The Difference | 
23 likes
I think a few of us can relate...
so-soThe clear agenda behind this overly long historical novel was a detraction, especially because I found the moral issue too blatantly expressed: Canadian settler-colonial guilt over the suppression of Indigenous culture through residential schools. The two sisters in the novel act as a joint consciousness for Canadians, debating the question of whether it‘s ever right to decide what‘s best for children of a different culture. #CanadianAuthor
Image: new moon, internet photo. In the tagged novel, a “pearl pin in the shape of a new moon” is mentioned several times. Each time, it drew me out of the story because I puzzled over what shape was meant, exactly, by “new moon.” A black pearl might be used to represent a new moon, but in that case, the pin would have been described differently. Best guess: the very narrowest of crescents sometimes visible at the edge of a new moon.
I‘m thinking about bailing on this, despite its excellent audio narration, but perhaps its main fault is that I‘m listening to it after Lost Children Archive blew me away. Endicott‘s prose seems ham-fisted after Luiselli‘s delicate layers. It‘s also possible that I prefer Endicott when she writes about contemporary lives, since I had to force myself to finish The Little Shadows (I was on a judging panel) yet I loved her Good to a Fault.
pickThe Difference by Marina Endicott is a thoughtful, somber and lovely novel based on a true event. The story centres on 2 sisters, 20 years apart in age, who sail around the world. Kay, the younger, is very much an observer of the the world, she questions choices and actions her elders/superiors make,its 1912 so young ladies shouldn‘t be so inquisitive or bold, and consequently finds herself out of step with her peers and current societal norms.
When ALL your holds come at once 🤦🏻♀️ where to start 🤷🏻♀️
pickLoved it!! Very comparable / companionable to This Tender Land - coming of age stories filled with Odyssey-like adventures, truth, reconciliation and a bit of residential schools too in The Difference. I miss Kay, the whales, everyone really! 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 #CanLit
I couldn't finish A Keeper by Graham Norton on time - huge bummer I was enjoying it (made it up to only page 55), so I've switched to The Difference!
