Beautiful and compelling
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This beautifully succinct novel tells the story of two lonely 30-somethings, both coming to terms with personal tragedies, who forge a tentative -- and rocky -- friendship, almost by accident, on a cliff top overlooking Dublin Bay.
Clara, a freelance writer and lecturer who lives in a house filled with clutter and an overgrown garden, is recovering from major surgery and nursing a broken heart after a failed love affair in New York.
Meanwhile Laurence (Lar), a teacher from Northern Ireland, is mourning the loss of his wife and 10-month old daughter, who were killed two years' earlier.
Both characters have much in common -- they are dealing with loss and grief, and the claustrophobia of familial concern -- but they deal with their problems in vastly different ways. Clara is outspoken, blunt to the point of rudeness and self-deprecating; Lar is filled with hate and quietly stewing in his own anger.
However, as the story gradually enfolds we see that it is Clara who finds it difficult to express herself, other than on the written page, while Lar opens up to strangers, expunging his guilt and pain like verbal diarrhoea.
With no real plot to speak of, the narrative force of this novel revolves around each character's growth and journey to self-realisation. It is not a romance novel -- the friendship between the two is purely platonic -- but it is a novel about the fragility of the human heart.
Johnston, who is an acclaimed writer in her native Ireland, is a master at drip feeding information so that the reader is never quite sure what is driving her characters to say and do certain things. Then a certain fact is revealed that slots neatly into place and everything suddenly makes sense. I am sure I said 'a-ha!!' out loud several times while reading this book as fragmented pieces of information began to join up in my head to form one cohesive -- and intriguing -- whole.
My only quibble is that I found it hard to believe that a single woman would invite a strange man, who is "sick in the head" as she puts it, to come and stay with her for a few days... but then maybe this just demonstrates Clara's naivety and trusting nature, traits which have landed her in trouble in the past.
Ultimately The Gingerbread Woman is a very sad and emotional book, but it is a compelling tale about hope, second chances borne through friendship and human resilence in the face of personal tragedy. I loved this near-perfect book and did not want the story to end and will definitely be reading more by this wonderfully talented writer.
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A compelling and challenging novel
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"The Gingerbread Woman" clearly demonstrates Jennifer Johnston's experience as a consummate storyteller. She deals compassionately with the difficult themes of death and disease, weaving a surprisingly fast paced (very little actually happens) and compelling narrative. The characters are carefully crafted and though the reader may not like either of the main characters in their often self-indulgent pity and grief, Johnston nonetheless makes their lives both accessible and commanding of the reader's attention.
This would be a great book for any book club to discuss, as there are plenty of moral questions raised. Set in Ireland and New York, the novel provides a careful commentary on the question of adultery and lust and raises the idea of the responsibilities of terrorists. Both difficult concepts are dealt with sympathetically by Johnston, leaving the reader with no easy answers.
The narrative is very clever, with the novelist within the novel exploring her past whilst coming to terms with her present. Johnson's description of the past and the passionate love affair is wonderfully evocative and maintains the reader's interest.
The end of the novel is a little frustrating; another book club debate could revolve around when the reader guesses the outcome! And I was also a little dissatisfied with the moral message of adultery leading to heartache and ultimately punishment for the protagonist. Nonetheless this is a beautifully written book; I read it in one sitting and thoroughly enjoyed the whole thing. Having never encountered Johnson before I will certainly search out her other novels as both her style and her themes provide the reader with food for thought, an element sadly lacking in a number of recent best sellers.
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A deeply touching book.
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This book, set in Dublin, is the story of Clara and Lar, two people who are trying to deal with their sad, tragic pasts. Lar has tried to run away from his past and the death of his wife and child in a car crash. Clara, on the other hand, tries to deal with her horrible past, a tragic relationship, by writing a book about it, entitled 'The Gingerbread Woman' (hence the title). These two characters meet by chance, at Killiney Hill, and develop a special friendship. Johnston looks at various themes in the book, such as; how tragedy effects people, the ways in which people deal tragedy, communication, relationships and love. The author also skilfully gives the audience a deep insight into her realistic characters. One of the most original ways in which she does this is, of course, through Clara's novel. This use of meta-fiction is extremely effective because as well as giving the reader an insight into Clara's character, it makes the book ever more interesting by giving it two plots. The book is extremely sad, but it does offer hope in the end, as the characters begin to rise out of the depression of their pasts, and look to the future.
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