Reviews for What Is Left the Daughter

The average rating for What Is Left the Daughter based on 2 reviews is 4.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2015-10-24 00:00:00 CANDY GLENN This book was so good! Loved the protagonist Wyatt, the Nova Scotia setting at the start of WWII, the ugliness of prejuduce (against Germans) depicted, the U-boat attacks, the small town feeling similar to what you find in a Richard Russo novel-- everything. Bronson Pinchot narrated and he was just perfect. He is really very talented with his accents and characterizations. I was all set to give this 5 stars but the last couple of chapters sort of fell flat for me. Even the narrator seemed less enthusiastic about it.

Review # 2 was written on 2014-11-23 00:00:00 Potvin Patrick Disclaimer: I love all of Howard Norman's work. "The Bird Artist" is one of my favorite books, and I've loved his others too. Like all of his books, "What Is Left the Daughter" is beautifully written. It's a book full of incredibly rich dualities and symbolism, yet I'm sure it could be just as effective read by someone who chooses not to analyse it. Written as a letter from an older Wyatt Hillyer to his 21-year-old daughter, the book opens with the suicides of both of Wyatt's parents, who jump from different bridges at about the same time. He is taken in by an aunt and uncle who live nearby in tiny Middle Economy. His uncle is a sled- and toboggan-maker, and he teaches Wyatt the craft. They have an adopted daughter, Tilda, a book-loving woman trying to become a professional mourner, with whom Wyatt falls in unrequited love. She is in love with a young German emigre studying philology (words) at a nearby university. German U-boats are sinking Canadian craft, bringing the huge war to the tiny town. "I believe if you sully the sea it will come back at you ten fold," Wyatt's uncle says early on. And the water, the library, the bakery are the canvas in which Norman paints his characters with a precision that amounts to a kind of literary pointillism. The novel takes on the mysteries of love and death and war with lovely subtlety. It's a book that may stay with you forever. I hope I've done it, and Mr. Norman, justice, because they matter to me.