The Cradle

by Patrick Somerville

Book Overview

Early one summer morning, Matthew Bishop kisses his still-sleeping wife Marissa, gets dressed and eases his truck through Milwaukee, bound for the highway. His wife, pregnant with their first child,... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0316036110
• ISBN13: 9780316036115
• Release Date: April 2010
• Publisher: Back Bay Books
• Length: 225 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.3" x 0.6" x 5.5"

Customer Reviews

Beautifully written! Read it, then pass it to your significant other.

In the spirit of Somerville's novel and the words of Strunk and White, I'll try to "eliminate unnecessary words" in my recommendation. The Cradle is a fantastic, wonderfully written story. It is compelling and unsentimental. Most characters are likeable but when they aren't, you'll enjoy disliking them. He paints a beautiful pictue in only 200 pages. I love a good long book, but having just read Pillars of the Earth I wasn't ready for another big commitment so I treasured this book able to say what it needed to so concisely. I finished it quite satisfied for the experience.

Complex and deeply satisfying

THE CRADLE, a small but beautiful novel, is wonderfully structured and gorgeously written. The characters are utterly real. You never quite know where it's going. But with Somerville you're in expert hands and by the end, you realize what a master he truly is.

The way story telling should be

On Sunday afternoon, I sat down with this book hoping to read about 20 pages before moving on to do other work. At 1:30 in the morning, I decided that I would have to do the hard thing and put it down and save some for the following day. I read it drinking my morning coffee, on the subway to work, during my lunch break, and on the train ride home - where I finished it. Truly, I couldn't put it down! This is a lovely novella. Patrick Somerville is an incredibly talented writer; he is an amazing storyteller who has a knack for relating - with beautiful simplicity and wit - the entire scale of complex human emotion.

Beautiful journey.

I disagree with reviewers here. Somerville's use of the quest is masterful. In the book, there is literally a quest -- for the cradle -- and as with any good quest tale, there is also the journey toward greater understanding of and peace with one's self. The protagonist meets up with a strange cast of characters, true, but their oddness is in keeping with the story. In addition, some of the descriptions are extremely funny as well as odd. This in a serious book, and one that embraces, ultimately, redemption and renewal. The protagonist's story is entwined with that of a second main character; I don't want to reveal too much, so I'll simply say that this second thread works within the story itself and also, because this second character is a writer, serves to comment on the book as a whole. In other words, within this novel there are aspects of quest, journey, and the notion of process itself (whether creative, procreative, or personal). For me, the journey with the main character was fulfilling and quiet, and so moving that at a crisis point, where from page to page there is a moment of uncertainty as to how something had been resolved, I found my hands shaking. The writing is clean and spare, for the most part. Read carefully and you'll see how this is so, and to what great effect it has been used. Beautiful book.

Hoping for a sequel

In an intricately woven debut novel by Patrick Somerville, readers get a glimpse into two families. Matthew and Marissa are expecting a baby. Marissa, determined to rock her baby in the same cradle she laid in as an infant, sends her husband on an adventure to locate the missing item. Marissa learns that the item she wants isn't necessarily the item that is missing from her life. Children's author, Renee watches her beloved son leave to serve overseas in the military and this event opens a sea of feelings she had dammed up for decades. Renee finds a way to work through the pass when she least expected to. The stories are about putting closure on the past. About new beginnings and about what people will do for those who they love. The writing in this novel is well done. The story flows almost effortless. After the first 50 pages, I couldn't put the book down. A wonderful read that is creative and unique. I love the ending because it is so open ended. A sequel would be great! Five stars and I highly recommend this book. No disappointments for me whatsoever.