dannymason_1's review against another edition
2.0
Despite giving this two stars I kinda wanna read it again at some point to see if it clicks. It was assigned for uni and isn't something I'd usually pick up, which probably explains why I struggled with it, but the ending gave me a new perspective on the novel. I also found the discussion of it really interesting and realised that I missed a lot of what was going on thematically. So, even though I found this too much of a slog to get through to give it a good rating, it's definitely interesting and I'd like to revisit it when I can give it more of a fair shot.
ellie_bird01's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
3.0
greenfantasy's review against another edition
dark
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.75
jadereads_'s review
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
missapples's review
I'm of two minds about this one so I won't rate it.
On one hand I loved the premise: two young English women of upper class navigate through life in the 1920s. One is a professional who owns a travel agency, a rare thing at the time! The other is a recently widowed but outgoing and alluring socialite. They share a house together and seem to be as close as sisters-in-law can be.
I also loved that a contemporary wrote about one of my favorite periods in history so it feels very true and organic. I liked the two main characters and their parallel lives. It is one of those smart, sophisticated and elegant novels about women that I’m always excited to find.
On the other hand... You know that saying about John Wayne? That “John Wayne always plays John Wayne”? Well, this is a book where every character is Elizabeth Bowen. How did I figure that? Because nobody speaks like that in real life, in overwritten, convoluted sentences. In her novel everyone does. All the time. Sure, literature IS an imaginary life but if you can’t lose yourself in the story, what is the purpose of it? Men and women in this novel talk as if they are the ones writing it. There’s almost no distinction between characters because of it - they ALL talk like one person, someone who really enjoys intricate metaphors that often don't make sense.
So, there. Roaring 20s, London, society, travel. Great premise, infuriating style. Trudging through its pages was painful but I finished it. I will try Bowen’s other novels which had been recommended to me and seem to have higher reviews here, but I’m a little wary of the author’s writing style. I can’t say I disliked the book completely. For one, my vocabulary has expanded. But I just can’t say I enjoyed it.
On one hand I loved the premise: two young English women of upper class navigate through life in the 1920s. One is a professional who owns a travel agency, a rare thing at the time! The other is a recently widowed but outgoing and alluring socialite. They share a house together and seem to be as close as sisters-in-law can be.
I also loved that a contemporary wrote about one of my favorite periods in history so it feels very true and organic. I liked the two main characters and their parallel lives. It is one of those smart, sophisticated and elegant novels about women that I’m always excited to find.
On the other hand... You know that saying about John Wayne? That “John Wayne always plays John Wayne”? Well, this is a book where every character is Elizabeth Bowen. How did I figure that? Because nobody speaks like that in real life, in overwritten, convoluted sentences. In her novel everyone does. All the time. Sure, literature IS an imaginary life but if you can’t lose yourself in the story, what is the purpose of it? Men and women in this novel talk as if they are the ones writing it. There’s almost no distinction between characters because of it - they ALL talk like one person, someone who really enjoys intricate metaphors that often don't make sense.
So, there. Roaring 20s, London, society, travel. Great premise, infuriating style. Trudging through its pages was painful but I finished it. I will try Bowen’s other novels which had been recommended to me and seem to have higher reviews here, but I’m a little wary of the author’s writing style. I can’t say I disliked the book completely. For one, my vocabulary has expanded. But I just can’t say I enjoyed it.
christythelibrarian's review
4.0
Eva recommended To the North by Elizabeth Bowen because one of my favorite books is Eudora Welty’s Delta Wedding and Eva thought their writing styles were similar. I definitely agree. Like Welty, Bowen excels in capturing place, atmosphere, and the dynamic of groups of people. Bowen was an Irish writer, and this book is largely set in England, though it starts on a train traveling through the night in Europe. On that train, young widow Cecilia makes the acquaintance of the somewhat amoral Mark Linkwater. He later forms a romantic relationship with Cecilia’s sister-in-law and housemate, Emmeline. Cecilia meanwhile weighs whether to accept a proposal of marriage from a suitor.
But the plot really isn’t the main draw of To The North. For me, the joy of reading this novel was in Bowen’s writing. When she is satirical, she is laugh-out-loud funny. There’s an older relative of Cecilia and Emmeline, named Lady Waters, who is shades of a comic Jane Austen character. Minor characters are sketched entertainingly but also with depth. I also loved how well Bowen could set a scene:
"Gerda’s line as a hostess was of adorable inefficiency; with the air of a lost child she tottered among her guests, in one hand a glass dripping sherry, in the other a semi-opaque yellow drink in which the skewered cherry appeared as a threatening shadow. Wherever a glass was put down a small sticky ring stamped itself: she pounced on these rings with her handkerchief with little reproachful cries (no one advised her to wipe the underneath of the glasses) . . . She was followed around by a young man she had known in the Navy, who each time she succeeded in placing a drink with a guest smiled proudly, as though she had sold a raffle ticket, and gave her another drink off a tray."
p. 157
The book could also be characterized as a melodrama, especially in the story arc of Emmeline and Markie (yes that is what he is called). The ending reminded me of the classic film melodramas of that era. I’m not a huge fan of melodrama, but Bowen does it well.
Both Welty and Bowen wrote dense psychological passages in their novels that, for me, range from impenetrable to brilliantly insightful. For instance, Bowen sometimes lost me when she described the many shifting moods of Markie and Emmeline’s relationship. On the other hand, a fairly intricate and ambitious metaphor comparing Cecilia’s widowhood to the redevelopment of an old estate really paid off emotionally and aesthetically; I was really moved by it.
I’m so glad Eva’s recommendation pushed me to pick up a novel by Elizabeth Bowen. Bowen wrote about ten novels, so I know I’ll have more opportunities to soak in her writing.
But the plot really isn’t the main draw of To The North. For me, the joy of reading this novel was in Bowen’s writing. When she is satirical, she is laugh-out-loud funny. There’s an older relative of Cecilia and Emmeline, named Lady Waters, who is shades of a comic Jane Austen character. Minor characters are sketched entertainingly but also with depth. I also loved how well Bowen could set a scene:
"Gerda’s line as a hostess was of adorable inefficiency; with the air of a lost child she tottered among her guests, in one hand a glass dripping sherry, in the other a semi-opaque yellow drink in which the skewered cherry appeared as a threatening shadow. Wherever a glass was put down a small sticky ring stamped itself: she pounced on these rings with her handkerchief with little reproachful cries (no one advised her to wipe the underneath of the glasses) . . . She was followed around by a young man she had known in the Navy, who each time she succeeded in placing a drink with a guest smiled proudly, as though she had sold a raffle ticket, and gave her another drink off a tray."
p. 157
The book could also be characterized as a melodrama, especially in the story arc of Emmeline and Markie (yes that is what he is called). The ending reminded me of the classic film melodramas of that era. I’m not a huge fan of melodrama, but Bowen does it well.
Both Welty and Bowen wrote dense psychological passages in their novels that, for me, range from impenetrable to brilliantly insightful. For instance, Bowen sometimes lost me when she described the many shifting moods of Markie and Emmeline’s relationship. On the other hand, a fairly intricate and ambitious metaphor comparing Cecilia’s widowhood to the redevelopment of an old estate really paid off emotionally and aesthetically; I was really moved by it.
I’m so glad Eva’s recommendation pushed me to pick up a novel by Elizabeth Bowen. Bowen wrote about ten novels, so I know I’ll have more opportunities to soak in her writing.
delaneyjoyce's review
3.0
I...see what people mean about the ending. In the blurb on the back of the book, it references a “violent and tragic act”, right in the first sentence. But I never really got the sense that the events of the book led organically to that conclusion.
This book is beautifully written and the characters are wonderfully observed, though. I’m looking forward to reading more of her work.
This book is beautifully written and the characters are wonderfully observed, though. I’m looking forward to reading more of her work.
gh7's review
4.0
This is very much Elizabeth Bowen finding her voice and feet as a novelist. In her first novel, The Hotel, she pilfered and employed, far less successfully, the multiple perspective Virginia Woolf deploys in the second half of The Voyage Out. The identity of Woolf's heroine is thus composed of what various people think about her, which was Woolf's way of exploring the bottomless mystery of identity. Needless to say, Bowen's heroine is far less interesting than Woolf's so as a technique with Bowen it doesn't cut much ice.
To the North shares the same fidgety perspective except, unlike with The Voyage Out, there's no real purpose to it. It's like, for the time being, the only way she knew how to construct a novel was to flit from one perspective to another without having full command of motive. The narrative keeps losing focus, like someone who begins talking without quite knowing what she is going to say. Not surprisingly, the quality of the prose also declines when she's busying herself with characters who have little dramatic purpose. The main characters here are all rough-hewn prototypes of characters Bowen was to create with far more power, artistry and lucidity further down the line - the innocent waif sowing discord, the charming rake who knows no loyalty, the world-weary social butterfly, the interfering sexless older woman, the benign old gent who exudes the comfort of a hot water bottle.
In short, there's a lot of brilliant writing but there's also some overwrought rather vacuous digressions. Better than The Hotel but falls short of her best work. But then she was only thirty-two when she wrote it. It's got an average rating here of 3.69 which I'd say is pretty spot on.
To the North shares the same fidgety perspective except, unlike with The Voyage Out, there's no real purpose to it. It's like, for the time being, the only way she knew how to construct a novel was to flit from one perspective to another without having full command of motive. The narrative keeps losing focus, like someone who begins talking without quite knowing what she is going to say. Not surprisingly, the quality of the prose also declines when she's busying herself with characters who have little dramatic purpose. The main characters here are all rough-hewn prototypes of characters Bowen was to create with far more power, artistry and lucidity further down the line - the innocent waif sowing discord, the charming rake who knows no loyalty, the world-weary social butterfly, the interfering sexless older woman, the benign old gent who exudes the comfort of a hot water bottle.
In short, there's a lot of brilliant writing but there's also some overwrought rather vacuous digressions. Better than The Hotel but falls short of her best work. But then she was only thirty-two when she wrote it. It's got an average rating here of 3.69 which I'd say is pretty spot on.
feminaformosa's review
3.0
This book starts out slowly, but gradually picks up the pace very cleverly until the frantic, whizzing language at the end that reflects the tension of the book's final scenes.
I almost gave up on this book early on, because it really doesn't pick up until the second half.
Also, the final scene is somewhat foreshadowed, but Elizabeth Bowen cleverly throws in red herrings to make you think what happens is going to happen in a different way.
I almost gave up on this book early on, because it really doesn't pick up until the second half.
Also, the final scene is somewhat foreshadowed, but Elizabeth Bowen cleverly throws in red herrings to make you think what happens is going to happen in a different way.