Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1012645 in Books
• Published on: 2001-12-14
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 384 pages

Synopsis
A brilliant and wonderfully reviewed first novel: the story of two sisters and the man who enters both their lives.. During the worst of the prairie dust bowl of the 1930's, a young man appears out of a blizzard, and two sisters' lives are changed forever. Norma Joyce Hardy is the dark and lonely girl whose boldness and cunning prove so seductive; against her vivid, tricky personality, the beautiful and saintly Lucinda can barely hold her own. A Student of Weather traces their rivalry over decades to the century's end. In this gorgeous novel, Elizabeth Hay lays bare the lasting imprint on the human heart of physical landscape, family rivalries, and first love."[An] enormously moving first novel. An unsentimental testament to resilience and mettle. A triumphant novel." --Newsday"[A] novel with passionate, urgent grace."--Boston Globe"Beautiful and excited in every way-in character, and theme, setting Elizabeth Hay firmly in the company of such other writers as Margaret Atwood and Carol Shields. "--New Orleans Times-Picayune

Excerpted from A Student of Weather by Elizabeth Hay. Copyright © 2002. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Some nights she still goes over every detail, beginning with the weather and proceeding to the drop of blood on the old sheet - her quick wish for a man with straight white teeth and red lips - and then his arrival. His voice outside, her hand on the coin of frostbite on his cheek, his gift of an apple.
Everyone said it was eastern weather, the snow so deep and even that the carol was always in her mind, and she asked her father and sister who St. Stephen was, but as usual they didn't know. The absence of wind, a certain mildness in the air, a certain depth: instead of cutting sideways, the weather came down. People said this was the way it snowed in Ontario, and she thought, since I cannot get to Ontario, Ontario has come to me.

Customer Reviews

Beautiful
It takes a great writer to recreate a world so well that you believe you are reading a true story. The depiction of rural life in cold, dusty, stormy Saskatchewan is beautifully done and I doubt anybody can feel indifferent to the fortunes of those two sisters who have the misfortune of caring for the same young man who doesn't care enough for either of them. A very atmospheric read of the best kind, a haunting book that you will devour and love I am sure!

Canada at its best
If, like me, you're a big fan of Canadian literature, you'll love Elizabeth Hay. If you place Margaret Attwood on the highest plinth, with Robertson Davies and Alice Monroe fighting for second place, then try Hay. She's sparce and emotional. She describes the landscape of Ontario and Saskatchewan with brevity and soul.
The characters are well drawn and bitter-sweet. Like Monroe, the language flows in an effortless, timeless manner. It's poetic language.
In this book, like life, don't expect a happy ending. But enjoy the journey. Highly recommended

Another 5-star review for this book (it's good!)
This is a fantastic novel by a writer I'd never previously heard of. Ernest Hardy unfairly blames his 3-year-old daughter Norma Joyce for the accidental death of his son (the exact circumstances are left in doubt, but clearly holding a grudge against a 3-year-old is unreasonable, if understandable). His subsequent favouritism towards her elder sister Lucinda warps both girls as they grow up, and sets the stage for a family conflict of Shakespearean proportions. Even from the age of nine, Norma Joyce begins to plot to steal attractive meteorology student Maurice Dove from her sister. When she (inevitably) succeeds, it is only to discover that Maurice wasn't such a fantastic prize anyway; but Lucinda never forgives her.

Weather is very much a recurring theme: it is used both literally (Hay writes in a positively numinous way about the Canadian prairie landscape, with extremely beautiful language) and as a metaphor for the way random bad luck (what Iris Murdoch would call "the contingent"), such as the death of Norma Joyce's younger brother, can sweep into lives and lay them waste.

Norma Joyce is an utterly convincing character, as indeed is Lucinda: there is a fairytale intensity in the contrast between blonde, classically beautiful "good girl" Lucinda and short, dark "bad girl" Norma Joyce; but of course, both are complex characters who finally escape the roles imposed on them by their father. I can think of few fictional characters quite as well-rounded as Norma Joyce: as one back-cover reviewer puts it, she "is life itself".

A stunning read, then, and constantly surprising. Buy it.