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Title: Vein of Iron by Ellen Glasgow ISBN: 0-15-693476-0 Publisher: Harvest Books Pub. Date: 18 October, 1967 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $23.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.25 (4 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: A vein of iron through life's struggles and disappointments
Comment: (...)Vein of Iron, written in 1935, is the saga of a Virginia family who live through changing times. It starts in 1901 when the central character Ada is 10 years old, and she is deeply disappointed when, even though she has saved up her money for a doll with real hair, she has to settle for a cheaper doll that she doesn't want. This sets the tone of the book, which is filled with the realities of life's struggles and disappointments. It also deeply explores religion and faith as Ada's father is a former Presbyterian minister who has lost his faith and there is constant conflict between right and wrong as well as tradition and change.
The title refers to the vein of iron within the characters, especially the women, which keeps them going throughout adversity as they struggle through their personal challenges as well as the social changes creating upheaval around them. The love of Ada's life, Ralph McBride, is stolen by the trickery of a supposed best friend. He eventually does come back to her as a soldier off to fight in the World War and their two-day illicit romance results in a pregnancy, which alienates her from her beloved Grandmother. Later, after her lover comes back from war, disillusioned by his experiences on the battlefield, their marriage is marked with more disappointment and struggle as they leave their beloved mountain home and move to a large town. When the Depression hits, and her husband loses his job, she finds work selling gloves in a shop where her wages keep getting reduced and the family struggles to put food on the table. There's always compassion though for those even less fortunate and we get to know their small community of neighbors.
There were a lot of themes going on at once in spite of the simplicity of the words. Yet the story itself was so engaging that I was reading it on the bus one day and went two stops past my usual stop. The sense of place is dominant throughout and I was transported into the author's world. It was not always a pleasant place to be, especially during those Depression years, but I totally related to it all, and admire the "vein of iron" in the author, as well as in her characters. Recommended.
Rating: 4
Summary: The Search for Happiness in Virginia
Comment: Ellen Glasgow deserves to be better known. This book, Vein of Iron, is a story of epic scope, covering a period from turn of the century rural Virginia through the Great Depression. The story centers around John Fincastle, a Presbreterian minister defrocked for wrong views who turns philosopher, and his daughter Ada.
The story is melodramatic and awkward at parts, but ultimately it is riveting. As an adolescent, Ada is in love with a young man, Ralph, but loses him to a rich, selfish girl, Janet, who claims Ralph got her pregnant. Janet and Ralph divorce, and Ada and Ralph marry following World War I (and following a torrid two day affair in the woods which is overly-romantically described to this reader, possibly purposefully so). Ralph is disillusioned after the War and the family (Ralph, Ada, their son, John, and an aunt) struggle on through the bubble of prosperity following the War and through the Depression. The scenes of the Depression are wonderfully written.
The theme of the book is the search for happiness and how it is looked for in the wrong places through materialism, superficiality, and the quest for popular approval. There is a strong spiritual, religious theme throughout the book, particularly as it involves the life of John Fincastle.
People look for happiness but don't know how to find it within themselves. Ada perseveres through trouble in her marriage and realizes a subdued but important vision of inner peace. The line "May all beings be free from suffering" is repeated several times during the last section of the book. It is quoted by John Fincastle and is perhaps the moral of the book. The phrase (which is not clearly attributed) is derived from the basic lovinkindness meditation of Buddhism -- a fact John Fincastle (who shows in the book his familarity with Buddhism) would have known. Interesting to see a reflection of the Buddhist tradition in what for me was an unexpected source.
This is a powerful, thoughtful book entitled to its place in American literature.
Rating: 4
Summary: Thoughtful Portrayal of Early 20th Century Rural Virginia
Comment: Ellen Glasgow is definitely an underrated American female writer; how many have heard of her? She writes elegantly and truthfully. The setting for Vein of Iron is an area of rural Virginia where I spent much of my childhood. I don't think it has changed much! In this novel, there are wonderful passages about the impact of Christian beliefs on the life of the people who settled in the region (which can surely be generalized to many rural settlements throughout the U.S.). Glasgow creates a fascinating character in Ada's father, who struggles with his spirituality. Ada is strong, faithful, optimistic- just as I imagined our female predecessors to be at that time. This is a character-driven, setting-driven novel, and I loved it. My daughter surprised me with it for mother's day. Thanks, daughter!
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Title: Barren Ground by Ellen Glasgow ISBN: 015610685X Publisher: Harvest Books Pub. Date: November, 1985 List Price(USD): $16.00 |
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Title: Sheltered Life by Ellen Glasgow ISBN: 0156816903 Publisher: Harvest Books Pub. Date: 15 November, 1985 List Price(USD): $23.00 |
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Title: The Woman Within: An Autobiography by Ellen Glasgow, Pamela R. Matthews ISBN: 0813915635 Publisher: University of Virginia Press Pub. Date: December, 1994 List Price(USD): $18.95 |
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