The Land of Spices

Author: Kate O'Brien

Phew! This is really a week of dense reading for me, and this book is no exception. For instance: do not read this version if you, like myself, know no French. The author expects you to, and the book is seeded with bits of French ranging in length from phrases to several long paragraphs in a row (usually when the character receives a letter.) There are no footnotes or endnotes.

I decided to read it anyway, ignoring the French bits. The book divides its time between the English Mother Superior of an Irish convent/school and one of its pupils, a loner with academic talents and literary inclinations. (Anyone smell an autobiographical element?)

My immediate reaction to a book switching protagonists on me is usually negative, but this approach worked well for Spices. We look at these two characters because they have so many parallels: talent, personality, important life events. The interesting thing, though, is that these two characters are acquainted, but other than that, don't really know each other. It's a neat device.