Reviews

City of the Mind by Penelope Lively

kelbi's review against another edition

5.0

Just started this and it's got to me straight away. Thought I had read all her books and might have read this before. Hope not.

cluelesspixie's review against another edition

reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

alexsiddall's review against another edition

3.0

Love, life, family, society, history, our place in the universe: the usual themes handled with freshness and insight. Nicely paced, witty, intelligent, and written in fine accessible style, this is a pleasing read.

isaacsmi's review against another edition

emotional reflective relaxing 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

3.25

jangleresse's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

nocto's review against another edition

5.0

I adored this. One of those books you don't want to finish. I left it lying around for a long time, just reading it a chapter at a time when I wanted something great to savour.

I'm not sure if everyone would think it a great book; mostly I suspect it just hit a nerve with me and everything about it seemed perfect. It was written in 1990 about the changing landscape of London. I went to college in London in 1990 and the book seemed to capture the city just as I see it. The city of my mind.

It's a bit of an odd story in many ways. It's a 1990 tale of an architect, about what he's building, his love life, his daughter. But it also flashes back to look at London in previous times, notably the second world war but other times too. As if time has collapsed in on itself and all the things that have happened in the city are going on together. Somewhat quirky, but I loved it.

One to re-read, for sure.

jarulf's review against another edition

hopeful reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

brucefarrar's review

4.0

Architect Matthew Hallard is distracted. He’s engaged in a large building project, but as he gazes about the site he sees not only the London of his own time in 1990, but buildings that take him back to the 1820s or to the Renaissance. As his mind wanders from his present cares: the break-up of his marriage, his eight-year-old daughter Jane, encounters with an unscrupulous developer, and the good-looking young woman he chanced to encounter in a sandwich shop, his story is interleaved with the stories of other Londoners from other times: an air-raid warden during the blitz, a Victorian natural scientist, Elizabethan explorer Martin Frobisher, and several unnamed children from the past.

Lively ponders the fragile bonds of human affection, estrangement, loss, hope and industry as it swirls through the city and through time. Ultimately it’s a reassuring meditation.

stupennebaker's review

4.0

Four stars only because I felt like it started slowly. This book is one of my favorites I've read in recent memory: if you get excited when you hear the words "free indirect discourse" or if you absolutely love Virginia Woolf this might be for you. It's a story about London with striking vignettes that dip back into history. I both learned a lot a thoroughly enjoyed reading-- one of those stories that I didn't want to end.