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indoorswoman's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
krobart's review against another edition
3.0
See my review here:
https://whatmeread.wordpress.com/2018/04/03/day-1198-consequences/
https://whatmeread.wordpress.com/2018/04/03/day-1198-consequences/
michael5000's review against another edition
4.0
A sleeping classic, beautifully written, exploring a kind of life and personality that is rarely seen in fiction. Defiant of any genre conventions, and not especially cheerful -- although not as sad as it might be. Impassive yet humane.
shippers1983's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
mcsangel2's review against another edition
4.0
A very intense, emotional journey through the mind processes of the main character. Wow, this book couldn't be more different from the author's "Diary of a Provincial Lady!" Have to wonder how she came to write this....feels as though it's a very personal story for her.
avrilhj's review against another edition
4.0
This is a brilliant and deeply disturbing book. It is also a deeply angry book; I finished it thanking God that in Anglo culture girls are no longer raised simply to marry and that all of us are now expected to at least be able to earn our livings. Alex, the protagonist of this book, ends up killing herself because there is no place for her in the world; she doesn’t understand the life she is expected to lead and no one with whom she comes into contact understands her. The futility and stupidity of the life lived by the privileged Victorians in England makes me almost sad for them, until I remember the dangerous and deadly lives the poor were living at the same time. I’ll always have more sympathy for the under-privileged than for the over-privileged.
flappermyrtle's review against another edition
4.0
I am still numb after just having finished this novel.
Though contemporary reviews might be right in their assertion that Alex Clare's ill fate is exaggerated - everything must always go wrong with her - the hurt and pain laced through Alex's life story does not feel less real for it. Because Nicola Beauman is also right in her introduction: everyone recognises a bit of Alex in themselves, be it small or large, or knows someone rather much like Alex.
Consequences delivers thinly-veiled criticism of the Victorian morale concerning women in the upper classes; to marry and have children is their one and only purpose, and therefore their one and only goal in life. This consciousness is instilled into girls from a very young age, though they are suddenly expected to live up to expectations and become a woman overnight at their "coming out". There is no room for diverging paths, it must be all or nothing. And for Alex Clare, awkward and egotistical, with a tendency to do the wrong thing at the wrong mment, it is to be nothing. Her eagerness to love is touching, the many denials and refusals her worship meets sting, and the general air of disappointment seeping through the pages of this novel are poignang. A disappointment not necessarily with other people, but with society at large for raising people in straitjackets, unable to directly speak of emotions or feelings, thus creating a gap between themselves and others. The reader is the only one allowed a glimpse of Alex's mind, allowing for both her view and that of the world around her, making the contrast the more stark.
Alex is stuck in her past, her multiple past selves all making multiple mistakes that cannot be revisited, only reviewed over and over again, merely to realise the futility of it all and the waste of fruitful years. Alex knows she might have been happy, somehow, but considers happiness something that is no longer attainable anymore. The ending shook me excessively, though it was inescapable too - and the sense that things would have been so, so different had Alex lived ten or fifteen years later is stifling.
No matter the sadness this book evoked in me, it is a story for every woman living today and striving for a different career than marriage. I rejoiced in the opportunities women are offered today, cringed at the parallels still apparent in terms of relationships between the sexes, and eventually, this book instilled in me an intense feeling of hopelessness: who knows how many Alexes were out there?
Though contemporary reviews might be right in their assertion that Alex Clare's ill fate is exaggerated - everything must always go wrong with her - the hurt and pain laced through Alex's life story does not feel less real for it. Because Nicola Beauman is also right in her introduction: everyone recognises a bit of Alex in themselves, be it small or large, or knows someone rather much like Alex.
Consequences delivers thinly-veiled criticism of the Victorian morale concerning women in the upper classes; to marry and have children is their one and only purpose, and therefore their one and only goal in life. This consciousness is instilled into girls from a very young age, though they are suddenly expected to live up to expectations and become a woman overnight at their "coming out". There is no room for diverging paths, it must be all or nothing. And for Alex Clare, awkward and egotistical, with a tendency to do the wrong thing at the wrong mment, it is to be nothing. Her eagerness to love is touching, the many denials and refusals her worship meets sting, and the general air of disappointment seeping through the pages of this novel are poignang. A disappointment not necessarily with other people, but with society at large for raising people in straitjackets, unable to directly speak of emotions or feelings, thus creating a gap between themselves and others. The reader is the only one allowed a glimpse of Alex's mind, allowing for both her view and that of the world around her, making the contrast the more stark.
Alex is stuck in her past, her multiple past selves all making multiple mistakes that cannot be revisited, only reviewed over and over again, merely to realise the futility of it all and the waste of fruitful years. Alex knows she might have been happy, somehow, but considers happiness something that is no longer attainable anymore. The ending shook me excessively, though it was inescapable too - and the sense that things would have been so, so different had Alex lived ten or fifteen years later is stifling.
No matter the sadness this book evoked in me, it is a story for every woman living today and striving for a different career than marriage. I rejoiced in the opportunities women are offered today, cringed at the parallels still apparent in terms of relationships between the sexes, and eventually, this book instilled in me an intense feeling of hopelessness: who knows how many Alexes were out there?
emma_louise_books's review against another edition
4.0
"Consequences" is by no means a lighthearted read but one which is certainly thought provoking and insightful of the social, economic and religious conventions which restricted women during the victorian era.
In my opinion Delafield is an admirable storyteller capturing the reader with engaging characters and vivid scene setting making this moving story a real page turner. I will certainly be reading more books written by Delafield.
In my opinion Delafield is an admirable storyteller capturing the reader with engaging characters and vivid scene setting making this moving story a real page turner. I will certainly be reading more books written by Delafield.