Not what I was expecting, I thought it would be a more southern gothic type story
The story is well told but it was pretty obvious what family Marcus’s dad was from and Marcus is did not think and behave like a 12 year old at any time in the book. ( )

I hate when this happens. This story started out really well and it had potential to mean something for me, then it fizzed out and left me feeling somehow cheated. I liked the characters of Marcus and Lachicotte, and I was even okay with the presence/or not of the ghost boy. Underlying everything was a deeper question of how people handle loss and memory, how an eleven year old might deal with coming face-to-face with the mortality of everyone he loves, and how he might rebuild a life when everything he has ever known is stripped from him instantaneously. Unfortunately, for me there was just a disconnect that I never managed to bridge.

There were several aspects of this novel that were trite and oh so predictable. I could list them, but that would be difficult to do without giving away much of the novel’s plot. Suffice it to say, I was not surprised by much, and in this kind of novel I would like a surprise or two. There were, as well, a couple of things that the author chose to do style-wise that irritated me. She was at her best describing the landscape and when she was just allowing the story to unfold and wasn’t at pains to interpret the action for us.

I would have liked to have loved this, but sadly I did not. No more Godwin’s for me, but not a problem because I already have a list of authors a mile long that I need to get to.
( )

No Ghost But Plenty of Self-Discovery

Let’s begin by mentioning that this is not a traditional ghost story. No ghosts here, except for those we choose to conjurer to reconcile issues in our life. Grief Cottage combines a coming-of-age story with that of a one about a boy coping with feelings of insecurity, self-worth, and loneliness. These may sound like adolescent growing pains, true; however, eleven-year old Marcus’ go beyond those of typical ‘tween fare.

Marcus lives with his mother in a hand-to-mouth existence in the Appalachians, having moved there after losing her furniture manufacturing job in the North Carolina Piedmont. Marcus is a precious little boy and sensitive about how he and his mom live. Their quarters are tiny, so they sleep in the same bed. When revealed, this fact drives away his best friend, his only real school friend. Also, he has no idea who was his father. His mother promises to tell him when he is older. That day never arrives, as one night she dies in a single-car accident. After living for a while in a foster home, he goes down to South Carolina to live with his great aunt on a small island.

Charlotte Lee is an artist. She specializes in island landscapes, among them scores of renderings of the old dilapidated cottage at the north end of the island. She’s also a functioning alcoholic and quite reclusive during the day, locked in her studio painting. Part of the novel revolves around how and the type of relationship these two build together. Charlotte certainly is an imperfect person, but, like Marcus, you come to like and appreciate her, and, in particular, the ever growing bond between the two.

Marcus arrives as a pudgy little fellow but over time, as he walks and bikes the island, he grows taller and turns into a leaner boy. He changes physically, which represents his mental change that evolves over the course of the novel. Upon his first visit to the falling down cottage, he believes he sees a boy. His recollection of the sighting is detailed, almost like it actually happened. A good part of the novel deals with Marcus’ quest to learn what happened to the boy and his family, all of whom perished when Hurricane Hazel (yes, a real Category 4 killer) struck the island in October 1954. No one knows the name of the family or the boy, who was fourteen at the time, except that the boy had gotten separated from his family. Perhaps the ghost boy did exist, or, perhaps he was a projection of Marcus’ own psychologically shaky self. That’s for readers to decide for themselves when they reach the end.

Gail Godwin populates the novel with an assortment of interesting characters with equally interesting preoccupations, the most memorable of whom are Lachicotte and Coral Upchurch. You have to wonder about Lachicotte, so devoted to Charlotte, you suspect something more than friendship. And the idea of young Marcus developing a friendship with ninety-year old Coral is really, well, heartwarming. It also, along with his relationship with his aunt and concern over the cottage boy, brings out Marcus’ caring nature, the core of his character and what will shape him as a man. Don’t worry, Godwin doesn’t leave you hanging in this regard.
( )

No Ghost But Plenty of Self-Discovery

Let’s begin by mentioning that this is not a traditional ghost story. No ghosts here, except for those we choose to conjurer to reconcile issues in our life. Grief Cottage combines a coming-of-age story with that of a one about a boy coping with feelings of insecurity, self-worth, and loneliness. These may sound like adolescent growing pains, true; however, eleven-year old Marcus’ go beyond those of typical ‘tween fare.

Marcus lives with his mother in a hand-to-mouth existence in the Appalachians, having moved there after losing her furniture manufacturing job in the North Carolina Piedmont. Marcus is a precious little boy and sensitive about how he and his mom live. Their quarters are tiny, so they sleep in the same bed. When revealed, this fact drives away his best friend, his only real school friend. Also, he has no idea who was his father. His mother promises to tell him when he is older. That day never arrives, as one night she dies in a single-car accident. After living for a while in a foster home, he goes down to South Carolina to live with his great aunt on a small island.

Charlotte Lee is an artist. She specializes in island landscapes, among them scores of renderings of the old dilapidated cottage at the north end of the island. She’s also a functioning alcoholic and quite reclusive during the day, locked in her studio painting. Part of the novel revolves around how and the type of relationship these two build together. Charlotte certainly is an imperfect person, but, like Marcus, you come to like and appreciate her, and, in particular, the ever growing bond between the two.

Marcus arrives as a pudgy little fellow but over time, as he walks and bikes the island, he grows taller and turns into a leaner boy. He changes physically, which represents his mental change that evolves over the course of the novel. Upon his first visit to the falling down cottage, he believes he sees a boy. His recollection of the sighting is detailed, almost like it actually happened. A good part of the novel deals with Marcus’ quest to learn what happened to the boy and his family, all of whom perished when Hurricane Hazel (yes, a real Category 4 killer) struck the island in October 1954. No one knows the name of the family or the boy, who was fourteen at the time, except that the boy had gotten separated from his family. Perhaps the ghost boy did exist, or, perhaps he was a projection of Marcus’ own psychologically shaky self. That’s for readers to decide for themselves when they reach the end.

Gail Godwin populates the novel with an assortment of interesting characters with equally interesting preoccupations, the most memorable of whom are Lachicotte and Coral Upchurch. You have to wonder about Lachicotte, so devoted to Charlotte, you suspect something more than friendship. And the idea of young Marcus developing a friendship with ninety-year old Coral is really, well, heartwarming. It also, along with his relationship with his aunt and concern over the cottage boy, brings out Marcus’ caring nature, the core of his character and what will shape him as a man. Don’t worry, Godwin doesn’t leave you hanging in this regard.
( )

While the art on the cover of the book is beautiful, the title makes me cringe: grief? I didn't pick it up for awhile to read.

It's about a 11 year-old boy, Marcus Harshaw, that loses his beloved mother rather quickly in the beginning. As a single mom from birth, she named him after Marcus Aurelius, a Roman emperor and philosopher faced with many challenges in life. They lived in a small place where there was hardly any money in the mountain town of Jewel. She died in a car accident in the beginning of the book and he hardly has time to think before he was shuffled to a foster home in 7th grade where every night they studied the Bible. Shortly thereafter, he was placed in a permanent home with his only relative: his great aunt Charlotte at the beach - a place called, "Rascal Shack" in North Carolina. The house was in terrible shape when she bought it years ago but with do-it-yourself manuals, she was able to fix it up

Charlotte made it known to Marcus that she was getting a pension for taking care of him. She made a living as an artist while figuring out her emotional side drinking more than one bottle of wine a day. She created murals usually in small sizes but also with large works on commission. While she was fond of Marcus, she enjoyed her independence and encouraged him to figure out his free time until it was time to eat dinner. He was lonely and felt like he was a huge interference in her life.

While exploring the island, Marcus found a place called, "Grief Cottage" where a family was taken after Hurricane Hazel in 1954. He noticed in the doorway a presence - or ghost figure - which didn't seem to bother him. He watched how the local real estate agent was selling the property soon to be a larger development. He would bike ride on the beach entertaining himself. He gravitated towards learning about the turtles which hatch every year at the beach with careful protection.

This is a slow moving novel with lots of emotional drama from the characters. Some parts had interesting tidbits that the author worked into the book: the meaning of Gullahs, much about turtles, what it means to be a "laconic" and yes, ghosts. While the writing is good, I felt like Marcus was much older than an 11 year-old boy with his maturity and parts were - let's just say out there. As Charlotte once noted, "people see what they want to see" in reference to the ghost. "There are enough horrors in the real world to worry about."





( )