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    The Ladies' Lending Library
    Unavailable
    The Ladies' Lending Library
    Unavailable
    The Ladies' Lending Library
    Ebook310 pages5 hours

    The Ladies' Lending Library

    By Janice Kulyk Keefer

    3.5/5

    ()

    Unavailable in your country

    Unavailable in your country

    About this ebook

    In August of 1963, the women of Kalyna Beach prepare for their annual end-of-summer party. With their husbands away in the city all week, the women’s days are ruled by the predictable rhythms of children and chores, and lightened by the “racy” books they trade amongst themselves and their Friday afternoon meetings for gin and gossip. But this summer, everything will change for the girls and women of Kalyna Beach, as they gain a new understanding of the possibilities open to them all.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateJul 22, 2014
    ISBN9781443440417
    Unavailable
    The Ladies' Lending Library
    Author

    Janice Kulyk Keefer

    Janice Kulyk Keefer is widely acclaimed for her novels, short story collections, poetry, and nonfiction. The Ladies' Lending Library is her fifth novel. She lives in Toronto.

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    Reviews for The Ladies' Lending Library

    3.5/5

    4 ratings4 reviews

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    • 3/5
      This is the story of a beach community in the summer of 1963, the year Cleopatra, starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, was released. The community of Kalyna Beach consists of Ukrainian first and second generation families. The women stay all summer at the beach and the men drive up from Toronto every weekend.I was not impressed by this book. It seemed to lack focus and I just couldn't keep track of the people. There were so many women and children and the names were so similar that I kept mixing them up. Plus the impact "Cleopatra" had on the community seems excessive as compared to what I recall about that movie. I was 10 years old in 1963 and I don't remember much fuss about it. I probably wouldn't have been allowed to see it but if it was a movie that was that pervasive I would have been aware of it and dying to see it.Maybe if I was Ukrainian I would have gotten more out of the book because there are lots of sayings in Ukrainian that aren't translated. However, I think the story is meant to be more universal than that and it was not.
    • 4/5
      The tumultuous 60's have not yet touched the women of Kalyna Beach. As first generation Ukrainian Canadians, they are enjoying advantages their parents never were able to provide. While their husbands work in the city, the women and their children are able to summer at their cottages. Each Friday, the husbands join them for the weekend; it doesn't get better than this.Women cannot leave their work behind; the daily schedule still requires all the attendant duties. Instilled are the cultural rules and mores that not only bind them, but unconsciously pit woman against woman on a daily basis.Friday afternoon gin and book discussions provide their respite before the men return. On Sasha's porch, they gather to discuss their books; books hidden in secret places in each cottage; what a disgrace it would be for a child or husband to find a copy of FANNIE HILL Relaxed and amiable, the discussions eventually digress to gossip.With the release of the movie Cleopatra, Elizabeth Taylor provides a provocative twist to previous discussions. Richard Burton is rebuked, but given this group's mindset; Elizabeth Taylor as woman has taken the low moral ground and cannot be forgiven.Each woman carries her secret burden: Sonia, a mother with four daughters drifts to thoughts of her previous life as a model. She and Laura, her oldest clash as Sonia struggles to regain her lost self while Laura begins the journey to find herself.Sasha asserts herself as the group leader, intent upon keeping the ladies in line, while she struggles with her own ideology. Nadia, wife of the most successful man among them, flits in and out, a butterfly searching for the most fragrant flower.The end-of-season party at Nadia and Jack's villa approaches and all that was will never be the same. Secrets are discovered, and promises are broken. Will summer at Kaylna Beach ever be the same?I didn't want this book to end; it was a fantastic read. A different culture, but similar to mine as a n immigrant of Polish descent. This book gave me a better understanding of my mother; especially as I read about Chucha Marta's past.I read Caramelo recently, and was amazed how different cultures adapt to their new environment. Some flourish, some remain forever imbedded in the Old Country.
    • 3/5
      Ladies in the '60s who take their kids to the shore for the summer and wait for their husbands to come out on weekends.
    • 3/5
      Canadian author Keefer has created an intricately woven story of one summer at a predominantly Ukrainian vacation lake. This particular summer the wives, who by turns are frustrated, depressed, resentful and wistful, are swept up with the new movie version of Cleopatra and the brewing love affair between its two costars. When they gather each week to share their steamy romance novels and illicit literature they can’t help but veer off topic to debate the merits and penalties of adultery and lust. By focusing on the Hollywood romance they successfully avoid acknowledging the dramatic affair that’s brewing in their own community. The story is revealed through many perspectives as each woman addresses her longings against her realities. Even the children, consumed with the heat, the sand and the freedoms a summer retreat offers, are pulled into testing and provoking each other. Keefer can turn a beautiful phrase and seems closely connected to her many characters that she coaxes along with both subtlety and drama.