Kamouraska

Kamouraska is the fictional account of the murder of a man as written by his wife 18 years after the fact. The original written by Anne Hebert was published in 1970 and is based on a real murder that took place in Canada in 1840. It's got rhythm and histrionics and great visualizations of the landscape, the auntie old maids, and even includes the many children she gave birth to, 3 in the first marriage, 8 to the later marriage and one of them fathered by neither husband. I could feel tremendous restrictions placed on women as well as men in that place and time, no access to divorce, no access to birth control, no access to work (the women). I picked up the book on the basis of the title which sounded vaguely Japanese to me, but in fact is an old Algonquian Indian word, and because of the cover painting, which is really striking and does not portend the anguish that will be written of inside the volume which it graces! I was a little bored at first but for some reason I kept going back to it and reading more. I finished it in three days and found the story invading my thoughts at all sorts of moments! I simply can not imagine myself in her shoes, the shoes of Elizabeth, married at 16 and, married again at 20, and giving birth to 11 children over the 21 years of marriage! Most of all I can't imagine the guilt for the murder which might be argued was in a sort of self-defense. there are puzzles there to be pondered.

Having to read this book for a school assignment, I was pretty sure that I would not enjoy it. But surprisingly enough, I did. This is not only a romance novel, it is a true tale of suspense. And even though the main character does not make moral choices, you feel for her and understand why she makes those choices.

I was unsure how I would react to this book, having heard mixed reviews. Once started, it drew me in. It's a gripping tale of passion. A good deal of this novel is told in dreams and using stream of conciousness--so it is not light reading. However, piecing it together is well worth the effort. Join Elisabeth in her tale of despair, murder, and abandonment....