Scan barcode
A review by jessreadthis
Rhododendron Pie by Margery Sharp
5.0
Flowers are beautiful in gardens...and in houses, of course... but in a pie you want fruit. Apples. Hot and fragrant and faintly pink, with lots of juice...and cloves. She wished there had been apples in her pie.
Margery Sharp's debut novel started off as a difficult one for me to get into. Her style had such a flourish and seemed to be trying so very hard at an elegant acerbic wit. But the more I learned of the Laventie family... it seemed as though her writing was taking a page out of their personalities. We meet a family so self assured in their superiority over the rest of poor drudges going through life not understanding its artistic complexities, they are an isolated oddity. Though people come and go through Whitesnights, none of these individuals leave a lasting impression or usually gain the approval of the family to take breakfast with them under the garden limes. And as the novel unfolds and relaxes into itself, so does the writing style. I felt it changed right along with the narrator Ann's character evolution. Sharp has a lovely way of describing scenery too. I enjoyed those parts immensely. She captures the possibilities of a summer afternoon outdoors so brilliantly.
Ann Laventie freely acknowledges she isn't as clever or intelligent as her siblings and father. They patronizingly acknowledge in return that she collects people and is too kind to them. Yet, one afternoon, Ann stumbles upon their neighbor, John Gayford and everything changes. She goes to tea with him and begins to change in her self assessment. The rest of the novel follows with Ann going to London to visit her sculptor brother and writer sister. And it becomes a novel of self discovery for Ann. One that changes her and forces her to embrace who she is. And to come to terms with that. And that she will be all right not fitting in with her family. It is a reckoning for her and for her family.
I greatly enjoyed this novel. The ending surprised me but the more I pondered on it, I think it was fitting for the theme of the novel. If you've read it, I'd love to hear your thoughts on the ending.
Margery Sharp's debut novel started off as a difficult one for me to get into. Her style had such a flourish and seemed to be trying so very hard at an elegant acerbic wit. But the more I learned of the Laventie family... it seemed as though her writing was taking a page out of their personalities. We meet a family so self assured in their superiority over the rest of poor drudges going through life not understanding its artistic complexities, they are an isolated oddity. Though people come and go through Whitesnights, none of these individuals leave a lasting impression or usually gain the approval of the family to take breakfast with them under the garden limes. And as the novel unfolds and relaxes into itself, so does the writing style. I felt it changed right along with the narrator Ann's character evolution. Sharp has a lovely way of describing scenery too. I enjoyed those parts immensely. She captures the possibilities of a summer afternoon outdoors so brilliantly.
Ann Laventie freely acknowledges she isn't as clever or intelligent as her siblings and father. They patronizingly acknowledge in return that she collects people and is too kind to them. Yet, one afternoon, Ann stumbles upon their neighbor, John Gayford and everything changes. She goes to tea with him and begins to change in her self assessment. The rest of the novel follows with Ann going to London to visit her sculptor brother and writer sister. And it becomes a novel of self discovery for Ann. One that changes her and forces her to embrace who she is. And to come to terms with that. And that she will be all right not fitting in with her family. It is a reckoning for her and for her family.
I greatly enjoyed this novel. The ending surprised me but the more I pondered on it, I think it was fitting for the theme of the novel. If you've read it, I'd love to hear your thoughts on the ending.