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    When Madeline Was Young
    When Madeline Was Young
    When Madeline Was Young
    Audiobook10 hours

    When Madeline Was Young

    Written by Jane Hamilton

    Narrated by Richard Poe

    3.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    When Aaron Maciver's beautiful young wife, Madeline, suffers brain damage in a bike accident, she is left with the intellectual powers of a seven-year-old. In the years that follow, Aaron and his second wife care for Madeline with deep tenderness and devotion as they raise two children of their own. Narrated by Aaron's son Mac, When Madeline Was Young chronicles the Maciver family through the decades, from Mac's childhood growing up in Wisconsin with Madeline and his cousin Buddy, through the Vietnam War, his years as a husband with children of his own, and his cousin's involvement in the subsequent Gulf Wars. Jane Hamilton, with not only her usual keen observations of human relationships but also her humor, deftly explores the Macivers' unusual situation as she examines notions of childhood (through Mac and Buddy's actual youth as well as Madeline's infantilization) and a rivalry between Buddy's and Mac's families that spans decades and various wars. She captures the pleasures and frustrations of marriage and family and exposes the role that past relationships, rivalries, and regrets inevitably play in the lives of adults. Inspired in part by Elizabeth Spencer's The Light in the Piazza, Hamilton offers an honest, exquisite portrait of how a family tragedy forever shapes and alters the boundaries of love.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRecorded Books, Inc.
    Release dateMar 10, 2008
    ISBN9781440798405
    When Madeline Was Young
    Author

    Jane Hamilton

    Jane Hamilton lives, works, and writes in an orchard farmhouse in Rochester, Wisconsin.

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    Reviews for When Madeline Was Young

    3.5/5

    191 ratings19 reviews

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    • 4/5
      I thought this book was really lovely and moving. It does lack a strong plot, but that did not bother me as much as it bothered some other commenters. I thought the characters were very well-developed and I don't agree that the bits about Vietnam and Iraq were tangential to the theme; I thought that they were effectively used to portray both the passing of time and the way that views and perspective shift or remain the same over time.
    • 3/5
      Though the book is titled When Madeline was Young, the story really is the observation/history of the Maciver family over years as narrated by the son of Madeline’s husband Aaron. It begins when Aaron Maciver’s young wife, Madeline, suffers a head injury in a bicycle crash and she is left with the mental capacity of a six-year-old. In a strange twist, Aaron and his second wife Julia care for Madeline, as they raise two children of their own—creating a very different non-traditional family. The story moves (both back and forth) from Mac’s childhood growing up with Madeline and his cousin Buddy in Wisconsin through the Vietnam War, through Mac years as a husband with children of his own, and through Buddy’s involvement with the Gulf Wars. I found the concept of this book interesting, though I wasn’t completely enthralled with the characters, particularly Madeline (who seemed to be incredibly superficial—especially prior to her accident). I also was disappointed that we didn’t receive much insight as to why certain decisions were made—particularly why Julia and Aaron agreed to “raise” Madeline. 3 out of 5 stars.
    • 5/5
      Joplin Library Book Club selection for Oct. 2010. I really enjoyed this book. It was interesting to me that a female author used a male character as the narrator. I thought she did that very well.
    • 3/5
      It was okay but really didn't seem to have much point, lacked focus. Set in fifties and sixties to the present with politics interwoven. A story more about many things; war, head trauma, disabilities, family life, coming of age. It has a very good description of what it is like to experience the loss of mother.
    • 4/5
      The premise for this novel may seem implausible: a beautiful young wife is badly injured in a bicycle accident and spends the rest of her life with the intellect of a 7 year old. Her husband and his second wife end up caring for her as their child, along with two other children. The family story is narrated by their son from his adult perspective. The interrelationships among the nuclear family and the extended family are played out with Madeline always present, and the story spans from the 1940's to the present.. The politics in the background and the family pushes and pulls make for a wonderful family saga.
    • 4/5
      Written in the form of a memoir, this novel explores the complexities of family relationships in an upper middle class family. Mac, the first person voice of the novel, recalls growing up and explains the fact that his father's first wife, brain injured in an accident, is raised by his father and his mother (dad's second wife). As part of this exploration of family history, "Mac" discusses the Viet Nam war, his mother's pacifism and her conflict with her brother-in-law, highly placed in Kennedy's administration and later turned Republican. The book, like a good conversation, ranges from highly personal anecdotes to political statements and philosophy, and like many good conversations, ends without a tidy conclusion--a fact that will be frustrating to some readers but seems just right for this book..
    • 4/5
      I found this to be a rather unusual book. For a long time it didn't seem to be going anywhere - neither in terms of plot, nor in terms of character development. I seriously considered putting it aside. However, it did move forward and by the end I felt quite satisfied. I had come to know the characters well and the plot certainly had a clear direction and purpose. I think Hamilton has a good understanding of the way family relationships work and she is able to paint that picture well. She takes her time, but the end result is worth waiting for.
    • 4/5
      This story is told through the eyes of Mac MacIver, son of Aaron and Julia MacIver. Growing up in a suburb of Chicago in the '60s and '70s, Mac was very smart, a bit of a science nerd. His sister Louise was obsessed with her cello. The older sister Madeline was mentally disabled. Well, Mac always thought of Madeline as his sister, but she was really his father's first wife. Shortly after Aaron and Madeline were married, they went for a bike ride, and Madeline fell and suffered severe head trauma. After that, she operated on the level of a 7-year-old. Julia came into the picture as one of the nurses helping out, and Aaron and Julia eventually fell in love and married, and they continued to care for Madeline as if she were their child. The MacIvers were definitely not a normal family but prove that "normal" is what we live with every day and become accustomed to. This is the story of Mac's coming of age but also about unconditional love. Very well written and a pleasure to read.
    • 3/5
      Granted, I've only read two of Ms. Hamilton's books, but I'm not interested in reading anymore. I came to the end of this book and thought, "and what is your point??" This story follows the life of Mac from his youth to middle age as he relates the unique circumstances of his upbringing and family. But nothing is really ever made of those circumstances. The episodes Mac relates don't seem to have any point or purpose. And the prose is overdone - simple facts of the plot become lost in the overly elaborate descriptions of memories or side notes. Finally, in places where others besides Mac are speaking there is no separate voice - which makes the characters feel homogeneous. Disappointing.
    • 2/5
      odd book. some of the story line was good but i'm just not sure why the story to begin with--especially as titled.
    • 4/5
      Madeline is a tall, young, beautifully elegant young woman, newly married, who suffers a traumatic brain injury, losing her memory of her marriage and reverting to the mental state of a 6-year-old. Her husband, Aaron, divorces later and remarries, and he and his wife Julia lovingly care for her as they raise their own family. The story is narrated by Aaron's son, Mac, and chronicles the power of love, politics and tragedy to unite and divide extended families, with Madeline a constant over the decades that follow to present day. The book jumps about a bit, to occasionally confusing effect, but Madeline is an affecting character, and the conclusion is a moving piece that elevates the story.
    • 2/5
      This book was very narrative, as is typical for Jane Hamilton. For me, it was difficult to stick with it. Written from what I found to be a strange perspective it really wasn't what I was expecting. But definitely a good book club book because there was a lot to discuss.
    • 4/5
      Aaron Maciver's first wife, Madeline, suffers a brain injury early in their marriage, leaving her with the mental abilities of a seven year old. He is committed to caring for her, as is his second wife, Julia. Aaron and Julia treat Madeline as their daughter, and have two children of their own, Mac and Louise.As the story opens, the grown-up Mac is considering attending the funeral of his estranged cousin's (Buddy) son. Mac and Buddy had been very close as children, but have drifted apart. Mac is reflecting on the story of his parents' marriage and of Madeline's relationship to the other family members. This is a story of loyalty and of what makes a family. It is a love story in the best sense of the word -- a story about what love is, what it can do, and what it can't. Jane Hamilton is a fine writer and her characters have depth. This is the kind of book that has me still thinking about the story and the characters days after I've finished reading it.
    • 2/5
      I wanted to like this book, but something about it didn't work for me. The story wasn't really about Madeline.
    • 2/5
      Hamilton's writing is good, but this book is a disappointment which is unfortunate given the praise for the rest of her work. This book is the loosely strung together memories of the narrator, the less than engaging Mac Maciver. I went into this expecting it to be more about Madeline, the brain damaged sister/"step-mother" (?), but it wasn't so. Instead, it delved more into the family's political squabbles, Mac's adventures with his mostly irritating cousin Buddy, and Mac's weird insecurities and boring overeducated tangents. While the quality of the writing is excellent and Hamilton even happens on a few moments of profound truth, the plot to this book is nearly non-existent and the characters aren't engaging enough to help you forget that point.
    • 3/5
      I was lukewarm on this novel. I thought Hamilton's previous books, The Book of Ruth and A Map of the World, were extremely powerful; this novel was quieter, slower, and less intense. The family relationships were most interesting when they were shown as more complicated; at times, the narrator's depiction of his "selfless" parents wasn't believable (though I realize that this may have been intentional on the author's part, I do still tend to read a first-person narrator as "authoritative".) But the questions of where one's ethics are were very provocative, and I actually felt a little shock of interest when I read about the narrator's extended family fighting in the Iraq wars. This is a subject that seems oddly untouched in contemporary fiction.
    • 3/5
      When Madeline Was Young was really disappointing, especially given how much I liked A Map of the World and Disobedience. I think it's because of the same reason I was disappointed with The Memory Keeper's Daughter. Basically, Hamilton barely touches the surface of Madeline and her brain injury, just like Edwards skirts around Phoebe's down syndrome. And really, the person I wanted to know about was Madeline, but instead I got a rehash of a boy who grappled with the cousin he idolized and a two-dimensional bleeding heart liberal mother, who we never really grow to understand. Reads like a first draft.
    • 1/5
      I could not get through this one. I just was not that interested in the characters.
    • 3/5
      Intriguing. You almost think it is true, because of such an odd circumstance. Very entertaining.