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Book Review By Lynn Bradshaw
The House by the Sea by May Sarton

"The House by the Sea" is one of a seriess of journal swritten for publication by the poet May Sarton. This book follows "Plant Dreaming Deep" and "A Journal of Solitude" and concerns the first few years of her life when she moved from a small village in New England to New York in order to escape her problems. In this book she deals with the loss of her long time partner to senility, her struggles with her temper and with the events that have affected her life and career. In the book she is candid about her temper tantrums, her need for solitude which clashes with her need to give lectures in order to earn money, the problems of loving someone who no longer has any memory of their shared past, and her fears of growing old and frail.

It is not an easy book to read as the author lays her depression and fears cleanly on the page. I read this book feeling both challenged by the intensity of May Sarton's suffering and happier that in her sixties she was beginning to come to terms with herself.


Plot & Themes
Gender/Class story? - old people story
Family, ill Yes
Who? - wife
because he/she is - mentally ill
Taboo Sex Story? Yes
Kind of sex: - lesbianism
Ethnic/regional/gender Yes
Period of greatest activity? - 1950+

Subject of Biography
Gender - Female
Profession/status:
Ethnicity - White
Nationality - American

Setting
How much descriptions of surroundings? - 10 ()
United States Yes
Small town? Yes
Century: - 1960's-1970's

Writing Style
Book makes you feel? - challenged
If this is a kid's book: - Age 16-Adult
Pictures/Illustrations? - A few 1-5 B&W
How much of bio focuses on most famous period of life? - 76%-100% of book
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