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neom's review against another edition
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
slow-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
4.0
lizzysiddal's review
4.0
https://lizzysiddal.wordpress.com/2020/07/30/the-great-fortune-olivia-manning/
gh7's review against another edition
4.0
I knew before starting this that it wasn't going to be any kind of dazzling literary masterpiece (despite Anthony Burgess telling me Olivia Manning is the most considerable of our woman writers - a quote I find patronising and begs the question, how many women writers has he read?) What I was hoping was that it would be entertaining and also provide insights into how the second world war was experienced by a novelist living through it. It delivered on both those accounts.
An interesting debate would be whether or not a novelist has an advantage if she is writing about something she has experienced first hand. The advantages are obvious. First and foremost, the poignant and telling small details first hand observation provides. The disadvantages probably reside in the temptation to get carried away with all the minutiae of the personal experience. Manning, wanting to be faithful to her experience, probably tries to cram in too many characters all of whom you sense are modelled on real people and which necessitate too many sideshows. Which is why this novel, a trilogy, is so long. You also sense Manning perhaps uses the novel to settle scores. She doesn't seem very keen on most of her characters, including her blundering, insensitive well-meaning husband. Some details though would be hard for a novelist to invent. Like the battle between the German and British propaganda offices in Bucharest in 1940 where they war for attention with their window displays.
So, no, it's not any kind of dazzling literary masterpiece but yes, it is entertaining and I'm looking forward to reading the second instalment.
An interesting debate would be whether or not a novelist has an advantage if she is writing about something she has experienced first hand. The advantages are obvious. First and foremost, the poignant and telling small details first hand observation provides. The disadvantages probably reside in the temptation to get carried away with all the minutiae of the personal experience. Manning, wanting to be faithful to her experience, probably tries to cram in too many characters all of whom you sense are modelled on real people and which necessitate too many sideshows. Which is why this novel, a trilogy, is so long. You also sense Manning perhaps uses the novel to settle scores. She doesn't seem very keen on most of her characters, including her blundering, insensitive well-meaning husband. Some details though would be hard for a novelist to invent. Like the battle between the German and British propaganda offices in Bucharest in 1940 where they war for attention with their window displays.
So, no, it's not any kind of dazzling literary masterpiece but yes, it is entertaining and I'm looking forward to reading the second instalment.
epictetsocrate's review against another edition
3.0
Undeva, în apropiere de Veneţia, Guy intră în vorbă cu un bărbat greoi, mai în vârstă, un refugiat german în drum spre Trieste. Răspundea precipitat la întrebările lui Guy şi nici nu păru să observe oprirea trenului. In haosul acestui nou război se opreau la aproape fiecare douăzeci de minute. Harriet privea pe fereastră şi, în lumina difuză a înserării, începu să cerceteze traversele înnegrite care susţineau şinele. O pereche păşea orbecăind, cu efort, printre ele, întinzând când un picior, când un cot în raza de lumină venită de la ferestrele vagoanelor. Pe sub traverse se vedea apa licărind, reflectând globurile fosforescente ce luminau calea ferată.
Când trenul intră din nou în noapte, lăsând în urmă perechea de îndrăgostiţi şi reflexele apei, Harriet se gândi: „Acum, orice se poate întâmpla”.
Guy continua să discute concentrat cu refugiatul de la capătul celălalt al compartimentului, părând să nu mai vadă nimic în jur. II asculta, desigur, cu multă înţelegere şi asta-l făcuse pe german să se ridice pe jumătate în scaunul săU. Îşi întinse mâinile înainte, una lângă alta, cu palmele căuş ridicate în sus şi le agita, din când în când, pentru a-şi sublinia ideile. Guy, atent şi îngrijorat, se implica tot mai mult, încuviinţând din cap, vrând să sugereze că exact asta se aşteptase să audă.
Ce spune? întrebă Harriet, care nu ştia germana.
Guy îi prinse mâna, apăsându-i-o uşor. Trebuia să tacă. Toată atenţia lui părea îndreptată, cu o undă de simpatie chiar, asupra fugarului. Acesta privea însă, din când în când, şi spre ceilalţi pasageri, cu un fel de tupeu agresiv, de parcă ar fi spus: „Şi ce dacă vorbesc? Sunt un om liber!”
Când trenul intră din nou în noapte, lăsând în urmă perechea de îndrăgostiţi şi reflexele apei, Harriet se gândi: „Acum, orice se poate întâmpla”.
Guy continua să discute concentrat cu refugiatul de la capătul celălalt al compartimentului, părând să nu mai vadă nimic în jur. II asculta, desigur, cu multă înţelegere şi asta-l făcuse pe german să se ridice pe jumătate în scaunul săU. Îşi întinse mâinile înainte, una lângă alta, cu palmele căuş ridicate în sus şi le agita, din când în când, pentru a-şi sublinia ideile. Guy, atent şi îngrijorat, se implica tot mai mult, încuviinţând din cap, vrând să sugereze că exact asta se aşteptase să audă.
Ce spune? întrebă Harriet, care nu ştia germana.
Guy îi prinse mâna, apăsându-i-o uşor. Trebuia să tacă. Toată atenţia lui părea îndreptată, cu o undă de simpatie chiar, asupra fugarului. Acesta privea însă, din când în când, şi spre ceilalţi pasageri, cu un fel de tupeu agresiv, de parcă ar fi spus: „Şi ce dacă vorbesc? Sunt un om liber!”
clairewords's review
3.0
I've been aware if this trilogy for a while and curious to discover it because of its international setting (Romania in the months leading up to the 2nd World War) though equally wary, because of its English ex-pat protagonists living a life of privilege among a population that's suffering economic hardship and the threat of their being positioned between two untrustworthy powers (Russia and Germany).
The story is chiefly about a young couple and their first year of marriage in Romania on the eve of war. Guy, a young English literature professor returns to Bucharest after a summer in England, with his new wife Harriet, a woman he met and married within a month. We know nothing about that month, or their romance, or why/how they came together so impulsively.
Over the course if the novel we get to know through Harriet's perceptive observations and self awareness of her own flaws and Guy's, what their characters are, why they act in the way they do, and the effect they have on each other, due to their differences. These aspects of personality are reflected through the way they interact and respond to others around them.
It took a little while initially to overcome my semi-reluctance to be among such a crowd, (being somewhat averse to novels where purposeless woman follow their husbands around and wonder why they are unhappy with life) and admittedly most of the characters and their behaviours in the setting up stage of the novel, are often tiresome, but the ability of Harriet to see through each of them, in an effort to better know her husband, after a while becomes more and more engaging.
Harriet lacks purpose and so it's no surprise that her energy and focus turns towards analysing and judging others. In a way she reminded me of Hadley Richardson in Paula McLain's [b:The Paris Wife|8683812|The Paris Wife|Paula McLain|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1320545874l/8683812._SX50_.jpg|13556031] and Zelda Fitzgerald in [b:Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald|15994634|Z A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald|Therese Anne Fowler|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1396815892l/15994634._SX50_.jpg|21763986] by Therese Anne Fowler, women with aspirations, who find themselves in the shadows of the larger player, their husband's lives, men whom other people are drawn too and seek attention from, leaving the wife as a companion and bedwarmer for those few hours he finds himself solitary.
They too, are stories of the lives of young internationals, professors, diplomats, journalists, the locals they fall in with, the cafes, restaurants and hotels they frequent, the political background constantly a source of conversation, the lack of family and a rootlessness that drives them to seek each other out in this environment that throws people together, who wouldn't otherwise cross paths.
It also reminded me a little of [b:She Came to Stay|21121|She Came to Stay|Simone de Beauvoir|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1332001480l/21121._SY75_.jpg|2246322] by Simone de Beauvoir, though that was a book I was unable to finish.
The novel does become even more interesting and ironic when Guy decides to produce an amateur production of the Shakespearean play Troilus and Cressida, diverting the attention of his fans and followers, young and old, at a time when war is creeping ever closer and everyone else not involved in his amateur dramatics is frantic with worry. The play itself is the tragic story of lovers set against the backdrop of war.
Dropped as one of the players, Harriet is upstaged by local Sophie, a woman whose affection for Guy and history that precedes her, adds to the tension of their new marriage, the novel ends leaving us wondering what will happen next, as Europe itself is a bed of tension and danger, depending on where one's loyalties lie.
The story is chiefly about a young couple and their first year of marriage in Romania on the eve of war. Guy, a young English literature professor returns to Bucharest after a summer in England, with his new wife Harriet, a woman he met and married within a month. We know nothing about that month, or their romance, or why/how they came together so impulsively.
Over the course if the novel we get to know through Harriet's perceptive observations and self awareness of her own flaws and Guy's, what their characters are, why they act in the way they do, and the effect they have on each other, due to their differences. These aspects of personality are reflected through the way they interact and respond to others around them.
It took a little while initially to overcome my semi-reluctance to be among such a crowd, (being somewhat averse to novels where purposeless woman follow their husbands around and wonder why they are unhappy with life) and admittedly most of the characters and their behaviours in the setting up stage of the novel, are often tiresome, but the ability of Harriet to see through each of them, in an effort to better know her husband, after a while becomes more and more engaging.
Harriet lacks purpose and so it's no surprise that her energy and focus turns towards analysing and judging others. In a way she reminded me of Hadley Richardson in Paula McLain's [b:The Paris Wife|8683812|The Paris Wife|Paula McLain|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1320545874l/8683812._SX50_.jpg|13556031] and Zelda Fitzgerald in [b:Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald|15994634|Z A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald|Therese Anne Fowler|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1396815892l/15994634._SX50_.jpg|21763986] by Therese Anne Fowler, women with aspirations, who find themselves in the shadows of the larger player, their husband's lives, men whom other people are drawn too and seek attention from, leaving the wife as a companion and bedwarmer for those few hours he finds himself solitary.
They too, are stories of the lives of young internationals, professors, diplomats, journalists, the locals they fall in with, the cafes, restaurants and hotels they frequent, the political background constantly a source of conversation, the lack of family and a rootlessness that drives them to seek each other out in this environment that throws people together, who wouldn't otherwise cross paths.
It also reminded me a little of [b:She Came to Stay|21121|She Came to Stay|Simone de Beauvoir|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1332001480l/21121._SY75_.jpg|2246322] by Simone de Beauvoir, though that was a book I was unable to finish.
The novel does become even more interesting and ironic when Guy decides to produce an amateur production of the Shakespearean play Troilus and Cressida, diverting the attention of his fans and followers, young and old, at a time when war is creeping ever closer and everyone else not involved in his amateur dramatics is frantic with worry. The play itself is the tragic story of lovers set against the backdrop of war.
Dropped as one of the players, Harriet is upstaged by local Sophie, a woman whose affection for Guy and history that precedes her, adds to the tension of their new marriage, the novel ends leaving us wondering what will happen next, as Europe itself is a bed of tension and danger, depending on where one's loyalties lie.
muggsyspaniel's review against another edition
5.0
I'd never read any Olivia Manning before, truth to tell I only even vaguely knew her name but all that is changed now.
The Great Fortune is set among the British community in Bucharest at the beginning of WWII. The first in a trilogy this one shows the tension and boredom felt by the members of that community are expertly described and the reasonably large cast of characters beautifully drawn. Harriet Pringle, newly married to Guy is the main protagonist while Prince Yakimov, english educated Russian émigré on his uppers is another leading player. Both Harriet and Yakimov are wonderful characters in very different ways. She is strong willed and modern but in a new world and finding it difficult to understand her new husband and surroundings. Yakimov is a man lead by his stomach and his desire to keep on living the life he has become accustomed to, he borrows money and talks his way through humiliation after humiliation on his downward spiral.
The tale does appear by all accounts to be pretty well autobiographical and while there isn't much in the way of story it's a brilliant book and I'll be heading straight on to book two in the trilogy The Spoilt City.
The Great Fortune is set among the British community in Bucharest at the beginning of WWII. The first in a trilogy this one shows the tension and boredom felt by the members of that community are expertly described and the reasonably large cast of characters beautifully drawn. Harriet Pringle, newly married to Guy is the main protagonist while Prince Yakimov, english educated Russian émigré on his uppers is another leading player. Both Harriet and Yakimov are wonderful characters in very different ways. She is strong willed and modern but in a new world and finding it difficult to understand her new husband and surroundings. Yakimov is a man lead by his stomach and his desire to keep on living the life he has become accustomed to, he borrows money and talks his way through humiliation after humiliation on his downward spiral.
The tale does appear by all accounts to be pretty well autobiographical and while there isn't much in the way of story it's a brilliant book and I'll be heading straight on to book two in the trilogy The Spoilt City.
harimau_belang's review against another edition
informative
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
mariastefpopa's review against another edition
funny
informative
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
doulicia's review against another edition
3.0
Interesting perspective of English people living in Romania on the eve of WWII, but what an annoying batch of men. This tale of newlywed expats includes a parade of self-absorbed men, vapid women and a clueless child of a husband. I don't know if I can trust the representation of Romania and Romanians, since it comes from someone who was herself a visiter to the Balkans from England.