The Crooked Branch

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Despite the centuries that separate them, Majella is heartened to learn that her ancestor Ginny was in so many ways a woman just like herself - just a mother struggling to find a way to raise and protect her young children. Ginny's battles may have been more fundamental than Majella's - as she struggled to keep her young family alive during the time of Ireland's Great Hunger - yet Majella can't deny the strong connection that she still feels towards Ginny. However, does the fierce tenderness that Majella begins to feel towards her newborn daughter outweigh everything else - or is she actually genetically fated to be a bad mother? Determined to understand the truth of her heritage as well as her own identity, Majella seeks to learn more about Ginny Doyle's personal history - and discovers surprising new truths about her family and, ultimately, about herself. Eventually, Dr. Zimmer suggests a prescription to help ease Majella’s anxiety. Should she take those pills? Why or why not? With the ravages of the famine upon her, a terrified and distraught Ginny Doyle fled from Ireland to America. Although she was eventually able to acquire passage for herself and her children, not all of Ginny's family were able to escape and to start over fresh in their lives. So, what actually happened during those harrowing years, and just why does Ginny continue to call herself a killer? A common assumption is that readers’ sense of intimacy with fictional characters carries with it feelings of emotional sympathy with those characters. In fact, there is no necessary connection between the two; intimacy in itself implies only familiarity, not affection, let alone love. Gaskell’s “The Crooked Branch” is a case in point. This paper first examines the story’s shifts in viewpoint that establish intimacy with the reader. The central focus, however, is the subsequent narrative. As Gaskell was well aware, the most powerful emotional responses that fiction is capable of producing are frequently plot-driven: the most memorable Victorian fictions are often works in which, once an atmosphere of intimacy is created, a strong element of suspense appears — and, as it dissipates, is replaced with a quite different emotion, one akin to love. Such is the case, the paper argues, with “The Crooked Branch.” Exploring the effect of a secret from the past on a woman who is truly on the edge—of motherhood, of her future, of sanity, of happiness—Jeanine Cummins has written a story that truly resonates. Insightful, suspenseful, and sometimes bitingly funny, with characters the reader will think about for weeks, this bittersweet novel is emotional and immensely satisfying.”

THE CROOKED BRANCH – Reading Group Choices THE CROOKED BRANCH – Reading Group Choices

At the beginning of the book, Majella’s relationship with her mother is a source of frustration, rather than a comfort. Why is Majella angry with her mother? Is her anger justifiable, or is her attitude toward her mom unfair? Is theirs is a typical, modern mother-daughter relationship? Why or why not? What could Majella do to improve their relationship? Majella wonders if perhaps she is a bad mother because of this Ginny, that maybe she is genetically programmed to fail at motherhood. After all, Majella and her mother don’t have a great relationship, so maybe she is she destined to have the same with Emma. But as Majella continues to unravel the mystery that is Ginny and her Irish family, she forms a new connection with her mother, forges a possible friendship with another new mother, and starts to regain some of her sanity.

When people “ fill in every conversation with fluff, to prevent you from trying to talk about anything real […] there’s usually some super-deep reservoir of hurt under there that they’re trying to hide. And they spend their whole life doing jazz-hands so that nobody will notice the gushing wound of pain behind the curtain.” Ginny, her husband, and three children are trying to survive the potato blight, while continuing to produce grains on their plot of land to pay the rent to their absentee British landlord. Those who couldn't pay were evicted and their homes burnt down. They were left to starve and if any neighbors tried to help them, they suffered the same fate. Evicted and burnt out. With a population of about 8 million at the time, Ireland lost one million people who died in the famine, and another million who emigrated. Anna: I’m halfway through this book and am upset when “life” gets in the way and I have to put it down. I can’t wait to find out what happens to each of these mothers, but I’m also torn because I want to savor the words–Cummins writes with such emotion and brings in all of the senses. Her previous novel, “The Outside Boy” is one of my all-time favorites books (in case you’re looking for another title as part of your Ireland Reading Challenge.) Thanks for a great review–no spoilers–just more incentive to keep reading! Cheers! BCC

Jeanine Cummins - Wikipedia Jeanine Cummins - Wikipedia

The Crooked Branch is a story of a family, of mothers, of women. It’s a story of grief and loss. It’s a story of hope and sacrifice. It’s a story of the costliness of love. Sometimes it will take your life. Sometimes it will take your heart. Sometimes it will take others to enable you to survive. Majella has just become a new mother. She is going through more then just postpartum depression. She is having dreams about her new born daughter being dead. She worries as mental illness does run in her family heritage. She especially worries when she find a diary in the attic from one of her relatives, Ginny.

I just heard about this book, and it sounds marvelous. The premise is great, and I like the double narrative approach–weaving two stories and one family together, and, of course, the age-old dilemma regarding how to be a good mother and a good daughter. Jeanine Cummins, you’ve strummed my heartstrings! I have to believe that this author writes with deep emotion. I am yet to do some Googling to learn more about the Irish potato famine of the 1800’s, but I’m certain that Ms Cummins conducted a lot of research. After the birth of her daughter, Emma, first-time mother Majella finds herself feeling extremely strange - almost like she has somehow become separated or disconnected from herself and her family. The usually resilient and self-deprecating young woman suddenly feels isolated and exhausted - feelings which she slowly comes to realize reach far beyond simply being overwhelmed by her recent introduction to new motherhood. Trying to better understand her extraordinary feelings of 'differential otherness', Majella understands that no matter how much they may love her, her family just can't help her in this particular situation; so she seeks out professional help. Keywords: Gaskell, Plot, Empathy, The Crooked Branch, Short Fiction, Victorian Short Story, Suspense

The Crooked Branch - Facebook The Crooked Branch - Facebook

Farmers Nathan and Hester Huntroyd haben recht spät geheiratet. Sie haben daher nur einen Sohn, Benjamin. Sie überhäufen Benjamin mit ihrer ganzen Liebe. Niemand ist so perfekt wie ihr Sohn. Ein sehr modernes Verhalten, das auch die gleichen Folgen hervorbringt, wie so manche heutige Nichterziehung. Benjamin wird sehr eigensinnig und ist nicht er – sondern verzogen. Seine Eltern arbeiten schwer, um ihm ein Studium zu ermöglichen, Benjamin hat jedoch andere Pläne und genießt das Londoner Leben weit über seine finanziellen Möglichkeiten.Maunder, Andrew (2007). "Lois the Witch". The Facts on File Companion to the British Short Story. pp.248–249. This dual-timeline narrative was entertaining in part and cringeworthy in part. I really enjoyed Ginny's story, a suspenseful drama of young motherhood set during the potato famine in Ireland; however, her descendant Majella's modern tale of postpartum depression just didn't draw me in. Ginny's life had true tragedy and she had such resilience, and every step she took in life was realistic and understandable. Majella, on the other hand, wasn't a well fleshed character to me, nor were the supporting characters in her story. Her husband, what's-his-name, was basically a caricature of the clueless man (honestly, it took him half the book to even bring up medication), her friend Jade had just one aspect to her personality (unhappy), and her mother was horrible right up until she was the best mom ever... there was just no depth there. Still, the story was really interesting and I appreciated how Cummins tried to tie the modern-day arc to the historical one (even if I'm not a fan of the concept of genetic memory, I was willing to buy into the idea for the sake of the book). I was also glad to see postpartum depression as a topic for a book - there should be more of that - but would've liked a more concrete resolution there. Die einzige Stütze der beiden Bauersleut ist die Tochter einer Schwester, die sie bei sich aufgenommen haben. Eigentlich, damit sie irgendwann Benjamin heiratet, schließlich sind die beiden Kinder miteinander aufgewachsen.

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I only persisted with this book as I had been recommended it and the Irish Historical genealogy theme is an interest. I found the early chapters, heavy in dialogue very hard going. Reading it actually made me cringe. Felt very inauthentic. The friendship that evolves between Ginny and Seán is a source of strength and comfort to her. He is integral in saving her children. Does their friendship ever feel improper or disloyal, given Ginny’s marital status? When they first meet at Springhill House, are Seán’s flirtations harmless, or does he really have romantic motives toward Ginny? Does Ginny respond to his flirtation appropriately? Majella’s relationship with her own mother is hardly a model one. Her mother is so far removed from anything that’s real, rambling on and on about random things and never stopping to listen to her daughter, who is falling apart at the seams. When Majella finds a diary written by an ancestor who survived the famine in Ireland, there’s one passage that makes her believe she is genetically programmed to fail at motherhood.With the famine upon her, Ginny Doyle fled from Ireland to America, but not all of her family made it. What happened during those harrowing years, and why does Ginny call herself a killer? Is Majella genetically fated to be a bad mother, despite the fierce tenderness she feels for her baby? When Majella reads her ancestor’s diary, she begins to worry that she may have inherited some bad mothering genetics. Is she right to worry about this, or is it meaningless? Are parenting skills hereditary, or can women learn how to be patient, calm, and nurturing with their children, even if that sort of temperament doesn’t come naturally? Is Majella looking for an excuse for her shortcomings? Ginny lives in Ireland. A time when the famine was really bad for families. It was fight or perish. Ginny was willing to do anything to survive. How far would she go? When Leo and Majella found out they were expecting Emma, they left their apartment in Manhattan, and moved in search of a more suburban lifestyle in Queens. Were they right to make that move? How would Majella’s experiences as a new mother have been better or worse if they had stayed in Manhattan, or if they had selected a more neutral setting than the house where Majella grew up?