Scan barcode
A review by eheslosz
Dusty Answer by Rosamond Lehmann
4.0
4.5/5
Once I got into this, it was delicious and so juicy and emotional and vivid but not in a cheap trashy way but genuinely good! Much more readable than 'The Weather in the Streets', where I could tell Lehmann was trying to be more "literary". But this still does have some interesting and experimental "literary" elements, like the fragmented timeline and the shifting intimacy of the narrative voice, with the occasional and disarming second person narration.
Could have done with less of the hetero romance; did she really have to go through every single one of the Fyfe brothers?? In fact I didn't really care about the Fyfe family even though they're supposed to be the most important part of the book. I think it should have just stuck to the thing with Roddy.
I first heard about 'Dusty Answer' as an early (1927?) subtextually lesbian book. It is quite explicit (though not physically) but I can see why it was so shocking (and popular!) at the time. Overall the relationship between Judith and Jennifer is shown to be deep and emotionally impactful and traumatic and definitely not just a friendship. Interestingly the plot treats Jennifer similarly to how it treats Judith's other failed lovers who are men. Throughout the novel many little and big things are poignantly left unfinished and yet coldly closed off at the same time.
Cambridge in this book (specifically Girton, the first women's college) is hilarious to me! It's a sort of boarding school of gossiping girls completely cut off from the men (in whose case the homoeroticism is even more explicit) and academia doesn't dominate. I'm pretty sure Lehmann actually went to Girton at this time, and Oxford is similar in Evelyn Waugh's novels, so this portrait could be quite accurate.
I can't wait to read more Lehmann books. I have my eye on Invitation to the Waltz and The Echoing Grove...
Once I got into this, it was delicious and so juicy and emotional and vivid but not in a cheap trashy way but genuinely good! Much more readable than 'The Weather in the Streets', where I could tell Lehmann was trying to be more "literary". But this still does have some interesting and experimental "literary" elements, like the fragmented timeline and the shifting intimacy of the narrative voice, with the occasional and disarming second person narration.
Could have done with less of the hetero romance; did she really have to go through every single one of the Fyfe brothers?? In fact I didn't really care about the Fyfe family even though they're supposed to be the most important part of the book. I think it should have just stuck to the thing with Roddy.
I first heard about 'Dusty Answer' as an early (1927?) subtextually lesbian book. It is quite explicit (though not physically) but I can see why it was so shocking (and popular!) at the time. Overall the relationship between Judith and Jennifer is shown to be deep and emotionally impactful and traumatic and definitely not just a friendship. Interestingly the plot treats Jennifer similarly to how it treats Judith's other failed lovers who are men. Throughout the novel many little and big things are poignantly left unfinished and yet coldly closed off at the same time.
Cambridge in this book (specifically Girton, the first women's college) is hilarious to me! It's a sort of boarding school of gossiping girls completely cut off from the men (in whose case the homoeroticism is even more explicit) and academia doesn't dominate. I'm pretty sure Lehmann actually went to Girton at this time, and Oxford is similar in Evelyn Waugh's novels, so this portrait could be quite accurate.
I can't wait to read more Lehmann books. I have my eye on Invitation to the Waltz and The Echoing Grove...