Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.98 AVERAGE
3.98 AVERAGE
reflective
fast-paced
This is perhaps the greatest novel on the subject of old age I’ve ever read. Love in the Time of Cholera also touches close to the heart of that phase of life, but in All Passion Spent Sackville-West delves into with the most delicate and successful of probes the rarely explored mind of one for whom life has become all rear-view and death is the only item awaiting in the agenda. Goregously wrought prose.
emotional
funny
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I had never read, nor really heard of Vita Sackville-West and then at some point Thomas from The Readers and hogglestock.com mentioned her. I picked this from the Bas Bleu catalog which always ahas an interesting selection of books and this was the perfect book to carry me through this part of December. Lady Shane is 88 years old and a recent, relieved widow. Truth be told she is not a huge fan of her 6 children, their spouses, her grandchildren or her great grandchildren. She is happy to move out of her house and into a rental in Hampstead which is out of the way for her family. Act two for her involves the owner of the house, the handyman and her maid Genoux, conversing and caring for her. Another old gentleman comes to visit and she realizes she met him in India where her husband had been the Viceroy of India before he became the Prime Minister of England. A lovely story, Sackville-West makes her point clear about women subsuming their lives for their husbands.
Quanta tristezza mi ha messo questo libro, ma la tristezza è dovuta da una riflessione. È fondamentale che una persona abbia il diritto di avere un proprio spazio per sé ed esprimersi come più ci si identifica.
Lady Slane ha passato una vita all'ombra del marito, senza mai deludere le aspettative di chi la circondava e non ha fatto altro che ubbidire, portando - letteralmente - allo spegnimento della sua passione più grande: quella di dipingere.
Alla morte del marito decide di vivere lontana dal resto della sua famiglia e crearsi un luogo tutto suo.
Il romanzo è come una lunga riflessione della protagonista e ripensamenti della vita passata.
Lady Slane ha fatto di tutto per costruire una sua immagine pubblica impeccabile, che va via via sgretolandosi alla morte del marito e si comprende il motivo per cui verso la fine sostiene il sogno di sua nipote. °
Lo stile di scrittura è abbastanza lineare e scorrevole. Nella prima parte il ritmo è un pò lento ma poi si velocizza. Mi ha suscitato un pò di tristezza è vero, ma anche la tristezza è un sentimento. E questo è uno di quei libri che ti fanno riflettere e ti spingono ad agire per il benessere proprio, per smetterla di sottomettersi al sistema e iniziare a splendere di luce propria.
Mai abbandonare le proprie passioni, mai far scemare nessun tipo di amore e mai rinunciare ad uno spazio tutto per noi stessi: è di vitale importanza per non "spegnersi".
Lady Slane ha passato una vita all'ombra del marito, senza mai deludere le aspettative di chi la circondava e non ha fatto altro che ubbidire, portando - letteralmente - allo spegnimento della sua passione più grande: quella di dipingere.
Alla morte del marito decide di vivere lontana dal resto della sua famiglia e crearsi un luogo tutto suo.
Il romanzo è come una lunga riflessione della protagonista e ripensamenti della vita passata.
Lady Slane ha fatto di tutto per costruire una sua immagine pubblica impeccabile, che va via via sgretolandosi alla morte del marito e si comprende il motivo per cui verso la fine sostiene il sogno di sua nipote. °
Lo stile di scrittura è abbastanza lineare e scorrevole. Nella prima parte il ritmo è un pò lento ma poi si velocizza. Mi ha suscitato un pò di tristezza è vero, ma anche la tristezza è un sentimento. E questo è uno di quei libri che ti fanno riflettere e ti spingono ad agire per il benessere proprio, per smetterla di sottomettersi al sistema e iniziare a splendere di luce propria.
Mai abbandonare le proprie passioni, mai far scemare nessun tipo di amore e mai rinunciare ad uno spazio tutto per noi stessi: è di vitale importanza per non "spegnersi".
It was as charming and well written as I expected. Loved being in this book.
reflective
medium-paced
4.95
i never thought i would love reading about an 88 year old woman
i never thought i would love reading about an 88 year old woman
Old grannies pissing off their families and bucking expectations is where it's AT.
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
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.