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scarpuccia's review against another edition
5.0
4.5 stars.
Elizabeth Taylor can write a beautiful sentence. This novel is awash with beautiful writing. Essentially, it's a wise grown up take on romantic love. As a young girl Harriet falls in love with the elusive and unreliable Vesey, an aspiring actor and soon to depart for Oxford. I liked the split Taylor creates here between the subjective and the objective. Vesey isn't objectively very attractive as anything but a passing crush but to Harriet he personifies everything that is missing from her uneventful rural existence. He will become a powerful idea opposing the practical and fearful choices she makes. Taylor does a great job of conjuring up all the sorcery of first love. Vesey now vanishes and Harriet marries Charles, an older businessman. The narrative skips forward two decades. Harriet has a teenage daughter when Vesey makes a reappearance in her life. Not surprisingly he hasn't made much of his life. But neither is Harriet exactly enthralled with her married life. The temptation now is to try to reconnect with the past and all its glamorous wishes.
Elizabeth Taylor is tremendously wise about the compromises marriage involves and the enduring sorcery exerted on a woman by the one who got away. It's the middle-aged Harriet who plays a game of Hide and Seek with her younger self in this novel. Will she be able to find her and reconnect with her?
I'll definitely be reading more Elizabeth Taylor. And well done Virago yet again for resurrecting the reputation of a hugely talented female novelist.
Elizabeth Taylor can write a beautiful sentence. This novel is awash with beautiful writing. Essentially, it's a wise grown up take on romantic love. As a young girl Harriet falls in love with the elusive and unreliable Vesey, an aspiring actor and soon to depart for Oxford. I liked the split Taylor creates here between the subjective and the objective. Vesey isn't objectively very attractive as anything but a passing crush but to Harriet he personifies everything that is missing from her uneventful rural existence. He will become a powerful idea opposing the practical and fearful choices she makes. Taylor does a great job of conjuring up all the sorcery of first love. Vesey now vanishes and Harriet marries Charles, an older businessman. The narrative skips forward two decades. Harriet has a teenage daughter when Vesey makes a reappearance in her life. Not surprisingly he hasn't made much of his life. But neither is Harriet exactly enthralled with her married life. The temptation now is to try to reconnect with the past and all its glamorous wishes.
Elizabeth Taylor is tremendously wise about the compromises marriage involves and the enduring sorcery exerted on a woman by the one who got away. It's the middle-aged Harriet who plays a game of Hide and Seek with her younger self in this novel. Will she be able to find her and reconnect with her?
I'll definitely be reading more Elizabeth Taylor. And well done Virago yet again for resurrecting the reputation of a hugely talented female novelist.
blankgarden's review against another edition
5.0
My review: https://theblankgarden.com/2017/04/13/the-taste-of-the-fog-was-at-the-back-of-their-throats/
blankgarden's review against another edition
5.0
My review: https://theblankgarden.com/2017/04/13/the-taste-of-the-fog-was-at-the-back-of-their-throats/
blankgarden's review
5.0
My review: https://theblankgarden.com/2017/04/13/the-taste-of-the-fog-was-at-the-back-of-their-throats/
balancinghistorybooks's review
5.0
On the face of it, A Game of Hide and Seek is a love story, but I found that it was far more than that. I absolutely loved the way in which the novel began, with the vivid scene of a hide and seek game. The imagery throughout is lovely, as is the way Taylor builds her scenes. The social context was marvellous, particularly with regard to the Suffrage Movement, which I am endlessly fascinated by.
This is the first novel of Taylor’s which I’ve read, and I found that she presented the human psyche and differing relationships between her characters so well. I warmed to the protagonist, Harriet, immediately, and by the end of the book I was longing to have a friend just like her. The other characters, too, are marvellously drawn. They are three dimensional and step off each page.
Not a lot happens in the novel in terms of plot, but the characters were so well done, that it didn’t really matter. I am very much looking forward to getting through the rest of Taylor’s novels now, as I am sure that some real treats lie ahead.
This is the first novel of Taylor’s which I’ve read, and I found that she presented the human psyche and differing relationships between her characters so well. I warmed to the protagonist, Harriet, immediately, and by the end of the book I was longing to have a friend just like her. The other characters, too, are marvellously drawn. They are three dimensional and step off each page.
Not a lot happens in the novel in terms of plot, but the characters were so well done, that it didn’t really matter. I am very much looking forward to getting through the rest of Taylor’s novels now, as I am sure that some real treats lie ahead.
mklong's review
5.0
My first Elizabeth Taylor, but certainly won't be my last. The way she draws characters, even minor ones, is so outstanding, I hardly cared what was going to happen next.
lnatal's review
4.0
Opening lines:
Sometimes in the long summer’s evenings, which are so marked a part of our youth, Harriet and Vesey played hide-and-seek with the younger children, running across the tufted meadows, their shoes yellow with the pollen of buttercups.
This is the love story between Harriet and Vesey, a love they captivated since their youth. However, their lives take a different course and Harriet married another man. But their love nevertheless persists even if this not brings a happy end to the story.
This is the first book of this author I've read and I'm planning to read more. The author has a vivid way of writing, portraying in a very sensible way the social paradigms of the beginning of 20th century.
Sometimes in the long summer’s evenings, which are so marked a part of our youth, Harriet and Vesey played hide-and-seek with the younger children, running across the tufted meadows, their shoes yellow with the pollen of buttercups.
This is the love story between Harriet and Vesey, a love they captivated since their youth. However, their lives take a different course and Harriet married another man. But their love nevertheless persists even if this not brings a happy end to the story.
This is the first book of this author I've read and I'm planning to read more. The author has a vivid way of writing, portraying in a very sensible way the social paradigms of the beginning of 20th century.