Book Review: When Madeline Was Young by Jane Hamilton - Page 3

And the uneasy relationship, the jerky movements towards reconciliation between Mac and Buddy, the conscientious objector and the career soldier, is this Hamilton's wish to see the left and the right united by their commonalities rather than divided by their differences? Madeline is America and Buddy is the right and Mac is the left! Allegory, allegory, allegory!

At this point, I decided that maybe I had read too much US election punditry, watched too much comedic news and possibly was operating on too little sleep, or maybe even lingering aftereffects from the bout of fever I'd had earlier in the week. I set the review aside and went to bed.

In the clearness of morning, I came to this conclusion: When Madeline Was Young is either a deceptively simple book with deep allegorical undercurrents, or else it is a well-written book that isn't quite what you'd expect from the dust jacket copy. Either way, it's a good read.

Article Author: Bonnie

Bonnie writes about books every Thursday at Fourth-Rate Reader, about everything else at Signifying Nothing, and sometimes she resorts to pictures. She lives in Toronto.

Visit Bonnie's author page — Bonnie's Blog