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3.46 AVERAGE
3.46 AVERAGE
Very much like To the North, this is Elizabeth Bowen finding her feet as a novelist. Once again the narrative perspective is overly fidgety, flitting from head to head. I found only three characters warranted the attention given to them - Lois, Hugo and Lady Naylor. The other characters were largely present to provide social comedy which is the task set the dialogue. Their inner lives weren't very interesting. Even the social comedy is largely derivative (Forster's mischievous sympathy towards dreadful women looms large). I've got a hunch Bowen only really discovered how to successfully structure a novel after she had fully assimilated the influence of Henry James, a master architect. But on every page Bowen surprises by just how brilliantly she can write when inspired. It's often in the descriptive lyrical passages that Bowen announces her genius, when she dramatizes the outside world as a register of her characters' inner lives. The natural world in Bowen is often exemplary. It foreshadows, clarifies and criticises. It is often unforgiving where Bowen is ostensibly generous; prophetic where she is ostensibly prosaic; caustic where she is ostensibly humorous. It's often where all the defensive sophistications of Bowen's characters are exposed as little more than fancy dress.
At the final count, Elizabeth Bowen can write better than 99% of living novelists, which is always a reason for reading even her minor early works.
NB: I watched twenty minutes of the film adaptation last night. It was appalling! I've never seen so many good actors in such a fatuous film. Two salient characteristics of the book are that most of the drama takes place off-stage and all the relationships are marriages of convenience, products of disappointment and lack of courage. The film changes all this; it also changes the central character Lois from a sophisticated, knotted and cerebral young woman into a flighty flirtatious cliché in a white dress dancing among trees. John Banville wrote the screenplay and confirmed all my misgivings about him as a writer. Quite simply Bowen wrote much better dialogue.
At the final count, Elizabeth Bowen can write better than 99% of living novelists, which is always a reason for reading even her minor early works.
NB: I watched twenty minutes of the film adaptation last night. It was appalling! I've never seen so many good actors in such a fatuous film. Two salient characteristics of the book are that most of the drama takes place off-stage and all the relationships are marriages of convenience, products of disappointment and lack of courage. The film changes all this; it also changes the central character Lois from a sophisticated, knotted and cerebral young woman into a flighty flirtatious cliché in a white dress dancing among trees. John Banville wrote the screenplay and confirmed all my misgivings about him as a writer. Quite simply Bowen wrote much better dialogue.
funny
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
funny
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
medium-paced
emotional
funny
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This is an interesting short novel by Elizabeth Bowen set in twentieth century Ireland during the time of tension between the British 'Black and Tans' and the Irish Resistance. The main backdrop is the large country house, Danielstown; home to Sir Richard Naylor and his wife Lady Myra Naylor. Also staying there are Sir Richard's orphaned niece, Lois, and Lady Myra's nephew, Laurence (who visits during his holidays from Oxford). Throughout the novel different characters either stay or visit Danielstown: some are prospective love interests, others old family friends.
As I want to make this review short, I will cut to the chase. Bowen's language is poetically beautiful; her descriptions of locations and landscapes remind me of Proust through her use of colour and scents. She ferrets away clues throughout the novel which foreshadow later events, and often her repetition of phrases uttered by characters makes the novel appear like it is stuck in time. (This would accord with James Joyce's view of early 20th century Ireland). She also incorporates repeated motifs which emphasise the strangeness of the location and sometimes hint at what is to come. I particularly liked her description (or is it personification?) of the country house, especially the Bachelardian concept of the windows being like eyes, staring out but also protecting.
The negative aspects of this book which stopped me giving it four stars were that events occurred very disjointedly. Sometimes I had to re-read sections to get my bearings. Maybe this was intentional by the author to add that air of uncertainty and disorientation to the narrative, but it took the edge off the pleasure of reading it a bit. The plot was a bit elusive as well; this is no Jane Austen-type narrative! Also, I didn't really gel with the characters; Lois is the main character that we follow, but after all 207 pages, I still hadn't really warmed to her. Marda was just strange, and Livvy reminded me of Isabella Thorpe in Jane Austen's [i] Persuasion [/i]. And the menfolk were just as odd. I think the house was the best 'personality' of them all!
So, in a nutshell, it's a good short story. It addresses class, politics, and elements of Irish society and seriously, the poetic language is well worth reading it for. I will read it again, as I'm sure there were aspects that I will appreciate second time round, but on first reading it strikes me as a clever but confusing novel.
As I want to make this review short, I will cut to the chase. Bowen's language is poetically beautiful; her descriptions of locations and landscapes remind me of Proust through her use of colour and scents. She ferrets away clues throughout the novel which foreshadow later events, and often her repetition of phrases uttered by characters makes the novel appear like it is stuck in time. (This would accord with James Joyce's view of early 20th century Ireland). She also incorporates repeated motifs which emphasise the strangeness of the location and sometimes hint at what is to come. I particularly liked her description (or is it personification?) of the country house, especially the Bachelardian concept of the windows being like eyes, staring out but also protecting.
The negative aspects of this book which stopped me giving it four stars were that events occurred very disjointedly. Sometimes I had to re-read sections to get my bearings. Maybe this was intentional by the author to add that air of uncertainty and disorientation to the narrative, but it took the edge off the pleasure of reading it a bit. The plot was a bit elusive as well; this is no Jane Austen-type narrative! Also, I didn't really gel with the characters; Lois is the main character that we follow, but after all 207 pages, I still hadn't really warmed to her. Marda was just strange, and Livvy reminded me of Isabella Thorpe in Jane Austen's [i] Persuasion [/i]. And the menfolk were just as odd. I think the house was the best 'personality' of them all!
So, in a nutshell, it's a good short story. It addresses class, politics, and elements of Irish society and seriously, the poetic language is well worth reading it for. I will read it again, as I'm sure there were aspects that I will appreciate second time round, but on first reading it strikes me as a clever but confusing novel.
I read this book for a module called 'The Irish Literary Revival and Irish Modernism', and I had to read it under quite some pressure which I think made it far less enjoyable. It is a very interesting book to study, but as a pleasure read I did not find it very enjoyable. But hopefully, the essay I will be writing won't be as tedious a job.