Reviews

• スリルと感動を与えてくれる傑作

  植民地時代のアメリカ北部の清教徒の開拓地に、カリブ海の豊かな農場主の孫として育てられた娘が、農場主の死後、親戚を頼って移り住む話しです。 物語の前半は、植民地時代の様子がよく分かり、後半は、スリルと感動を与えてくれる物語です。ファンタジーではありません。 児童文学ですが、４０代の私も本当におもしろく読めました。最後の魔女審判のシーンなどは何回も読みました。

• Gut

• Don't let the title put you off--this is NOT a book about witches! I first contemplated reading this book after seeing it on many "must read" lists. Then, when I realized that it was the same author as The Bronze Bow, I dove in. The book is set in New England around the time of the infamous Salem witch hunts--one of the sad episodes in Christian history. The protagonist, Kit Tyler, finds herself in the midst of her strict Puritan relatives after losing both her parents and grandfather. She quickly discovers that she does not fit in. In fact, people are leery of her from the beginning when they see that she can swim--they believed that was evidence of involvement in witchcraft. Kit befriends a Quaker woman, Hannah, who lives at the edge of Blackbird Pond. The townspeople will have nothing to do with her, and many think she is a witch. During her visits with Hannah, Kit comes to know the God of the Bible as this gentle woman shares scripture with her. The book is full of adventure and a little bit of romance--it's sure to appeal to girls age 12 and up.

• Questo è un bellissimo libro, e si può leggere anche se hai 90 anni. Ti insegna veramente tanto. Lo consiglio vivamente.

• The Witch of Blackbird Pond is one that I read when I was very young, and since I didn’t really remember anything besides that I enjoyed it, this is tagged a re-read. Kit Tyler is an intelligent and spirited young woman who was raised by her wealthy grandfather in Barbados. When it becomes apparent that she can’t live alone when her grandfather passes, she moves to Connecticut to stay at her uncle’s house. Things are very different in America from the life she knew in Barbados. Kit was raised with the privilege of fine clothes and others who did all the work of cooking, growing food and keeping her house. At her uncle’s home, she was expected to card wool, pull weeds, and if they wanted a sweet dessert on Sunday, they needed to save their sugar for the entire week. Besides the fact that Kit could swim, her fine clothes and attitude, set her apart from the people of Connecticut. She did not comfortably tolerate the Puritan church and their desire to sit through too long services every Sunday. Kit kitchen for a walk alone and met Hannah Tupper, a woman the locals suspected of witchcraft because she was a Quaker and not a Puritan. I never thought about it the first reading, but for some reason, I always thought the two religions were virtually the same. Quaker’s believed that you could pray and God would hear you, and Puritans believed they were reforming the Church of England. The politics of the time are also interspersed throughout the story. I’m not sure quite why I like this so much the first time I read it, because although the writing is excellent, I found the story sad or dark coming from a more enlightened time. The story had a happy ending and had many light and joyful moments, as well as very stressful ones. Kit is an admirable character, even though some of her beliefs made her less than perfect. I still had to give this “history lesson” five stars for great writing and solid storytelling.

• Thoroughly enjoyed this book. It was an interesting look into the life and beliefs of the Puritan settlers.

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