The Country of the Pointed Firs
Sarah Orne Jewett
Read by LibriVox Volunteers
The Country of the Pointed Firs (1896) is considered Jewett’s finest work, described by Henry James as her “beautiful little quantum of achievement.” Despite James’s diminutives, the novel remains a classic. Because it is loosely structured, many critics view the book not as a novel, but a series of sketches; however, its structure is unified through both setting and theme. Jewett herself felt that her strengths as a writer lay not in plot development or dramatic tension, but in character development. Indeed, she determined early in her career to preserve a disappearing way of life, and her novel can be read as a study of the effects of isolation and hardship on the inhabitants who lived in the decaying fishing villages along the Maine coast.
(summary from Gutenberg e-text) (4 hr 25 min)
Chapters
The Return / Mrs. Todd | 11:20 | Read by Betsie Bush |
The Schoolhouse | 5:35 | Read by Kara Shallenberg (1969-2023) |
At the Schoolhouse Window | 6:43 | Read by Kara Shallenberg (1969-2023) |
Captain Littlepage | 14:19 | Read by James Smith |
The Waiting Place | 13:56 | Read by Frank |
The Outer Island | 6:57 | Read by Stephan Gambke |
Green Island | 21:58 | Read by Chip |
William | 6:58 | Read by Michael Shook |
Where Pennyroyal Grew | 10:50 | Read by Kara Shallenberg (1969-2023) |
The Old Singers | 8:04 | Read by Patricia Oakley |
A Strange Sail | 13:44 | Read by Marian Brown |
Poor Joanna | 20:15 | Read by Marian Brown |
The Hermitage | 14:14 | Read by Marian Brown |
On Shell-heap Island | 7:58 | Read by Marian Brown |
The Great Expedition | 12:40 | Read by Patricia Oakley |
A Country Road | 13:42 | Read by Marian Brown |
The Bowden Reunion | 26:28 | Read by Michael Shook |
The Feast’s End | 11:51 | Read by Marian Brown |
Along Shore | 28:31 | Read by Betsie Bush |
The Backward View | 9:20 | Read by Betsie Bush |
Reviews
Derek
Chapter 6 was inaudible at highest volume setting. Chapter 7 was read by a person with a heavy accent and was difficult to follow. Test of the readers were great.
Unknown
I love the descriptions of nature, the sea, family, and the passage of time. What makes life full? The people.
A summer vacation in a Maine coast town.
American History