The confusion of languages / Siobhan Fallon.
Publisher: New York, New York : G.P. Putnam's Sons, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC, [2017]Description: 324 pages ; 24 cmContent type:- text
- unmediated
- volume
- 9780399158926
- 0399158928
- 813/.6 23
- PS3606.A45 C66 2017
Item type | Current library | Home library | Collection | Shelving location | Call number | Copy number | Status | Date due | Barcode | Item holds | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Book | Cherry Hill Public Library | Cherry Hill Public Library | Fiction | Fiction Collection | FICTION FAL (Browse shelf(Opens below)) | 1 | Available | 33407004424816 |
Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:
Both Cassie Hugo and Margaret Brickshaw dutifully followed their soldier husbands to the U.S. embassy in Jordan, but that's about all the women have in common. After two years, Cassie's become an expert on the rules, but newly arrived Margaret sees only her chance to explore. So when a fender-bender sends Margaret to the local police station, Cassie reluctantly agrees to watch Margaret's toddler son. But as the hours pass, Cassie's boredom and frustration turn to fear- Why isn't Margaret answering her phone, and why is it taking so long to sort out a routine accident? Snooping around Margaret's apartment, Cassie begins to question not only her friend's whereabouts but also her own role in Margaret's disappearance.
Written with emotional insight and stunning prose, The Confusion of Languages is a shattering portrait of a collision between two women and two worlds, as well as a poignant glimpse into the private lives of American military families living overseas.
Both Cassie Hugo and Margaret Brickshaw dutifully followed their soldier husbands to the U.S. embassy in Jordan, but that’s about all the women have in common. After two years, Cassie’s become an expert on the rules, but newly arrived Margaret sees only her chance to explore. So when a fender-bender sends Margaret to the local police station, Cassie reluctantly agrees to watch Margaret’s toddler son. But as the hours pass, Cassie’s boredom and frustration turn to fear: Why isn’t Margaret answering her phone, and why is it taking so long to sort out a routine accident? Snooping around Margaret’s apartment, Cassie begins to question not only her friend’s whereabouts but also her own role in Margaret’s disappearance.
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Library Journal Review
After introducing a stupendous community of left-behind stateside military wives in her debut collection, You Know When the Men Are Gone, Fallon presents in her first novel two women who have accompanied their U.S. Army husbands to Jordan. Shared circumstances ease Cassie and Margaret into a tenuous friendship. Cassie's been based in Jordan for two years, having carefully adjusted to the explicit rules of being an American in a volatile foreign country. Her marriage is faltering, further frayed by her childlessness. Asked to guide newly arrived Margaret's expat immersion, Cassie's initial reluctance dissipates, even as she envies Margaret's new marriage and toddler son. Naïvely free-spirited, Margaret seeks adventure where she should exercise caution. A minor traffic accident sends Margaret to the police station, leaving her son in Cassie's care. Free to roam the apartment, Cassie finds Margaret's diary and begins to read; when Margaret doesn't return, her written secrets may be the only means of finding her. As individual readers, Lauren Fortgang (Cassie) and Jorjeana Marie (Margaret) are equally convincing, but their voices are often indistinguishable-frustratingly ironic as their characters are so varied. VERDICT Such careless production choices yield disappointing results, which may send readers to the printed page.-Terry Hong, Smithsonian BookDragon, Washington, DC © Copyright 2018. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.Booklist Review
*Starred Review* Shortly after the Arab Spring, Cassie Hughes and her husband, Dan, a foreign-affairs officer stationed at the U.S. embassy in Amman, are sponsors to newcomers Margaret and Crick Brickshaw. Margaret may have a sexier husband, a better apartment, and, most particularly, a child, but one advantage Cassie has is her expertise on being a military wife in Jordan, and she is happy to show Margaret the ropes. Margaret is less rule abiding, however, and her desire to explore beyond the constraints of embassy life poses a threat. One evening, after the two women are involved in a minor traffic accident, Margaret goes to the police station to file a report while Cassie stays behind in the Brickshaws' apartment. She comes across Margaret's journal, which she reads as the hours tick by and her friend doesn't return; the layering of Cassie's narrative and Margaret's journal entries provides dual perspectives on the same events. Margaret's disappearance adds an element of suspense to an incisive examination of friendship and betrayal and a skillful mingling of cultural and domestic themes. Military wives are also the subject of Fallon's prizewinning short story collection, You Know When the Men Are Gone (2012).--Quinn, Mary Ellen Copyright 2010 BooklistKirkus Book Review
In her debut novel, Fallon (You Know When the Men Are Gone, 2011) takes the Army wives who were the subject of her previous short story collection and moves them overseas, where political unrest is fomenting in the wake of the Arab Spring.Cass Hugo and her husband, Dan, have been at the U.S. Embassy in Jordan for two years when Dan signs them up to sponsor a new family: Margaret and Crick Brickshaw and their baby, Mather. Cass is a portrait of bitterness; her lack of success conceiving a child has not only strained her marriage, but convinced her that she's disqualified from making friends with the other embassy wives. So though Cass resents the sponsorship and seems to dislike Margaret, she's determined to be the new woman's friend, at least partly because she thinks the sometimes disconcertingly nave Margaret needs her experienced guidance. But as they get to know each other, what emerges between them is a philosophical divide about their roles as foreigners and their responsibilities as military spouses. Where Cass follows the embassy's rules of conduct to the letter and is happiest replicating American experiences, Margaret behaves more instinctively, engaging with the culture and people around her as she sees fit. The fissures in their friendship widen, and Cass is trying to make amends when Margaret goes missing. As Cass watches Mather and waits for news, she finds Margaret's journal and discovers not only the extent of their differences, but her own possible role in her friend's disappearance. For all that these women appear designed for a morality play, they are honest and well-formed characters, and Fallon strenuously avoids pat answers to the central question of how a woman should behave in a foreign land. Page-turning and rich in detail, this is a solid, insightful debut. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.There are no comments on this title.