Lighthousekeeping

By Jeanette Winterson

Motherless and anchorless, red-headed Silver is taken in by the timeless Mr. Pew, keeper of the Cape Wrath lighthouse, located at the isolated northwestern tip of Scotland. Pew teaches her to “man the light” but more importantly he tells her ancient tales of longing and rootlessness, of ties that bind and of the slippages that occur throughout every life, not least those of the local inhabitants. One local, Babel Dark, a nineteenth-century clergyman who loved one woman but married another, opens like a map that Silver must follow. Caught in her own particular darknesses, she embarks on an Ulyssean sift through the stories we tell ourselves, stories of love and loss, of passion and regret, stories of unending journeys that move through places and times, and the bleak finality of the shores of betrayal.

A story of mutability, of talking birds and stolen books, of Darwin and Stevenson and of the Jekyll and Hyde in all of us, Lighthousekeeping is a way in to the rooms of our own that we secretly inhabit and the lighthouses we strive towards. Jeanette Winterson is one of the most extraordinary and original writers of her generation and this shows her at her lyrical best.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Release date: Feb 4, 2011
• ISBN: 9780307366610

Jeanette Winterson

Jeanette Winterson was born in Manchester in 1959. She read English at Oxford University before writing her first novel, Oranges are Not the Only Fruit, which was published in 1985.

Reviews for Lighthousekeeping

[wordsampersand · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

What's most frustrating about this book, I think, is how the language dips between breezy, fluid prose and forced, clunky passages. I love how Winterson segments the narrative (or partial narrative, really), but there were spots that I just groaned and groaned.

[cariola_6 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I tried to read one of Janette Winterson's books several years ago but gave up on it. It leaned towards magical realism, a genre I'm not fond of, and I gave up on it. Still, I decided to give this little book a chance, and I'm vert glad that I did. I rarely reread books, but I think I'll be returning to 'Lighthousekeeping.'Outcast from the Scottish town of Salts after becoming pregnant out of wedlock, a woman and her daughter Silver move into an unstable house cut into the side of the rocky coast. When an accident leaves Silver orphaned, the only person willing to take her in is Pew, the blind, elderly lighthouse keeper. There have always been Pews keeping this lighthouse, he tells her, and Pew plans for Silver to take over when he passes on. The two of them bond over Pew's wonderful stories of his ancestors and of Babel Dark, minister and son of a town founder who led a mysterious double life. Among the "real" persons who inhabit the stories are Robert Louis Stevenson and Charles Darwin. Pew claims that both visited his lighthouse, and their meetings with Babel Dark both opened possibilities and created conflicts within him. When circumstances force Silver to set out on her own, she becomes a storyteller as well.Winterson's writing is beautiful, often magical, and the interwoven plots are both quiet and compelling. She injects a measure of philosophy into her tale--something I find that most writers botch with heavy handedness, but her touch is light and therefore all the more effective. It's only near the end of the book that you realize how many themes she has managed to explore: the nature and origin of man, our relationship to God (if there is one), the enduring need for love, the importance of personal history and personal myths, the value of storytelling as a connection between people both past and present, and much, much more. 'Lighthousekeeping' is a short novel with a long and wide-ranging impact. Don't miss it!

[clarerhoden · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I wanted to love this book more. Perhaps I shouldn't have approached it with the expectation of a story, because it reads better as a fanstastical poem. The language is extraordinarily beautiful, as one would expect with Winterson.
I found the stop-start nature of the multiple layers of stories quite distracting. It was like watching those films with multiple screens going at the one time. I find that I want to become involved in a story, or even in several stories, but this particular choppy presentation didn't allow me to completely invest in any of the stories on offer.
It's quite a feat, but ultimately unsatisfying for me. Others absolutely love it, and it is definitely worth trying.

[auntie0nanuuq · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Rather odd & yet lyrical writing.

Silver was born of a father from the sea and orphaned early on. Silver & his dog are sent to live in the lighthouse with Old Pew, who is blind.... Eventually Pew opens up and tells the stories of the lighthouse & its founder that have been stored away in his memory.

[daland_2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Fair plot yet awesome prose. Worth the read.

[chicjohn · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Lyrical tale

[minaisham · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

-- Silver is an orphan who lives with blind Mr. Pew in a lighthouse. He tells her stories about the history of Cape Wrath & its founder, a 19th century clergyman. LIGHTHOUSEKEEPING unfolds in present, past, & future. Babel Dark & Miss Pinch are interesting names as well as characters. The author compares life to ocean. LIGHTHOUSEKEEPING is like a beach vacation without sand in bathing suit. I looked forward to reading it. Chapters are short. --

[pocketmermaid · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This was one of those books where there were two stories going at once and I really only preferred one of them. I loved reading about the orphaned Silver who found herself thrown into a life of lighthouse apprenticeship .But my eyes sort of glazed over whenever I had to jump back in time to the 19th century to read about Dark/Lux. I expected a lot more from this because Winterson is a fabulous writer, but when it was good it was REALLY good. The unevenness just made it so-so for me.

[startingover_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I must confess that I have struggled with some of Winterson's novels and didn't enjoy The Powerbook. Lighthousekeeping seems to me a much more satisfying and successful novel. Her prose has always been seductive and beautifully modulated, and it comes as no surprise to read in the 'About the Author' section featured in my paperback edition of the novel that 'Poetry is the thing that matters [to her] more than anything else'. Occasionally I felt a little overwhelmed by the weight of her admittedly lovely similes - 'pulling me behind her like an after-thought', 'the wind blew like a shriek', 'his eyes like a faraway ship'.The narrator of the story, Silver, was born in 1959. At the age of 10, having never known her father, she is orphaned when her mother is swept off a cliff. Her teacher, the aptly named Miss Pinch, apprentices Silver to the lighthouse keeper, blind Mr Pew. Silver's story runs parallel with that of Babel Dark, a 19th century preacher who falls in love with a girl called Molly. Already (unhappily) married, Dark lives a double life. When he's with Molly, he calls himself Lux.When the lighthouse is automated, Pew and Silver must leave the lighthouse. Silver wanders the world, searching for meaning and love, carrying with her Pew's legacy, the gift for storytelling. There is actually far more to the novel than this - it is a multi-layered, slippery narrative. Love, as so often in Winterson's work, 'wins the day', but what remains with me is Winterson's belief that 'storytelling is a way of navigating our lives'. For me at any rate, this novel is Winterson's richest novel to date.[September 2006]

[hemlokgang · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is a story about stories and the role they play in life and in love. Beautifully written...lyrical......oh to be named Silver, "part precious metal part pirate." A unique and wonderful journey.

[lysne · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

How beautiful. This is just what I needed to read today. I have to go back and read the last few pages again. so many lines that just resonated with me.

[shanaqui_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Second book of the readathon! I love Jeanette Winterson's writing, but I just don't love her books. Does that make any sense? I love the way she uses words, the ebb and flow of her prose, but it never becomes a satisfying whole for me. I think I find it easier to accept, the more I read of her stuff, but I'm still not quite there yet.

I never know what to say about her work because of it. I loved the beginning of this, and the story within the story about Babel Dark, but I don't think it was satisfying in the end. Still, if you like Jeanette Winterson's work, this is very similar to her usual style.

Oh, and I did like the Tristan and Isolde segment.

[librarybrandy · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The plot is... well, indescribable, in its way. It's not surreal (exactly) and it's not fantastic (as in, of fantasy), and it's not fully realistic. But the plot hardly seems the point. It's a romance (though not of the heaving bosom variety), and it's so beautifully written that nothing seems to matter beyond the language.

[whybehave2002 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Almost done with this...I've read the reviews of others who love it and others that love the author. I find it to be a very easy/quick read but the book jumps around a lot and I feel as if I am not getting a chance to know the characters or grow attached to them the way I like to in most books. It is poetic in it's own way but I'm waiting for the end so I can suddenly say ahhh that was worth the time it took to read. (I hope)

[msjoanna · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is actually the first Winterson book I've read (though I've had Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit on my TBR shelf longer). I really enjoyed the quality of the writing and I read this book almost all the way through in one sitting. The elliptical narration and the interweaving of storylines was compelling and I became quite involved in the story. This book has gotten lukewarm reviews, but I think expectations are set high for this author -- many reviews say something like, "well, not her best work, but pretty good." I'll definitely need to read more by this author soon.

[booksmitten · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

In "Lighthousekeeping," Jeanette Winterson returns to the spry wit ofher earliest works and yet brings with her the language and precisionof a more seasoned writer. With the tale of blind Mr. Pew, who haskept the Cape Wrath lighthouse for as long as anyone can remember, andSilver, who is orphaned and has nowhere else to go, Winterson remindsus of the importance of preserving one's history through the tellingof stories. And it has one of the best opening paragraphs I've seen inyears.

[terena_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Jeanette's usual beautiful prose, but th plot of this novel was not as strong.

[paisley1974 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

This novel valiantly weaves in several timelines that all related to the keepers of a particular lighthouse. In that respect, it came off as being a little too "literary"--imagery of blindness combined with the ideas of stories being lighthouses. I could see writing a paper about this book.For me, my favorite novels are those that are character driven, and here, the characters were more literary devices than people.

[dancingwaves · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Not one of her best, but well done. I enjoyed the beautiful language that Winterson brings to all of her novels.

[the_awesome_opossum · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Lighthousekeeping is a simple and elegant story about a girl named Silver, who is orphaned and taken in by Pew, who maintains a lighthouse off the coast of Scotland. Weaved throughout the story is another about Babel Dark, a minister from the 1800s who saw the beginning of the lighthouse, and struggled with the changes the future was bringing; there are extensive portions dedicated to Darwin, and to Jekyll and Hyde. Winterson writes about the power of storytelling, and the beauty in nature against an increasingly automated world

[391_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I'm a pretty big fan of Winterson's work, but this book really did very little for me. I didn't enjoy Dark's story, and I thought Silver's was severely underdeveloped. The ending was much, much better than the first half of the book, but it felt tacked on and didn't flow well. Overall, I don't think this is one of her best books. Personally, I enjoyed "The Powerbook" a lot more.

[ajbraithwaite_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Really liked this book, written as series of little stories, shedding illumination onto parts of the life of the narrator, Silver. The reflections on the way humans carry their stories with them, the nature of memory and the changeability of life all struck me as interesting and thoughtful.

[brokensnowpea_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Winterson never ceases to amaze me with her storytelling and power over words. This novel is elegant, grisly, and haunting.

[wandering_star_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Silver, an orphan girl, is apprenticed to Mr Pew the lighthousekeeper. Pew, blind and ancient, is a great teller of stories about the village's history. His tales focus on Babel Dark, a Victorian priest with a mysterious double life, who is unnerved by his discussions with Darwin (and discovery of a cave of fossils) and may have inspired Robert Louis Stevenson's most famous creation(s). At some point, round about the time that the decision is made to automate the lighthouse, the reader realises that the stories are actually about the many layers of our pasts, our lives, our various stories - and above all, the way that love both creates, and is built of, layers of memories.I started out thinking that this could be described as magical realism, but actually it's more like poetry - a flood of metaphors and interlinked ideas, sometimes elliptical.Sample: You were chopping vegetables and telling me about a day in Thailand when you had seen turtles hatch in the sand. Not many of them make it to the sea, and once there, the sharks are waiting for them. Days disappear and get swallowed up much like that, but the ones like these, the ones that make it, swim out and return for the rest of your life. Thank you for making me happy.

[nocto_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I've never read Winterson before but I can't resist a lighthouse. And this was fascinating; very sparse and well written with a deceptively detailed storyline. Definitely someone I'll read more of.

[jscape2000 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Unparalleled. The only author I can compare to Jeanette Winterson is Jeanette Winterson. She meets Borges and Garcia Marquez and Rhys and Kingsolver at a nexus of magic and pathos, and she bests them all.