Jonathan, her childhood champion and the best person she knows. Not her strict Uncle Paul, not her beloved Jonathan, and certainly not the Grants, who, after having their way with the rest of the Beresfords, turn their sights on her. And why does she feel, in this uncharted territory, like God left her at the border? Daphne Lindstrom, the beautiful young wife of Red Gap's most prominent citizen, vanished mysteriously not long after her unhappy marriage. But theories on her tragic fate are not the only things to survive.
For generations Daphne has haunted the men of one particular family, driving them to obsession and disaster. And when she appears to Ben, he must decide whether to answer her call for help, and at what cost. Christina Dudley is a masterful writer. One wary young widow pairs up with one bent-on-disaster teenager Whose brilliant idea was this? You think you've got issues.
After Plan A for her life falls to pieces, she moves in with single friends from church and reluctantly decides to mentor an at-risk adolescent. I'd probably edit about pages out of it, but other than that I'm still willing to have my name on it Jun 21, Ellie Revert rated it liked it. I loved this book! Knowing the author, Christina who is our senior pastor's wife and great leader at our church, and having the book be written about our own area makes it all the more fun!
Think it would make a great book club choice--wish my group had not just chosen all their books for the next year--and that only a week ago. Jul 11, Jill rated it really liked it.
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Finally a Christian book where the characters have personalities! I liked this because it read like a story about real people who happen to be religious rather than a religious book that happens to contain people. Apr 08, Kathleen Poole rated it really liked it. This was a fun book - great character development, I find myself still thinking about them. Jul 16, Victoria rated it it was ok. Didn't realize it was Christian Fiction.
Still read it, and it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. Just a little preachy. Feb 28, Dailycheapreads rated it really liked it.
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Mourning Becomes Cassandra is a book about a year-old woman whose husband and toddler die in a car accident and she must pick up the pieces of her life. And use swear words. She moves in with two friends Mourning Becomes Cassandra is a book about a year-old woman whose husband and toddler die in a car accident and she must pick up the pieces of her life. As Cass walks through her grief, the toughest thing for her to deal with are family and friends who insist on reminding her of her loss.
But her single, fun-loving friends are just the ticket to starting over. She also takes on a mentoring project to a drug-using, overweight teenager who lives with her year-old boyfriend. Cass also picks up a job with a video game company with a cute fellow mentor. Cass is refreshingly honest — in her grieving, her anger at God and the peculiar culture of church singles groups. This is a character-driven novel where all the characters come to life and are true to form throughout the story. It is a bit long, but once the plot takes off, it moves at a good pace.
The book has a chick lit tone. It is certainly Christian fiction, but beware that some language is crass. I found it worked well in most cases to add to the story. One thing that bothered me: It is set in progressive Washington, but two of the male characters were named Roy and Wayne. It just seemed out of place. Overall, this was a great read and I enjoyed it. Apr 06, Trish rated it really liked it Shelves: Despite the fact that I got this for free via Pixel of Ink, I was very impressed by the book. I honestly think it is one of the few Christian fiction books I have read which portrays people as more than one-dimensional and split between believers and non-believers.
There is a fair amount of swearing, but I felt it made sense within the characters and situations it was being used. Basically, Cassandra lost her husband and young daughter in a car accident over a year before the story begins and is Despite the fact that I got this for free via Pixel of Ink, I was very impressed by the book. Basically, Cassandra lost her husband and young daughter in a car accident over a year before the story begins and is still barely functional in her grief.
One of her friends convinces her to move into a house with her, her brother, and another friend, which starts her on the path of rejoining life. In the course of the book, she continues to examine her faith, becomes a mentor to a troubled teen, finds a job, and even starts to date again. This was definitely a cut above most Christian fiction, having a more literary feel to it and not so much of following a formulaic plot line like you often see in this genre.
Jul 25, Ruth rated it liked it. Now that I've read reviews touting this as a the "top beach read of the Christian fiction scene" I'm horrified that I enjoyed it at all, let alone enjoyed it as much as I did--those being two categories of fiction that I typically loathe. But Dudley seems to possess a rare quality that most contributors to the Christian fiction genre lack: Although some of the more conservative among the Christian world would raise an eyebrow at the author's decision to color the dialogue and lace Now that I've read reviews touting this as a the "top beach read of the Christian fiction scene" I'm horrified that I enjoyed it at all, let alone enjoyed it as much as I did--those being two categories of fiction that I typically loathe.
Although some of the more conservative among the Christian world would raise an eyebrow at the author's decision to color the dialogue and lace the speeches of her more rough-around-the-edges characters with profanity, I found the realism refreshing. The church-going characters themselves are spot-on, especially Phyl, whose reactions to life make me laugh aloud, because every church has a Phyl.
I anticipate seeing the where Dudley decides to take the story in the sequel. The wrap-up for this book is just about satisfying enough for a sequel not even to be needed; hence my curiosity. Apr 30, Kathleen Anderson rated it liked it. The only reason I didn't go for 4 is that there are some cuss words, etc but the general message of the book is based on how Cassandra deals with her grief by praying and following the feelings she receives. Her answer was to get outside herself and help someone else.
There are some very quotable bits of wisdom. One of my favorite parts is when Cass is talking with Nadina in a cafe. This was h ow He felt for her. This was how He felt for that little child growing, unwanted, inside her. This was how He felt for me. It's worth a re-read one day. Mar 17, Karen Baney rated it it was ok. This was a believable and entertaining story about what a young widow does to move on with her life.
- LES NAUFRAGES CÉLÈBRES (French Edition);
- Mourning Becomes Cassandra by Christina Dudley;
- Circle Wants a Pet (Circle, the Pet Book 1).
- Caught by Cameras.
- In Pursuit of the Speckled Gumball: Second Edition.
- The Next 25 Years: The New Supreme Court and What it Means for Americans!
- The Appointment;
Her thoughts and inner struggles are real. As an avid fan of Christian fiction, the only thing I had a problem with was the large amount of F-bombs in the book. Yes, I understand that a troubled teen would really talk that way. I just think if the target market is Christian readers, more will be turned off by this. And because of this, I probably would not recommend it to my friends, at least not This was a believable and entertaining story about what a young widow does to move on with her life.
And because of this, I probably would not recommend it to my friends, at least not without a word of caution. Language aside, the story was very good and very difficult to put down. I particularly liked how the author used little one sentence snippets to give you a glimpse of something to come. This was a fantastically creative way to move the story forward.
So, readers, if you can stomach some offensive language, the story is worth it. Feb 19, Christy rated it really liked it. Although I'm not fond of "people of faith" using foul language and using their recreational time entertaining themselves with the latest cocktail drinks, the main character is very believable and so are her friends.
There is definitely depth of character as the author delves into real issues that face Cassandra Ewan, namely the tragic loss of her husband and baby daughter. I love the fact that she reaches out despite her pain and allows God to use her to love a hurting teenager. I do like the wa Although I'm not fond of "people of faith" using foul language and using their recreational time entertaining themselves with the latest cocktail drinks, the main character is very believable and so are her friends. I do like the way she makes all of her characters with flaws because it's convincing and they seem like people you've known or met before.
The evolution of the plot is natural and the story doesn't have a predictable ending, which I liked! I'm looking forward to reading more of this author's works. I bought Mourning Becomes Cassandra because it was a 2. I thought is was going to be a quick read about women with some little melodrama to resolve; the stereotypical chick lit. I was surprised to find that this was not the case.
The classical tragic standards do not fit in the American context.
Mourning Becomes Cassandra
Like Simon's poetry, which is dismissed by his mother as a mere imitation of Lord Byron's, tragedy must be renewed or is bound to remain a copy of old European genres. However, rather than rejecting tragedy as too old-fashioned for his relatively young country, the dramatist insists on the utterly tragic dimension of America: One critic […] has said tragedy is not native to our soil, has no reason for being as American drama […].
If it were true, it would be the most damning commentary on our spiritual barrenness. Why, we are tragedy, the most appalling yet written or unwritten! Bogard and Bryer 6. Of them a bard is to be commensurate with people. To him the other continents arrive as contributions… he gives them reception for their sake and his own sake. His spirit responds to his country's spirit. Quite significantly, the Greek female figure that gives its title to Mourning Becomes Electra remains invisible throughout the play, and is replaced by Lavinia, the Mannons' daughter.
Consequently, this tragic character seems to symbolize a new, American tragic identity in the making. This is underlined by Sara Melody's speech in the first act of A Touch of the Poet , in which she enunciates the basic principle of the American mythology: For instance, Melody came to America to forget the duel that brought him disgrace, and even language can be cleansed of the asperities of the Melody's Irish brogue.
Ezra Mannon embodies the military, political and industrial power of the United States, as he is a general in Grant's army, a judge, the mayor of his town and a successful businessman. Christine Mannon's lover, Adam Brant, stands for conquering America, since he has been west to search for gold and has also traveled all around the world.
Finally, the portraits of American presidents which are hung in the Mannons' living room, together with the portraits of family members, pinpoint the dedication of the characters to their nation. In A Touch of the Poet , the idealism that characterizes American Transcendentalism is represented by Simon Harford, an avatar of Henry David Thoreau, who has decided to live by an isolated pond in order to write a book about the evils of greed and the necessity to live a simple life.
Yet, this mythical image of America is undermined by ominous elements that foreshadow the characters' and the nation's failures. As the character's first name suggests, everything happens to be fake. Mourning Becomes Electra opens with the celebration of the Unionists' victory over the Confederates that is compromised by the death of Abraham Lincoln. This tragic national event is soon echoed by the murder of Ezra Mannon by his wife. Little by little, the horrors of the war start repeating themselves within the walls of the family mansion, illustrating the contiguity of private and public spheres and the relation between microcosm and macrocosm.
The pure whiteness of the mansion is to be stained by tragedy, as is ironically revealed by Mannon's speech when he comes back home: I've seen dead men scattered about, no more important than rubbish to be rid of. Furthermore, the spectator has a deeper and deeper view of the inside of the house, through the description of the study, the living room and then the bedroom where Mannon is murdered. Here, O'Neill distorts the Greek tragic rule, offering a blunt and brutal representation of death, while in The Oresteia , Agamemnon's murder does not happen on stage and is rendered by the horrified cries of the hero who remains out of sight behind a door.
Indeed, the second part of the trilogy begins with a description of the sitting room, whose walls are covered by portraits that bring to mind the dark past of New England and its Calvinistic heritage: Portraits of ancestors hang on the walls. At the rear of the fireplace, on the right, is one of a grim-visaged minister of the witch-burning era. In Hawthorne's novel, the house represents old traditions and embodies English oppression: Hester Prynne gave a summons, which was answered by one of the Governor's bond-servants; a free-born Englishman, but now a seven years' slave.
All were characterized by the sternness and severity which old portraits invariably put on; as if they were the ghosts, rather than the pictures, of departed worthies […]. The witch hunter in the Mannon family seems to have replaced the English slave owner, turning New England into a brutal land and distorting the ideals of the Pilgrim Fathers. Sounds also participate in this movement from harmony to discord and in this blending of national and private tragedy, as the booms of canons that celebrate victory in the first part are replaced by the sound of guns when Christine and then Orin commit suicide.
Swindled by the Yankees as soon as he arrived in his new country, the old Major became a solitary figure who cannot find his place in society. He is geographically isolated, on the margins of a then developing transportation system: The dining room of Melody's Tavern, in a village a few miles from Boston. The tavern is over a hundred years old.
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It had once been prosperous, a breakfast shop for the stagecoach, but the stage line had been discontinued and for some years now the tavern has fallen upon neglected decay. Moreover, the land he occupies has nothing to do with a pure and fertile territory where he could fulfill his dreams: SARA—The land our great gentleman was swindled into buying when he came here with grand ideas of owning an American estate! You couldn't give it away! Indeed, the oracle sees two birds devouring the wombs of a doe which still contains her young ones. The destruction of the yearlings before their birth could be read as a symbol of hopelessness as to the future of youth—both in the Melody and Mannon families and in America.
Adam Brant, whose first name points at the idea of an original fall, embodies the curse that fell on the Mannon family, and physically brings back the past onto the stage and within the house. The family mansion had been built by the grandfather in order to erase what he thought was a disgrace. As a matter of fact, in Mourning Becomes Electra and in The Oresteia , tragedy is triggered off by the unfortunate union of a man and a woman. In Aeschylus's play, the chorus wonders if the curse of the Atridae did not originate in Priam and Helen's elopement, since it is this event that started the war between Troy and Greece.
In Mourning Becomes Electra , it is miscegenation and the Mannons' attempt at erasing its traces that led to private conflict. Yet, the house still contains the family's dark secrets. Past errors cannot be erased, and the curse is bound to repeat itself over and over again, contaminating the young generation: The repetition of the curse is conveyed by numerous repetitions in the dialogues.