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A review by gh7
The Beginning of Spring by Penelope Fitzgerald
4.0
Our knowledge of what, historically, is about to happen haunts every page of this novel set in Moscow in 1913. That's a big advantage of historical fiction. History itself can be called upon to supply a crackling power grid of foreknowledge.
Frank Reid is another of Fitzgerald's decent, likeable, but emotionally stilted male characters. His wife leaves him early in the novel, taking with her their three children. However, unable to cope with them, she almost immediately sends the children back. The children are wonderfully precocious creations - Fitzgerald is brilliant at doing children. I always want more of them. But it's a Fitzgerald trademark to populate her novels with more characters than other writers would need. She's a kind of restless writer who enjoys flitting about like a butterfly, who enjoys economy and transience and leaving you wanting more. Sometimes I find she flits off to a character I'm not terribly interested in while ignoring another I want to know better.
So, Frank's wife leaves him and his household buckles, anticipating the disruption that will soon sweep the entire city. And with one gesture Fitzgerald has also introduced us to the new woman. History is undergoing one of those radical transitions that happen every so often. With such monumental themes playing out this is an extraordinarily localised quirky novel. And it's remarkable how confidently and intimately Fitzgerald writes of Russia and the period. 4+ stars.
Frank Reid is another of Fitzgerald's decent, likeable, but emotionally stilted male characters. His wife leaves him early in the novel, taking with her their three children. However, unable to cope with them, she almost immediately sends the children back. The children are wonderfully precocious creations - Fitzgerald is brilliant at doing children. I always want more of them. But it's a Fitzgerald trademark to populate her novels with more characters than other writers would need. She's a kind of restless writer who enjoys flitting about like a butterfly, who enjoys economy and transience and leaving you wanting more. Sometimes I find she flits off to a character I'm not terribly interested in while ignoring another I want to know better.
So, Frank's wife leaves him and his household buckles, anticipating the disruption that will soon sweep the entire city. And with one gesture Fitzgerald has also introduced us to the new woman. History is undergoing one of those radical transitions that happen every so often. With such monumental themes playing out this is an extraordinarily localised quirky novel. And it's remarkable how confidently and intimately Fitzgerald writes of Russia and the period. 4+ stars.