A Taste of Eternity by Gisèle Pineau

The commemorations of the liberation of Paris (August 25, 1944) in the news this week reminded me of a novel I reviewed for ForeWord Reviews a few months ago: A Taste of Eternity by Gisèle Pineau. 

It is set in contemporary times, but flashes back to liberation day as one of the main characters, Lila, tells the protagonist, Sybille, about the mood of the time:

“You have to try to imagine what it was like in those days…Summer of ’44. You wouldn’t believe how crazy the Liberation was…Crowds were dancing in the streets. Women were open-mouth kissing complete strangers. Our saviors in uniform!” (p.82)

What impressed me most about the novel was the complicated way the author handles race. If I learned anything from Pineau, it would be courage. She is not afraid to address the messiness of racism involving people who grow to love and depend on each other. A certain honesty in this depiction resonated with me as I read about her character’s lives.

Take a look at my review of A Taste of Eternity.

Just Read Feeding the Sheep by Leda Schubert

What have I been reading? 

Why did I read it?

I was curious about how the author would combine a fictional storyline with information about husbandry and knitting.

What did I learn?

There is repetition: A little girl asks her mother, “What are you doing?” repeatedly.  

Organization/framing: The mother answers the girl and ends her response with a rhyming sentence.

Information: The mother is brief, revealing steps bit by bit, from feeding the sheep and shearing them, to washing and dyeing the wool that is eventually used to make the girl’s sweater.  

 Think about it.

The author must have done research. And/or she is intimately familiar with raising sheep, shearing them, and knitting.


In other words, she had to know more than she reveals in the book.

She teaches the process, but doesn't bog the reader down.
 

She pares the research down so that a typical page goes like this:

“What are you doing?” the little girl asked.

“Carding the wool,” her mother said.

Push and pull, brushes full.