask the middle child about the family’s spendings, when all was for the task of Keeping up Appearances, well, I think this was just totally unheard of at the time. That is my feeling anyway, Miss Austen says, “she consulted Anne, who never seemed considered by the others to have any interest in the question.” And apparently, Anne, made some very impressive suggestions and was not only willing to bite a tight bullet, but saw clearly, ways and sensible means of which to do this. But her ideas are discarded.

Anne is a woman of seven and twenty at this time, and it’s about time one should be paying attention, doncha think? Oh how times have changed, but

Moving on…

This Retrench Needing Baronet has more than one property on which to live. He has three others besides his beloved Kellynch Hall. So, blah, blah, blah, he decides to move to Bath because he can still move around there in some social circles that draw attention to him and his stuff.

Anne is not happy about this, as she would rather live in the country, and I think she’s not much of a social creature, so flourishing at Bath might be a bit more difficult for her.

Now, there is a little peek at something else here, it seems that Lady Russell has an unspoken desire to break up a friendship between Elizabeth and the daughter of Mr. Shepherd. This Mrs. Clay, has managed to get herself in a situation of leaving a marriage with two children in tow, (those children are referred to as ‘additional burdens’ by the way, which implies that she was a burden, also, to her father the infamous too-chicken-to-talk-square-to-his-friend lawyer).

So Lady Russell does distain this friendship of Mrs. Clay and Elizabeth thinking that Mrs. Clay was a ‘dangerous’ and ‘unequal’ person for Elizabeth to be hanging out with, and Lady Russell considered this break-up of very great importance, which means deep down she herself is also a snob. Just, I guess, a nicer snob than all the rest.

But Lady Russell is hoping, I think, that Elizabeth will see the value of Anne a companion in their goings out, and perhaps this will help Anne in her blooming.

I’m seeing Anne and her father as the complete opposites in this family. Considering the family dynamics of her being the middle child, I would have thought her to be a rebel, but instead, she seems to be the sensible one. So, we’ll see….maybe later....

Persuasion - Chapter One - Jane Austen

Well. I finished Pride and Prejudice, and I guess alone, as my partners have been very quiet on the topic. But I can't say I enjoyed the assignment. I think I saw the A & E version too much. I would so suggest reading the book first ...

So I picked up Persuasion by Jane Austen. I finished Chapter One. The last word in the first chapter is 'pride'...and it seems the story might be centered around a bit of it with some vanity thrown in the mix. I'm not familiar with the story, so this is all news to me.

So here are my Spunk Notes ~

We open with Sir Elliot bragging on his bad self, thinking himself quite special and handsome, and he sees a lot of himself in his oldest daughter Elizabeth, so I'm figuring we might find her as quiet doomed.

His lovely wife, Lady Elliot, has died 13 years prior to the place we are now. I thought a particular line regarding Lady Elliot's death quite odd..."and make it no matter of indifference to her when she was called upon to quit them." The 'them' is her three girls. She doesn't sound like she was a very happy woman. She was probably pretty, but not happy, just dutiful ...probably didn't care much living with Mr. Vanity there. But we'll see.

The oldest Elizabeth is now 29, (yikes!), and unmarried (yikes!), and so is looking for a suitor, finds one suitable, but he blows her off! Dad is not happy and neither she, because it seems, she really did like the guy as she found him "extremely agreeable". He not only fit everything they needed for honor and style, but Elizabeth was attracted to him, also.

Seems he was a baronet - which I thought was a weapon at first, but that's a bayonet - and that ‘baronet thing’ was necessary for something very important to her and her father, something about blood lines, but I got confused here. Seems the rouge who threw her over was named William Walter Elliot, Esq. And her father is Walter Elliot. So. Ummm, he was related in some way, and this, perhaps not being all to unusual back then was okay with them. A little too close to home for me, maybe Elizabeth should count herself lucky.

So, anyway, the rouge married a wealthy woman whose birth was counted for nothing important, but this move, you see, guaranteed his own independence. Because had he married Elizabeth, then the other Walter Elliot would have been in charge of the money.

But the William Walter’s wife apparently died. I'm not sure exactly, but it seems that Elizabeth wore "black ribbons for his wife", so I can only think that be a custom should one be dead. But what do I know? I'm just ending Chapter One.

Let’s see, the middle sister, Mary, married a regular guy. No one was impressed even though he's rich.. I hope we learn that Mary was in love and lives a happy life. The father refers to her as "coarse'. He just sounds like maybe we are not going to like this guy unless this is a book about redemption, and I don't think it is because it's called Persuasion. Persuading and Redeeming are different, I suppose.

I haven't mentioned Anne yet. This will be our heroine. Apparently a sensible girl, so far, but her father has referred to her as 'haggard'. Probably wore out from putting up with his painfully silly vanities, and takes a lot of deep breathes before speaking and shakes her head a lot in disbelief so this makes her haggard looking to him.

There is also the character of Lady Russell. You get the idea that 'maybe' Lady Elliot had thought that Lady Russell and Sir Vanity Elliot would have married upon Lady Elliot’s death. But because Lady Russell did not follow through on that, you get the idea that she might be no fool, and might be an independent woman with some means. Her husband passed so maybe a rich widow.

So jumping to the end of chapter, the Elliot's are near broke and have been advised by their friends to "retrench", which basically means stop overspending people. Oh and just to let you in on Elizabeth’s character a tad, when she saw this as a good possible choice, she choose to stop ‘unnecessary charities’, not buy new dining room furniture and skip giving Anne a birthday present that year. Sweet girl, huh?

So here’s a great line for the end of the chapter…

okay, they, Sir Vanity and Elizabeth, have called in their two closest friends to advise them and they say they want a suggestion that will “remove their embarrassment and reduce their expenditure, without involving the loss of any indulgence of taste or pride.”

Right. Good luck with that.

Greeting Post

This will be my blog for my Spunk Notes. Hello to all who enter here.

All these opinions, ideas, and synopsises are totally mine. I do hold the thought that there are only 10 original ideas in the world; well, okay, maybe 7. So ideas are shared and cross at times. But here I shall write my views of the books I read without consulting any place first.

If I do consult another place, I will mention it.

I may consult my daugher Madam Blueberry from time to time, as she has many fine ideas of her own and often we read the same books.

Feel free to comment and let me know if you agree with me, or let me know if you think I am off base in your opinion of the reading.

We cannot all feel the same about the books we read. And it's not important that we do. What is important, is that we read.

Tu Tranquilo,

~~ Miss Roxie