#1 Big Grin 09-04-2010, 11:53 AMSet

#1 Big Grin 09-04-2010, 11:53 AM
Setting:
Roland's Croft, New Forest, England
The house of a thousand lanterns, Hong Kong, China
ca. 1886-1896

From the blurb:
From the moment Jane Lindsay hears of the House of a Thousand Lanterns she is fascinated by it. But she never imagines she will see it, for the house is on the other side of the world, in the teeming oriental port of Kowloon.
Then her dream comes true and she visits the house, a very different person from the young girl who was first entranced by the sound of it. Now the wife of a rich art dealer, she is trying to make a new life and forget the man she loves.
But the House of a Thousand Lanterns shatters her new found peace. Beautiful, alien, menacing, it seems to be guarding a secret – a secret which Jane knows she must discover if she is to find happiness…

Review:
I liked it like I like all Holts. At the end I thought there was no way she could give us any other villain but the hero: everything pointed in his direction. I even didn't like him anymore, seeing him as evil. But of course I was wrong. The hero is never the villain, is he? I was sceptical when I went through the explications of who the real villain was and why, but after a while came to accept it as quite plausible. Kudos for Ms. Holt.
While reading I once again noticed the easy way in which she writes. No floral speech or over the top complicated sentences here. It's like the reader really is presented with the diary of a normal woman. I love it.

I had the idea of rereading all Holt's books again and writing an extensive summary of all of them. Well, the rereading part is doable over time, but I don't feel like writing these summaries anymore. It took me hours to compose this one. And please keep in mind that English is not my mother tongue, which makes it even harder. I'll post the summary below for those who want to know all about the book without having to read it all themselves. Please enjoy! Wink

SPOILER ALERT – DON'T READ ON IF YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENED!

A summary:
Jane is 15 when her father dies and her mother needs to find employment as a housekeeper to be able to keep paying for Jane's schooling in classy Cluntons'. Her father was a gentleman who got banned from his family because he fell in love with an innkeeper's daughter. Mrs. Lindsay asks that her daughter be allowed to spend the hollidays at Roland's Croft, where she is the housekeeper. Jane loves going there as the house is interesting and situated in the beautiful New Forest. There is a treasure room in the house that is kept locked, which fascinates her. The owner of Roland's Croft deals in Chinese art and he keeps his most valuable pieces there. One night Jane creeps into the room and gets locked in herself. Mr. Sylvester Milner finds her there, but he isn't angry as he likes the inquisitive girl. She is holding yarrow sticks and when she puts them on a table, he sees in them that their fates are connected. So luckily her mother is not dismissed. A year later Mr. Sylvester Milner proposes that Jane come help him with his work after she finishes school, and Jane starts learning all she can about the Chinese culture and art. When she is almost 18 she meets Joliffe Milner, Sylvester's nephew. Sylvester had two brothers, who both worked with Chinese art and who each had a son. There was a falling out between the brothers and now they are each other's competition. Joliffe is a merry young man and Jane quickly falls in love with him. There is one episode that makes her doubt him a little, when she finds out that he had gone in the locked room (having secretly made a copy of the key long ago), took a newly discovered statue and had it examined for its value. Later the statue was back in it's place again. There is an ongoing search for a special statue of the Kuan Yin, a Chinese goddess. Jane gets married to Joliffe to the delight of her mother who knows she hasn't got long to live because she suffers from consumption, which she hides well from Jane. Jane and Joliffe spend their honeymoon in Paris, though Joliffe spends a little too much time with his friends there. Back in their London house, he neglects Jane even more as he needs to attend to business. While walking in the park, Jane notices a woman observing her during several days. Later this woman follows her home and tells her that she is Joliffes wife. She was in the Reading train accident and believed dead while she was recuperating from memory loss in the hospital. Joliffe thought she died and never told Jane about this because he didn't like to dwell on how as a youth he got so involved with a barmaid that he proposed marriage to her. Jane is devastated and leaves London for Roland's Croft. By then her mother is in hospital and she dies shortly thereafter. Mr. Sylvester Milner has been in a shooting accident and he is partly paralized and needs to walk with crutches. When Jane finds out she is pregnant, he proposes marriage. That way the child wi

Kết quả (Việt) 1:

#1 Grin lớn 09-04-2010, 11:53 AMCài đặt:Của Roland Croft, New Forest, AnhNgôi nhà của hàng ngàn lồng đèn, Hong Kong, Trung Quốcca. năm 1886-1896Từ lời giới thiệu:Từ thời điểm này Jane Lindsay nghe của ngôi nhà của những chiếc đèn lồng nghìn cô quyến rũ của nó. Nhưng cô không bao giờ imagines cô sẽ nhìn thấy nó, cho các nhà phía bên kia của thế giới, ở cảng nơi phương Đông Kowloon. Sau đó ước mơ của mình trở thành sự thực và cô đến thăm nhà, một người rất khác nhau từ các cô gái trẻ, những người đầu tiên được entranced của âm thanh của nó. Bây giờ là vợ của một đại lý giàu nghệ thuật, cô đang cố gắng để làm cho một cuộc sống mới và quên người đàn ông cô ấy yêu.Nhưng ngôi nhà của những chiếc đèn lồng nghìn shatters hòa bình hàng mới của mình. Xinh đẹp, người nước ngoài, đe dọa, nó có vẻ như bảo vệ một bí mật-một bí mật mà Jane biết cô phải khám phá nếu cô ấy là để tìm thấy hạnh phúc...Đánh giá:Tôi thích nó như tôi thích tất cả Holts. Lúc đầu tôi nghĩ là không có cách nào cô có thể cung cấp cho chúng tôi bất kỳ nhân vật phản diện khác nhưng anh hùng: tất cả mọi thứ chỉ theo hướng của mình. Tôi thậm chí không thích anh nữa, nhìn thấy anh ta là cái ác. Nhưng tất nhiên tôi đã sai. Anh hùng không bao giờ nhân vật phản diện, anh ta? Tôi đã không tin khi tôi đã đi qua explications của các vai phản diện thực sự là ai và tại sao, nhưng sau một thời gian đến để chấp nhận nó như là khá chính đáng. Kudos cho bà Holt. Trong khi đọc một lần nữa tôi nhận thấy một cách dễ dàng trong đó cô viết. Không có bài phát biểu Hoa hay hơn phức tạp ở đầu câu ở đây. Nó là giống như người đọc thực sự được trình bày với Nhật ký của một người phụ nữ bình thường. Tôi thích điều đó. Tôi đã có ý tưởng rereading Holt tất cả sách lại và viết một bản tóm tắt rộng lớn của tất cả chúng. Vâng, phần rereading là doable theo thời gian, nhưng tôi không cảm thấy như viết những bản tóm lược nữa. Nó đã cho tôi tháng để soạn một. Và hãy nhớ rằng tiếng Anh không phải là mẹ đẻ của tôi, mà làm cho nó thậm chí còn khó khăn hơn. Tôi sẽ đăng bài tóm tắt dưới đây cho những ai muốn biết tất cả về các cuốn sách mà không cần phải đọc nó tất cả bản thân mình. Xin vui lòng thưởng thức! WinkSPOILER ALERT – KHÔNG ĐỌC TRÊN NẾU BẠN KHÔNG MUỐN BIẾT CHUYỆN GÌ XẢY RA!Một bản tóm tắt:Jane is 15 when her father dies and her mother needs to find employment as a housekeeper to be able to keep paying for Jane's schooling in classy Cluntons'. Her father was a gentleman who got banned from his family because he fell in love with an innkeeper's daughter. Mrs. Lindsay asks that her daughter be allowed to spend the hollidays at Roland's Croft, where she is the housekeeper. Jane loves going there as the house is interesting and situated in the beautiful New Forest. There is a treasure room in the house that is kept locked, which fascinates her. The owner of Roland's Croft deals in Chinese art and he keeps his most valuable pieces there. One night Jane creeps into the room and gets locked in herself. Mr. Sylvester Milner finds her there, but he isn't angry as he likes the inquisitive girl. She is holding yarrow sticks and when she puts them on a table, he sees in them that their fates are connected. So luckily her mother is not dismissed. A year later Mr. Sylvester Milner proposes that Jane come help him with his work after she finishes school, and Jane starts learning all she can about the Chinese culture and art. When she is almost 18 she meets Joliffe Milner, Sylvester's nephew. Sylvester had two brothers, who both worked with Chinese art and who each had a son. There was a falling out between the brothers and now they are each other's competition. Joliffe is a merry young man and Jane quickly falls in love with him. There is one episode that makes her doubt him a little, when she finds out that he had gone in the locked room (having secretly made a copy of the key long ago), took a newly discovered statue and had it examined for its value. Later the statue was back in it's place again. There is an ongoing search for a special statue of the Kuan Yin, a Chinese goddess. Jane gets married to Joliffe to the delight of her mother who knows she hasn't got long to live because she suffers from consumption, which she hides well from Jane. Jane and Joliffe spend their honeymoon in Paris, though Joliffe spends a little too much time with his friends there. Back in their London house, he neglects Jane even more as he needs to attend to business. While walking in the park, Jane notices a woman observing her during several days. Later this woman follows her home and tells her that she is Joliffes wife. She was in the Reading train accident and believed dead while she was recuperating from memory loss in the hospital. Joliffe thought she died and never told Jane about this because he didn't like to dwell on how as a youth he got so involved with a barmaid that he proposed marriage to her. Jane is devastated and leaves London for Roland's Croft. By then her mother is in hospital and she dies shortly thereafter. Mr. Sylvester Milner has been in a shooting accident and he is partly paralized and needs to walk with crutches. When Jane finds out she is pregnant, he proposes marriage. That way the child wi