On Agate Hill by Lee Smith follows the life of Molly Petree from the age of thirteen until her death as an "old woman" of 68. It is a depressing tale of loss and more loss and then more loss. I thought at some point there would be a glimmer of hope, but really, there wasn't.
Smith's books tend to be more dark than I like to read these days, but On Agate Hill was particularly so. After the lackluster The Last Girls, I'm not sure I'm excited or looking forward to reading more Smith books. Her early works, Fair and Tender Ladies particularly, while sad, had a wrangle-hold on life and love and the characters were trying very hard to make their lives better. Molly, however, really just floats along without much volition or course in life.
While I wanted to like the book, finding it a little like Fair and Tender Ladies in the diary and letter aspect, I didn't find Molly as compelling a character. I just didn't care what happened to her. Which was sad.
The book got good reviews on amazon.com, from die-hard Lee Smith fans and others alike, so maybe I just missed something. But, for me, there was just a polish or finish on the book that wasn't there.
No comments:
Post a Comment