Unravelling

by Elizabeth Graver

Book Overview

From a small, bogside cabin in rural New England, 38-year-old Aimee Slater unravels the story of her life, attempting to make sense of the tangled thread that leads from her mother's house-a short, unbridgeable distance away-to the world she now inhabits. It is soon after the Civil War; Aimee lives alone, but is graced with visits from two friends, a crippled man and a troubled eleven-year-old girl. She is perpetually caught between the sensual world...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0156006103
• ISBN13: 9780156006101
• Release Date: August 1999
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 0.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.5" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

GREAT WRITING FROM MANY ANGLES, ON MANY LEVELS...

This novel is a pretty amazing creation - Elizabeth Graver has created a story and characters here that are at once compelling and, although set firmly in the mid-19th century, have a lot of valuable insight for us in the present. I picked up this book after being impressed by her newer novel, THE HONEY THIEF - and I have to say that I enjoyed this one even more than that wonderful novel.The central character here, the narrator, Aimée Slater, is, I think, the key to the book's depth. Born in the first half of the 19th century, she is both a product of and a reaction to the age. Her parents are good, if simple people - she and her family live on a farm in New Hampshire. She has siblings - the closest to her in age being her sister Harriet and her brother Jeremiah. All of the other children seem not merely to accept, but to seek the niches awaiting them in society and family - Aimée is headstrong and independent, always questioning the `why' of things. This trait exasperates her parents - and sets the course for her life at an early age.Straining to break the stifling bonds of her household - but still holding a deep love for her parents in her heart - Aimée embarks from the rural area where her family lives to Lowell, Massachusetts, to work in one of the textile factories that have sprung up there. She does this against the wishes of her parents - especially her mother - but they give in to her when they realize that their hope of convincing her to do otherwise is nil. In the city, she encounters a world she has never seen before - and at fifteen years old, she is scarcely emotionally equipped to cope with it, despite what she may think. Like many other young girls away from home for the first time, in a time when sexuality and eroticism were repressed to the point of complete non-discussion, she is left by her first love affair pregnant and alone. Her mother makes no secret about being completely shamed by Aimée's situation - but at the same time, she finds a wealthy family who agrees to adopt the babies when they are born, who will support Aimée monetarily during her pregnancy. After the birth of her twins, even though she has agreed to the adoption, she is devastated by their departure - it is a sadness that, along with other events she has experienced, that will color her life.One of the most moving passages in the novel, for me, was the depiction of an incident of a suppressed memory from Aimée's childhood being triggered by a scent. When she was a girl, one Christmas, her father produced a piece of chocolate candy - a rarity - without telling her that she was meant to share it with her sister. So taken was she by the taste and scent of the treat that she popped it whole into her mouth. Her father reacted angrily - another rarity - and forced her to spit out the candy, slapping her and calling her `a selfish girl'. Unused to such treatment from him, the young girl was traumatized by this - only as an adult, when offered a piece

A thoughtful book

Elizabeth Graver has written a thoughtful book that spoke to me on many levels. First of all, it is a book that makes one realize the importance of forgiveness, and yet how hard the truth is to see when you're in the middle of conflict, hurt. Secondly, the mother/daughter relationship is portrayed in all it's complicated mess so beautifully here. The push/pull relationship is very poignant. Aimee's conflicted feelings about wanting to leave her childhood home, yet how she cannot forgive her mother for letting her leave is very realistic. And Aimee's mother's feelings are palatable. Loved this book!

A breathtaking novel!

I cannot remember a book so beautiful or so moving. I found myself holding my breath for the protagonist, crying for her, hurting for her, cheering for her--and was altogther immersed in the world author Graver has created. I read dozens of novels each year and recommend this as the very best I have encountered in years.

This was my favorite novel of 1997

I loved this novel. Aimee is a character I will always remember, for her fierce independence, her sensuality, and her capacity to love despite the hardships she's endured in her life. I'm so glad this book is coming out in paperback. I've been waiting to read it with my book club.

A book of heart and soul and a must for a woman to read

This book had me catching my breath when reading some of Graver's insights. Some descriptions of Aimee's feelings and thoughts were so close to the heart and soul of a teenage and young girl's relationship with her mother that they left me astounded. Anyone with a kinship for life in New England in the 19th century and an interest in milltowns of the NorthEast will have the countryside in New Hampshire and the factories of Lowell, Massachusetts brought completely to life. A must read and I hope Oprah finds this one! Charlotte Rabbitt, Fairview, TX