Read two good books by Penelope Lively this month: her latest, How It All Began and a much earlier one Passing On. I liked the earlier novel best. Cared more about the characters- a brother and sister both middle aged, both living at home with their mother in a small village (shades of Midsomer Murders), coming to terms with her death. Monstrous mother (shades of The Aunt’s Story, I For Isabel – there is a long standing monstrous mother genre). But still very moving. I wept! All very contemporary and beautifully written. Small touches, believable characters doing what real people do, behaving badly, stupidly and well in turn. Muddling through. Brother and sister are considered eccentric. It’s not usual for grown ups to be living with their mother. Helen wonders why she let herself be drawn back to the family home and role of carer. She was not unaware that she’d been bullied by her mother most of her life. What lack was in herself she wonders. There is an explanation for the brother seeking isolation. Their sister escaped and now lives an ordinary family life in London- chaotic, time-pressured, adolescent children behaving oddly, ups and downs of married life. I loved her distracted, barely coherent phone conversations. The siblings interact as brothers and sisters do – half listening, barely noticing what’s happening in each others lives, but alert to big shifts in atmosphere. Shared memories and deep knowledge of each others characters and what formed them and in the end deeply concerned about each other. Great powers of observation at work here. Thoroughly enjoyable.
How It All Began, starts with a mugging. Charlotte, in her eighties is suddenly struck down, shocked, not badly injured but forced to recuperate in her daughter’s house. The story follows the consequences of that mugging on different people. On Charlotte herself, bruised and sore, on her daughter, Rose and her husband Gerry. On the consequences for Rose’s boss and his niece and for the niece’s lover and his wife who as a result of the mugging finds out about his affair. Unintended consequences. It seems a little contrived even though all the incidents are each ordinary and believable. Too many characters and incidents too lightly drawn militate against a deep response. Rose’s boss is awful and his niece is not especially sympathetic and their life courses are not as expected. But I didn’t care much either way. I cared more for Charlotte and Rose. Charlotte’s keenly felt loss of dependence, not wanting to intrude, to know too much about her grown daughter’s life. Comparing this marriage to her own very happy one. At pains not to judge. Feeling her vulnerability, considering what lies ahead, remembering her past. Wanting to go home. Rose and Gerry do what they can to be accommodating. Small changes in their normal routine. Everyone behaves well, tries to be careful of each other’s feelings, to do the right thing. Charlotte teaches reading to newly arrived migrants. Rose strikes up a friendship with one, helps him buy clothes for his mother. They share walks and conversations. Think about what might have been, consider a different course, make their choices. The household does not notice. Charlotte goes home. All very restrained, perhaps a little too much so. But a slice of real life, real people and how they respond to the circumstances in which they find themselves.
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