Lighthousekeeping

The first half of the book captured me with the unusual writing style and subject matter. Poetic. The story line is unique. However, it started to lose me towards the later part. It seemed disconnected. Silver had some very odd behavior and the author didn't offer the reader an explanation. Her adult life was described in snippets so I found myself lost in the staccato descriptions. The enchantment that I originally felt disappeared. I was so totally intrigued at the beginning that I did feel dissapointment. Unusual for me to be disappointed by an author. I either like a book or dislike.

""Some people say that the best stories have no words. They weren't brought up to Lighthousekeeping. It is true that words drop away, and that the important things are often left unsaid. The important things are learned in faces, in gestures, not in our locked tongues. The true things are too big or too small, or in any case always the wrong size to fit the template called language." ~ Jeanette WintersonThis author has written some wonderful books. This is one of her best. It's so beautifully written that it takes one's breath. It's about several love stories, none with beginnings, none with ends, all of which intersect and intertwine. The storytelling moves between past to future to present, inconsistently, but the reader is never lost.Loved the way something is mentioned in one segment (the moon, an emerald and ruby pin, or fossils, for example), and the way that thing comes up again later. This is literature at its very best, writing at its very best, storytelling at its very best, and the art of crafting of all these things together at its very best. This author is inventive, creative, imaginative, and eloquent and reading her is a luscious delight!

While I sometimes enjoyed Lighthousekeeping, the novel has a serious case of “literary-itis.” The author appears willing to sacrifice any real sense of a plot or overall story structure in favor of poetic jags of pretty-sounding but confusing narrative. The three interwoven storylines here jump back and forth between centuries, centering around the lighthouse of the title, but also following the main characters as they go elsewhere. The life journey of Mr. Dark was especially hard to grasp; the passages telling his story are as much about his thoughts and emotions as they are about his experiences or what happens. Reading this book was something like trying to keep the water cupped in your hands from leaking away... and if that didn’t quite make sense, you’ve got a bit of an idea of how Lighthousekeeping goes.

Loved the mix of history melding into the heroine’s present day life. The blurred lines were executed with smooth literary aplomb. Stick with this story and you will get to think about it long after the last page.

I read this book for my book circle, and it was my first meeting with this author. I struggled a bit in the beginning, but it grew on me. I like her narrative style, and I kept going back, reading some of the passages over and over. It's quite a dark tale, but hope shines through... I will probably check out Winterson's other books.

If you need some time out of the humdrum of every day, then Lighthousekeeping may be for you. It will float you on a lyrical and poetic journey through another world, which moves with it's own curious tides. If you like linear, predictable stories, leave this book to those who can drift with it. It is infused with salt and seaweed and love.I read the Kindle version and particularly enjoyed the author's explanations about how she works, and about not forcing writing, but allowing it to bubble up from the unconscious.

Difficult, inside out storytelling,past present future, images more important than plot. Don't try to follow, just let it wash over you like surf.

This is one of those magical stories, beautifully written, that you treasure! I read the entire book on a short plane trip and read it again after a few weeks. I will probably read it again like an old friend. Jeannette Winterson can touch a chord in every person with her amazing ability to weave a story from a few words, and leave you knowing that we all have an infinite number of stories inside of us.

I cannot rave about his book enough, it is so good. Story rich and structurally brilliant, it has layer upon layer of reflection on story, life and time. There are small sections that are so profound and thought provoking that I wanted to read them over and over. Just brilliant.

I had to read this book for my book club. I was very rude about it to my book club and 2 other members totally agreed with me. I certainly will not read another book by this author. She may write very good English but what is the point if what she writes about is so dull.

Winterson at her best: you're brought into the narrator's uncanny world from the very beginning and there's poetry to be found on every page. It's a short novel, but one that will lend itself to re-reads.

We had this as a book club choice but not my cup of tea at all, very off beam. I think you either like JW or do not.

A joy to read I absolutely loved it. The language is lyrical and almost poetic. Winterson weaves a powerful tale about storytelling itself and uses memory and differing time lines to conjure the life of the troubled Silver orphaned to the care of blind Pew the lighthouse keeper.