Reviews for Judge

The average rating for Judge based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2011-07-20 00:00:00 Laurens Steenbergen "Every mother is a judge who sentences the children for the sins of the father." This line is to be found at the start and at the end of the book. It is its central theme and is reflected in the book's title. The quote lies at the book's core but is then expanded. Starting with the mother, child and father relationships, the story expands to include a study of the other family relationships and finally how society judges those who dare to deviate from social norms, how we judge ourselves and how we judge others.. Marion is the mother. Her first child, Richard, was illegitimate. Forced into marriage by her parents and by the prevailing norms of early 20th century, Scottish society, we watch what unfolds. What she had to endure is grippingly told. Intriguing are the relationships that develop between her and her first son, her second son and between the two sons. When the sons spread their wings and leave home, relationships must and do change What is delivered are character studies. The characters and the complicated family relationships intrigued me and kept me thinking. I find them realistic. We see a mother who dotes on and adores one son. These two instinctively "talk the same language", think the same way and act in the same manner. She tries to love her second son as she loves her first, but she knows she fails. All she can do is force herself to treat both fairly. I appreciate that she is not drawn as a demon. All mothers relate to their children differently, and thus it is not hard to relate to Marion. In the story here, Richard falls in love with Ellen. She is seventeen, works as a typist in a law firm and is an ardent suffragette. She is spunky and full of a zest for life and is t-e-r-r-i-b-l-y naïve. Every time she opened her mouth I smiled. I dare you not to laugh at the things she says. In my view, West has in Ellen created a marvelous character. There are exquisite renderings of Scottish landscape. Rebecca West describes nature beautifully. Colors, varying shades and hues, the rippling of foliage, fallen, autumnal leaves and brooks and streams fill the text. Have you seen the hills of Pentland, south of Edinburgh? West puts you there. Some people eat up descriptions of landscape. Others don't. You know yourself best. West also describes love scenes. In my view these sections felt dated, too lyrical, too poetic, too romantic. I prefer writing that breathes physical attraction. This is not what is delivered here. West's writing is too pretty for that. I became bored. At times I was also bored by excessive philosophizing. More aggressive editing would have benefited the book. This, West's second novel, follows her acclaimed and more tightly drawn The Return of the Soldier. If you are looking for a quick read OR a sweet, happy tale, I doubt this will be to your taste. I prefer dark over sweet. Imogene Church narrates the audiobook. She wonderfully narrates Ellen's lines. This character's naivety and spunk come to the fore. She draws a contrast between those with an English versus a Scottish dialect. I am no expert but to me it sounds accurate. I dislike how she reads the lines of descriptive prose and the sections between dialogues. Here the pacing is peculiar, off, stilted. I have given the narration performance two stars: it's OK. ************************** Black Lamb and Grey Falcon 5 stars. The Return of the Soldier 4 stars The Judge 3 stars The Fountain Overflows 2 stars

Review # 2 was written on 2013-08-14 00:00:00 Bradford Pleimann Rebecca West's 1922 second novel is much longer than her wonderful first novel; The Return of the Soldier. It is a complex, densely written novel with some breath-taking descriptions of Scottish and English landscape. It is also - I can see from other reviews - one capable of dividing opinion. I suspect it is that highly descriptive dense writing that some readers dislike, while others may find the highly dramatic melodrama of the end of the novel at odds with what had come before it. "Ellen thought herself a wonderful new sort of woman who was going to be just like a man; she would have been surprised if she had known how many of stern-browed ambitions, how much of her virile swagger of life, were not the invention of her own soul, but had been suggested to her by an old woman who liked to pretend her daughter was a son." In the early years of the twentieth century, Ellen Melville is a seventeen year old typist at a legal office. She is also a suffragette, naively innocent Ellen is unaware of her own beauty and the effect it has on others. Ellen finds herself judged and treated as an object by the men for whom she works, but has inherited a great capacity for love from her impoverished mother with whom she lives in a tiny dark house. Ellen can't help but be dissatisfied with her life, she wants to experience all that life has to offer, she is at times outspoken, but still with a touching childishness about her which allows her to leap about her beloved Pentland hills in joy. When she meets client Richard Yaverland one day at work, she meets an older worldlier man, a successful man who has travelled widely, with liberal political views he seems to represent much of what Ellen seeks. In Ellen and her simple good mother, Richard finds something he seeks - and is soon determined to marry Ellen. Before their marriage the couple travel back to Richard's home to meet his mother of whom Richard has spoken to Ellen a good deal. "'Her body would imprison her in soft places. She would be allowed no adventures other than love, no achievements other than birth.' Richard Yaverland comes from Essex, where he lived with his mother Marion, Marion even accompanied him on some of his expeditions abroad and the two are extraordinarily close. Richard is illegitimate, the result of his mother's love affair with the local squire. Marion's story - of how she was judged and ill used by the small community in which she lived, is told more than half way into the novel - yet it is the memory of this strong and controversial mother and her obsessive like love for her eldest son that pervades this novel. Marion has another son, one born following her somewhat forced marriage to an utterly odious man who offered to save her reputation when she found herself pregnant. This younger son; Roger, is a pitiful figure that the reader wants to sympathise with, and I did, however West has made his older, more selfish, more golden brother the more likeable character - although he is far from flawless. Roger's childhood was sacrificed so that Marion could live the solitary life she desired with Richard. It is Roger, not Richard who is Marion's guilt made flesh. The ending is gloriously melodramatic - it is at odds with the first part of the novel but I loved it. "Every mother is a judge who sentences the children for the sins of the father." The judge of the title then is everyone, each character and certainly the reader themselves. Marion is a very harsh judge of herself, she has reason to be, and although the reader is able to sympathise with this strong and unusual woman, they can't condone her actions. The judge is a fascinating exploration on what early nineteenth century society perceives as sin and the treatment of those who stray from the excepted path.