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A review by yarnylibrarian
Bodies of Light by Sarah Moss
4.0
Another gorgeous novel by Sarah Moss. I read [b:Signs for Lost Children|25761811|Signs for Lost Children|Sarah Moss|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1435791760l/25761811._SY75_.jpg|45606899] first, not realizing there is a sequence. This book precedes it in time, starting with Elizabeth and Alfred Moberley's marriage and focusing mostly on their eldest child Ally's childhood, adolescence, and medical school years. The end of this novel contains much of the same text as Signs for Lost Children, which is interesting. There is more detail in Signs (including a lot more about Tom Cavendish), but some of the paragraphs in this book are exactly the same. In other words, the narratives overlap.
I am becoming a huge fan of Sarah Moss and really admire the way she represents the interior life of her female characters. Here is one small example, to give you a sense of her style. The setting is Victorian-era Manchester:
It was difficult to read about the emotional and physical abuse heaped on Ally by her mother, and also notable that her sister May did not seem to be a target of the same scrutiny. For whatever reason, May always saw the situation more clearly and avoided her mother's attention. Ally recognizes the difference between the sisters: "Mamma's fury is the weather in Ally's mind, more and less alarming but always there, always to be taken into account. It doesn't seem to be like that for May" (174). Regarding May, though, I am left wondering (as I was in Signs) if anything untoward happened between May and their father's artist-friend Aubrey. Perhaps I'll learn that when I get to [b:Night Waking|9959239|Night Waking|Sarah Moss|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1328051620l/9959239._SY75_.jpg|14853092]. I have been thinking about the phrase "the weather in one's mind" ever since reading it.
This novel explores the idea of "hysteria" in Victorian women, and whether it is even real: "Mamma's view [is] that hysteria is a disorder of over-indulgence, found only in idle, wealthy and usually unmarried women, often imitated by young girls wishing to gain attention. It is worth noting that factory girls and busy housewives who have no servants to do their work for them appear immune to nervous troubles" (118). Of course, this isn't true - one important but missing detail is that factory girls and busy housewives do not consult medical specialists.
Generally, this narrative becomes happier as it progresses, the further Ally distances herself from Mamma. After the trauma in the earlier sections, it was such a joy to see Aunt Mary and fellow medical student Annie truly see and value Ally as the extraordinary person she is.
I could go on and on about this book, but instead, I will endeavor to get my hands on another one by Sarah Moss!
I am becoming a huge fan of Sarah Moss and really admire the way she represents the interior life of her female characters. Here is one small example, to give you a sense of her style. The setting is Victorian-era Manchester:
They walk quietly, but the scuffle of shoe leather on glazed clay hurtles between the stone walls. She thinks of the work in the thousands of tiles under her feet, the digging and tempering of the earth, the layering of fine and coarse clay, the design and preparation of motifs, the making of the slip. The hardest part of making tiles, Papa says, is to get them flat and keep them that way. The fires of the kiln will find and magnify the slightest weakness or error. (114-15)
It was difficult to read about the emotional and physical abuse heaped on Ally by her mother, and also notable that her sister May did not seem to be a target of the same scrutiny. For whatever reason, May always saw the situation more clearly and avoided her mother's attention. Ally recognizes the difference between the sisters: "Mamma's fury is the weather in Ally's mind, more and less alarming but always there, always to be taken into account. It doesn't seem to be like that for May" (174). Regarding May, though, I am left wondering (as I was in Signs) if anything untoward happened between May and their father's artist-friend Aubrey. Perhaps I'll learn that when I get to [b:Night Waking|9959239|Night Waking|Sarah Moss|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1328051620l/9959239._SY75_.jpg|14853092]. I have been thinking about the phrase "the weather in one's mind" ever since reading it.
This novel explores the idea of "hysteria" in Victorian women, and whether it is even real: "Mamma's view [is] that hysteria is a disorder of over-indulgence, found only in idle, wealthy and usually unmarried women, often imitated by young girls wishing to gain attention. It is worth noting that factory girls and busy housewives who have no servants to do their work for them appear immune to nervous troubles" (118). Of course, this isn't true - one important but missing detail is that factory girls and busy housewives do not consult medical specialists.
Generally, this narrative becomes happier as it progresses, the further Ally distances herself from Mamma. After the trauma in the earlier sections, it was such a joy to see Aunt Mary and fellow medical student Annie truly see and value Ally as the extraordinary person she is.
I could go on and on about this book, but instead, I will endeavor to get my hands on another one by Sarah Moss!