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A review by readbyryan
The Slaves of Solitude by Patrick Hamilton
5.0
Fiction - WW2, British, Women. eBook. Discovered by eavesdropping.
I’ve been in a reading slump for almost two years. Nothing really appealed to me and it was hard for me to find something that I wanted to read and kept my interest until the end. I saw a conversation with some friends on Facebook about this novel and it was suggested in the Barbara Pym Facebook Fan Page. It sounds interesting so I dove it.
Miss Roach is living outside of London in a boarding house during World War 2 to escape the Blitz. She is unmarried and alone, forcing herself to interact occasionally with the other residents of the boarding house at evening meals and their nightly repose. The house is full of a cast of characters each quirky and interesting or completely dull in their own ways. But life for Miss Roach soon gets dramatic when she meets an American Lieutenant and her friend Vicki moves in to the house.
I loved this book. It took me several pages to get into it, but once she met the American Lieutenant, I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough. This book describes a little known side of war, the people who are displaced by the war, but aren’t fighting for various reasons. Miss Roach, though navigating the fear and inconveniences of war, still must navigate friendships, acquaintances and romantic relationships. The suspense and drama are slow but building and I really felt for the character of Miss Roach and identified with her in a number of ways.
This book has the feeling of a classic movie, slower pace, long scenes, building of dramatic tension and a satisfying ending without being too pat. This makes sense since the author also wrote the plays “Rope” and “Gas Light” which were both turned into movies. This novel doesn’t have the suspense and twists of those films, but the tight plotting and character development is apparent.
This book squarely pulled me out of my slump. I’ve decided to back off from literary fiction for now. I just need a good book, with a strong plot and some interesting characters. This novel fit the bill and I’m going to investigate more books from Hamilton.
I’ve been in a reading slump for almost two years. Nothing really appealed to me and it was hard for me to find something that I wanted to read and kept my interest until the end. I saw a conversation with some friends on Facebook about this novel and it was suggested in the Barbara Pym Facebook Fan Page. It sounds interesting so I dove it.
Miss Roach is living outside of London in a boarding house during World War 2 to escape the Blitz. She is unmarried and alone, forcing herself to interact occasionally with the other residents of the boarding house at evening meals and their nightly repose. The house is full of a cast of characters each quirky and interesting or completely dull in their own ways. But life for Miss Roach soon gets dramatic when she meets an American Lieutenant and her friend Vicki moves in to the house.
I loved this book. It took me several pages to get into it, but once she met the American Lieutenant, I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough. This book describes a little known side of war, the people who are displaced by the war, but aren’t fighting for various reasons. Miss Roach, though navigating the fear and inconveniences of war, still must navigate friendships, acquaintances and romantic relationships. The suspense and drama are slow but building and I really felt for the character of Miss Roach and identified with her in a number of ways.
This book has the feeling of a classic movie, slower pace, long scenes, building of dramatic tension and a satisfying ending without being too pat. This makes sense since the author also wrote the plays “Rope” and “Gas Light” which were both turned into movies. This novel doesn’t have the suspense and twists of those films, but the tight plotting and character development is apparent.
This book squarely pulled me out of my slump. I’ve decided to back off from literary fiction for now. I just need a good book, with a strong plot and some interesting characters. This novel fit the bill and I’m going to investigate more books from Hamilton.