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3.94 AVERAGE
3.94 AVERAGE
Like anz other a. s. Byatt novel, this one is taxing, intellectually exuberant, and sad. Byatt is brilliant at explaining life through academic lenses: the primacy of colours and feelings in visual media battles the descriptive and cognitive workload of words. So too, so do Wordsworth and Van Gogh fight as literary and life inspirations throughout the novel.
The main plots involves tensions between family life and intellectual satisfaction, between familial predestination and rebellion, and between the structured (and structural) worlds of Lawrence and Eliot against the tumult of the 20th C. In Byatt, Literary theories are as grievable as their users, and usually less complex.
“Still lives”, a pun within a metaphor, uses layers and layers of individual scenes and incidence strung together to create a narrative as unsettling and irascible as its protagonists.
The main plots involves tensions between family life and intellectual satisfaction, between familial predestination and rebellion, and between the structured (and structural) worlds of Lawrence and Eliot against the tumult of the 20th C. In Byatt, Literary theories are as grievable as their users, and usually less complex.
“Still lives”, a pun within a metaphor, uses layers and layers of individual scenes and incidence strung together to create a narrative as unsettling and irascible as its protagonists.
I give up on this one. I have tried and tried to get through this book, but find myself coming up with all kinds of things to do to avoid reading it. Some drivel about people that I can't even put in order for a "review". Not too many that I just walk away from.
While certainly taking my time with the series, I am impressed w/ Byatt's study of a scholar as a young woman, her family, and the shadowed idea of England in the 1950s. There is a measure of Iris Murdoch at play. Byatt knows that, knows that we know.
I don't think I realized this was 2/4 when I started it. Nor does it encourage me to want to read the other 3. This book is really well written, very cerebral, laced with educational bits about things I'm not well-versed in, and overall, not so terribly engaging until the last 50 pages. Thus, it took me a month to read it.
On the other hand, it's a book about intelligent people struggling with being cerebral, with doubt, and love, and religion, and feminism in its practical elements. Which is beautiful. Although I didn't necessarily enjoy the experience of reading the book, I did flag more quotes and beautifully written, poignant moments in the book than in the last dozen books I've read. So.
On the other hand, it's a book about intelligent people struggling with being cerebral, with doubt, and love, and religion, and feminism in its practical elements. Which is beautiful. Although I didn't necessarily enjoy the experience of reading the book, I did flag more quotes and beautifully written, poignant moments in the book than in the last dozen books I've read. So.
I came across this book by accident and started in before I knew that it’s the second in a tetralogy. It had no impact on my actual love for this book. You can kind of tell that there was some stuff that had gone on before this but it in no way impeded my understanding of the events that unfolded or what was going on with the characters. Themes of art, language, literature, nature, metaphor, and more are just incredibly and artfully dealt with. I can’t wait to read now AS Byatt!
I didn't realize this book was the second in a series until I was halfway through it. Perhaps I should have read the first book first. Parts of this were fantastic stories with great characters - Frederica is at the cusp of the sexual revolution and one of the few females at Cambridge, figuring herself out. Stephanie has pushed aside her Cambridge education and is dealing with domesticity only to be forced to deal with the family psychological outcasts. The minor characters develop too and become more important as the story develops. The parts of the book that become a little tedious are the expositions on art, light, and Vincent van Gogh. Alexander's plays are interesting only as much as they advance the story. I love art and art history, but these are not integrated into the story well (enough). In the beginning of the book, I was simply confused. After I finished the book, I reread the first few chapters once I knew who all the characters were, and they made a lot more sense.
I love how A.S. Byatt loops around and around and around her stories, coming back to themes and ideas--and the lives of ants--somehow originally. I suppose I should go and find the first book in the Frederica Q.
i stuck with it but won't read it again.
a little dense and thinky for such little satisfaction.
a little dense and thinky for such little satisfaction.
When I first started this book I was tired and not in the mood to deal with Byatt's relentless intelligence. But her gift for language, for integrating a wide array of knowledge in a gorgeous way was irresistible. Someone with a greater background in the arts will enjoy this book even more than I did because they will understand references and metaphors I know I only glimpsed.
More Frederica Potter, Yay!!!
From the Publisher
From the author of The New York Times bestseller Possession, comes a highly acclaimed novel which captures in brilliant detail the life of one extended English family--and illuminates the choices they must make between domesticity and ambition, life and art. [b:Toni Morrison|6149|Beloved|Toni Morrison|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1165555299s/6149.jpg|736076], author of Beloved, writes of Byatt: "When it comes to probing characters her scalpel is sure but gentle. She is a loving surgeon".
From the Publisher
From the author of The New York Times bestseller Possession, comes a highly acclaimed novel which captures in brilliant detail the life of one extended English family--and illuminates the choices they must make between domesticity and ambition, life and art. [b:Toni Morrison|6149|Beloved|Toni Morrison|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1165555299s/6149.jpg|736076], author of Beloved, writes of Byatt: "When it comes to probing characters her scalpel is sure but gentle. She is a loving surgeon".