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sense_of_history's review against another edition
World History within one Life
This story appears to be a kind of pulp fiction: that of a remarkable woman, Claudia Hampton, looking back on her life, on her deathbed, and with a passionate love affaire as crucial ax. But don't get me wrong: this really is a very interesting book and even a tough read. This review can never do justice to that.
In the first place it is the story of a woman with a very unconventional attitude, confronting everything society expects of her. In the private sphere she has an on- and off-relationship with the father of her child, she refuses to fulfil the traditional motherhood role; in the public sphere she becomes a war-correspondent, publishes historical books that confront traditional academic (male) historians, etc. Lively does not present her as a heroin, on the contrary, Claudia is bluntly unsympathetic and selfish.
Secondly, the book illustrates very handsomely the entangled character of individual lifes and world history. Claudia constantly philosophizes about her (rather insignificant) place in history. People contain the whole history of the universe in their bodies and in their mind, but to them history feels very strange, very far from their own lifes. The official, academic history even seems to obliterate the essence of life. In this sense this book is a typical postmodernist reflection on the relativity of history (everything is story, there are only personal stories).
Lively also focusses on the subjective nature of experiences (including that of time), and on the problematic relation between language and reality. All in all, she's a worthy representant of the postmodernist literature, next to Julian Barnes and Graham Swift.
This story appears to be a kind of pulp fiction: that of a remarkable woman, Claudia Hampton, looking back on her life, on her deathbed, and with a passionate love affaire as crucial ax. But don't get me wrong: this really is a very interesting book and even a tough read. This review can never do justice to that.
In the first place it is the story of a woman with a very unconventional attitude, confronting everything society expects of her. In the private sphere she has an on- and off-relationship with the father of her child, she refuses to fulfil the traditional motherhood role; in the public sphere she becomes a war-correspondent, publishes historical books that confront traditional academic (male) historians, etc. Lively does not present her as a heroin, on the contrary, Claudia is bluntly unsympathetic and selfish.
Secondly, the book illustrates very handsomely the entangled character of individual lifes and world history. Claudia constantly philosophizes about her (rather insignificant) place in history. People contain the whole history of the universe in their bodies and in their mind, but to them history feels very strange, very far from their own lifes. The official, academic history even seems to obliterate the essence of life. In this sense this book is a typical postmodernist reflection on the relativity of history (everything is story, there are only personal stories).
Lively also focusses on the subjective nature of experiences (including that of time), and on the problematic relation between language and reality. All in all, she's a worthy representant of the postmodernist literature, next to Julian Barnes and Graham Swift.
ilse's review against another edition
5.0
Tiger tiger burning bright
The power of language. Preserving the ephemeral; giving form to dreams, permanence to sparks of sunlight.
How can a novel in which the protagonist is lying in a hospital room awaiting death be so voraciously vivid?
Lately watching Fortunes of war (with Emma Thompson and Kenneth Branagh based on Olivia Manning’s Balkan and Levant trilogies, the desert scenes in Egypt joined with reading excerpts from the memoir of the British soldier-poet Keith Douglas on El Alamein (in [b:November 1942: An Intimate History of the Turning Point of the Second World War|64645706|November 1942 An Intimate History of the Turning Point of the Second World War|Peter Englund|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1680507145l/64645706._SY75_.jpg|97830108] by Peter Englund), I was reminded of this brilliant novel, Penelope Lively’s, effervescent, soaringly lyrical prose still burning incandescently in my memory, like the green coil that embodies the eventful life of Claudia Hampton, the protagonist:
She lies awake in the small hours. On the bedside table is a Moon Tiger. The Moon Tiger is a green coil that slowly burns all night, repelling mosquitoes, dropping away into lengths of grey ash, its glowing red eye a companion of the hot insect-rasping darkness. She lies there thinking of nothing, simply being, her whole body content. Another inch of the Moon Tiger feathers down into the saucer.
(Evelyn Axell, Tiger Woman (Autoportrait), 1964)
This book left me awestruck as it had simply everything I enjoy and admire in a novel (who said a reader needs a likeable protagonist when you can have the arrogant, eloquent and astonishingly smart Claudia Hampton instead?). Endlessly quotable, it is a sensuous feast of iridescent sentences, incisive insights and erudite reflections on history and science, the power of language, the complexity of family relationships and the indomitability of love and dreams.
I created a new shelf for this kind of intense books to remind myself of the need to revisit them, inspired by a friend’s comment pinpointing Javier Marias’ work as ‘high voltage’ literature.
Thank you again Paul, for making me aware of this sublime writer.
The power of language. Preserving the ephemeral; giving form to dreams, permanence to sparks of sunlight.
How can a novel in which the protagonist is lying in a hospital room awaiting death be so voraciously vivid?
Lately watching Fortunes of war (with Emma Thompson and Kenneth Branagh based on Olivia Manning’s Balkan and Levant trilogies, the desert scenes in Egypt joined with reading excerpts from the memoir of the British soldier-poet Keith Douglas on El Alamein (in [b:November 1942: An Intimate History of the Turning Point of the Second World War|64645706|November 1942 An Intimate History of the Turning Point of the Second World War|Peter Englund|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1680507145l/64645706._SY75_.jpg|97830108] by Peter Englund), I was reminded of this brilliant novel, Penelope Lively’s, effervescent, soaringly lyrical prose still burning incandescently in my memory, like the green coil that embodies the eventful life of Claudia Hampton, the protagonist:
She lies awake in the small hours. On the bedside table is a Moon Tiger. The Moon Tiger is a green coil that slowly burns all night, repelling mosquitoes, dropping away into lengths of grey ash, its glowing red eye a companion of the hot insect-rasping darkness. She lies there thinking of nothing, simply being, her whole body content. Another inch of the Moon Tiger feathers down into the saucer.
(Evelyn Axell, Tiger Woman (Autoportrait), 1964)
This book left me awestruck as it had simply everything I enjoy and admire in a novel (who said a reader needs a likeable protagonist when you can have the arrogant, eloquent and astonishingly smart Claudia Hampton instead?). Endlessly quotable, it is a sensuous feast of iridescent sentences, incisive insights and erudite reflections on history and science, the power of language, the complexity of family relationships and the indomitability of love and dreams.
I created a new shelf for this kind of intense books to remind myself of the need to revisit them, inspired by a friend’s comment pinpointing Javier Marias’ work as ‘high voltage’ literature.
Thank you again Paul, for making me aware of this sublime writer.
rosh's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
marc129's review against another edition
3.0
I don't understand why this book does not appear in toplists. Agreed, it was awarded the Bookerprice in 1987 (before the great hype), but seems to be forgotten since, whilst according to me it really is a pearl. Maybe it is because the story appears to be a kind of pulp fiction: that of a remarkable woman, Claudia Hampton, looking back on her life, on her death bed, and with a passionate love affaire as crucial ax. But don't get me wrong: this really is a very interesting book and even a tough read. This review can never do justice to that.
In the first place it is the story of a woman with a very unconventional attitude, confronting everything society expects of her. In the private sphere she has an on- and off-relationship with the father of her child, and she refuses to fulfil the traditional motherhood role; in the public sphere she becomes a war-correspondent, publishes historical books that confront traditional academic (male) historians, etc. Lively does not present her as a heroin, on the contrary, Claudia is bluntly unsympathetic and selfish.
Secondly, the book illustrates very handsomely the interwooven character of individual lifes and world history. Claudia constantly philosophizes about her rather insignificant place in history. People contain the whole history of the universe in their bodies and in their mind, but to them history feels very strange, very far from their own lifes. The official, academic history even seems to obliterate the essence of life. In this sense this book is a typical postmodernist reflection on the relativity of history (everything is story, there are only personal stories). Lively also focusses on the subjective nature of experiences (including that of time), and on the problematic relation between language and reality. She's a worthy representant of the postmodernist literature, next to Julian Barnes and Graham Swift.
I have real admiration for the sense of nuance and dosage Lively applies in her writing. Claudia is a very complex personality, she gradually discovers that her competition with and attraction to her brother Gordon is one of the driving forces in her life; - I can hear you exclaim, "ah, the classical incest-theme!", but beware, it is brought in a very refined way.
The love story also is brought with much delicacy: Claudia's passionate love affaire with the soldier Tom in Cairo in the second World War and the dramatic turn after Tom is killed in battle of course have a tremendous impact upon Claudia's life; but Lively handsomely avoids the trap of too much sentimentality; she lets Claudia give this drama a place in her long life after the episode; this attests to Lively's great wisdom. The death scene at the end by the way is one of the most beautiful I have ever read. In short, this booklet is a real treasure!
(rating 3.5 stars)
In the first place it is the story of a woman with a very unconventional attitude, confronting everything society expects of her. In the private sphere she has an on- and off-relationship with the father of her child, and she refuses to fulfil the traditional motherhood role; in the public sphere she becomes a war-correspondent, publishes historical books that confront traditional academic (male) historians, etc. Lively does not present her as a heroin, on the contrary, Claudia is bluntly unsympathetic and selfish.
Secondly, the book illustrates very handsomely the interwooven character of individual lifes and world history. Claudia constantly philosophizes about her rather insignificant place in history. People contain the whole history of the universe in their bodies and in their mind, but to them history feels very strange, very far from their own lifes. The official, academic history even seems to obliterate the essence of life. In this sense this book is a typical postmodernist reflection on the relativity of history (everything is story, there are only personal stories). Lively also focusses on the subjective nature of experiences (including that of time), and on the problematic relation between language and reality. She's a worthy representant of the postmodernist literature, next to Julian Barnes and Graham Swift.
I have real admiration for the sense of nuance and dosage Lively applies in her writing. Claudia is a very complex personality, she gradually discovers that her competition with and attraction to her brother Gordon is one of the driving forces in her life; - I can hear you exclaim, "ah, the classical incest-theme!", but beware, it is brought in a very refined way.
The love story also is brought with much delicacy: Claudia's passionate love affaire with the soldier Tom in Cairo in the second World War and the dramatic turn after Tom is killed in battle of course have a tremendous impact upon Claudia's life; but Lively handsomely avoids the trap of too much sentimentality; she lets Claudia give this drama a place in her long life after the episode; this attests to Lively's great wisdom. The death scene at the end by the way is one of the most beautiful I have ever read. In short, this booklet is a real treasure!
(rating 3.5 stars)
enigma_squeaks's review against another edition
dark
funny
informative
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
lindeleest's review against another edition
4.0
3,8. In het begin moeilijk te volgen. De stukken over haar leven in Egypte waren m’n favoriet.
artssy_wreck's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
tracyreally's review against another edition
3.0
It's the kind of book I love, but somehow I didn't love it.