Archibald Cronin's novel "Castle Brody": plot, main characters, reviews. Archibald Cronin's novel "Brody's Castle": plot, main characters, reviews Brody's attitude towards people

The action takes place in the 1880s. in the small Scottish town of Leavenford. In the house of bizarre architecture, the project of which was developed by James Brody himself, they live: the elderly mother of the head of the family, for whom the only entertainment is food, his wife Margaret, a woman exhausted by life, daughters Nancy (an excellent student, whom her father reads a great future) and Mary (brave and determined girl, forced to give up her education to help her mother around the house), the son of Matthew, whom his father is going to send to India, and the owner himself. James Brody is a hat shop owner who enjoys fame and influence in the city, mainly due to his wealthy clients. This is a cruel and domineering person who despises everyone he considers below himself. With family, he is strict, and sometimes even cruel. So, he forbade Mary to go to the annual fair - he became aware of her meetings with Denis Foyle, an Irishman by birth and a traveling salesman of one of the trading companies, and he wants to put an end to this acquaintance. However, in violation of his ban, Mary still goes to the fair. There, she and Denis ride the merry-go-round, watch a show at the fairground booth, and then go to the riverbank. Fascinated by Mary's youthful beauty, Denis takes possession of her, and the innocent girl does not even understand what really happened. Filled with passion, the young man proposes to her. However, both understand that it is impossible to register a marriage soon - Denis must first get on his feet, get his own house. The wait drags on so much that Mary, to her surprise, begins to discover strange changes in her figure. Not knowing what to think, she goes to the doctor, who tells her that she is pregnant. Mary tells Denis about this, asking him to speed up the wedding. Denis decides to ask Brody for her hand, but he tries to hit him. The young man manages to dodge, and instead of Denis, Brody hits the wall, as a result of which he hits his arm painfully. Furious, he puts Mary under house arrest.

Mary is in despair - she is on the verge of suicide and is ready to take poison, when she suddenly receives a note from Denis, in which he writes that he has already rented a small house and soon they will be able to move there. Then Mary throws out the poison, but she feels that something strange is happening to her. Her stomach hurts unbearably. She hides from her family in her room, but suddenly her mother comes to her. For the first time, a woman notices her daughter's swollen belly and understands everything. In vain, Mary asks her not to say anything to her father - brought up in sanctimonious morality and afraid of her husband to death, Mrs. Brody betrays her daughter. Brody barely restrains himself from beating the unfortunate Mary, but in the end he simply throws her out into the street.

Outside is night, a storm; the wind howls terribly, lightning flashes. Mary, in one dress, wanders through the forest. After long wanderings in the forest, she finally comes to the river, but suddenly stumbles and falls into the water. Miraculously, she manages to escape, but she immediately falls into the swamp, barely seeing the light of housing. In the end, Mary gets out on level ground and with difficulty wanders to the house. She is afraid of people, so she climbs into the barn, where she gives birth to a boy.

By chance, the hostess enters the barn and finds Mary unconscious. She calls a doctor, and the unfortunate girl is taken to the nearest hospital,

Meanwhile, Denis travels on assignment from the firm to a remote Scottish town. When his train passes a rickety, half-rotten bridge, the supports give way and the train falls into an abyss. Denis is dying.

Some time later, Brody has a conversation with the famous city gossip Grierson, from whom he learns that Mary's child died in the hospital. Dr. Renwick took a great part in the fate of Mary; Denis's parents helped her get a job as a servant in London. But Brody does not seem to care: he disowned his daughter and does not want to hear about her, despite the misfortune that befell her. He thinks with gloating glee of Foyle's death.

Soon Brody learns that in the near future a store of a large haberdashery firm "Manjo and Co" will open in the neighborhood of his shop, which will also sell hats. Brody's clerk Peter Perry invites the owner to innovate in the trade, but he is self-confident and does not want to hear anything. However, the neighbors' window dressing, beautiful mannequins, and other publicity stunts make Manjo's a serious competitor, and soon all of Brody's customers move there. To top it all off, Perry also goes there, disappointed by the boring, uninteresting job of the rude and ungrateful Brody. And although Brody's financial situation has been greatly shaken, he continues to be rude to clients. His affairs are getting worse and worse.

But Brody's main troubles are yet to come. At home, he learns that Matthew is returning early from India. There are rumors in the city that he does not do it of his own free will - he was fired for poor work. Soon Margaret Brody receives a telegram from her son, where he asks to send him forty pounds. The fact is that for eight months he sent his mother five pounds each so that she would keep them, but due to the difficult financial situation of the family, she spent this money. To get forty pounds, she has to turn to moneylenders, and they lend her money at high interest. The unfortunate woman denies herself everything, pays interest with difficulty, and dries before her eyes.

Matthew returns. He has changed a lot; sleeps until noon, dine in the city, extorts money from his mother, and when he cannot get it, steals the family watch. It turns out that with the bride Agnes, he behaves no better. After talking with her, Margaret has an attack of the disease that has been tormenting her for a long time.

Having won a large amount of money in billiards, Mat goes to a brothel. Bursting into some room, he meets a pretty girl there and begins to pester her, when suddenly Brody appears. A girl named Nancy, a waitress in one of the city's cafes, is waiting for him. A fight breaks out; Mat shoots at his father, but misses.

Meanwhile, Mrs. Brody is in unbearable pain. The doctor diagnoses: cancer. She had less than six months to live. She offers to write Mary to come and do housework, but Brody strongly objects.

After a while, Brody realizes that he is completely ruined. Upon learning of this, Margaret Brody dies.

To feed his family, Brody enters the shipyard of the local rich man Sir John Latta as an accountant. He brings Nancy into the house as a housekeeper, but she is unable to run the household the way the late Mrs. Brody did. In addition, she wants to get married and is unhappy with her current position. The house is in disarray. Brody drinks and Nancy starts to pay more attention to Matthew. He loves her back and she hopes he will marry her.

Seeing the complete collapse of his own career, Brody now pins all his hopes on his youngest daughter, forcing her to work hard to get a university scholarship. Exhausted by malnutrition and constant studies, Nessie writes to Mary, begging her to return.

Soon a letter arrives from Mary, where she asks her father for forgiveness. He was about to write a sharp answer, when he suddenly finds out that Nancy had fled with Mat to South America. He has no choice but to agree to the arrival of his eldest daughter.

After a four-year absence, Mary returns to Leavenford. Concerned about her sister's condition, she turns to Dr. Renwick, who once saved her life. He gladly comes to her aid - he has long been secretly in love with her. As if casually examining Nessie, the doctor finds a strong nervous exhaustion in the girl.

However, Brody does not let his daughter rest: everything in the house is now subordinated to the struggle for a scholarship. Out of fear of her father, Nessie is afraid to admit that she feels unwell and continues to study hard. However, she does not receive a scholarship. Upon learning of this, Nessie goes mad and hangs herself in despair.

Returning home, Mary finds her sister in a noose and calls for Dr. Renwick. He understands that Mary must be taken away from this house as soon as possible. He confesses his love to her and proposes. They fall into each other's arms.

At this moment, Brody returns from work. He accuses the doctor and Mary of adultery, but the doctor points out Nessie's fragile body. “Nessie hanged herself because she didn’t get a scholarship, and you are the culprit of her death,” he says, after which he and Mary leave this house forever, And then Brody realizes the horror of his situation: he realizes that he was left alone with a half-mad mother who, like everyone else, is scared to death of him.

retold

From the very first pages of this work, readers are immersed in the dull and frightening atmosphere of a very strange house, which the protagonist of the novel, James Brody, decided to build for himself and his loved ones. He wanted to live in a real castle, because he claims to be of aristocratic origin, but the size of his dwelling does not correspond to real castles at all, so the house, standing on the outskirts of the whole city, looks extremely ridiculous and causes Brody's fellow citizens, who also live in a Scottish town called Leavenford , only ridicule.

But James himself is simply overwhelmed with pride for himself and for his name, he is sure that he is in a direct and fairly close relationship with the family of the duke himself. Brody looks down on all other people, both because of his really huge growth, and because of his contemptuous attitude towards them, he is firmly convinced that he belongs to the category of the elite and everyone else is simply unworthy of communicating with him and his family. Over his pride, bordering on obsession, they laugh in the city, but James does not want to notice this, not doubting his own exclusivity.

The way of the Brody family is also different from life in other families. Everything is subordinated exclusively to the will, desires and whims of the head of the family, all household members literally tremble before this person and tremble with fear, being in his presence. Suffice it to recall only the first tea party in this house, shown by the author. Tea in Brody's house is served at the same time every evening, all family members are required to be at the table, not a minute late.

James's wife Margaret is only busy serving her cruel husband as best as possible, he constantly mocks the woman and is even able to hit her, but Margaret meekly endures absolutely everything, silently bowing her head. She has long lost all ability to resist the domestic tyrant and thinks only about not making him angry again, the fear of James actually killed her self-esteem, she never even tries to express her own opinion, agreeing with her husband in everything. True, she secretly indulges her favorite, eldest son Matthew, but does it in such a way that Brody does not find out about anything. The woman is almost indifferent to her daughters, especially to the eldest of them, Mary.

As for Mary, this girl turns out to be the only person in the house who is able to object to her father, although she also has to overcome fear. Mary firmly insists that her lover Dennis Foyle is not at all a scoundrel and a slacker, as Mr. Brody claims. Even a terrible night, when James, in a terrible thunderstorm, kicks Mary’s legs out of the house, who has already begun childbirth, and the death of a baby does not force the courageous girl to break down, only she leaves the family castle in the finale of the novel in order to continue living on with the worthy and decent man, Dr. Renwick.

Matthew, the eldest of the children of James and Margaret, is weak-willed and weak-willed, the constant fear of a tyrant father from childhood teaches him to lie and pretend, boundless maternal love also helps to form just such features in him. The young man is afraid of his father, but is unable to give up those entertainments to which he was accustomed during his stay in India, where James himself sent him to serve. Matthew uses his already hopelessly ill mother to the very last limit, and after her death, he hastily runs away forever from his father's house, taking Brody's mistress Nancy with him.

The death of Mrs. Margaret Brody from a serious illness, which she hid from her husband for a long time out of fear of him, looks as pathetic as her life next to a despotic husband who completely broke and suppressed her. The fate of Brody's youngest daughter Nessie is just as tragic, the girl has been distinguished by outstanding abilities since childhood, teachers at school constantly praise her, and James firmly believes that it is Nessie who will surely glorify his name by becoming a famous scientist.

After Brody is completely disappointed in older children, he pins all his hopes only on his youngest daughter and forces the girl to study non-stop, intimidating her with cruel punishment if she fails to receive the notorious Latta scholarship, which has never been handed over to the representatives of the weaker sex. Nessie, who has been in awe of her father since childhood, is in a state of constant nervous tension, the fear of failure haunts her day and night, and in the end everything ends in tears. A sixteen-year-old girl who did not pass the scholarship exam, tormented by the horror of the upcoming meeting with her father and thinking only about what he will do to her now, decides to commit suicide, believing that this will be the best way out for her.

The novel ends with the fact that James Brody loses all those close to him, except for his mother, who has long fallen into senile insanity and is not interested in anything other than food. The wife and the youngest daughter are no longer alive, the son is on the other side of the world, in South America, the eldest daughter Mary is also not going to maintain relations with her father in the future. At the end of reading this work, there is no doubt that it was James who became a real killer for his family members, it was his tyranny, boundless cruelty and faith in his own chosenness that led him to complete loneliness and life collapse.

Beauty and ugliness are bizarrely, even exotically intertwined in this novel. Written amazingly strong, emotionally, but disgustingly naturalistic and detailed. Life in madness and madness in life is the main line of the novel. With all the consequences. Moral fall, loss of personality, sinking to the bottom. And hence the suffering of loved ones, their throwing, the search for a way out and the right solution, which does not exist.

The language is beautiful, the characters are lively and mobile, the novel is easy to read. The book is about the inability to see the good in life, the inability to be happy with what you have. The book is terrible in its essence and beautiful in its incarnation.

Score: 8

My home is my prison.

A vivid example of domestic despotism is shown in the novel Brody's Castle. Everything that happens in the house of the tyrant James Brody is described in such detail and colorfully that it causes disgust. The all-consuming gloom and fetid fog, almost physically tangible in the house, the spiritual darkness of its tenants, the hopelessness and humility of the victims, the cruelty and senselessness of the actions of a rare tyrant, who is the head of the family, paint with large strokes a group portrait of the Brody family, living out his life in the quagmire of the usual way of life.

The characters' characters are written in such detail and naturalistically that you don't doubt for a minute that all these people probably existed. Heroes you either passionately hate, then you feel sorry for them and empathize with their personal tragedies, then you despise them for the inability to raise your head. All except old man Brody do not live in their own house, but serve their term in personal hard labor created by the father and husband to prevent possible sins and as a punishment for already committed sins.

In general, the novel frightens with its frankness and realism. Yes, with the help of this book, it is quite possible to study human behavioral reactions, both conscious reactions of struggle (using the example of the image of Mary) and unconscious reactions of flight (from denial to regression and suppression - using the example of Mrs. Brody, Nessie, Matt) ...

Score: 10

I am wildly glad that I finally mastered Castle Brody. I will say right away that the book has become one of my favorites, but it went with me with varying degrees of success. I immediately joined the story, I was very interested, I liked the style of the writer, but closer to the middle it was more and more difficult (for me emotionally) to wade through all the events. I couldn't read Castle Brody for hours on end, for example. I just wanted to be distracted, although it was unbearably interesting to find out what would happen next.

About heroes - how much I fell in love with the character of Mary, just as much I hated James Brody (in my book it was written exactly JAMES, and not James, by the way, so I used to call him that). I can’t think about him at all, I immediately start to spray, get angry, rage, and further down the list. The poor Brody family (except James, of course) wanted to intervene and help, especially to protect Mary and Nessie. I don’t want to spoil, in general, when I read about a terrible night for Mary - sometimes I just shook the poor book, almost shouted “Nooo, Archibald, don’t do it !!”

A difficult, HARDEST book, but at the same time beautiful, and for me it is incomprehensible how the writer managed to combine this, to show all the characters, all the events in the book with such brightness, liveliness and realism. And, perhaps, the other end of this story would not look real or something, not so real. In general, I am very glad that the book was advised to me, that I read it, that Archibald Cronin wrote it at all, etc. I would like to recommend her to everyone.

Score: 9

There are some books that just need to be read. And the sooner the better. Brody's Castle is one such book. And even if this novel leaves a scar on your heart, then you need to treat it like a scar left after a surgical operation, after which you, in the long run, have a chance to heal from one of the most dangerous ailments.

In my youth, I used to wonder why pride is so terrible that it was ranked among the most terrible sins of mankind. Archibald Cronin, in his debut novel, very clearly and masterfully opens this abscess. Captivating with a slow but fascinating story, luring with impeccable and colorful language, the Author drags the reader into the maelstrom of a rather dark story, practically not giving him a chance to jump off the hook. And by the end of the story, pulling the string of the narration to an ominous unbearable ringing, allows it to still burst. Ruthless, rude and cruel. Not just burst, but whip us in the most sensitive place.

The protagonist of the book, the hatter Brody, is an incredibly proud, ambitious and complete egoist who turns the life of his children and wife into hell. Yes, life punishes him for this, but unfortunately, instead of taking these blows as lessons of fate, Brody's anger takes on more and more monstrous forms. It is deceptive to think that looking at the moral fall of the protagonist, the reader will be comforted by a sense of retribution. Don't even dream. Cronin very reliably from a psychological point of view shows that such people are practically incorrigible and having at least some power over someone else's fate, they will strive to fill the life of their relatives and friends with their bile.

For me, not everything was clear in the novel. And if the two daughters of the tyrant found great sympathy in me, then the wife and son seemed to me no less disgusting than the main character himself. Unfortunately, for most of the novel, the positive characters will remain in the background, coming to the center only at the most dramatic moments. And the reader will have to watch the unpleasant and depressing course of life for the rest of the Brody family.

Reading about family despotism is always difficult. Associating yourself with the victim, you become enraged with impotent anger, and it is very difficult to find a way out for it. But worse than that, when at some point you find in yourself the features not of the victim, but of the monster itself. And that's when it gets really scary. We all have both pride and ambition, and to be honest, selfishness is not alien to us, but moreover, we are also full of complexes and internal contradictions. And all this can create an explosive mixture. And where, then, is the boundary beyond which we lose our humanity and begin to poison the lives of those around us? Finding it is not easy, but necessary.

Unfortunately, Archibald Cronin does not give recipes for dealing with such despotism. But perhaps that was not the purpose of his novel. Perhaps more than sympathy, he wanted to arouse in us precisely that fear, to see the line beyond which we can turn into a monster.

Score: 8

The fact that this novel will not leave anyone indifferent is beyond doubt. And the impressions will depend on the individual emotional susceptibility of each reader. Personally, until the last moment I didn’t realize the full depth of this drama and left my heart open, didn’t have time to slam the sash, batten down the hatches ... and I don’t know how to do that ... I can’t find words for a little bit of a travel review ...

But, on the other hand, I am glad that I did read this book, because now I will replenish my vocabulary with names that have become common nouns for me: “James Brody” is an arrogant egoist and tyrant, and “Brody Castle” is a prison, a cell that personifies domestic violence... "I'll be home when I get back." - if someone in my house says this phrase, we will just laugh at a good joke. But said by James Brody, it sounds ominous and means his undeniable power over the household both within the walls of his house and in their destinies ...

Until recently, I assumed a softer denouement (for example, Mary will marry a doctor and, having moved to another city, she will take Nessie to her) ... But the ending turned out to be more appropriate for the nature of the whole work. He really couldn't be any different.

Score: 9

Few books can tell us how our own vanity can harm not only the one who possesses it, but the entire environment as a whole.

The novel "Castle Brody" was written in 1931 by the then aspiring writer Archibald Cronin. And after all, few people knew, but this novel was born purely spontaneously. The author was not a writer, and did not possess the skill of presenting the text. However, he possessed an amazing quality of personality, thanks to which the author's debut novel became almost a calling card.

To be honest, I very rarely read classical works. I was captivated by the annotation and the time frame of the plot. And I was expecting more of a typical classic romance with intrigue and conspiracies. And I got a lot more than I expected.

Reading "Castle Brody" involuntarily lends itself to the idea that the author deliberately raised the realism of the novel to its full peak. I thought it looked more like hyper-realism.

The plot is based on one idea, over which you can think for a long time. Namely, to what extent arrogance and vanity can bring a person, and what happens when this line is torn.

Many readers said that the book is not just difficult - but the hardest to understand. And indeed, the fates of the main characters make the reader so immersed in them that you involuntarily think yourself, Lord, is this even possible? Following the course of events in the book, the idea that it can’t get any worse, every time disappears by itself. Not! Maybe! The struggle of the moral values ​​of the protagonist James Brody is simply killed by the struggle for material values, which, thanks to stubbornness, arrogance and greed, become higher than human values. Worst of all, the main character thinks he is doing the right thing, even though in reality he is only destroying himself from the inside. I highly recommend reading this book. She asks a lot of questions and gives a lot of answers.

Score: 9

Brody's Castle is the first novel by Archibald Cronin, originally called "Hatter's Castle" ("The Hatter's Castle") and this is also my first acquaintance with the author's work. Of course, I had heard a lot about this work, both good and bad, but I did not expect that it would capture me so much.

"The fish rots from the head" - this proverb fits the description of this book very well. The “Head” in this case is the father of the family, James Brody, and the “Fish” is his whole family: the old mother, wife - Margaret, 42 years old, son Matthew, 24 years old, daughter Mary, 17 years old and Nessie, 12 -ty years.

The author shows us the life of this family for five years, starting from the moment they settle in the castle-house, designed by Mr. Brody. This house is not like all the houses in the area, and the members of the family live there, in captivity - both in a castle and under a castle.

I can't count how many emotions I experienced while reading this novel. What happens to this family year after year because of the father of the family, just does not fit in my head. All the misfortunes and misfortunes that one can imagine happened to these heroes and no one was spared by the tyranny of Mr. Brody.

The novel is written in good simple language, about such not simple things. It will soon be 100 years since the book was published, but many points in the book are still relevant today. The heroes came out very colorful, sometimes they just wanted to kill them, they did this or, on the contrary, were inactive. This is a very heavy and scary book, but at the same time surprisingly exciting. With each chapter, the degree of expectation melts away, what else can happen. And how can it be worse or is there a way out?

There was only one thing missing from this book. I really wanted to know about how this family lived until the moment from which we begin to get to know her. Was Mr. Brody always such a tyrant and tyrant, how did they meet his wife. What was his wife like before meeting him. How they raised their children and why they grew up with such characters. Well, i.e. How did they get to this life?

The rest of the book is strong, emotional, makes you think about many points. It gives you a chance to think about how you would behave in such a situation. I will definitely keep in touch with the author.

Score: 9

An emotionally powerful book. What if there are no emotions? Then she frightens with her frankness. And the fears of your own childhood and youth become tangible. Is not it?. The book is about the fact that parental will is not a sentence. And not fulfilling it is punishable by life.

The novel is called Brody's Castle, not James Brody. Well, here's the current. The whole house as a whole had some mysterious, gloomy and repulsive appearance, and it was not clear what thought guided those who built it. Its small size prevented it from achieving the arrogant grandeur of some baronial castle, if that was the purpose of its Gothic turret, bastions and steeply sloping corners. However, this building exuded such coldness, such harsh power, that it was impossible to see in it only a self-satisfied pretense of ostentatious splendor. An ugly disturbance of harmony embodied in stone.

Equally absurd is the origin of Father James Brody, an illegitimate offspring of a noble family. Who all his life boasted of this quietly, not having the opportunity and the right to shout about it in people's faces. He was bursting with pride towards himself and contempt for others; all around are only servants and, first of all, his family. It was in such an atmosphere that little James Brody grew up; he was the perfect type of provincial nobleman. He made commandments for himself and kept them. Commandments of self-flagellation and self-praise.

After the renunciation of his daughter Mary, the death of his wife, the flight of his son Matt, the fall into dementia of his old mother "king" - James lost his retinue. And when no one serves the “king”, then his dress falls into disrepair, the castle falls into decay, and his head cannot hold the crown.

Where did James go wrong? And what is the price of this mistake that Nessie paid?

Score: 9

Terribly realistically written. Yes, that's how it is behind closed doors... But there's something about Brody. Until he drank himself, he could be respected as a person who "made himself", as an honest, direct person. I feel sorry for Margaret, the scene where she remembers their youth moved me to tears. The worst character is Matthew. Not only is he a rag, but also a scoundrel. Even his father is much more attractive. Nessie is just a shadow, nothing became clear about her. Mary is like a ray of light.

Score: 8

Archibald Cronin invested in James Brody all the brightest traits of a tyrant and elevated him to an absolute, as a result, the hero turned out to be a little one-sided, devoid of emotional mobility. He bends his line, rolls inexorably down, and the author almost does not give him a chance to show himself from the bright side, and this is exactly what you expect throughout the book, because there are no completely negative characters.

In tragic moments, Brody had several gaps, and already, it seems, the light in the window began to dawn, but so dim that all the darkness of his soul immediately covered him.

Well, a person cannot be so cruel and unfair to his family, so deaf to other people's experiences. He just has an all-consuming need to hurt, hurt, insult.

What I liked - the language in the book is "juicy", the images are colorful (what is the description of Brody's castle itself worth). The plot is fast-paced, without drag and unnecessary details.

I read the book with interest, but it did not touch me, as they say, for the living. Probably due to some implausibility of the character of the protagonist.

Score: 7

I read this book with great interest, but no enthusiasm. Very good text. It is even surprising that you understand what the author is driving at and how things will end in one or another episode, and it is impossible to break away from describing the feelings of the characters or how they approach one or another of their decisions. I especially remember the episodes about Denis in the hurricane and the final about Nessie. It's very well written.

But still it is very felt that this is the first novel of the writer. Why is it felt? Because I was quite often angry with the author while reading, did not believe him, resented him.

Well, here's the story with Mary. What is this unprecedented escalation of passions? Now, almost everything should end happily for her, when suddenly childbirth begins, her mother betrays her, the father beats her giving birth daughter in the side with his boot, a hurricane, rain (and she is in a house dress), she almost drowns in the river, almost got stuck in a swamp , gave birth in a barn, the child died, the groom died. (Oh, for the groom, who, although not without sin, I fell in love with very much, I was very angry with Cronin. Well, why??? surprisingly, Mary survived and recovered very quickly. But she had puerperal fever (one of the most common causes of death after childbirth at that time, by the way), and also pneumonia (and what was the percentage of survival after this disease at that time?), And also a deep nervous shock. And wow, three months later she had already fled from the hospital to a strange distant city and got a job as a servant (where did so much strength and agility come from?). Well, what is fantasy? And this is the happiness that suddenly fell on her in the finale, and a plus for her sister’s body, which has not yet cooled down? Well, somehow it's not cool. Although the very image of Mary was very nice to me, she is a worthy and strong person. Apparently, the genes developed successfully, and she was lucky that both parents had the most unloved, and therefore no parental love corrupted her (like Matthew) and did not oppress (like Nessie).

What I still didn't like about the author's presentation was Brody's character. He's a monster and that's it. But how did it happen? And could he not be a monster? Well, the author casually mentions something on this topic, but by and large one can still only guess. Throughout the novel crumbs of his biography are scattered. He is as quick-tempered and arrogant as his father - which means that the genes and example of a parent are before his eyes. Brody all his life was engaged in an unloved business - trade, but he wanted to be a farmer, walk behind a plow, hunt, but he had to pull out the sinking business of his suddenly deceased father. Yes, you will involuntarily go wild here. Although when the business took off, why did you have to sit in a shop and build this terrible house, why not buy a farm with the same money and do what you dream about? Young Brody, it turns out, could be gentle and romantic, he married for love, but Margaret, who was too submissive by nature, began to annoy him rather quickly, then grow old and eventually became disgusted with her husband. But she was not stupid, and even decisive (the story with 40 pounds for her son proved this), but somehow devoid of self-esteem, and therefore such a zatyukanny husband. And if she had a different character, and who knows, everything could have turned out better for everyone.

Brody's mother was able to resist his father, but there was no longer enough strength for an adult son, or maybe she spoiled him in the same way as Margaret spoiled her Matthew? By the way, Matthew is still a bastard, and this essence of his was revealed when he escaped from parental care. And although Brody did not like his son and saw all his vileness, for some reason he never carried out his threat to kick his son out of the house if he did not earn money. He was not going to support him, but in fact he endured it on his neck (and even in difficult financial times) for about a year or a half. That's why?

Nancy managed to spin Brody because he fell in love with her. She allowed herself essentially what she wanted, and she got away with everything. But if Brody had married her, would she have been able to spin them then too? Maybe not, because then she would become Brody's property, in fact, she would not have the right to leave him, to refuse him. Then Brody might not have let her down. To some extent, it was his sense of ownership that ruined his beloved daughter Nessie, because despite his strong love for her, he saw in her his favorite thing, his capital, and not a person, not a person. He put an unbearable burden on her, all his ambitions and lost everything. He loved as best he could, apparently, there was no one Brody could learn to love.

Score: 9