Book Review: Woven: Six Stories, One Epic Journey by Maureen Morrissey
Maureen Morrissey is the author of Woven: Six Stories, One Epic Journey. In this novel, you watch the history of a family unfold from the great-grandparents to the fourth generation. Morrissey says in the author's note that this was her 2020 project that she wrote during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Morrissey obviously is a history buff. I learned some things about World War Two that I didn't know like: a group of nurses crashed in the mountains and had to hike nine weeks to reach their destination and the Japanese actually put together prison camps that were equally as horrible as some of the camps in Germany.
The book is divided into two parts: his and hers. The "His" stands for Cam's story and the "Hers" stands for Tessa's story. The story begins with Cam's great-grandfather who fled to the United States to escape the Irish potato famine and threads down through the generations to Cam's grandfather who was the first in his family to graduate from college, to his father who was a veteran of World War Two, and finally to Cam himself, a young man fleeing a vagrant lifestyle and joining the Navy. The second half of the book begins with Tessa's grandmothers. One (Lena) flees from Berlin to Columbia, where she almost despairs finding a suitable match for her strong willed daughter, Hannah (Tessa's mother); the other (Grieta) flees from Amsterdam to Batavia. Grieta and her son, Dirk (Tessa's father), experience the Japanese prison camp. The story led all the way to Tessa, a young girl who longs for adventure. If that confuses you, don't be alarmed. My biggest complaint for the book was that the names were hard to keep straight. There were a lot of characters involved.
This book was a solid read. In the end, it reminded me of sitting at my grandmother's house and listening to the older members of the family talk about their lives. It also made the history, World War Two, the Irish Potato Famine, Jews fleeing to safety, Japanese Prison Camps, all seem personable. Almost like it happened to my own family. So, I do give Morrissey credit for making history come alive. If you like historical fiction, it's definitely for you.
Aarika says I am a monster, because even though I said the book was a solid read and gave examples of its strengths, I still gave it three stars. First, I applaud Ms. Morrissey for using the quarantine to produce such a creative book. Second, I also applaud her for a unique experience, for as you will see, the book definitely makes you feel like this is your history. So why just three stars?
There were so many moving pieces that sometimes I had to flip back and forth to remember where I
was. The story moves so quickly that I didn't feel like each character was fully developed. Most of them felt like names drifting by--ghosts that you only remember their names and not what they're really like. For example, Milke's only highlight in Dirk's story is that she's killed for refusing to become a "comfort woman." Lillian, who is Cam's mother, had a couple of amazing things happen to her (She was one of the nurses who hiked for nine weeks), but because the story moved so fast, we didn't get to really know her. So, when she suffers in the book, it's not like experiencing the suffering of a beloved character, because she's a stranger to us. While I realize that Morrissey couldn't possibly have fit each character into the book complete with motivations and backstory, it was like reading the bullet points of these people's stories instead of experiencing their lives with them.
With that in mind, I will say that this is a phenomenal first book. If Ms. Morrissey continues to write, you can bet that I'll be checking out her other works. And if she writes a book about just Lillian, I'll definitely be buying it.
Ratings:
- Sexual Content: 2 out of 5. There's very little sexual content and what's there is very brief. One character gets fondled on the train. That same character sunbathes topless. There's also a scene where girls discuss intercourse when they find out one of them is engaged. Two of the characters are homosexual.
- Violence: 2 out of 5. Although some of the material is violent, the scenes are very brief. A car accident leads to the death of a child. Some characters experience abuse in prison camps. Domestic violence is discussed.
- Thematic Elements: 2 out of 5. Again, all situations that are violent are very brief. Morrissey doesn't exactly dwell on them.
- Language: 2 out of 5. There are a few bad words, but they are easily overlooked. I didn't notice the first two until I was skimming back over some pages I'd already read.
If you want to hear the Two Bluestockings talk about this book on their podcast, you can listen here:
Jayna Gerhart is a full-time mom, student, and reader. She likes discussing symbolism in literature over wine and coffee. She also enjoys really good food--her favorite meal is a rare steak with a baked potato and a giant dinner roll.
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