Girl in a Swing by Richard Adams

Richard Adams?
Am I confusing him with the fellow that writes those beach novels like "Grizzly" and stuff?
I have not heard of this boook Letty but I will go out and look for it.
The title is super though.My curiosity is piqued.

hebba, here's a link. You might me more familiar with his other books:

http://dannyreviews.com/h/Miss_Smillas_Feeling_for_Snow.html

OK,this guy IS the man I was thinking of.Watership Down bloke.
"Shardik",not Grizzly!!
Do you think Girl In A Swing came about because he really DID meet a Danish girl of unfathomable and dangerous depths?

Could well have been, hebba. Let's see if I can remember properly about the heroine. Somehow, she appeared to be a figure who was reincarnated from a woman who had come over on a tall ship. That woman had drowned her baby, as I recall. I sorta got the idea that this life after life after was her karma..her penance. It was a strange book, but excellent, because it left one wondering.

But I like resolution in a novel

Don´t go spoiling it for me Letty.The less I know the better.

Not to worry, hebba. That little blurb was just a tiny tip of the novel. Among the few with whom I have discussed it, each seemed to have a different interpretation.

This has been one of my favourite novels for many years. If you'd like to read my review of it, go to http://cleansheets.com/archive/archreviews/book_05.31.00.html

Hi, E.F. and welcome to A2K. Excellent review. I do wish I still had the paperback, because I would love to reread the novel. A college prof and I were discussing the book at a soiree many years ago and I was stunned at how he oversimplified Adams' ideas. I don't think he got it at all.

"...full many a 'book' is born to blush unseen..."

A lot of people resist "getting it at all." I think it is an amazing book, but one that requires the reader to have a multi-dimensional imagination to not demand a moral resolution or sense of closure.

I still remember the first time I read it. When I got to the scene in the courtroom, where Alan was leaving, and read the sentence, "It was not Karin," I felt as though someone had punched me in the stomach.

Now where is that Amazon-button!??! This sounds like a book for me!

bigdice, you funny thing. Yes, I'm here and looking at YOU! Something tells me that Amazon won't offer Girl in a Swing...perhaps your local library.

E.F. Who was Karin?

Amazon does offer GiaS, at least through its used affiliates. I think they still have a large-print edition in stock.

Karin (or Karen?) was the name given the pricipal lady in the second printing. In the first she was called Käthe and given an unusual last name. Apparently someone with that name was not amused and threatened to sue. Anyway, the publisher had to recall quite a few copies and rechristen the character. I've seen both versions for sale, however, in one case right next to each other. (The Käthe version had a nicer cover, quite distinct from the more familiar red and black one.)

E.F. I guess I should have said, who was Karen/Karin metaphorically?

It's on the Home Page, near the bottom.

Ah, who indeed? Kali? Lilith? Martha Stewart? Dunno. You'll recall that during the climactic scene by the swing, she says she is known by many names. Perhaps the key, if there is one, is that Alan comes to know her in her essence rather than in her symbolic identities.

That reminds me of something I've often mulled over: The morning after that scene, Karin has no memoryof it. I suspect that it was another of Alan's psychic visions, and that raises the question of to what extent Karin is aware of the paranatural events of the novel.

Thanks, E.F. Damn. I gotta reread that book.

Hey, bigdice. Push that button for me, too.