Författarbild

Michelle Granas

Författare till Swans Are Fat Too

3 verk 124 medlemmar 5 recensioner

Om författaren

Inkluderar namnet: Michelle Granas

Verk av Michelle Granas

Swans Are Fat Too (2014) 61 exemplar
Amadea: One Spring in France (2015) 13 exemplar

Taggad

Allmänna fakta

Kön
female

Medlemmar

Recensioner

So, so story. Goodreads: Natalia Lanska, formidable Polish pianist, is dead. No one is really sorrowing, except maybe her granddaughter Hania, whose own career as a concert artist never took off due to a terrible weight problem. Feeling unwanted, Hania arrives in Warsaw for the funeral hoping for a warm welcome from her relatives. Instead, they saddle her with their appalling children, decamp, and refuse to return. Hania?s situation is at first improved and then complicated when a neighbor the very correct, very austere descendant of an old Polish family asks her to proofread an amateur history project. Hania sets to work with a will, and Pan Doctor Prince Konstanty Radzimoyski is surprised when his ideas get more editing than he bargained for. Typing pages of the past, rediscovering her native city, and playing the piano all contribute to taking Hania?s mind off her problems, but can?t change her awareness that the children need help and that her growing attachment to her employer will only give her pain. The summer Hania spends between love, hostility, and the weight of history tests her resourcefulness, but her fresh ideas and readiness to carry on brighten the lives of her new acquaintances. Still, no one, least of all Hania herself, expects that her beautiful qualities will make Konstanty forget her figure and other excess baggage. This book contains a history of Poland in a nutshell and is about seeing beyond the conventions. (less)… (mer)
 
Flaggad
bentstoker | 3 andra recensioner | Jan 26, 2024 |
Michelle Granas has written a sophisticated literary novel with a special turn of phrase and tone. Cordelia, the main character, is an intelligent young woman, saddled with an odd, mentally ill and aging, but harmless family. She's taken responsibility for all of them and is the "mother figure". During a mishap, she and her father meet a man briefly who helps them out. As happens in life, coincidence brings the man into her life again under different circumstances.

Corrupt politics in a struggling Poland have targeted this man, Zaremba, a wealthy businessman, and he needs Cordelia's help. Both of these people have distinct characters in the story. There is plenty of intrigue and suspense as events unfold and change, and as Cordelia and Zaremba fall in love, against odds. Cordelia has a strong and gentle nature combined with wit and calmness, and also suffers a bit from lack of confidence. Balancing her family's needs and Zaremba's urgent situations, she careens through several new situations and finds the determination needed to help the people she cares about. Her brother, mostly a recluse but also intelligent, is lured out of solitude by Zaremba and events.

Cordelia's family, herself, and Zaremba manage to get into and out of various situations with government officials in hot pursuit, bend on destroying Zaremba and his success. The story and people are realistic and the writing is exquisite in some way that's hard to describe. Elegant maybe. I hope we see more of Granas's writing. Highly recommend to any reader who enjoys this sort of story.

… (mer)
 
Flaggad
Rascalstar | Jan 21, 2017 |
Note : A Review of this book is up @ Readers' Muse

The protagonist, Hania is an "healthy" ex-pianist who arrives in her homeland, Poland to attend the funeral of her Grandmother. Fate has other plans for her for her uncle has left his kids alone in his house thereby forcing Hania to baby sit them. Hania adapts to the situation and takes care of the kids until her uncle returns. Along the way she meets the much eligible bachelor Konstanty who happens to be a doctor by profession. Konstanty is on a project to write some history articles for his sister. He offers Hania the job of editing the articles he wrote for Hania is in search for a temporary job in Warsaw to keep her occupied. They find love in-spite of Hania's Excess Baggage.

The writer taught me a good bit of Poland's history and architecture through Konstanty's history articles. It is apparent that the writer has done a good research. The whole Hania-Konstanty's courtship was written beautifully. It is very heart warming to read a tale where a man actually falls for a woman for her heart and intellect. Beauty plays more than a vital role in relationship, to look beyond beauty it takes immense maturity.The writer managed to drive home this point.

The characterization was bang on. I loved Hania's characterization. In Spite of being overweight and clumsy she is confident in subtle ways and handles offensive comments patiently. Her character is an inspiration to people with low self esteem. The other thing that Hania taught me was patience. I don't think I would be as patient as Hania when she handled those kids.

The narration was perfect with an equal balance of emotions. The one thing that I loved was the wry humor.Not many writers attempt that owing to its very nature, but this writer managed to get it right.

There are a couple of things that could have been handled better - The history articles and Teen pregnancy. The history articles sort of pulled down the narration midway. They could have been accompanied by pictures or may be could have been written in a better way. Teen pregnancy is a rather sensitive issue that needs to be handled with care. They is a huge scope for emotional maneuvering. I felt the writer didn't make good use of that ground.

A epilogue in the end continuing the subtle romance between Hania and Konstanty could have worked wonders.

Verdict : It's worth a read - but only for slow romance lovers. Not for those "instant romance" lovers who can't appreciate the beauty of proper courtship.

Rating : 4 on 5
… (mer)
 
Flaggad
bookandink | 3 andra recensioner | Aug 19, 2015 |
This book is an exciting find for me and one of the best novels I have read recently. Hania is a talented classical pianist whose career is damaged by her being obese. She is told that though she is gifted she can not have a career as a concert pianist because “you are not charismatic, not eccentric and you are fat.” Ouch. She travels to Warsaw to visit her aunt and uncle and they disappear and leave her with her two young cousins who have been abandoned by their lousy parents. Hania is tender toward her cousins and takes care of them, and develops a crush on their neighbor, Konstanty, who becomes intrigued by her. I don’t want to give away too much of the story, but must say that Granas is a lyrical writer, who brings us humor, pathos and a hint of a love story, interwoven with snippets of Polish history. I already bought her next book.… (mer)
 
Flaggad
hangen | 3 andra recensioner | Dec 1, 2014 |

Listor

Statistik

Verk
3
Medlemmar
124
Popularitet
#161,165
Betyg
½ 3.7
Recensioner
5
ISBN
3

Tabeller & diagram