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andrew61's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
An intricately told story of a mother, Pauline, and her adult daughter Teresa. When Teresa, her husband Maurice, and young baby stay over a hot summer in Teresa's country cottage, Pauline observes echoes of her own life 20 plus years before . Beautifully told, this is another great novel from a great storyteller.
beefmaster's review against another edition
5.0
Perfectly pitched. Welcoming as a text to be read but scouring as a texture of feeling
cimorene1558's review against another edition
4.0
Penelope Lively is such an excellent writer. Even when I'm not all that interested in the plot, I enjoy reading her beautiful prose.
alexisreading23's review against another edition
3.75
Pauline has left London to spend her summer in a rural cottage by the name of Worlds End, next door to her daughter Teresa, her son-in-law Maurice, and her young grand-son.
It’s the kind of sweltering hot summer that sets the scene for L P Hartley’s The Go Between or Ian McEwan’s Atonement, and like these two novels, the rising heat brings passion and desire, often of the illicit kind. Pauline is helpless as she watches her daughter succumb to the same mistakes she made once as a young wife and mother.
Lively is so fascinated by memory, time and space in this novel - the way the past collapses into the present, so close behind you it could be your shadow.
Pauline muses on how the illusion of rural life as a pastoral idyll, so propagated by nineteenth century romantics, has always been an urban dream that ignores the noise, smell and other tangible realities of the agricultural calendar.
Worlds End is a more apt name temporally than physically - Pauline reflects on the ending of her marriage with her ex-husband and the insistent memories that have risen up like dust, disturbed by Teresa and Maurice’s marriage.
Roland Barthes said in ‘A Lover’s Discourse’, ‘Am i in love? Yes, since I’m waiting’. Two women, two wives and two mothers - both reflecting on the experience of waiting for their husbands, are defined by what Barthes terms the lover’s ‘fatal identity’ - the one who always loses the game, the one who waits. After all, jealousy and love burn hot, all the hotter in the middle of a heat wave.
sloatsj's review
4.0
Penelope Lively drifted on and off my to-read list for awhile. So glad I picked this up. Great voice, sympathetic protagonist and an ominous atmosphere, helped by the heaviness of hot weather.
The story centers on a woman in her 50s who lives next door to her daughter and her daughter's dashing husband, and their child. Aspects of the daughter's relationship remind her of her own failed marriage to a beloved but untrue star academic.
The action is not dramatic but has serious pull, like increasing humidity before a storm (cliché, sorry, but so it is). Most of the book's interest lies in the behavioral cues between characters, and the protagonist's musings on how she got to where she is in her life. The war of the sexes was brought off wonderfully. I was surprised, and satisfied, by the ending.
The story centers on a woman in her 50s who lives next door to her daughter and her daughter's dashing husband, and their child. Aspects of the daughter's relationship remind her of her own failed marriage to a beloved but untrue star academic.
The action is not dramatic but has serious pull, like increasing humidity before a storm (cliché, sorry, but so it is). Most of the book's interest lies in the behavioral cues between characters, and the protagonist's musings on how she got to where she is in her life. The war of the sexes was brought off wonderfully. I was surprised, and satisfied, by the ending.
juliaehill's review against another edition
5.0
Found this book on a recent list of good summer reads. Set in the 1990s in the English countryside, it follows Pauline, a grandmother watching a history of male infidelity repeat itself in her daughter's marriage. Lyrically beautiful writing made for a compelling tell of a common story.
mindfullibrarian's review against another edition
5.0
I'm so sad that I can't remember who recommended this book, because I want to give them a massive thank you and shout about them from the rooftops. I know I must have read about it somewhere or heard about it on a podcast, but I searched my most likely sources and nope. There is no way a 1996 British novel would have ended up on my library holds list without a nudge from someone, but I'm so so grateful that it somehow landed there. I adored this quiet, atmospheric novel set in rural England during a dry hot summer. It's about motherhood and marriage and land, and it touched me so deeply. I could feel the coolness of the cottage and hear the combines in the fields outside and know so well the languid days that rural summer life induce. So while I don't know why I ended up with this book, I'm so grateful I did. If you're looking for a contemplative, literary, summery story, I couldn't recommend a more perfect fit.
Source: library hardcover
Source: library hardcover
amesreading's review against another edition
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0