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lelia_t's review against another edition
4.0
Penelope Fitzgerald doesn’t like to do the reader’s work for her. She doesn’t hold our hands and belabor points to make sure we’re connecting the dots, which makes this a book I loved even more on a second reading. And I look forward to a third and fourth, etc.
The plot is seemingly straightforward. Young Fred Fairly and Daisy Saunders, from different social spheres, are each trying to find their way. A chance encounter throws them together and Fred finds himself in love. But does he believe in love? He’s been busy in his academic career expelling “the comforting unseen presences which, in childhood, had spoken to him and said: Give me your hand.” Daisy, meanwhile, is simply trying to make a living, but “not knowing how dangerous generosity is to the giver,” her kind nature gets her into scrapes.
Theories of what’s true and knowable and which moral codes to live by are expounded and debated. And lived experience proves many of them wrong. Daisy, who has to fend off the groping hands of men on the tram on a daily basis, is told by her minister, “You should get rid of this idea of life as a battlefield.” Fred thinks, “there is no purpose in the universe, but if there were, it could be shown that there was an intention, throughout recorded and unrecorded time, to give me Daisy.” And he’s right. Throughout the novel a force moves - believed in by some, denied by others - that seems magical, supernatural.
There’s also brief, realistic glimpses into the lives of women, encumbered by the accouterments of homemaking and other realities. As a nurse tells Daisy, “As a rough guide, remember that while the average man is ill for four days a year, a grown woman must expect to spend one fourth of her life in actual pain.”
This book is a remarkable mixture of the fatalistic and the hopeful. There’s a grim sense that all life is compromise - except for a pampered few - and yet a buoyancy in Daisy’s capacity for enjoyment or in Fred’s friend Skippey’s faith that the solution they need “will present itself as we go.” And through it all, Fitzgerald’s voice is gentle, severe, funny and intelligent.
The plot is seemingly straightforward. Young Fred Fairly and Daisy Saunders, from different social spheres, are each trying to find their way. A chance encounter throws them together and Fred finds himself in love. But does he believe in love? He’s been busy in his academic career expelling “the comforting unseen presences which, in childhood, had spoken to him and said: Give me your hand.” Daisy, meanwhile, is simply trying to make a living, but “not knowing how dangerous generosity is to the giver,” her kind nature gets her into scrapes.
Theories of what’s true and knowable and which moral codes to live by are expounded and debated. And lived experience proves many of them wrong. Daisy, who has to fend off the groping hands of men on the tram on a daily basis, is told by her minister, “You should get rid of this idea of life as a battlefield.” Fred thinks, “there is no purpose in the universe, but if there were, it could be shown that there was an intention, throughout recorded and unrecorded time, to give me Daisy.” And he’s right. Throughout the novel a force moves - believed in by some, denied by others - that seems magical, supernatural.
There’s also brief, realistic glimpses into the lives of women, encumbered by the accouterments of homemaking and other realities. As a nurse tells Daisy, “As a rough guide, remember that while the average man is ill for four days a year, a grown woman must expect to spend one fourth of her life in actual pain.”
This book is a remarkable mixture of the fatalistic and the hopeful. There’s a grim sense that all life is compromise - except for a pampered few - and yet a buoyancy in Daisy’s capacity for enjoyment or in Fred’s friend Skippey’s faith that the solution they need “will present itself as we go.” And through it all, Fitzgerald’s voice is gentle, severe, funny and intelligent.
fates_fables_golem's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Penelope sliding in a bit of Folk Horror to boot. Just love her so much.
Biased fan.
Biased fan.
ikvindlezenleuk_mathilde's review against another edition
4.0
Lees mijn recensie op Een kloddertje roze: http://www.eenkloddertjeroze.nl/2016/12/fitzgerald-engelenpoort/
vyvyani's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Libro che fa quello che promette, non racconta una storia d’amore ma l’idea di una possibile storia d’amore tra persone diverse, con passati diversi, che si circoscrivono in un ambiente vasto e ricco di personaggi strani e interessanti
terrimarshall's review against another edition
1.0
Nope, didn’t get this one. Thank goodness it was short as I had to keep rereading it every time I picked it up because the story was so unmemorable I couldn’t remember what happened. I enjoyed The Blue Flower and wanted to read more by this author, but this was a no.
michael5000's review against another edition
4.0
I enjoyed this on audiobook, July 2015. I think I'm going to toss it right back into the "to-read" pile, as I'm curious to see what it gains in the eye-reading.
paige1947_'s review against another edition
I don't know if it is fair to mark this read as I could not read it- I do not like her style.
reggiejayne's review against another edition
1.0
I wanted to love this book and it’s highly regarded, but I just couldn’t get into it at all. By the midpoint I stopped.
bub_9's review against another edition
4.0
Again, as always, it's enjoyably concise, evocative, complex, historically interesting, and this one has a really curious portrait of love as something not pained, not effortful, very spur of the moment and yet as emotionally meaningful as any other.
Recommended!
Recommended!
shmeatsy_pie's review
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
1.5