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3.98 AVERAGE
3.98 AVERAGE
Oh, boy. This is a slow, subdued book that doesn't really go anywhere. What it does do is quietly lay out the bleak reality to 19th century woman's life, which was perforce subsumed and defined by the man/men to which she was linked. I'm giving this five stars because it is one of the only books I've read that so effectively conveys this reality (and makes one ponder the extent to which this reality applies to the modern, "emancipated" woman).
4.5*
this was such a beautiful, thought-provoking read. I love love loved the prose so! much! lady slane literally invented what it means to ponder ones melancholy solitude, ones relationship to the(ir) world, to ponder every nook and cranny of life & death & womanhood...cannot stop thinking about her...
"...just too wise to let himself float away on a hopeless love...just unwise enough to remain remotely faithful for fifty years." (ouch hehe)
"all he asked was to be let alone; he had no desire to interfere in the workings of the world; he simply wanted to live withdrawn into his chosen world, absorbed in his possessions and their beauty. that was his form of spirituality, his form of contemplation. thus the loneliness of his death held no pathos..."
this was such a beautiful, thought-provoking read. I love love loved the prose so! much! lady slane literally invented what it means to ponder ones melancholy solitude, ones relationship to the(ir) world, to ponder every nook and cranny of life & death & womanhood...cannot stop thinking about her...
"...just too wise to let himself float away on a hopeless love...just unwise enough to remain remotely faithful for fifty years." (ouch hehe)
"all he asked was to be let alone; he had no desire to interfere in the workings of the world; he simply wanted to live withdrawn into his chosen world, absorbed in his possessions and their beauty. that was his form of spirituality, his form of contemplation. thus the loneliness of his death held no pathos..."
emotional
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
A gentle, quiet and amusing book exploring the hidden life yearned for within the mind of a beautiful woman who looks to have it all yet wants none of it. I enjoy the fact that sackville-west explores how much women have to sacrifice in marriage and their wants are overlooked, however lady Sloane is no great visionary, she dreamed of being a painter with no actual talent ever being shown- she is a dutiful woman keeping up the status quo until her husband passed away. Freed from the gilded cage she found herself in I found great joy reading about her contemplative life in a cottage she chose- finally she has a room of one’s own. I also read this shortly after my own grandma passed away and it really made me reassess how I view aging, death - lady Sloane being so matter of fact about the process and ensuring her last months were on her terms was a fantastic narrative to meander through.
Well, at least it was short? The writing style was fine. It’s just hard to get worked up about the unhappiness of a former vicereine of India. Like, seriously. Just imagine how many people in India didn’t get to realize their dreams either? Or her own maid? Or 80% (95%??) of the world? Most people don’t get to follow their dreams, because they have to pay the rent. So, if you want me to care about a woman who led a life of great privilege, that wasn’t quite the one she wanted to lead, I need a more engaging character than old Deborah.
I did like the fact that it talked about how much women had to give up to just because they are women, something that still resonates today.
But, I kept thinking ‘don’t tell, show.’ She actually writes quite good dialogue, I would’ve liked more conversations that revealed what people were thinking. Instead there is paragraph after paragraph of commentary that lays everything out to the nth detail. We know *exactly* what Lady Slane thought, regretted, liked, disliked, etc., it was all spelled out, no uncertainty, nothing to interpret or mull over.
And many of the characters were a bit flat, or silly. Not many rang true.
Scoped this book out for book club, that’s a hard pass.
I did like the fact that it talked about how much women had to give up to just because they are women, something that still resonates today.
But, I kept thinking ‘don’t tell, show.’ She actually writes quite good dialogue, I would’ve liked more conversations that revealed what people were thinking. Instead there is paragraph after paragraph of commentary that lays everything out to the nth detail. We know *exactly* what Lady Slane thought, regretted, liked, disliked, etc., it was all spelled out, no uncertainty, nothing to interpret or mull over.
And many of the characters were a bit flat, or silly. Not many rang true.
Scoped this book out for book club, that’s a hard pass.
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This brief, gentle novel skewers social hypocrisy and shows how a single consciousness can transform the world as effectively as a prime minister (referring here to the protagonist and her husband). As Lady Slane muses listening to her great granddaughter, who wants to be a musician, "In the long run, with the strange bedlam always in the process of sorting itself out, as the present-day became history, the poets and prophets counted for more than the conquerors."
This book has all the earmarks of a Hogarth Press baby — the typeset; the huge margins; the imaginary hugs and kisses from Leonard & Virginia Woolf who would rather bestow affection on their printing press than on one another....
Ahem, but I digress.
Other Bloomsbury-style literary trademarks: flowers, lost opportunities, women giving up their entire identities, having lots of children, being in London. Meanwhile the men are on the periphery — distant, slightly irksome in their entitlement, and in their moments of silence they subconsciously drain the strength and mettle from their wives' psyches.
Nothing fantastical about this book. It could be an everyday biography of an elderly woman's hidden mind.
Ahem, but I digress.
Other Bloomsbury-style literary trademarks: flowers, lost opportunities, women giving up their entire identities, having lots of children, being in London. Meanwhile the men are on the periphery — distant, slightly irksome in their entitlement, and in their moments of silence they subconsciously drain the strength and mettle from their wives' psyches.
Nothing fantastical about this book. It could be an everyday biography of an elderly woman's hidden mind.