I hope you all enjoyed a wonderful weekend. Mine was great but of course not long enough. I got to do some biking, bookbinding, reading and got to see a wonderful demonstration on glass blowing at Wimberley Glassworks. Oh and there was quite a bit of book shopping done as well but I’ll tell you about that another day because tonight I want to mention some of my thoughts on Bad Blood by Lorna Sage which the Slaves of Golconda are discussing.
This memoir is a look at Lorna Sage’s lfie growing up in the small town of Hanmer, on the border between Wales and Shropshire. When I first started reading the book I got the impression that Lorna’s grandmother was a bitter woman but quickly I understand why she behaves the way she does.
Lorna’s grandfather, the vicar of the small village, is a womanizer and a drinker, who I thought seemed to cast himself in the role of victim but perhaps that was his excuse for his behavior. As Lorna’s grandmother finds out about his ways she begins to make his life difficult by blackmailing him and basically the whole family gets a front row seat to the fights.
Meanwhile Lorna thinks her parents also aren’t that suited for married life. Her father is a workaholic and her mother is a terrible housekeeper. The one thing she dreads most is what to cook for her family which ends up in her serving unappetizing meals and wishfully thinking of a meal that could be served in a pill form.
As Lorna grows older she finds it hard to navigate relationships with boys and even girls. It seems she’s most comfortable with her books and and getting in to trouble no doubt, as her grandmother says, it’s the bad blood she inherited from her grandfather.
Despite this being a memoir of Lorna’s growing up I had a bit of a hard time getting to really know her. I felt I was more in tune with her grandmother, perhaps because I just felt like she never had a chance with that husband of hers.
I’m looking forward to sharing more thoughts on this with the Slaves of Golconda. If you think this sounds interesting pop on over at the forum to read more and feel free to join us!
She had quite a colorful family, didn’t she? I had to cringe when I read the parts about how awful of a cook her mother was–I think even I am not quite that bad! 😉
The cooking part made me cringe too. And the lice. Ugh.
It was a book more about her family than herself though, so i never felt I got to see the real Lorna.
I’m glad she paints her family in a way that makes their actions human and understandable – which can sometimes be a pitfall of memoirs, I notice. I’m quite curious about this one and will have to check out the rest of the discussion.
Danielle – The foods were horrible weren’t they? I thought surely they’d all be slim if they lived in that family! 😉
Stefanie – Oh the lice. How could I have already forgotten about that. It seemed like her mom just couldn’t cope with things didn’t it?
vivienne – Totally agree. I was actually fascianted by her grandparents. They were just so interesting to read about. I wish we could have had the same story told from the grandmother’s viewpoint.
Nymeth – Yes, I agree. It was interesting though to see how in tune she seemed to adult problems too. See you over at the discussion!
I really enjoyed this book too. What vivid characters she creates! I agree that the people she describes come into clearer focus than she does herself.
I’ve never heard of this one, but it does sound interesting. Enabler! 😀
The weekends never seem long enough anymore–even the three day ones! It sounds like you had a full and fun-filled weekend, Iliana. I spent mine doing some much needed spring cleaning. I still have a bit more to do, but I’m slowing down a bit to get in some reading.
Bad Blood sounds like an interesting book. I wasn’t familiar with it before you mentioning it.
I hope you have a great week, Iliana!
Dorothy W. – I just loved the little details about her grandparents. I wonder what they would have thought of her book? I am assuming her grandmother would have thought it was “bad” 🙂
andi – haha… You know you want to add more books to your list 🙂
Literary Feline – We did have a great weekend but now I’m like what did we do? I’m so behind on everything – emails, housework, stuff! Ah well, it’ll all get done eventually 🙂 You have a great week too!