Review: Knitting, a novel by Anne Bartlett
I’m intrigued by the communities that women create for themselves, and so I often read books centered around crafts, especially the crafts that I also love. Knitting is one of the ways that I bring meditation and calmness into my life. So, I read a lot of books with knitting as one of the central threads of the books.
Knitting by Anne Bartlett is the story of two women who chance to met and find that they have a lot of textiles, crafts, or the work of women’s hands in common. Sandra is an academic who teaches about women’s work and textiles throughout history. Her husband died of cancer and there are many firsts coming up without him and Sandra is coping by trying to control everything in her life and moving on. She hasn’t even mourned her loss.
Martha is more of an enigma. She lives alone and is about Sandra’s age. She lost her husband years ago; several months after their marriage. She’s moved on but not without cost. She carries her mistakes about with her literally and figuratively. And, she’s a bit of an obsessive-compulsive with errors throwing her into strong stress reactions.
Once they met, Sandra is inspired to put on an exhibition of knitting from 1900 to 2000 and wants Martha to knit all the pieces historically correctly and from period knitting patterns. Martha is overwhelmed but can’t seem to say no. Sandra doesn’t even recognize that she’s never asked, she’s only assumed.
The story threads from one viewpoint to the other so that the reader gets a feel for each of the characters. Kitting is the theme that hold the story together and the only thread that makes a connection between these two women. The real theme is one of communication and acceptance. How do we communicate with each other? How do we listen? Or, do we listen to each other? What is the nature of friendship? What causes a bond to exist between some people and not others. How do we look at ourselves and how do others look at us.
None of these questions really get answered but they are at the heart of the story. There’s a lot of knitting terminology and some nice insights into the psychology of knitting and its place in many people’s lives but the story is not about knitting — it’s about women and their relationships to each other.
It takes place in Adelaide, Australia and that also lends a nice air to the story. It’s a slow story that drifts in and out of the lives of these two women. It’s a thoughtful story and depends as much on what the reader brings to it as what the writer puts into it. Not a stay up all night page turner; but it is a thoughtful look at women, their work, and their lives.