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    Fall on Your Knees
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    Fall on Your Knees
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    Fall on Your Knees
    Audiobook (abridged)10 hours

    Fall on Your Knees

    Written by Ann-Marie MacDonald

    Narrated by Nikki James

    4/5

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    About this audiobook

    The Piper family is steeped in secrets, lies, and unspoken truths. At the eye of the storm is one secret that threatens to shake their lives - even destroy them.

    Set on stormy Cape Breton Island off of Nova Scotia, Fall on Your Knees is an internationally acclaimed multigenerational saga that chronicles the lives of four unforgettable sisters. Theirs is a world filled with driving ambition, inescapable family bonds, and forbidden love.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHighBridge Audio
    Release dateFeb 25, 2002
    ISBN9781598873528
    Author

    Ann-Marie MacDonald

    Novelist and dramatist Ann-Marie MacDonald is the author of the internationally bestselling and award-winning novel Fall on Your Knees. She is also the playwright of Goodnight Desdemona, Good Morning Juliet, which won the Governor General's Award for Drama. She lives in Toronto.

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    Reviews for Fall on Your Knees

    4/5

    1,463 ratings65 reviews

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    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 3/5
      3.25 starsIt is the early 1900s in Nova Scotia. 13-year old Materia falls for James, so she breaks away from her arranged marriage her parents have made for her and marries James, only to be disowned by her parents. James dotes on their first daughter, Kathleen and though, years later, they have more daughters, their marriage turns sour. The book not only follows them, but follows their daughters during their lives. I was a little disappointed. I really liked The Way the Crow Flies, but for me, this wasn't nearly as interesting. It didn't grab me or hold my interest. I really didn't like any of the characters, which always makes it harder for me to enjoy a book. I wasn't compelled to pick up the book and/or to keep reading. Overall, I thought it was o.k., but nothing special.
    • 5/5
      Beautifully written.
    • 3/5
      I had a difficult time with this book. The story of sisters and their dysfunctional upbringing - based in Cape Breton. The family was completely devastated by a tragic event that took place in their family. It spans many years and the characters never quite recover, leading them to cope in very different ways. It is dark and sad and went on for too long. I finished it but struggled to do so.
    • 3/5
      Multigenerational saga taking place in New Foundland. While the characters were interesting and the writing good, this clearly could have been a book and it's sequel.
    • 5/5
      A great read!
    • 5/5
      Oh my goodness, what a sprawling tale with all the ups and downs and skeletons in the closet of real lives. I absolutely loved it!
    • 5/5
      I started and stopped this book three times before I actually finished it. I think you really have to be in the right frame of mind to read this book. It is very dark and twisted, but when all of the secrets start coming out it is hard to put it down. By the end of the book Macdonald ties everything together and leaves you shocked and satisfied. After finishing "Fall on Your Knees" it joined my list of top ten books ever.
    • 3/5
      I am giving this 3 stars for the first 300 pages. The first 300 pages were a good read. Between page 300-348, I had it! I no longer cared about the characters, I didn't care what happened, and frankly I was hoping they would start jumping off the cliff.
      It was so depressing. I agree with many of the negative reviews here.
      If I give up on a book, it is usually in the first chapter or 2, not the last 1/4 of the book.
      As others say,there are too many good books to waste my time on this one any further.

      I love multi generational stories too,but this was not one of them.
    • 4/5
      It is rather often that a book is described as an 'epic', a 'glorious tale of generations' that spans 'a range of intricate feelings' and so on. I was, therefore, mildly suspicious when I read Philippa Gregory's quote on the front of MacDonald's debut novel 'Fall on Your Knees'; 'an epic in the true sense: a magnificent novel'. Following Homer and Vergil's early Latin works, hardly any novel has ever managed to pull off the 'epic' genre in the same way. And although 'Fall on Your Knees' is hardly made of the same cloth, it is an excellent and very enticing debut.

      But what's it all about? A lot, really. I won't go into details about the contents of the book. The basic story is about the Piper family, their internal family relations and emotional hardships. The central figure, Kathleen Piper, is forged into a singer by her father James.

      To me, however, it was her maudit sister Frances who stole the show. Her, and MacDonald's tendency to surprise the reader with some very dramatic, intense and sudden plot twists make sure that this book is an experience worth remembering and a story worth savouring.
    • 4/5
      (Read in 2002.) Very twisted, but interesting family saga about a family growing up on Cape Breton off the coast of Canada. Hard to put down, once you get into it. Strange, but lovable characters you start to care about. Ultimately a tragic tale about a family that does not communicate.
    • 5/5
      Every once in a while you get a book that knocks the wind out of you and for me, that book was FALL ON YOUR KNEES. In many ways it's typical of some of the angst-ridden stories that come out of the Maritime provinces but regardless it still stands out. Some have said that the mystery/twists were predictable and I partially agree - some I saw coming, some I didn't.
    • 4/5
      Fall On Your Knees was an Oprah book club selection and has all the elements of a great book to discuss with friends - wonderfully complex characters, a few unexpected plot twists and those pivotal decision points, where a character's choice determines the fate of the book. Although this audio edition is abridged, at 10 cds, I did not feel that I was missing too many key points, and the narration was well done. If you're looking for some good literary fiction, give this one a try.
    • 3/5
      Generally a pretty good book with some good writing the ending is a little disappointing.
    • 4/5
      I loved this book almost to the end but felt it wandered when it lapsed into Kathleen's diary. I became impatient rather than feeling informed. Yes it filled in the 'why' of so many happenings in the book but it felt like a stumble. The ending felt a little rushed as if the author just wanted to tie it up rather than letting me savour the finish as much as the beginning.
    • 5/5
      In spite of gut punch
      hope
      Dif between empathy and love
    • 4/5
      Lily stays sitting. “Frances. What if Ambrose is the Devil?” “He’s not the Devil. I know who the Devil is and it isn’t Ambrose.” “Who’s the Devil?” Frances crouches down as if she were talking to Trixie. “That’s something I’ll never tell you, Lily, no matter how old you get to be, because the Devil is shy. It makes him angry when someone recognizes him, so once they do the Devil gets after them. And I don’t want the Devil to get after you.” “Is the Devil after you?”
      “Yes.”

      This is Ann-Marie MacDonald's debut novel. I need to keep reminding myself about this fact that it's a debut novel because it is a polished work of complexity and beauty.

      Fall on Your Knees, set in Cape Breton at in the first half of the 20th century, tells the story of Materia, Kathleen, Mercedes, Frances, and Lily - i.e. all the women of the Piper family. Each woman has a voice, a distinct history, a distinct outlook on life - and a distinct fate. So, really this is a novel with five main characters - not to mention James, who dwells at the centre of all their lives.

      This book has so many layers that it was easy to be sucked into the world of the Pipers. But it is not a comfortable place. Far from it, it is a world full of harshness, brutality, and abuse, where each of the characters is trying to escape the confines of what holds them. Be it religion, loyalty, or something else - each character has their own form of imprisonment.

      "God did not put me on this earth to stand by while my sister Frances is killed. Beaten is one thing. Wrongly touched is one thing. Stabbed with a bayonet is another. Push. Be strong enough to carry the burden of sin that goes with doing the right thing. There is only one saint in this family and I’m not it. God has made Mercedes a judge. No one loves you for that. Not like a crippled child who’s prone to visions. Whom Mercedes prizes. Not like a fallen woman who makes people laugh. Whom Mercedes loves."

      When reading some of the reviews, the aspect that I have picked up on most is that people have read this because it was an Oprah bookclub read. I am usually hesitant to follow up hyped up books, but sometimes, just sometimes, they are a exactly the type of book that will work their way into your soul.

      Fall on Your Knees is a perfectly constructed family saga, but it is also more than this. It is a beautifully sketched insight into the human condition.

      Mercedes is neither a saint nor a sinner. She is somewhere in between. She is why purgatory was invented.
    • 4/5
      I found this book very difficult to review because it is so dark and twisted, and the way that things are revealed throughout the book left me wondering-is that really what she means? I persevered with the story though and the secrets are all revealed by the end. This book is about a VERY disfunctional family. All seems so normal at first, and then little revelations would come out, and as I read I knew where each of these revelations was heading. I don't think I've ever met characters like the Piper sisters before. Each one chooses her own coping mechanisms to deal with the stuff that is going on in their house. Some of these coping mechanisms are downright dangerous, and others just serve to isolate them further from their community.So many secrets and so much horror in one family. The time of the book runs from before WWI through the war and the depression, and actually past WWII, although not much mention is made of this last war. The majority of the book is set in Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. Some of the book is set in New York City. But the book covers everything from wife and child beating, to huge family secrets, to incest and other sexual perversions, to very questionable deaths; and throughout it all and holding the plot together is the music. From the classic music that Kathleen Piper sings to ragtime, to the post WWI jazz and blues so prevalent on the streets of Harlem. The Book is so very dark, but very well written. I must say the book was not at all what I expected. It was like watching a train wreck-you know it's going to be horrible, but you're compelled to watch anyway. I think Francis Piper especially will stay with me for a long time.
    • 5/5
      A novel with memorable characters and a layered plot that is revealed in stages until the very end, making it a very enjoyable read. James Piper is a Scotch/Irishman living on Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia; at the age of 18 he meets and falls in love with Materia, a young Lebanese girl. Make that very young, like 12 or 13 years old. Materia’s family disown her when the pair elope. They have three girls: beautiful and talented Kathleen, prim and proper Mercedes, and wild child Frances, before dark times beset them. There is evil here, and in many forms, but I won’t spoil it. MacDonald’s form is not stellar but she sure as hell knows how to tell a good story. And I loved how the basic gist of the enigmatic prologue is explained after 150 pages or so, and she then carries on from there to let the story play out, revealing new layers and new dark secrets. There is a teeny touch of the supernatural afoot, and there is a common thread of the difficulties of race and interracial marriage, but she does not use either in a heavy-handed way, which was also nice. Quotes:On youthful desire:“I want someone to see me and touch me before I’m old. Before it wrinkles and fades and falls, I can’t believe that will ever happen to me.”On love:“It’s a first-love conversation. Mouths can’t kiss each other enough or find enough of the beloved to be kissed enough. The invisible ocean holds the room and the bed and the lovers suspended and treats them like aquatic plants, arms can never stop moving, fronds in the liquid breeze, hands never stop waving slowly side to side, caressing the loved one, hello … fingers never stop fanning, tendrils in a ceaseless bouquet, all parts sway and sway sometimes violently sometimes almost not at all. A small grazing gesture ignites the need for closer, and breaks the surface of the water, never in you enough, gulping air, never contain you enough, on dry land now, never hold you enough, the desert heat, drink you, oasis lover shimmering under a palm, I will burn to ashes here then blow away…”And:“And being bold, I put my mouth on hers and this time went inside and told her all the things I’d been longing to. Dark and sweet, the elixir of love is in her mouth. The more I drink, the more I remember all the things we’ve never done. I was a ghost until I touched you. Never swallowed mortal food until I tasted you, never understood the spoken word until I found your tongue. I’ve been a sleepwalker, sad somnambula, hands outstretched to strike the solid thing that could awaken me to life at last. I have only ever stood here under this lamp, against your body, I’ve missed you all my life.”And:“When will she discover that I am from a lesser race of immortals? But the high deities have always needed pixies to persuade them down to earth. When she no longer needs an intermediary, will she still love me?”On religion:“As for sin, I honestly can’t believe God is so bored or so lecherous as to care how close my body and its various parts get to someone else’s parts.”On teardrops (similar in the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam):“A little moisture deserts Mercedes for all time and evaporates to fall as rain elsewhere.”On virtue:“She learns a valuable lesson: if you think you are good, just try doing good. You’ll soon find how inadequate your little drop of goodness is.”On WWI:“Bagpipes have a liquefying effect on the bowels of the enemy, and bare knees in battle strike the fear of the fanatical. The Germans will come to call the Highland regiments ‘die Damen von Holle’ – the ladies from hell.”Lastly I loved this way of putting using sex for power in a relationship:“That night in bed, Giselle skillfully enlightens her husband as to his own intentions.”
    • 2/5
      Disturbing and disgusting tale of a family gone wrong.
    • 4/5
      Beautiful writing, difficult to put down, yet difficult to read too. I would definitely recommend it for the style and strong literary ability of the writer. She uses descriptions artfully and the text is full of symbolism that is extremely interesting to try to figure out. She is truly an artist of words. She conceived an amazingly intricate story, yet it is also horribly sad, which I don't think is always necessary for truly good fiction. It is difficult to read epics that span generations and to feel particularly attached to any character when you know you're going to be reading about their death eventually. It is so well-written though, that you find yourself feeling differently about the characters depending on the circumstances in their lives at the time. The characters are multi-faceted and almost flesh. You wish they could have had a better life, even though they are fictional.
    • 3/5
      I listened to this book as a download from my library. I thought I had read this years ago but I really couldn't remember much about it. Now that I've listened to the whole book I think maybe I didn't get past the beginning. There were parts of this book that I really liked but a major plot device really bothered me and I think perhaps I didn't finish reading it because of that.At the most basic this is the story of a family in Nova Scotia. The mother was only 13 years old when she ran away with the father and after she lost her virginity to him her family agreed to the marriage but disowned her. Their first child was beautiful and gifted musically and the father poured his love into her, essentially ignoring his wife. And then when the daughter is about thirteen the father becomes sexually attracted to her. This is the part that really disturbed me. Two more daughters were born because the father tried to subvert his desire for his daughter by resuming sex with his wife. However, incest raises its head again causing irrepairable damage to the family.There is no doubt this is a compelling story but I felt dirty and disturbed after I finished it.
    • 4/5
      Fall On Your Knees is a big, messy car wreck of a novel, and it has a car wreck's macabre pull. The book touches on many nasty subjects, including incest and suicide, yet it held my interest throughout its significant length. The key to its power lies largely in the girls at the centre of the narrative, the four unlucky daughters of James Piper. The characters were each distinctive and well-drawn, carrying between them many moments of heartbreak and dark humour. MacDonald did go over the top with the 'quirkiness' at times, making this a book I would not recommend to others but which I did, despite everything, enjoy.
    • 1/5
      I found this book very disturbing.
    • 5/5
      This was an unexpected treasure of a book! I'm not always a follower of Oprah picks...it just aggravates me that she noses in to my book shelves... :[ And, I chose to read "Fall on Your Knees" before she chose it, so there!!This story was absorbing. It was so well written and engaging that I stayed up all night and couldn't bear to get up even to get a refill on my diet coke. Ms. MacDonald brings her characters to life so much that I had to keep reminding myself the book was fiction. It made me believe these people had to have existed somewhere for her to have known them so well. I still believe that....I actually recommend this book to everyone who asks me if I have a good book I can recommend to them. Does that give you an idea of how strongly I feel about "Fall On Your Knees?"Please do yourselves a favor and go read the cover and summary on this book at your local bookstore or online...I'm not giving away any of the details here so you will. You'll love it!
    • 5/5
      Since this book's already been around for nearly fifteen years, was an international bestseller and an Oprah's Book Club selection and won numerous honors, what the hell am I gonna say about it that will matter? I discovered it late, certainly, but wow, this is a powerful story, and will still be a hundred years from now! Any book that is billed as a multi-generational 'family saga' usually puts me off, but this one is marked by a quirky, dark gallows kind of humor, as well as totally unexpected and shocking twists, and grabbed my attention from the very start and held it for over five hundred pages to its bitter end. All of its characters are well realized and rivetingly real as rendered by MacDonald. The twisted and tortured Piper family of Cape Breton Island are unforgettable - James and Materia, as well as the brood of daughters: Kathleen, Mercedes, Frances and Lily. I read the book in just a few days and these people are still showing up as half-recognized ghosts in my dreams. Because so many things happen in this book, and many of these events are unexpected and shocking, I'm not going into any specifics, as I abhor spoilers in reviews - and most specific comments would spoil something. You'll have to take my word for it (and probably the words of hundreds of thousands other readers), this book is simply one hell of a ride. I've made a promise to myself to read MacDonald's other book before too long, and I've noticed that one is over 800 pages long! No matter. This girl can WRITE!
    • 3/5
      I found this book difficult to read mostly due to its subject matter. The short choppy sentences did not flow easily for me most likely because of the over 3000 pages read previous to this book of classic literature with long descriptions and unending sentences. My favorite part of this book came at the end in Kathleen's journal, where I feel that Ann-Marie MacDonald really began to tell the story.
    • 5/5
      Please give this book a chance! This long novel starts out a bit slowly but if you stick it out you will be engulfed in the tangled web that is the Piper family. Beautifully written and shocking, this novel kept me coming back for more once I really got to "the meat" of the story. Unlike some previous reviews, I felt a strong connection with the characters and their sorrows. I felt that they were well developed and I was touched by their twisted secret life.Another great pick Oprah!
    • 5/5
      This Canadian writter impressed me deeply. I can only say, give it a chance, despite its lenght, it's absolutely worth it.
    • 5/5
      I had purchased this book years ago at the library for 10 cents and stashed it away in a drawer because, shamefully, I had judged the book by the cover and it did not seem very captivating at the time. However, after reading the first chapter, one day when I had nothing else to read, I became hooked on the novel! This is a beautifully written, despite the disturbing content, novel about Cape Breton. Through detailed description and heart-wrenching scenes this novel can teach a lot about the maritimes and it's history. I felt the emotions of the characters the entire time as if I were reading about someone close to my heart. This is, and will be, one of my favorite books of all time.
    • 5/5
      I read Fall on Your Knees about 10 years ago when it was first published and re-read it as part of Canada Reads 2010. This is a heartbreaking novel about the lives of the members of the Piper family in early 1900's Cape Breton.This novel deals with several dark issues including incest. Throughout the novel, there is a constant feeling of hope underneath the frequentg tragedies. The characters are strong and complex.Ann-Marie Macdonald is a master storyteller; her greatest strength is in evoking the experience of childhood.