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lizwisniewski's review
4.0
It was as charming and well written as I expected. Loved being in this book.
tracie_nicole's review against another edition
4.0
Old grannies pissing off their families and bucking expectations is where it's AT.
indoorswoman's review against another edition
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
marie_gg's review against another edition
4.0
http://mariesbookgarden.blogspot.com/2012/10/all-passion-spent.html
I'd heard of Vita Sackville-West but didn't know much about her before my book group chose this for October's selection. Sackville-West was married to Sir Harold Nicholson and spent most of her life at their estate at Sissinghurst Castle. She and Nicholson had an open marriage, and both of them carried on extensive same-sex relationships. Sackville-West's most famous lover was Virginia Woolf. Some describe this novel as the fictional version of A Room of One's Own.
The story begins with the death of Lady Slane's husband, who had been prime minister and Viceroy of India during his prime. Suddenly, Lady Slane is presented with freedom for the first time in her life...at the ripe age of 88. Her scheming children devise a plan by which she would be passed around from family to family, but she has other ideas. She retires to a modest cottage in Hampstead and directs them that she is to live on her own, and she doesn't want her grandchildren or grandchildren to visit her (no one under 60)...and doesn't much want her children around either.
Lady Slane reflects back on her life and her regrets, chief among them the fact that she was never able to pursue her artistic ambitions. She is quite happy with her little circle--her French maid, Genoux; her landlord, Mr. Bucktrout; and Mr. FitzGeorge, a reclusive, wealthy collector who fell in love with her in India, in another time, and saw immediately what she had given up.
She revels in the precious time she has left, finding pleasure in sitting outside in her back garden, going for brisk winter walks, and quietly reflecting back on her life, mistakes, and relationships. It's a beautiful, feminist story about what women in those days (and still, now) give up to pursue marriage and family. Lady Slane never really enjoyed motherhood, being a wife, or being a grandmother. She just wanted time to reflect and paint, and she never got it. She comes to peace with her realization that she did not really love her husband and she had given up everything to be with him.
And she realizes that she doesn't, really, want to be completely alone. She just wants to carefully choose her companions and how she will spend the remainder of her time.
I enjoyed this book very much and plan to view the BBC miniseries about Vita Sackville-West's relationship with her husband, "Portrait of a Marriage," based on their son Nigel's book of the same name.
To hear Vita's own voice, listen to this recording of her talking about Virginia Woolf and Orlando.
I'd heard of Vita Sackville-West but didn't know much about her before my book group chose this for October's selection. Sackville-West was married to Sir Harold Nicholson and spent most of her life at their estate at Sissinghurst Castle. She and Nicholson had an open marriage, and both of them carried on extensive same-sex relationships. Sackville-West's most famous lover was Virginia Woolf. Some describe this novel as the fictional version of A Room of One's Own.
The story begins with the death of Lady Slane's husband, who had been prime minister and Viceroy of India during his prime. Suddenly, Lady Slane is presented with freedom for the first time in her life...at the ripe age of 88. Her scheming children devise a plan by which she would be passed around from family to family, but she has other ideas. She retires to a modest cottage in Hampstead and directs them that she is to live on her own, and she doesn't want her grandchildren or grandchildren to visit her (no one under 60)...and doesn't much want her children around either.
Lady Slane reflects back on her life and her regrets, chief among them the fact that she was never able to pursue her artistic ambitions. She is quite happy with her little circle--her French maid, Genoux; her landlord, Mr. Bucktrout; and Mr. FitzGeorge, a reclusive, wealthy collector who fell in love with her in India, in another time, and saw immediately what she had given up.
She revels in the precious time she has left, finding pleasure in sitting outside in her back garden, going for brisk winter walks, and quietly reflecting back on her life, mistakes, and relationships. It's a beautiful, feminist story about what women in those days (and still, now) give up to pursue marriage and family. Lady Slane never really enjoyed motherhood, being a wife, or being a grandmother. She just wanted time to reflect and paint, and she never got it. She comes to peace with her realization that she did not really love her husband and she had given up everything to be with him.
And she realizes that she doesn't, really, want to be completely alone. She just wants to carefully choose her companions and how she will spend the remainder of her time.
I enjoyed this book very much and plan to view the BBC miniseries about Vita Sackville-West's relationship with her husband, "Portrait of a Marriage," based on their son Nigel's book of the same name.
To hear Vita's own voice, listen to this recording of her talking about Virginia Woolf and Orlando.
chairmanbernanke's review against another edition
4.0
Reflection on society and permissible roles and choices.
samdrys23's review
emotional
funny
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
medievaljuliana's review against another edition
5.0
I love books that take their time to sit with their characters and let them be on their own terms.
This is not a novel for people looking for plot as stuff-that-happens. Everything great about this novel remains in the interior life of its protagonist, which is much more lively than her family gives her credit and much richer than she gives herself credit for.
To me, however, one of its highlights was when we catch a glimpse of the ever-present but always self-effacing Genoux, Lady Sloane's undefeatable maid. It comes when you least expect it and packs a lot of punch.
This is not a novel for people looking for plot as stuff-that-happens. Everything great about this novel remains in the interior life of its protagonist, which is much more lively than her family gives her credit and much richer than she gives herself credit for.
To me, however, one of its highlights was when we catch a glimpse of the ever-present but always self-effacing Genoux, Lady Sloane's undefeatable maid. It comes when you least expect it and packs a lot of punch.
allisonjpmiller's review against another edition
5.0
As heartbreaking as this novel is, it also makes me less afraid of growing old. Watching the world alternately fade and sharpen through the eyes of 88-year-old Lady Slane—even as she dwells on her regrets and missed opportunities—had a strangely calming effect on me. I felt the "dreamworld" of achievement and enterprise, action and compromise, fall away from me as it did from her. This is a magnificent examination of how contemplation (spiritual action, external inaction) is sometimes the only thing that can brush away those inner cobwebs—revealing truer selves and realities the moment we stop, settle a chair in the grass, and listen.
Just beautiful.
Just beautiful.