Cascade

read it Read It READ IT !!! I could not put it down.

At first glance, it's easy to mistake Maryanne O'Hara's compelling debut novel for a sort of woman's romantic novel, given the beauty of the cover, but it isn't at all. Inside that cover lies a great read for anyone, male or female, who loves a smart story.

Set in 1930s Massachusetts, "Cascade" is about big change, ambition, mystery, hope, mortality, tradition, a wrong marriage, the possibility of passion, and the cost of pursuing what most matters. This is a dramatic, suspenseful, beautifully written and wise novel that highlights the timelessness of our questions and struggles as people.

Read it, pass it around, give it to everyone on your gift list. Wonderful.

6 out of 6 people found this review helpful.

Great book, engrossing plot, beautiful writing. Perfect combo o

Great book, engrossing plot, beautiful writing. Perfect combo of page turning story and well-crafted writing. I love when I find that! The story sucks you in, I couldn't stop reading, but so does the language and the tone of the book. i was able to lose myself in the 1930's world...a time I have always loved, and which the is perfectly created here. A smart book...and one you can't put down.

4 out of 4 people found this review helpful.

Wonderful, Engaging Novel

I finished this book and feel like a good friend moved away. The author tells a story of love, determination, and disapointment. There were moments that I felt like I was standing in the town of Cascade looking at the playhouse wondering it's fate.
This is a not miss book!

4 out of 4 people found this review helpful.

a timeless, gripping, beautiful story, credibly researched, comp

a timeless, gripping, beautiful story, credibly researched, compellingly rendered, appealing to men and women. hard to believe that this is the author's first novel! i could not stop reading.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Great, quick read

Well written and interesting from the start to the end.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Emma, r u on?

~Leon

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Emma

Yup.

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Author: Maryanne O'Hare Published by: Viking Adult Age Recommen

Author: Maryanne O'Hare
Published by: Viking Adult
Age Recommended: Adult
Reviewed By: Arlena Dean
Book Blog For: GMTA
Rating: 5

Review:

"Cascade" by Maryanne O'Hare was well written historical fiction setting was from the Boston suburb of Cascade around 1930-40's where "Cascade" is about big change, ambition, mystery, hope, mortality, tradition, a wrong marriage, the possibility of passion, and the cost of pursuing what most matters." I found this novel has a slow beginning but as you get further into this read it does pick up. You will also find that this is a long read, however there is a reason for it...for in your reading it all will be explained to what is going on in the mind of Desdemona. We find that Desdemona(Dez)Hart Spaulding has stopped her career in New York in Art to take care of her dying father...gets married...and she wants to devote her life in the theater in town. This was the time of the 'Great Depression' had struck and her father had lost everything except the playhouse. Her father dies(two months after Dez's wedding) leaving her a secret that was in 'Portia's casket' not to be open until the Playhouse reopened. What was up with that? To find out you will have to pick up "Cascade" to see what was in Dez's fathers mind at that time.


Desdemona now realizes she is in a loveless marriage. Her husband, Asa Spaulding was a hard working pharmacist, but not one for passion and he had no eye for art which his wife had a deep passion for. What will come of this? The town of Cascade is in the 'in the running to be destroyed so that it can become a reservoir for Boston.' Now, what would happen to the playhouse that had been willed to Asa or their first born? What was up with Dez being so consumed with herself and her wants? Dez was a complex heroine that kept this novel moving really giving the reader a lots to think about...'Cascade postcards.' I did realize that this was not a fast pace read but a slower pace one that was needed in order to absorb this detail oriented artistic realism of Dez. As time passed, Dez has fallen in love with a Jewish painter(Jacob). Was he a artist ready, willing and able to free her? From the read we find Dez doesn't want any children and their is a definitely envy of her friend Abby who was free to go and do as she pleased. Truly Art is her everything. She loved her art ... in her studio... paints putting in all on canvas. Now, this novel is really taking off and this is where I say you must pick up "Cascade" to see how this author will take you on a ride through this read. It really gets even more interesting with a few more people. The characters were all well developed keeping you turning the pages to see what would happen next because there will be twist and turns. In the end you do get answers about the 'Portia Casket' and all I will say of that is Wow!


"Cascade" was a very intriguing read of a small towns 'life during the Great Depression, a artist struggle and in the end was it all worth it? Would I recommend as a excellent read? YES!

Interesting read

Kept me reading

Dez grew up with something of a charmed life before the Depressi

Dez grew up with something of a charmed life before the Depression. Her father was important in the community, the owner of the playhouse where the likes of Lionel Barrymore performed. They had a housekeeper to take care of the home, and enough money for Dez to travel and attend school in Boston. She never wanted for anything. She could spend her time indulging her whims and feeding her creative nature. Then the Depression struck, her father lost everything but the playhouse, and suddenly she is forced to make choices she fears she cannot live with. Now stuck in a lifeless marriage to a good man for whom she feels no passion, trying to find time for her art in between keeping the house and performing “wifely duties”, forever trying to stave off pregnancy, she feels doomed. Add to this the drama of the constant threat that hangs over the town that it could be chosen to be sacrificed to create a water reservoir for nearby Boston and surrounding areas (although Dez secretly hopes this may actually come to fruition, as she longs to move to New York and get away from this stagnating town that is suffocating her).Then traveling salesman and artist Jacob shows up on her doorstep, and Dez finds in him the soul mate of an artist's heart.

Dez spends most of the book discontent. She doesn't appreciate how lucky she is to have the security her husband offers during the Depression. Asa is a good man- ethical and hardworking. But he is not a passionate man, he does not have an artist's eye or heart, and he leaves Dez feeling alone in life. Then she meets Jacob, who is of the same heart as her, and they become star-crossed lovers, trapped by convention and propriety and with a passion fueled by an appreciation for the beauty in life.

Dez, like many artists, actually had some great insights into the human condition, but mostly she seemed too lost in her own misery to care about anything else. Eventually she makes it to New York, where she believes happiness resides, but even there things are not perfect. It seemed this woman would never be happy. She would always want what she didn’t have. The grass was always greener on the other side. And always pulling her forward is the future of the Playhouse and the secret held within Portia's casket, a miniature casket that Dez's father gave her before he died, telling her that it holds a treasure. Making Dez promise to not open the casket until the Playhouse reopened, Dez keeps the casket close by, a promise of the future.

My final word: I enjoyed this story, for the most part. It was a little heavy and at times depressing. In the beginning, I loved the relationship between star-crossed lovers Dez and Jacob, always attempting to keep their passion at arms length. Later it becomes evident that Dez is consumed with herself and what she wants, and that everyone around her will suffer for it. But it was well-written, and it kept me guessing with little twists and turns, and stories within stories.

Disappointing

Silly simple tale

0 out of 6 people found this review helpful.

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No text was provided for this review.