Another week, another weekend, hallelujah!
The perfectionist in me thinks I should get to dealing with email and responding in LJ, but the me in me says, "Eh. Do what you want." So I am.
I should be able to name ten books that fit this description in a heartbeat. But I can't. I can't call even one to mind, though Heidi comes somewhat close. I'm looking more for novels written for an adult audience than young adult, but either will do. Here are my criteria, such that they are:
1. Something you recall as having been good from a storytelling point of view. If it had a writing style you weren't crazy about, or if you thought it needed a serious edit, that's okay. Rec it anyway.
2. Something that begins with the main character as a young child, let's say somewhere between 2 and 6 yrs old.
3. The character is taken through various points in life up to adulthood, but not to death. Let's say it can end anywhere from about 20 yrs old on up to maybe 65ish.
4. This is a bonus: not a single cataclysmic event, but more a series of critical experiences that lead up to some kind of change or decision in the main character's life.
If you can think of novels, or I suppose even short stories, that meet that description, I'll be eternally grateful. I'm especially interested in looking at how authors of these kinds of tales manage the transitions between large chunks of time.
The perfectionist in me thinks I should get to dealing with email and responding in LJ, but the me in me says, "Eh. Do what you want." So I am.
I should be able to name ten books that fit this description in a heartbeat. But I can't. I can't call even one to mind, though Heidi comes somewhat close. I'm looking more for novels written for an adult audience than young adult, but either will do. Here are my criteria, such that they are:
1. Something you recall as having been good from a storytelling point of view. If it had a writing style you weren't crazy about, or if you thought it needed a serious edit, that's okay. Rec it anyway.
2. Something that begins with the main character as a young child, let's say somewhere between 2 and 6 yrs old.
3. The character is taken through various points in life up to adulthood, but not to death. Let's say it can end anywhere from about 20 yrs old on up to maybe 65ish.
4. This is a bonus: not a single cataclysmic event, but more a series of critical experiences that lead up to some kind of change or decision in the main character's life.
If you can think of novels, or I suppose even short stories, that meet that description, I'll be eternally grateful. I'm especially interested in looking at how authors of these kinds of tales manage the transitions between large chunks of time.
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There's also a book by Mary Wesley--it might be The Chamomile Lawn, which fits this description and is wonderful.
I'll keep thinking ;)
Little Women. (Of course Alcott doesn't TRULY focus on one person, does she? Unless you think Jo is the main character, which I rather do. And of course we pick up with Jo et al as teenagers.)
And for a slightly different, lighter, yet delicious tone, Nancy Mitford's Love in a Cold Climate. Love this.
Er, for a different kind of fictional journey, Ian McEwan's Atonement. Briony is older, but still a child at the beginning of the novel.
What a fun set of limitations. All kinds of diversity in this list!
(still thinking on the s/b recs, btw...)
I saw that
Tree Grows in Brooklyn- Betty Smith
Bastard out of Carolina- Dorothy Allison
and then- not a novel, but I'm throwing in anyway cause I really liked it- The Liars Club by Mary Karr. It's a memoir, so not what you're looking for.
Maybe if you're looking at LM Alcott, you could try Eight Cousins and Rose in Bloom, both about the same girl. Or An Old Fashioned Girl. Which I love. But both girls are over six when the story starts.
It's harder than I thought at first. Most of the books that keep coming to mind are structured more around one big event, or begin decidedly later than 2-6.
It's an interesting question though.