Autumn's review of Ms Hempel Chronicles is reproduced here in full, but you can still visit her site, Owl's Court here!
Upon finishing this book, I turned it over and reread the title. Ms. Hempel Chronicles can be construed in two different ways. On one hand we can take it as a noun: The chronicles of Ms. Hempel’s life. On the other we can interpret it as an action: Ms. Hempels chronicles her life, and what she sees and thinks about what goes on around her.
While I began the book with the assumption of the first title, during
my reading experience my understanding slowly shifted to the latter
interpretation. Each thing Ms. Hempel observes – be it love,
relationships between adults, the relationship between a teacher and a
student, a pregnancy, affairs, a class exercise or module – initiates
some sort of connection to her own past, her aspirations, her
uncertainty about her identity. The narrative does not make the mistake
of bogging down in self-analysis; instead, the connections that Ms.
Hempel makes are what draw the story along.
Ms. Hempel Chronicles is about a young elementary/middle
school teacher at the beginning of her career. Ms. Hempel takes in
school life going on around her, the interaction of the staff, the
complex and yet very simple lives of her students, in a poetic way. The
narrative constructs the sense of a young woman posing questions to
herself about the world through which she moves without ever being
clumsy or obvious. She muses about ways through which she can challenge
her students and the establishment, wonders about how to nurture
tomorrow’s leaders, and makes friends with her students in a very
natural way. Outside school, she considers her relationships with her
fiancé, her family, and her colleagues. Despite its subject, at no
point does the narrative sink into saccharine or syrupy sentimentalism.
The protagonist is referred to as Ms. Hempel throughout the majority
of the novel, even when the narration follows her and her observations.
Only in the flashback sequences, in which the narrative recounts
stories about her as a girl, or in scenes with her family is she
referred to as Beatrice. This technique sets the reader in a formal
relationship with the protagonist, allowing the author to create a
sense of privilege when the reader is allowed to share Ms. Hempel’s
secret memories and yearnings. Identifying her mainly as Ms. Hempel
also points to the importance and impact the character associates with
her identity as a teacher and a public figure.
The final chapter of the book leaps over a decade into the future,
making a sudden shift that is somewhat disconcerting. All the thematic
elements are there, including the sense of connection to events
experienced by Ms. Hempel in the previous chapters, but the
displacement of time and characters seems to come without warning. This
chance meeting with one of her past students, now a young woman, is the
only time at which the protagonist shifts from being identified as Ms.
Hempel to be identified as Beatrice (other than in flashback sequences
to childhood memories or family scenes). The shift highlights one of
Ms. Hempel’s commitments: to making a difference in their lives,
partially through being their friend.
I enjoyed the book. It was a pleasure to read: it’s smoothly
written, and the language flows comfortably. Ms. Hempel’s thoughts and
wonderings are presented with poetic imagery and yet feel natural. At
208 pages it was a quick and easy read, but the story is tightly
crafted and well polished. Any longer and the narrative would lose its
unity, or feel less structured. Nothing extraneous occurs or is
included.
Thanks Autumn!
More information
Product Details
- Hardcover: 208 pages
- Publisher: Harcourt; 1 edition (September 8, 2008)
- ISBN-10: 0151014965
- ISBN-13: 978-0151014965
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The words flowed wonderfully on the page and I fell into a comforting rhythm while reading, but there wasn’t ever really a climax or denouement to the story. The last chapter (though they were more like sections of the book than chapters) leaps into the future, sort of out of the blue, confused me, but also made me smile as Ms. Hempel meets a former student who tells her that she is fondly remembered and talked about as the best teacher they ever had.
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