Scarlet Feather
by Maeve Binchy

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Book Reviews of Scarlet Feather

Book Review: Sorrows from Seeking Joy
Summary: 3 Stars

Like Tara Road, the book is filled with an enormous number of characters, most of whom are related to one another in either the Mitchell, Scarlet or Feather families. As you read the book, jot down who's who. It will help you keep the characters straight. A number of them only appear every two hundred pages or so.

The book deals with a number of appealing themes. Among them are what makes for a loving relationship, our responsibility to the less fortunate, the reasonable boundaries for one's own career aspirations, what noble behavior is, the need for personal responsibility, the dangers of allowing hope or despair to overwhelm an objective view of oneself, and how abused children should be cared for.

The messages that come out of the book are sort of a downer though. Almost all men unreliable, parents should be watched lest they do harm to their children, you don't really know the people you love until you try to rely on them . . . and then you will be disappointed, upper class people have no class, poor people are their own worst enemies, most peoples' dreams are pretty silly, ambitious people will pay an enormous price, family law is filled with stupidity, and almost everyone puts their own interests ahead of everyone else's no matter what the cost.

Ms. Binchy's strength is that she can take a character, bring that character to life, and evolve that character into a different person by the end of the novel. When she succeeds in those dimensions, you will love the book. The characters of Cathy Feather, Maud Mitchell, Simon Mitchell, and Shona Burke will probably strike you as being very appealing in this dimension. Most of the other characters failed to make the transition into full Binchy development, however.

The book's main weakness is that the plot is needlessly exaggerated in many dimensions, which makes the story awkward, extreme and unrealistic. The exaggerations reminded me of the sort of thing you see in a fairy tale, like Cinderella, rather than in a contemporary novel.

I could not help consciously comparing the book to that wonderful novel, Tara Road by Ms. Binchy. Scarlet Feather is not nearly in the same class unfortunately, although the two books explore many of the same themes.

Despite those weaknesses, I would have thoroughly enjoyed the book if its length had been briefer. But at 549 pages, I felt disappointed.

People who will enjoy this book most are those who have been disappointed in love, in their families and in their efforts to start a new business.

After you finish this novel, I suggest that you sit down with those you love and discuss how you can be more supportive of them . . . in ways that they need most.

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