Book Review: The Golden Road
Nov. 25th, 2023 08:25 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
osprey_archerThe Golden Road is the sequel to The Story Girl, and I remembered vaguely that I had liked it more than the first book, although as with the first book I had forgotten most of what actually happens in it. However, one sequence more or less burned itself into my mind:
The Awkward Man is a desperately shy man who lives alone on a farm not far from the domicile of the Story Girl and her companions. Although he mostly keeps himself to himself, one tale of him remains a source of speculation on the Island:
In the Awkward Man’s otherwise unexceptionable farmhouse, there is one room that is always kept locked. One day, however, he forgot to lock it, and his weekly charwoman went inside and discovered that the room is daintily furnished, with a low comfortable chair and a shelf full of books with “Alice” written on the flyleaf and an elegant pale blue silk tea gown hanging from the wall.
From this the denizens of PEI drew the obvious conclusion: the Awkward Man is trans!
Hahaha no, this does not occur to anyone. No one even contemplates “Cross-dressing?” In fact, the conclusion they draw is that the charwoman must be lying.
But the charwoman is telling God’s own truth. As the Story Girl discovers, the Awkward Man furnished this secret room for his dream woman, a boon companion to his solitude, for he never expected to marry in real life. But then a new sweet new music teacher came to town - and her name just happens to be Alice…
As Alice’s path to and from town takes her past the Awkward Man’s property, they soon get to talking, and a friendship develops. It would never have been anything more, however, if Alice hadn’t happened to pass at an unusual time one day, and catch the Awkward Man pouring his heart out to himself in his orchard, proclaiming the love that he will never, ever be able to share to Alice’s face, for of course she would only laugh at him…
If anyone else on God’s green earth wrote this story, it would seem at least a little weird - even the Story Girl says that if she didn’t tell it just right, the story would seem laughable. But like Miss Lavendar, in Montgomery’s hands the Awkward Man seems somehow sweet and romantic, and even slightly magical. How did he know that her name would be Alice! Montgomery offers no explanation. We are simply left to infer that it was, perhaps, precognition, or the sympathetic vibration of souls across time and distance.
…I finished this book just a few days ago, and I have yet again forgotten most of the parts that are not about the Awkward Man. Oh, and also our young heroes decide they’ll make their own magazine! That’s always fun.
The Awkward Man is a desperately shy man who lives alone on a farm not far from the domicile of the Story Girl and her companions. Although he mostly keeps himself to himself, one tale of him remains a source of speculation on the Island:
In the Awkward Man’s otherwise unexceptionable farmhouse, there is one room that is always kept locked. One day, however, he forgot to lock it, and his weekly charwoman went inside and discovered that the room is daintily furnished, with a low comfortable chair and a shelf full of books with “Alice” written on the flyleaf and an elegant pale blue silk tea gown hanging from the wall.
From this the denizens of PEI drew the obvious conclusion: the Awkward Man is trans!
Hahaha no, this does not occur to anyone. No one even contemplates “Cross-dressing?” In fact, the conclusion they draw is that the charwoman must be lying.
But the charwoman is telling God’s own truth. As the Story Girl discovers, the Awkward Man furnished this secret room for his dream woman, a boon companion to his solitude, for he never expected to marry in real life. But then a new sweet new music teacher came to town - and her name just happens to be Alice…
As Alice’s path to and from town takes her past the Awkward Man’s property, they soon get to talking, and a friendship develops. It would never have been anything more, however, if Alice hadn’t happened to pass at an unusual time one day, and catch the Awkward Man pouring his heart out to himself in his orchard, proclaiming the love that he will never, ever be able to share to Alice’s face, for of course she would only laugh at him…
If anyone else on God’s green earth wrote this story, it would seem at least a little weird - even the Story Girl says that if she didn’t tell it just right, the story would seem laughable. But like Miss Lavendar, in Montgomery’s hands the Awkward Man seems somehow sweet and romantic, and even slightly magical. How did he know that her name would be Alice! Montgomery offers no explanation. We are simply left to infer that it was, perhaps, precognition, or the sympathetic vibration of souls across time and distance.
…I finished this book just a few days ago, and I have yet again forgotten most of the parts that are not about the Awkward Man. Oh, and also our young heroes decide they’ll make their own magazine! That’s always fun.
no subject
Date: 2023-11-26 06:41 pm (UTC)