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sjbozich 's review for:
The Great Fortune
by Olivia Manning
Rather middle-brow lit. And her attitude towards Rumanians is often irritating. But over-all an interesting read. Newly married Brit couple go to Budapest just as WWII is starting, and ends as Paris is over run. Nice tie-in in the last 50 or so pages, comparing Guy's production of Shakespeare's "Troilus and Cressida" (the fall of Troy) and the beginnings of WWII.
First of a trilogy - "The Fortunes of War - The Balkan Trilogy", continued on with their lives in the Middle East after they escape in "The Levant Trilogy". Emma Thompson and Kenneth Branagh made it into a 6 part BBC series WAY early in their careers, 1987. That would be 1 hour for each 250-300 pp book! And it would be another 4 to 5 years before their Big Screen film careers would take off.
Read as part of the NYRofBks Press trilogy, and as an ebook. Rachel Cusk gives a nice Intro, pointing out how Manning started her artistic career as a painter. Her descriptions are often as detailed and colorful as a painting, and she shows it off big time as her character Harriet discusses D H Lawrence and his colorful descriptions to another character.
This is so very very British. Guy, an English teacher, and his wife and all the other Brits in Budapest. Rather insular. Kind of like reading Anthony Powell. Local Rumanians only exist in their interaction with the Brit characters.
Oh, and it is highoy autobiographical! What is the big thing with the "autofiction" of the last 10 years or so - not like authors were not writing their own lives as fiction for centuries now.
And then there is Prince Yakimov, who you want to strangle and hug, all at the same time.
While at times I struggled to want to go back to reading and finishing it, it also continued to draw me back - and I will be reading at least the next 2 novels in the trilogy in the coming months.
First of a trilogy - "The Fortunes of War - The Balkan Trilogy", continued on with their lives in the Middle East after they escape in "The Levant Trilogy". Emma Thompson and Kenneth Branagh made it into a 6 part BBC series WAY early in their careers, 1987. That would be 1 hour for each 250-300 pp book! And it would be another 4 to 5 years before their Big Screen film careers would take off.
Read as part of the NYRofBks Press trilogy, and as an ebook. Rachel Cusk gives a nice Intro, pointing out how Manning started her artistic career as a painter. Her descriptions are often as detailed and colorful as a painting, and she shows it off big time as her character Harriet discusses D H Lawrence and his colorful descriptions to another character.
This is so very very British. Guy, an English teacher, and his wife and all the other Brits in Budapest. Rather insular. Kind of like reading Anthony Powell. Local Rumanians only exist in their interaction with the Brit characters.
Oh, and it is highoy autobiographical! What is the big thing with the "autofiction" of the last 10 years or so - not like authors were not writing their own lives as fiction for centuries now.
And then there is Prince Yakimov, who you want to strangle and hug, all at the same time.
While at times I struggled to want to go back to reading and finishing it, it also continued to draw me back - and I will be reading at least the next 2 novels in the trilogy in the coming months.