Girl, Woman, Other Bernadine Evaristo
I promised to read books recommended by Eleanor, and this is the second one. I actually find myself put off by any requirement to read a book – why I don’t like book clubs – so took me a while to get around to it. I enjoyed it quite a lot but wouldn’t rave about it – as others have done. It reminded my of Doris Lessing’s The Golden Notebook; I’m not sure why. Perhaps because it’s about the lived experiences of different women in London whose lives inter-connect at various times. I can’t quite remember but from memory The Golden Notebook was about the lives of women but with more of a focus on politics as well as love lives and trying to manage the conflicting demands of work and children. I think I’ll re-read it now. This was about women of colour, primarily, with gay and trans viewpoints thrown in for good measure. All nicely done. But not especially engaging or moving – you don’t really feel emotionally for the characters. Or at least I didn’t.
A Maigret Trio George’s Simenon
I found this book being thrown out by house-holders up our street. They had very similar book tastes to ours – I picked up another couple only to find I already had them! In any event this was terrific – a lovely way to spend an afternoon. Simenon’s characters are so psychologically true. I don’t know how he does it. There’s a little bit of physical description – of both people and place. Perhaps it’s the particularity of what he describes – a falling hem, lopsided heels, half smoked cigarettes. You think the small details he includes, like the food and drink that Maigret imbibes in the course of his day, or a small detail about Madam Maigret, are irrelevant but they give added depth and richness – authenticity – to what are really novellas. You can see the Paris in which they are set. In the first of these stories Maigret is pleased to fail as the murder victim is a very unpleasant fellow indeed. In the second a distinguished man has been shot at close range at his desk. His housekeeper fixes Maigret with a hostile glare whenever he comes near. That, as it turns out, is a critical clue. In the same story Maigret feels out of place amongst the moneyed people involved. In the last one he’s very sympathetic to the lazy burglar and intent on finding a murderer when others don’t see the point. Quite intriguing really – how these small stories pack such a punch. I like the Maigret ones best; his roman á clefs are very dark – and I’m avoiding grim these dark days.
Darkness At Noon Arthur Koestler
Even though I’m avoiding grim I found myself interested in this classic – it’s certainly pretty grim. But beautifully done. This is another book – a beautiful hard cover – that I picked up down the street. I thought I’d read it before but now realize I was mixing this up with his autobiography Darkness At Noon. So this was not a re-reading as I thought. Which explains why I didn’t remember anything about it! It’s amazing – very deserving of its reputation as a classic, despite Koestler’s fall from grace ( at least among feminists when, in 1983 he convinced his much younger wife to join him in a suicide pact when he was diagnosed with terminal leukaemia along with other allegations of mistreatment of women). This was published in English in 1941 after Stalin’s show trials of former bolsheviks in the 1930s. It describes the experience of one such former comrade during his imprisonment, interrogation and finally execution. Beautifully written it conjures up the absurdity of it all. At the same time it imagines the different forms of justification the former comrades used to support their final confessions. There’s no overt violence; but the constant fear and self deception required of everyone involved is brilliantly portrayed. Interesting to read this in these troubled times where people prefer fake news to the truth.
What You Can See From Here Mariana Leky
I can’t remember why I put this book on my to read list but I’m very glad I did. It’s a beautifully realised novel – almost novella – it’s quite short. I see, after reading it and looking up reviews, that it has taken Germany – where it is set and where the author is from – by storm. At the start I wasn’t sure where it was set. There’s a strange animal conjured up which I’m amazed – also after reading the story – to find is a real one, native to Africa. The opening scenario tells us that whenever the narrator’s grandmother – a wonderfully wise character – dreams of this animal a person in the village will die. The villagers claim not to believe this story, but all take evasive action! Our narrator is ten years old at the start and in her twenties by the end of the book. Slowly she introduces us to the villagers as daily events involve them. In addition to grandmother, father, mother, grandmother’s thwarted suitor amongst others.. Sometimes we fast forward to the future and find out how someone ends up and over time we learn about everyones back stories. Our narrator has a boy who accompanies her everywhere – to school and at play. He’s her best friend and their relationships is described beautifully. As are all the relationships between the people in this small community. They become real to us as we learn more about their back stories and as we see them react to the things that happen. So what’s it all about? Perhaps the ties that bind – family, neighbours, friends. Perhaps that you can see the whole world from your own very small place in it. I’m not sure. It’s quite lovely; beautifully written, wonderful characters and not a smidgeon of grim to be seen – well a little, in relation to the opening dream. Maybe that’s another theme – managing grief. Recommended.
After Julius Elizabeth Jane Howard
It’s interesting to read this after reading about its history in Howard’s autobiography. She was encouraged to change the structure of the story which she tells in flashback. She resisted all attempts to turn it into a linear narrative – and was right to do so. The flashbacks work really well. It’s also interesting to read after having read the Cazalet Chronicles. This novel was published in 1965 – it’s dedicated to Kingsley Amis her then husband (which all ended badly!) The Chronicles were largely written between 1990 and 1995 with the final one published in 2013 (an amazing achievement). So this precedes her masterpiece by some twenty to thirty years. But we are in the same milieu; upper middle class, working husbands, idle wives. Here the business is publishing although we don’t get much information about that. A couple of the characters are very familiar for anyone who has read the Chronicles. Not surprising really when you know that she based her female characters very much on aspects of herself. Here we get another who, like the author, is amazingly beautiful but thus far doomed to unhappy affairs with married men. There was also a familiar male character; a sort of naif abroad. I enjoyed it all up until the ending – in which I was very disappointed. Our hero behaves rather like the nefarious married men who’ve been taking advantage of the beauty, and the naif abroad behaves despicably. If you want to read Elizabeth Jane Howard I’d go straight to the Chronicles.
Old Baggage Lissa Evans
This was recommended by Iola. The story imagines the lives the suffragettes may have lived after their campaign for the vote is won. It’s a lovely way to tell people about these women; what they endured, arrest, imprisonment, forced feeding and so on. It names the women which is terrific as most of their names and exploits are long forgotten. It’s quite humorous imagining what these aged activists might become – the main character delivers lectures on the good old days. Others are involved in current campaigns and there is at least one who is happily married. But I became a bit weary of the main character after a while, until midway when there is a minor catastrophe in her life after which I enjoyed it much more. We are in the nineteen thirties and there are a number of story lines which intersect – the beginning of the fascist movement in Britain, the class divide, the impact of the last war and worries about the next, the continuing mistreatment of women. The lives of lone single women and of working class girls are still fraught. This is all lightly, but well, drawn. Australia gets a mention via a couple of rather unsavoury characters. All beautifully written. The characters come alive and place and period are fully realised. But, again, you don’t emotionally engage with the characters – or I didn’t.
Their Finest Lissa Evans
I’d seen this film and when buying that first Lissa Evans book noticed she’d written this. So I read the book, then re-watched the film to see how it measured up against the original story – the answer is, not that well! The novel was much richer with more story lines and deeper characterisations. I suppose that is normal. I had the actors in my head while reading it – not sure what impact that had – they were all very attractive. But only about a third of their characters lives made it to the big screen. The novel is in part about the subterfuges required to make a film appear authentic – so it was interesting to see what changes were made to bring the novel to the screen. The very broad outlines of the story were there but characters – not so much. The novel also had another story line slightly linked to the main one which was quite lovely. The author obviously likes writing these. Read the book before you see the film. Both are recommended.
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