Marialyce's Reviews > The Correspondent

I know, I know how is it possible that I only found this to be a three star read?

I found the main protagonist to be so very unlikable so that perhaps makes up a major reason why I rated this low. She put forth so many characteristics that I abhorred. I do realize how devastating the loss of a child can be. Of course, thankfully, I do not know what one does to overcome if one can the ravages of that loss. However, I do think, Sybil deserted both her husband and her other children at that point. The children lost a brother, the husband a son, should she not have been there for them? When she didn't attend the funeral of her ex husband it brought sad memories of my ex father in law doing the very same thing to his five children. My husband and his siblings were so very hurt and bereaved and needed a father to shepherd them through the hurt. Just like Sybil no one was there.

She retreated into letter writing, (a lost art it seems), and even here I found little in her writing that showed she was not a cold woman. I know she took in that boy and perhaps that was an effort to try and "make up" for her cold behavior towards her own family. In thinking back, I do not remember a time when Sybil cried or even laughed in the story. She was too stoic for me.

Perhaps my empathy factor in this story was missing, but even if she considered herself a horrible mother, her behavior reinforced that belief. At times I thought her to be an autistic adult who locked herself away in the effort to feel and do as little as she possibly could. She became a hermit within herself.

Jan and I had quite a lively discussion over this story and agreed that when we disagree. we have the best "talks".