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reikista's review against another edition
2.0
A novel about three families at the turn of the 20th century, full of information about the cultural and political goings on of the day, very dense. I did not enjoy it but finished it.
karinlib's review
3.0
This is the first book I have read by this author. I liked it, but I didn't love it. She has a wonderful writing style, so I understand the acclaim. It seemed as though Byatt couldn't decide if she wanted to write a novel or a British history of the time period she chose (1898 - 1919), so she wrote both. In between she added in children's stories. This book has everything: Art museums, pottery, puppets, Shakespearean plays, Peter Pan, Suffragettes, Socialists, Anarchists, and more free love than was needed.
jenniferdeguzman's review against another edition
5.0
This book so utterly enthralled and engulfed me that I had to take a few days off from reading after finishing it, just to process it. It and its author, A.S. Byatt, are wonders. Central to the book's point of view is the role of children's literature during the fin-de-siecle and early 20th century. Byatt is an academic; her novels are often fiction as illustration of a literary thesis, which I love about her. Writers like Oscar Wilde and later J.M. Barrie wrote seriously in children's genres during this time. Fairy tales and mythic stories were explored in all of the arts -- theater, music, painting, literature. The supernatural was a way of interpreting the solid world, or so it seemed.
The narrative follows the lives of a group of children who attend a Midsummer's Night party thrown by the artistic couple Humphrey and Olive Wentworth at their very Aesthetic estate Todefright. There are the six (soon to be seven) Todefright Wentworths, the children of Humphrey and Olive; the London Wentworths, the son and daughter of Humphrey's brother; the son and daughter of a curator at the Victoria and Albert museum (still known as the South Kensington museum), the children of an eccentric and volatile potter and his laudanum-addicted former Pre-Raphaelite "stunner" wife, and an artistically gifted boy who was found hiding in the basement of the South Kensington museum. During the party, all of the children are asked what they want to do when they grow up (including the girls, but only after the boys have had their chance) -- and here the novel becomes a kind of bildungsroman for this large group of young people. How do they fulfill their aspirations? What encourages them? What thwarts them?
The key to this book is its title. Just exactly who are the children in this story? The parents in The Children's Book are each their own kind of naive idealist, beholden of systems of thought, philosophies of living, and the demands of Art-with-a-capital-A, believing all the while that they will create a better world through Fabianism and Aesthetics on the one hand (the Todefright Wentworths and their artistic friends) or through capitalism and thorough integration into polite society on the other (the London Wentworths).
Many of the adults will prove to be what thwarts the children's pursuit of their dreams, using intellectual or philosophical trappings to injure the younger generations, either actively or inadvertently. An author who is a proponent of free love and sexual freedom is a lecherous seducer; a mother who wants her daughter to marry well treats her as a doll; a couple who want to their marriage to be unconstrained by traditional morality muddle their children's lives with the complications that causes. Olive Wentworth, the matriarch of so many of the central characters, is a famous author of supernatural children's stories, filled with fairies and other mythological creatures. But her work, instead of bringing her closer to her children, is a veil between them, and will eventually take such precedence in her life that it cuts off one of her sons forever.
The ways in which the children must strive and must face real horrors during the first World War that their parents never could have imagined, reveals the ineffectual core of their parents' philosophies. As the children become adults, their parents become the real children of the narrative: wide-eyed, ill-prepared for the messiness of real life, unable to cope under the strain of their own idealism.
The weak points in their idealism become clear as the 19th century moves into the 20th and the symbols of those child-like fairy stories beging to break down. Here is Wilde, destitute and near his death in Paris; here is Olive's son Tom, a real boy who will not grow up, brutalized and furiously resistant to suspending his disbelief at a performance of Peter Pan. Here is one of Olive's daughters, beaten and force-fed for trying to bring her parents' idealism about the equality of women to solidity as a suffragette; another one sacrificing her youth and straining under the stress of having to out-perform men in her pursuit of a career as a surgeon.
And then here is the War. Names from fairy tales and stories become the names of trenches. The children of the idealists must face the realities of blood and death, not the fairy story versions of them. They are the generation that brings us not fairy tales but trench poetry, that brings us The Waste Land and Ulysses and To the Lighthouse. (As I wrote this list of works, I realized that the parents of their authors share many characteristics of the parents in The Children's Book.)
All of this, and in A.S. Byatt's beautiful, evocative prose that paints characters and scenes so clearly, that incorporates such specific, solid detail of place and time, and portrays such a keen understanding of the growing mind, of the artistic temperament, and respect for her readers' intellect. After every book I read by her, I say, "It's as if it were written for me."
The narrative follows the lives of a group of children who attend a Midsummer's Night party thrown by the artistic couple Humphrey and Olive Wentworth at their very Aesthetic estate Todefright. There are the six (soon to be seven) Todefright Wentworths, the children of Humphrey and Olive; the London Wentworths, the son and daughter of Humphrey's brother; the son and daughter of a curator at the Victoria and Albert museum (still known as the South Kensington museum), the children of an eccentric and volatile potter and his laudanum-addicted former Pre-Raphaelite "stunner" wife, and an artistically gifted boy who was found hiding in the basement of the South Kensington museum. During the party, all of the children are asked what they want to do when they grow up (including the girls, but only after the boys have had their chance) -- and here the novel becomes a kind of bildungsroman for this large group of young people. How do they fulfill their aspirations? What encourages them? What thwarts them?
The key to this book is its title. Just exactly who are the children in this story? The parents in The Children's Book are each their own kind of naive idealist, beholden of systems of thought, philosophies of living, and the demands of Art-with-a-capital-A, believing all the while that they will create a better world through Fabianism and Aesthetics on the one hand (the Todefright Wentworths and their artistic friends) or through capitalism and thorough integration into polite society on the other (the London Wentworths).
Many of the adults will prove to be what thwarts the children's pursuit of their dreams, using intellectual or philosophical trappings to injure the younger generations, either actively or inadvertently. An author who is a proponent of free love and sexual freedom is a lecherous seducer; a mother who wants her daughter to marry well treats her as a doll; a couple who want to their marriage to be unconstrained by traditional morality muddle their children's lives with the complications that causes. Olive Wentworth, the matriarch of so many of the central characters, is a famous author of supernatural children's stories, filled with fairies and other mythological creatures. But her work, instead of bringing her closer to her children, is a veil between them, and will eventually take such precedence in her life that it cuts off one of her sons forever.
The ways in which the children must strive and must face real horrors during the first World War that their parents never could have imagined, reveals the ineffectual core of their parents' philosophies. As the children become adults, their parents become the real children of the narrative: wide-eyed, ill-prepared for the messiness of real life, unable to cope under the strain of their own idealism.
The weak points in their idealism become clear as the 19th century moves into the 20th and the symbols of those child-like fairy stories beging to break down. Here is Wilde, destitute and near his death in Paris; here is Olive's son Tom, a real boy who will not grow up, brutalized and furiously resistant to suspending his disbelief at a performance of Peter Pan. Here is one of Olive's daughters, beaten and force-fed for trying to bring her parents' idealism about the equality of women to solidity as a suffragette; another one sacrificing her youth and straining under the stress of having to out-perform men in her pursuit of a career as a surgeon.
And then here is the War. Names from fairy tales and stories become the names of trenches. The children of the idealists must face the realities of blood and death, not the fairy story versions of them. They are the generation that brings us not fairy tales but trench poetry, that brings us The Waste Land and Ulysses and To the Lighthouse. (As I wrote this list of works, I realized that the parents of their authors share many characteristics of the parents in The Children's Book.)
All of this, and in A.S. Byatt's beautiful, evocative prose that paints characters and scenes so clearly, that incorporates such specific, solid detail of place and time, and portrays such a keen understanding of the growing mind, of the artistic temperament, and respect for her readers' intellect. After every book I read by her, I say, "It's as if it were written for me."
kqjeske's review
4.0
This book is set in England between the early 1890s and the end of WWI. I happen to really like this period of history and already know a fair amount about the larger social changes taking place during this time and some of the key social thinkers. If you are not interested in this time period or in lots and lots of historical context, politics, social thought and cultural events, then you will have no interest in this book.
The book follows characters, mostly in three families, plus others who are all connected in a sort of socialist leaning arts community. It is a large cast and it takes about a quarter of the book for the author to introduce all of the main characters and for the reader to get somewhat used to following so many of them. The central families are the Cains whose patriarch, Prosper, is a museum keeper, interested in arts and crafts at the newly created V & A Museum; the Wellwoods whose matriarch, Olive, is a very popular and talented children's author; and the Fludds whose patriarch, Benedict, is a volatile, but very well-know pottery artist. Along with their many children, other artists, teachers and members of the community this story (or series of stories) observes the growing up of the second generation who are just establishing themselves as young adults at the beginning of WWI. The author does an excellent job of making the reader feel the waste of war. You become very caught up in the lives of these characters only to read later about the many tragedies that happen to them because of the war. It's as shocking and horrifying as it should be.
I enjoyed many of the themes tackled by the book-artistic temperament, class struggles, women's sufferage-as well as the social life during this time and its subtle shifts. Again, as someone who is familiar (politically and socially) with the time period, I really appreciated the linking of various movements in arts and culture in this story. The author goes on in some detail about the cultural/historic contexts of the time and then links the art being created by some of the main characters into the story, including excerpts of stories written by Olive, poetry written by Julian and detailed descriptions of various plays and productions. In addition, the characters participate in some of the key cultural events of the time such as the Paris Exposition of 1900 and the opening of Peter Pan.
The disappointments for me relate to the large cast of characters and the likely impossibility of satisfying every readers' interest in these characters. Many events happen to the characters throughout the book , but the author doesn't always include reactions to events from characters that would have had interesting reactions. For example, Julian Cain tries very hard throughout boyhood and young adulthood to be friends with Tom Wellwood. But when Tom commits suicide, we never get any reaction from Julian, which he surely had. There are also bits of story that don't resolve. For example, Dorothy is undertaking her medical training and falls in love. She is alarmed by this and takes a break from her studies to regroup, but then the reader never hears any more about this potential romantic interest. More importantly, this reader, anyway, would have appreciated a bit more of an epilogue at the end. I followed these characters through many ups and downs for nearly 900 pages, another 10-15 at the end telling me more about how they moved on after the war would have been appreciated.
The book follows characters, mostly in three families, plus others who are all connected in a sort of socialist leaning arts community. It is a large cast and it takes about a quarter of the book for the author to introduce all of the main characters and for the reader to get somewhat used to following so many of them. The central families are the Cains whose patriarch, Prosper, is a museum keeper, interested in arts and crafts at the newly created V & A Museum; the Wellwoods whose matriarch, Olive, is a very popular and talented children's author; and the Fludds whose patriarch, Benedict, is a volatile, but very well-know pottery artist. Along with their many children, other artists, teachers and members of the community this story (or series of stories) observes the growing up of the second generation who are just establishing themselves as young adults at the beginning of WWI. The author does an excellent job of making the reader feel the waste of war. You become very caught up in the lives of these characters only to read later about the many tragedies that happen to them because of the war. It's as shocking and horrifying as it should be.
I enjoyed many of the themes tackled by the book-artistic temperament, class struggles, women's sufferage-as well as the social life during this time and its subtle shifts. Again, as someone who is familiar (politically and socially) with the time period, I really appreciated the linking of various movements in arts and culture in this story. The author goes on in some detail about the cultural/historic contexts of the time and then links the art being created by some of the main characters into the story, including excerpts of stories written by Olive, poetry written by Julian and detailed descriptions of various plays and productions. In addition, the characters participate in some of the key cultural events of the time such as the Paris Exposition of 1900 and the opening of Peter Pan.
The disappointments for me relate to the large cast of characters and the likely impossibility of satisfying every readers' interest in these characters. Many events happen to the characters throughout the book , but the author doesn't always include reactions to events from characters that would have had interesting reactions. For example, Julian Cain tries very hard throughout boyhood and young adulthood to be friends with Tom Wellwood. But when Tom commits suicide, we never get any reaction from Julian, which he surely had. There are also bits of story that don't resolve. For example, Dorothy is undertaking her medical training and falls in love. She is alarmed by this and takes a break from her studies to regroup, but then the reader never hears any more about this potential romantic interest. More importantly, this reader, anyway, would have appreciated a bit more of an epilogue at the end. I followed these characters through many ups and downs for nearly 900 pages, another 10-15 at the end telling me more about how they moved on after the war would have been appreciated.
eletricjb's review
4.0
Man, would I have ever loved to read the actual story Tom Underground. Also, part of it sounded like part of The Silver Chair, so now I need to find the common source for this stolen prince underground tale. To the lib'ary!
lisamf's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
sarahanne8382's review against another edition
4.0
A. S. Byatt's most recent novel is a sprawling coming of age story focusing on several related English families during the decades leading up to WWI. It's a story you've heard over and over again about the rapid societal changes following the Victorian Era, and yet Byatt gets you interested in her myriad cast so that you have to find out how they all end up.
Our story centers around the family of Olive Wellwood, mother of a large brood and author of fairy tales and stories for children and a social liberal. Her children as well as the children of families they socialize with come of age during this period and discover that while the world changes around them, their place within it isn't always where they expected. The Benedict Fludd family offers a stark contrast with the tyrannical potter father scaring his wife and daughters into submission to his artistic whims. Then there are the Wellwood cousins, the museum curator's family, the Warren siblings, and the German puppeteers. This is definitely a full cast, but with nearly 700 pages, their stories all get told.
I really don't read many long books anymore, so my main gripe is that this dense and detailed book took so long to read that it seemed even longer than than the number of pages would suggest. I'll admit, though, that I didn't read every word (which is really rare for me), especially when Byatt rambled on about this or that matter of cultural, historical, or political significance. If you like historical fiction, especially with a British focus, or complicated family relationships and aren't scared off by the size of this one, I'd totally check it out.
Our story centers around the family of Olive Wellwood, mother of a large brood and author of fairy tales and stories for children and a social liberal. Her children as well as the children of families they socialize with come of age during this period and discover that while the world changes around them, their place within it isn't always where they expected. The Benedict Fludd family offers a stark contrast with the tyrannical potter father scaring his wife and daughters into submission to his artistic whims. Then there are the Wellwood cousins, the museum curator's family, the Warren siblings, and the German puppeteers. This is definitely a full cast, but with nearly 700 pages, their stories all get told.
I really don't read many long books anymore, so my main gripe is that this dense and detailed book took so long to read that it seemed even longer than than the number of pages would suggest. I'll admit, though, that I didn't read every word (which is really rare for me), especially when Byatt rambled on about this or that matter of cultural, historical, or political significance. If you like historical fiction, especially with a British focus, or complicated family relationships and aren't scared off by the size of this one, I'd totally check it out.
krobart's review
4.0
See my review here:
https://whatmeread.wordpress.com/2019/12/12/review-1428-the-childrens-book/
https://whatmeread.wordpress.com/2019/12/12/review-1428-the-childrens-book/