98. He That Will Not When He May

He That Will Not When He May. Margaret Oliphant. 1880. 502 pages. [Source: Bought]

First sentence: THE Easter holidays were drawing near an end, and the family at Markham Chase had fallen into a state of existence somewhat different from its usual dignified completeness of life.

Premise/plot: What if your son came home from university a socialist?! Such is the position Mrs. Markham finds herself in in He That Will Not When He May. Her son, Paul, comes home--bringing a guest as well--a practical stranger to his family for he's adopted a whole new worldview that is at complete and total odds with his family. His worldview is a bit shocking, but even more so his new attitude of how to treat and value his family. His father hopes that maybe just maybe he'll grow out of this--that every young person--men in particular--must go through a wild, crazy, topsy-turvy stage that SHOCKS their elders. Almost every one grows out of such silly immaturity and returns to the fold of common sense.

The book focuses on the ups and downs of the Markham family over the course of perhaps two years. In that time, we've got Paul who HATES his family background, traditions, responsibilities, duties, customs. He wants to turn his back on his social position and class. And we've also got a stranger to the community, Gus, who is seeking a place in his family and community. And we've got plenty of younger and not so younger siblings as well.

My thoughts: I really enjoyed the experience of reading this one. I will admit up front I'm not sure if my sympathies line up with where Oliphant wanted them to line up. In other words, I never really forgave Paul his obnoxious, rebellious, hideous stage. I know that his family does--and perhaps that is only as it should be. Unconditional love for the family. But as a reader I had no unconditional love to offer Paul. My heart went with GUS. From the moment we meet him until he makes his exit...that is who I cared about most. That is who I wanted to have a happy ending. I wasn't satisfied exactly with how things turn out. Not that it's all about me--it isn't.

I also still have no idea about the title and how it fits into the theme of the story!

All that being said, I found the book a timely and relevant read.

Quotes:

“Ah, I see! You are all for equality, like Paul.” “Like Paul! I taught him everything he knows. He had not an idea on the subject before I opened his eyes to the horrible injustice of the present state of affairs.

They did not know they were doing wrong, these rich people. They told him all about it, simply, smilingly, as if it was the most natural thing in the world. All this went against his preconceived notions, just as the manners of a foreign country so often go against the idea you have formed of them.

As soon as he had come to the conviction that all men are equal he took the further step which costs a great deal more, and decided that there ought to be equality of property as well as of right. This made Sir William half angry, though it amused him. He bade his son not to be a fool.

He’s young, and he knows no better. He thinks that if he were able to give up all your estates to the people, justice would be done. That is all he knows. Stuff! we could do it all by a rising if it were as easy as that.

“I acknowledge no honour in the ancestors that robbed the poor to make me rich,” cried the hot-headed youth. And the end of all was that his mother and sister had much ado to keep him from leaving the house at once, late as it was, in the heat of passion.

Paul’s intellectual measles might be severe, but they were only measles after all, a malady of youth which a young man of marked character took more seriously than a frivolous boy, but which would pass away.

“Age does not go only by years—when you have a great deal to think of—”

Bury a secret in the deepest earth, and some chance digger, thinking of other things, will bring it up without intending it.

Exercise even the most innocent reticence about your own affairs, matters in which you have a perfect right to judge for yourself, and some time or other even this will come up against you like a crime.

How easy it is to learn the miserable alphabet of suspicion!

“You get over us by a suggestion of generosity when we are talking of justice. The thing will never happen, of course—not in our day, more’s the pity—your money and your land will never be taken from you.” “Do you think that is a pity, Mr. Spears?”          

 An opinion that has stood the test of years is a sacred thing.

Society prefers the suave and mediocre, and when a man acquires a high place in its ranks by reason of his profession, requires of him that he should be as little professional as possible.

Thus the threads in the shuttle of life mix themselves up and get all woven the wrong way.

People are not so close to mark our looks and words as we imagine them to be.

“I believe they are convictions; but you may be convinced of a foolish thing as well as a wise one.”

There are temptations to do right as well as to do wrong. Impulses came to him like little good angels pulling at his sleeve, entreating him to come; but alas! it is always more easy to resist temptations to do well than to do ill.

We have been dabbling in—what shall I call it?—socialism, communism, in a way—the whole set of us: and he is more in earnest than the rest; he is giving himself up to it.” “Socialism—communism!” cried Mr. Gus; he was horrified in his simplicity. “Why that’s revolution, that’s bloodshed and murder!” he cried.

“You discriminate very well. Spears, as you always do.” “Yes, I suppose I have a knack that way,” said the demagogue, simply.

The less honest a man is, the more sure he is to get up to the top.

What a thing it is to be a mother! The sentiment has found utterance in Greek, so it does not profess to be novel. If not one thing, then another; sometimes two troubles together, or six, as many as she has children—except that, in the merciful dispensation of Providence, the woman who has many children cannot make herself so wretched about every individual as she who has few contrives to do.        

© 2020 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

Washington Square

Washington Square. Henry James. 1880. 288 pages. [Source: Bought]

First sentence: During a portion of the first half of the present century, and more particularly during the latter part of it, there flourished and practised in the city of New York a physician who enjoyed perhaps an exceptional share of the consideration which, in the United States, has always been bestowed upon distinguished members of the medical profession.

Premise/plot: Catherine Sloper is being raised by her father, Dr. Sloper, and her aunt, Mrs. Penniman. Neither is the ideal guardian perhaps. Mrs. Penniman is foolish and her romantic ideals rarely if ever match up perfectly with reality. Dr. Sloper is an unpleasant, opinionated, hard-hearted soul. He sees the world very much in black and white terms. And he's judged his daughter--practically from her birth--a person to be easily dismissed or ignored. He reckons that trouble will come--not because his daughter is beautiful, not because his daughter is intelligent, not because his daughter is charming, not because his daughter is kind and compassionate--but because her aunt will try to talk his daughter into the idea that she is worthy of attention and love from the opposite sex. How dare she try to tell Catherine that one day she'll get married! Who would ever want to marry her?! Sadly, he's got the notion that just because he sees his daughter as a waste that every person feels likewise.

A young man does come into her life--Morris Townsend--but who will prove right? Catherine who thinks it's true love. Mrs. Penniman who hopes that the two will marry so that she can continue to hang on his every word. Dr. Sloper who KNOWS (there is no mere thinking) that Mr. Townsend is a no-good idler after her money.

My thoughts: Henry James is JUST what I needed. I sped through this one in just two days. You've got to love a classic that just absorbs and excites you.

The characters. I hated Dr. Sloper. I wanted to YELL at Mrs. Penniman. I wanted to cheer for Catherine. As for Morris Townsend, well, it's best not to say anything about him at all. (I do wish we'd seen more of his sister, however.)

The story. I wasn't disappointed. Perhaps there was a time when the ending would have annoyed me. But not anymore.

Quotes:

“Try and make a clever woman of her, Lavinia; I should like her to be a clever woman.” Mrs. Penniman, at this, looked thoughtful a moment. “My dear Austin,” she then inquired, “do you think it is better to be clever than to be good?” “Good for what?” asked the Doctor. “You are good for nothing unless you are clever.”

Dr. Sloper would have liked to be proud of his daughter; but there was nothing to be proud of in poor Catherine. There was nothing, of course, to be ashamed of; but this was not enough for the Doctor, who was a proud man and would have enjoyed being able to think of his daughter as an unusual girl.

“He is not what I call a gentleman. He has not the soul of one. He is extremely insinuating; but it’s a vulgar nature. I saw through it in a minute. He is altogether too familiar — I hate familiarity. He is a plausible coxcomb.” “Ah, well,” said Mrs. Almond; “if you make up your mind so easily, it’s a great advantage.” “I don’t make up my mind easily. What I tell you is the result of thirty years of observation; and in order to be able to form that judgement in a single evening, I have had to spend a lifetime in study.”

“it doesn’t take long to like a person — when once you begin.”

“But your daughter doesn’t marry a category,” Townsend urged, with his handsome smile. “She marries an individual — an individual whom she is so good as to say she loves.” “An individual who offers so little in return!” “Is it possible to offer more than the most tender affection and a lifelong devotion?” the young man demanded. “It depends how we take it. It is possible to offer a few other things besides; and not only is it possible, but it’s usual. A lifelong devotion is measured after the fact; and meanwhile it is customary in these cases to give a few material securities. What are yours? A very handsome face and figure, and a very good manner. They are excellent as far as they go, but they don’t go far enough.”

“The alphabet of common sense is something you will never learn,” the Doctor permitted himself to respond.

“Don’t undervalue irony, it is often of great use. It is not, however, always necessary, and I will show you how gracefully I can lay it aside. I should like to know whether you think Morris Townsend will hang on.” “I will answer you with your own weapons,” said Mrs. Penniman. “You had better wait and see!”

© 2017 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

Karamazov Brothers

The Karamazov Brothers. Fyodor Dostoevsky. Translated by Ignat Avsey. 1880/2008. 1054 pages. [Source: Library]

First sentence: Aleksei Fyodorovich Karamazov was the third son of Fyodor Pavlovich Karamazov, a landowner of our district, extremely well known in his time (and to this day still remembered in these parts) on account of his violent and mysterious death exactly thirteen years ago, the circumstances of which I shall relate in due course.

Premise/plot: If you're looking for DRAMA and philosophy, look no further than Dostoevsky's Brothers Karamazov.

If Jerry Springer had had a talk show in the nineteenth century, the Karamazov family would have been his guests. Where to start?!

The father Fyodor has three sons by two different wives. Dmitry (Mitya, Mitry) is his oldest son, but, the two are VERY, VERY estranged. Why, you ask!!! Because both of them are chasing the same woman--Grushenka (Agrafena). She is possibly the town's most notorious 'loose' woman. Dmitry is not really free--in terms of honor--to chase her. He's technically engaged to another woman, Katerina Ivanovna. But for the past month--before the novel opens--he's seen only Grushenka. Ivan (Vanya) has fallen in love with his brother's cast off fiancee. And Katerina doesn't know which role she wants to play in this: the heartbroken victim or the strong survivor who moves on with her life and makes a new start.

On a fateful day, the three brothers, and, the has-no-shame father meet Starets Zosima privately at a monastery. Zosima is a local legend, a local holy man, and Aleksei (Alyosha) reveres him. (Alyosha is a monk at the time, and he remains so until Zosima's death). This family has brought a few tag along friends with them to witness the spectacle. And it is a spectacle. A cover-your-eyes and squirm-a-little spectacle where the father offends everyone but himself. Alyosha is soon torn in a dozen directions by his brothers. He's the perfect mediator it seems, too bad he never seems to find whatever brother he's looking for at the time! Still. He always listens and listens well as each brother confides in him. In fact, it's just not his brothers who confide in him, it seems the whole town knows he's a good listener.

Dmitry is absolutely desperate for money. But is he desperate enough to kill his father, and to steal his father's envelope of money? Yes, he's got a temper. Yes, his temper is made worse when he's been drinking. Yes, he makes dozens--if not hundreds--of "I'm going to kill him one of these days" statements. But is he capable of murder? And is love--or lust--motivation enough to kill a man he hates?

My thoughts: This one is a GREAT read. I loved the writing; I loved the increasing level of suspense. I loved, loved, loved Alyosha. I felt for many of the characters and genuinely wanted to see justice done.

Favorite quotes:

In most cases, people, even evil-doers, are much simpler and more naive than we generally suppose. And the same is true of you and me. (12)

For the realist, faith is not born of miracles, but miracles of faith. (32)

The important thing is not to lie to yourself. He who lies to himself and listens to his own lies reaches a state in which he no longer recognizes the truth either in himself or in others, and so he ceases to respect both himself and others. Having ceased to respect everyone, he stops loving, and then, in the absence of love, in order to occupy and divert himself, he abandons himself to passions and the gratification of coarse pleasures until his vices bring him down to the level of bestiality, and all on account of his being constantly false both to himself and to others. (55)

Only be steadfast in your repentance, and God will forgive you everything. There is no sin, nor can there be any sin in the whole world, that God would not forgive the truly penitent. It is altogether beyond any man to commit a sin so great that it would exhaust God's infinite love. (65)

Man has been created for happiness, and he who is wholly happy has a perfect right to say to himself: I have performed God's will on earth. (69)

The more you practice love, the more you will be convinced of the existence of God and the immortality of your soul. (71)

I love mankind, he said, but I'm surprised at myself; the more I love mankind in general, the less I love men in particular, that is separately, as individuals. (72)

If there is anything, even in our time, that can protect society and reform the criminal, make a new person of him, then it is Christ's law alone, operating through his own conscience. (81)

You will experience much grief, and in grief you will find happiness. Here is my commandment to you: seek happiness in grief. (97)

Man is beset by too many mysteries on this earth. Fathom them as best you can, and survive unscathed. (136)

I think that everyone should, above all else on this earth, love life. (289)

What's amazing is not that God actually exists; what's amazing is that such an idea--the idea of the necessity of God--could enter the head of such a savage and evil creature as man, an idea so holy, so moving, so wise, and which does so much honor to man. (294)

Clarity is absurdity. (296)

One can love a man only when he's out of sight; as soon as he shows his face, that's the end of love. (297)

One can love one's neighbor in the abstract and sometimes even at a distance, but close up almost never. (297)

The world rests on absurdity, and without it perhaps nothing would be accomplished. (305)

As soon as I feel I want to understand something I immediately have to renounce facts, whereas I have decided to stay true to facts... (305)

Life will bring you much misfortune, but therein will be your very happiness, you will rejoice in life and convince others to rejoice in it too, which is the most important thing of all. (356)

One can retain precious memories of even the worst families provided one's soul is capable of seeking out what is precious. (363)

What a book--the Holy Scriptures! And with it what miracles and what power have been given to man! It is just like a sculpture of the world, of man and of human nature, and in it everything is named and set out for all eternity. (365)

By interpreting freedom as the propagation and immediate gratification of needs, people distort their own nature, for they engender in themselves a multitude of pointless and foolish desires, habits, and incongruous stratagems. Their lives are motivated only be mutual envy, sensuality, and ostentation. (393)

Young man, do not neglect prayer. Each time you say your prayers, provided you are sincere, there will be a new spark of emotion, and, along with it, a new idea, previously unknown to you, which will raise your spirits anew, and you will understand that prayer is education. (399)

Brothers, be not afraid of human sin, love man even in his state of sin, for this is already a likeness of divine love and is the highest love on this earth. Love all of God's creation, love the whole, and love each grain of sand. Love every leaf, every ray of God's light. Love animals, love plants, love every kind of thing. If you love every kind of thing, then everywhere God's mystery will reveal itself to you. (399-400)

Anyone can be a scoundrel--and, come to think of it, everyone is--but not anyone can be a thief, it takes an arch-scoundrel to be a thief. (620)

Have you noticed how dogs sniff each other when they meet? Its' some sort of natural law for them. Funny sort of law. There's nothing funny about it, it's just you don't understand it. Nothing in nature's funny, however it may seem to man, with his prejudices. If dogs could reason and criticize, I'm sure they'd find plenty that would seem funny to them, to say the least, in the social relationships between people, their masters--even more than funny, I should say, because I'm firmly convinced that we're by far the more foolish. (662)

I'll suffer for everyone, because, when all's said and done, there has to be someone who'll suffer on behalf of all. (742)

Joy comes from God, and is his greatest gift. (742)

Man cannot live by Hosannas alone, those Hosannas have to be tempered in the crucible of doubt--and all that sort of stuff. (805)

Love cannot be born of nothing, God alone can create something out of nothing. (936)

© 2017 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

Heidi

Heidi. Johanna Spyri. 1880/2009. Puffin Classics/Penguin.  320 pages. [Source: Bought]

I enjoyed reading Heidi for the third time. I really did. I definitely think there is something timeless about this children's novel. Why do I like it so much?

Well, I like Heidi herself, of course. I love her actually. Like isn't strong enough a word for how I feel about her.

I also love the developing relationship between Heidi and her Grandfather. I do. I really tend to love books that highlight the special bond or relationship that exists between grandparents and grandchildren, or, even between the generations, such as Heidi and "the Grandmother" (Peter's grandmother). Heidi values--loves unconditionally--these two so very much. And I have to admit I love them too.

I enjoy reading about Heidi's time with Peter. Peter is such an interesting character: at times very naughty and so stubborn. Yet there is something joyful about him too. Even if he is a bit difficult to get along with at times. Heidi never gives up on Peter, she keeps pushing him to be better and better.

I like that the book does have flawed characters. Characters like Peter and the Grandfather. Now, I suppose, one could argue that Heidi is too good to be true, that she's not flawed enough. I don't have a good answer for that, other than the fact that in this case, it doesn't bother me. Perhaps because Heidi is clueless as to how good she is. Heidi isn't proud or snobbish. Far from it.

I like the morals of the book. I really do. There is just something incredibly wholesome about this one. One of the 'morals' of this one is the providence of God. Heidi may not understand just why she's torn away from Grandfather and forced to go away and be a companion for Clara, but, she later comes to realize that it was God working all things for good. While with Clara, she not only makes a good friend, but she learns to read, she meets Jesus, she makes other friends whose lives she will without a doubt change for the better. Because she's met Jesus, when she does eventually go back to Grandfather, she is able to tell him about Jesus, and he comes to Christ as well. Heidi touches many lives besides the Grandfather and Grandmother, she also helps Clara's doctor reconcile with God. And, then, there is, of course, the obvious, Clara's coming to visit and learning to walk again. The book has some good-and-wise things to say about life, prayer, and God. This focus on the spiritual life may make the book seem old-fashioned to some readers perhaps. And may even be unwelcome by some today. But. I think Heidi has that something special that more modern books lack at times.

There is something sweet about the book that leaves you with a satisfied feeling. Not every book does you know.

© 2015 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

Jezebel's Daughter

Jezebel's Daughter. Wilkie Collins. 1880. 304 pages. [Source: Bought]

In the matter of Jezebel's Daughter, my recollections begin with the deaths of two foreign gentlemen, in two different countries, on the same day of the same year.
They were both men of some importance in their way, and both strangers to each other.
Mr. Ephraim Wagner, merchant (formerly of Frankfort-on-the-Main), died in London on the third day of September, 1828.
Doctor Fontaine—famous in his time for discoveries in experimental chemistry—died at Wurzburg on the third day of September, 1828.
Both the merchant and the doctor left widows. The merchant's widow (an Englishwoman) was childless. The doctor's widow (of a South German family) had a daughter to console her.
At that distant time—I am writing these lines in the year 1878, and looking back through half a century—I was a lad employed in Mr. Wagner's office. Being his wife's nephew, he most kindly received me as a member of his household. What I am now about to relate I saw with my own eyes and heard with my own ears. My memory is to be depended on. Like other old men, I recollect events which happened at the beginning of my career far more clearly than events which happened only two or three years since.

Did I enjoy reading Jezebel's Daughter? Yes!!! I enjoyed it very much! David Glenney, is the nephew of Mrs. Wagner. He is also a clerk in [the family] business. The Wagner family welcomes Fritz Keller, the son of a business partner, into their home. He's been sent away from home because his father doesn't like the woman his son has fallen in love with. Fritz tells David all about his one true love: Minna Fontaine. She's perfect in every way imaginable, at least Fritz thinks so, but, Minna's mother, Madame Fontaine, rubs some people the wrong way. There are some who love and defend her, but, more often than not, most tend to think she's really 'a Jezebel.' Fritz receives a letter from someone sharing good and valid reasons why the mother may be pure evil. Fritz dismisses it, of course, and David doesn't know why it's any of his business when all is said and done! (Soon David will meet Minna and Madame Fontaine and form his own opinions. As will his aunt, Mrs. Wagner).

So. After Mr. Wagner died, he left his wife his business. And she's determined to do a few things. One to employ good and honest women in the business. And. To help rehabilitate a man from bedlam. His name is Jack Straw. And he plays a very big role in the book! Eventually all the characters will come together under one household...and then there's DRAMA and excitement. Jezebel's Daughter could definitely be classified as a sensation novel.

Is Madame Fontaine 'a Jezebel'? Is she evil? Is she a murderess? Is she a schemer? Or has she been falsely accused?

Will Fritz and Minna's romance prove true? Will they be allowed to marry?

Can Jack Straw be rehabilitated and cured of his madness?

© 2015 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

Duke's Children (1880)

The Duke's Children. Anthony Trollope. 1880. 560 pages. [Source: Book I Bought]

It is always bittersweet for me as a reader to come to the end of a series. There is always a sense of satisfaction, but, also usually some sadness to say goodbye as well. The Palliser series by Anthony Trollope has been interesting. I've loved some books very much, others not quite as much. But overall, it's just been a joy to spend so much of this year with Trollope. Previous titles include Can You Forgive Her?, Phineas Finn, The Eustace Diamonds, Phineas Redux, and The Prime Minister.

The Duke's Children is essentially a novel about relationships, about falling in and out of love, about accepting loved one's choices.

Plantagenet Palliser, current Duke of Omnium, has three grown--or nearly grown--children. His oldest son (Lord Silverbridge) and his oldest daughter (Lady Mary) are proving to be difficult to handle.

Lady Mary has fallen madly in love with a man whom her father judges to be unworthy or unacceptable. His name is Frank Tregear. He happens, of course, to be good, good friends with Lord Silverbridge.

Lord Silverbridge was courting a cousin of Tregear's, a young woman, Lady Mabel Grex. He told his father that he was planning on proposing to her very soon. She was expecting his proposal, and she was going to say yes. But that was before Lord Silverbridge met the American heiress, Isabel Boncassen, of course, she was oh-so-beautiful. After that, it was Mabel, who? Does the reader pity Mabel? Should the reader pity Mabel? I haven't decided WHAT Trollope really intended us all to think...if anything.

Mabel's heart belongs not to Lord Silverbridge, though, she knows they'd be pleasant enough companions and suit together well. No, Mabel's heart belongs to Frank Tregear. She loved him; he loved her. They both knew that being together was insensible. Both being poor and all. But she NEVER expected him to turn around and fall madly in love with someone else so very, very soon. She was so sure that he felt just as strongly about her. How could he stop loving her and start loving someone else so quickly?! And when Lord Silverbridge seems to do the exact same, well, let's just say that Mabel gets VERY VERY angry.

Will the Duke give his approval to his daughter, Lady Mary? Will he try to make her marry someone more suitable? Who has the stronger will? Will he persuade her that Frank is not the one and that, of course, she should marry someone with a title and lots of money? Or will she persuade him that Frank is the ONLY one who could ever make her happy?

Will the Duke give his approval to his son, Lord Silverbridge? Will he cover all his son's debts and forgive him all his foolish mistakes? Will he accept his son's choice of bride? Or will he argue the case for Mabel?

I definitely loved this one. I never find Trollope boring. Sometimes I find him more interesting than other times. But I care about the characters and always want to know how things will turn out.

© 2014 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

Heidi (MG)

Heidi. Johanna Spyri. 1880/2009. Puffin Classics/Penguin.  320 pages.

The pretty little Swiss town of Mayenfeld lies at the foot of a mountain range, whose grim rugged peaks tower high above the valley below.

If the cover to Heidi had looked this pretty, this inviting, this appealing, when I was a kid, there's a good chance I wouldn't have spent most of my life avoiding it. (It didn't help that the cover of the Heidi we had was AWFUL.) What I discovered was that Heidi is a nice, satisfying read. One that may just improve upon a reread. I can easily see why Eva Ibbotson, who wrote the introduction to this edition, described reading this one as feeling like you're coming home. There's just something cozy-and-comfortable about it.

So Heidi is an orphan, she's been one since the age of one. She has spent the next four years with her Aunt Detie. But at the start of the novel, at age five, she's being "given" to her grandfather. Detie has decided that enough is enough. She's not the only relative this kid has, and, well, she wants to live her own life without being a mother to her dead sister's kid. If my description is blunt and ugly, it's because Detie is. The way she speaks of the child--of Heidi--well it made me take an instant disliking to her. (And nothing in the book makes me change my opinion of her.) So Heidi and Detie are on their way up the mountain. The grandfather has a moment or two of doubt, but, Heidi erases his fears early on. He takes an instant liking to his granddaughter. And he notices how bright and wonderful she really is. Readers see this bond grow and grow as the two spend time together. No one could love grandfather more than Heidi, and no one could love Heidi more than her grandfather. Heidi has found her a home at last. And all seems right with the world. Heidi loves her grandfather, loves her new home, loves the mountains, loves the flowers, loves the goats, loves the goat herder, Peter, loves Peter's Grannie. Here is a girl that has a love of life, who doesn't want for anything.

But. All that changes with (boo, hiss) the arrival of Aunt Detie who seems to think that Heidi will be better off away from her grandfather. It has been arranged for Heidi to become the companion of a sickly little girl, Clara. Heidi has no choice in the matter. And is told that she can't have an opinion about it--essentially. Now, Heidi does like Clara well enough. It's not like she HATES Clara. I'm not sure it's in Heidi's nature to HATE anybody. But Heidi is definitely upset that she's been taken from everybody she loves, the home she loves, etc. And city life just isn't the same. Heidi doesn't feel like she belongs there.

The highlight of her time in the city may just be when Clara's grandmother comes to visit. This grandmother takes the time to get to know Heidi. She comes to love Heidi and care deeply about her. She encourages Heidi and gives her attention. She says you can learn to read and write. You are smart, you are capable, you can do it. Which is just the message this little girl needs to hear! When Heidi does learn to read, she is given a lovely picture book by this grandmother. But perhaps even more important than that gift is the gift of faith. For this grandmother--Mrs. Sesemann--talks to Heidi of God and prayer. She encourages the young girl to pray to God, to seek Him. She teaches Heidi that when God doesn't answer prayers right away--in the way we expect, in the time period we expect--that doesn't mean God hasn't heard. It's just that God knows what is best for us, he knows what we need, and when we need it. God may seem to be delaying his promises, or slow to working his promises, but God is a God who makes all things beautiful in HIS time.

So does Heidi get to return to her grandfather? What do you think?! Would it be so satisfying and happy-making if she didn't?

While I'm not quite sure that Heidi herself is flawed--she seems to represent everything pure and innocent and good in the world--the rest of the characters within the novel are flawed. And many--though not all--are lovable. Two of my favorites are Heidi's Grandfather (Uncle Alp) and Dr. Classen.

One of my favorite scenes with Dr. Classen:

"When you can do no more yourself," said Heidi confidently, "tell God."
"Those are good words, my dear," said the doctor, "but suppose it was God Himself who sent the sorrow."
Heidi sat pondering for a while. She was sure God could always help, but was trying to find the answer out of her own experiences. "I think you have to wait," she said at last, "and keep on thinking that God has something good which He's going to give you out of the sad thing, but you have to be patient. You see, when something's awfully bad, you don't know about the good bit coming, and you think it's going on for ever."
"I hope you will always feel like that, Heidi," he said, and fell silent, drinking in the scene before him.  (202)

And my favorite scene with the Grandfather--well, there are many, many scenes that I love between these two--is when she reads him the story of the prodigal son from her picture story book. The quote comes from an online edition of Heidi, not the exact same translation as the Puffin classic. (And I liked the Puffin classic better. In the book this comes from pages 172-175.)

"If God had let me come at once, as I prayed, then everything would have been different, I should only have had a little bread to bring to grandmother, and I should not have been able to read, which is such a comfort to her; but God has arranged it all so much better than I knew how to; everything has happened just as the other grandmother said it would. Oh, how glad I am that God did not let me have at once all I prayed and wept for! And now I shall always pray to God as she told me, and always thank Him, and when He does not do anything I ask for I shall think to myself, It's just like it was in Frankfurt: God, I am sure, is going to do something better still. So we will pray every day, won't we, grandfather, and never forget Him again, or else He may forget us."
"And supposing one does forget Him?" said the grandfather in a low voice.
"Then everything goes wrong, for God lets us then go where we like, and when we get poor and miserable and begin to cry about it no one pities us, but they say, You ran away from God, and so God, who could have helped you, left you to yourself."
"That is true, Heidi; where did you learn that?"
"From grandmamma; she explained it all to me."
The grandfather walked on for a little while without speaking, then he said, as if following his own train of thought: "And if it once is so, it is so always; no one can go back, and he whom God has forgotten, is forgotten for ever."
"Oh, no, grandfather, we can go back, for grandmamma told me so, and so it was in the beautiful tale in my book--but you have not heard that yet; but we shall be home directly now, and then I will read it you, and you will see how beautiful it is." And in her eagerness Heidi struggled faster and faster up the steep ascent, and they were no sooner at the top than she let go her grandfather's hand and ran into the hut. The grandfather slung the basket off his shoulders in which he had brought up a part of the contents of the trunk which was too heavy to carry up as it was. Then he sat down on his seat and began thinking.
Heidi soon came running out with her book under her arm. "That's right, grandfather," she exclaimed as she saw he had already taken his seat, and in a second she was beside him and had her book open at the particular tale, for she had read it so often that the leaves fell open at it of their own accord. And now in a sympathetic voice Heidi began to read of the son when he was happily at home, and went out into the fields with his father's flocks, and was dressed in a fine cloak, and stood leaning on his shepherd's staff watching as the sun went down, just as he was to be seen in the picture. But then all at once he wanted to have his own goods and money and to be his own master, and so he asked his father to give him his portion, and he left his home and went and wasted all his substance. And when he had nothing left he hired himself out to a master who had no flocks and fields like his father, but only swine to keep; and so he was obliged to watch these, and he only had rags to wear and a few husks to eat such as the swine fed upon. And then he thought of his old happy life at home and of how kindly his father had treated him and how ungrateful he had been, and he wept for sorrow and longing. And he thought to himself, "I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, 'Father, I am not worthy to be called thy son; make me as one of thy hired servants.'" And when he was yet a great way off his father saw him . . . Here Heidi paused in her reading. "What do you think happens now, grandfather?" she said. "Do you think the father is still angry and will say to him, 'I told you so!' Well, listen now to what comes next." His father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck and kissed him. And the son said to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son." But the father said to his servants, "Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand and shoes on his feet: and bring hither the fatted calf and kill it; and let us eat and be merry, for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found." And they began to be merry.
"Isn't that a beautiful tale, grandfather," said Heidi, as the latter continued to sit without speaking, for she had expected him to express pleasure and astonishment.
"You are right, Heidi; it is a beautiful tale," he replied, but he looked so grave as he said it that Heidi grew silent herself and sat looking quietly at her pictures. Presently she pushed her book gently in front of him and said, "See how happy he is there," and she pointed with her finger to the figure of the returned prodigal, who was standing by his father clad in fresh raiment as one of his own sons again.
A few hours later, as Heidi lay fast asleep in her bed, the grandfather went up the ladder and put his lamp down near her bed so that the light fell on the sleeping child. Her hands were still folded as if she had fallen asleep saying her prayers, an expression of peace and trust lay on the little face, and something in it seemed to appeal to the grandfather, for he stood a long time gazing down at her without speaking. At last he too folded his hands, and with bowed head said in a low voice, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before thee and am not worthy to be called thy son." And two large tears rolled down the old man's cheeks.
Early the next morning he stood in front of his hut and gazed quietly around him. The fresh bright morning sun lay on mountain and valley. The sound of a few early bells rang up from the valley, and the birds were singing their morning song in the fir trees. He stepped back into the hut and called up, "Come along, Heidi! the sun is up! Put on your best frock, for we are going to church together!"

Not that Heidi is free from some oddities! I read somewhere that Johanna Spyri didn't really "like" school. And perhaps that shows in Heidi and Peter's reluctance to go to school and learn to read. Peter especially seems angry about it. Heidi, well, initially hers was thinking that she was too stupid to ever learn anything. So when Heidi does return to the mountain, to her grandfather, to Peter, she wants to help him learn to read. But as a modern reader, I can't really say I *like* her method of teaching the alphabet! Was this little rhyme something she learned from Clara's tutor? Perhaps. But maybe she should have recalled how it was the kind, encouraging, you-can-do-it words of Clara's grandmother that inspired her the most in her own learning.

If A B C you do not know
Before the judge you'll have to go

If D E F you cannot say
Bad luck is sure to come your way

If you forget your H J K
You'll have misfortune all the day

If L and M you can't say clear
You'll have to pay a fine, I fear.

Trouble will be in store for you
If you can't say N O P Q

If you get stuck at R S T
A dunce's cap your lot will be

If you confuse a V with U,
You'll find yourself in Timbuctoo

If over W you fall,
Beware the rod upon the wall

If letter X you can't recall,
You'll get no food today at all

If you find Y is hard to say,
They'll laugh at you at school today.

If Z should tie you up in knots
They'll send you to the Hottentots.

Heidi seems to be an optimistic hope-filled novel about brokenness. There were some very touching moments--very human moments--and then there were the purely satisfying sweet moments. And I definitely enjoyed it!!! 

© 2011 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews