Stuck: Oliver Jeffers

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Most of the 1962 choices I’ve seen mentioned (including my other two reads for this week) couldn’t be written in the same way today. I try not to give away too many spoilers, which means I haven’t said much about the jasmine farm section of The Jasmine Farm, but is what saved the novel for me.

Fairly late in the book, Humphreys shares the short obituary she wrote for her brother, Martin – saying she never chose words more carefully. Mr Torrens was certain that only by Midhurst had the poor dear woman ever been kissed, and seeing that fifteen solid years had passed since his death, and that of the eleven years of his marriage ten and three quarters were spent by him in steady unfaithfulness, he considered such a state of things a pity.He doesn’t particularly like the communal way of eating, or having other people’s children everywhere. I’m racing through characters because there are an awful lot of people we get to know well – Lucas, Hervey and Bell also each have friends, some of whom have spouses and children to meet too. While Lady Midhurst hasn’t thought about the jasmine farm for a long time, it is still hers and one lucky Frenchman has been tending to it through all the years of her marriage and widowhood. If you’re looking for reportage or dry facts or even a kind, considerate piece about a tragedy – this isn’t the place for you. Since she is able to devote so much space to the trial, it feels like we are in the courtroom with her.

Brilliant, talented, passionate and compassionate, kind, handsome, disciplined, elusive, and stubborn, Martin loved music, art, new places and experiences, his friends, the West Coast, connecting with life in all its forms, having a beer, and watching the Maple Leafs (even this season). When the tree is laden with everything from a blue whale to a firetruck (complete with firefighters), his kite is finally freed, and Floyd runs off to play. She takes Lucas in with a mix of grandmotherly happiness and, as a person with her own life, a certain reluctance.Floyd throws various items into the tree to retrieve his kite and shows a range of attributes such as persistence, creativity, and problem-solving. Loving, casual, practical, daft by turns, dipping in and out of rudeness, taking refuge in and telling truths via jokes (“Yeah,” says Dan in answer to the dragon question, “Was tricky putting out the bins.