foggy_rosamund's review against another edition
2.0
After 200 years, the convent at Oby has the usual troubles: not enough novices, too many expenses, too few sources of income. Then, in the 1340s, the bubonic plague comes to the convent, and life grows even more difficult. The novel describes forty years in the convent following the advent of the bubonic plague. Heralded as Warner's masterpiece, this is a strange piece, mainly interested in atmosphere and place. In some ways, it reminds me of Moby Dick for nuns: a very individual, discursive work that breaks all the rules of the novel and digs down into its subject until that subject eclipses everything else in the world. The Corner That Held Them uses beautiful, careful language, and on a page-by-page study it continues to be compelling and lively. But it's far too long for what it achieves: the exploration of life in this place could be pared down considerably and still have the same impact on the reader: at half its length, it might be a more successful book. Warner adds various incidents to the text which enliven the reading, but she shies away from any true exploration of character or emotion. Major traumas and events are brushed over, and character growth all happens in the margins. This makes her characters, and the place she describes, seem more trivial than it really is. In many ways, I found myself fond of this book: there's something charming about its refusal to engage with the usual structures of the novel, and its fascination with place and minutia can be really interesting or surprising. Warner does succeed in making her readers feel as though they are inhabiting a 14th century convent. But for me it fails as much as it succeeds, and left me wandering, confused, through the Norfolk marshes, hoping it wouldn't be too long before I could turn the final page.
violetdelightshavevioletends's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
slow-paced
4.0
kristinana's review against another edition
5.0
This is a very beautiful book, rather different from Summer Will Show or Lolly Willowes. After reading those two novels, I began to think of Sylvia Townsend Warner as a writer whose novels set up a very believable, realistic world and then, very slowly, take you into an entirely different, somewhat less realistic world, so that by the end of the novel, you're in a completely different place than you were before. This aspect of her plotting was what began to convince me that she actually was a modernist writer, even though she seems in many ways to be quite different from other modernists; her sentence-level style, for instance, is gorgeous (I was compelled to read aloud more than once) but not particularly experimental, and she tends to write historical fiction, not especially popular among modernists.
The Corner That Held Them , she does not have the subtle plot shift that the other two novels have. In fact, in a sense, there is no plot -- or at least, no overall plot. The individual characters do have story arcs, and things DO happen (a lot of things, actually). But generally, this is really a study in the passage of time. Many of the characters are almost interchangeable, or at least, take a very long time for the reader to distinguish; they often emerge slowly, almost imperceptibly, as characters. And then, sometimes the reader will be told of gossip from the villagers in which certain nuns or priests have taken on a mythical meaning, different from the more mundane existence they actually led. It's hard to explain -- almost like a piece of music, how maybe there is a kind of background of strings from which a theme will emerge and recede, replaced by another, and then be reprised in a slightly different way.
The world Townsend Warner creates here is somehow both brutal and banal. The pervasive tone, in my opinion, was a sense of impending doom, mainly due to the way the convent was founded, which is followed by the mortal sin of Sir Ralph, which affects all of the nuns. Even so, my favorite parts of the novel -- aside from hints of witchcraft and odd little rebellions from the nuns -- were the elections of new prioresses, during which things never go as planned, the right person is rarely chosen, and even when she is, somehow she is not quite the leader everyone had wished for -- so like politics. As with Lolly Willowes,, Townsend Warner draws a particularly vivid picture of remote English locales; as with both of the other novels of hers I have read, the world she creates is utterly immersive, convincing, and troubling. This was a strange and beautiful reading experience.
The Corner That Held Them , she does not have the subtle plot shift that the other two novels have. In fact, in a sense, there is no plot -- or at least, no overall plot. The individual characters do have story arcs, and things DO happen (a lot of things, actually). But generally, this is really a study in the passage of time. Many of the characters are almost interchangeable, or at least, take a very long time for the reader to distinguish; they often emerge slowly, almost imperceptibly, as characters. And then, sometimes the reader will be told of gossip from the villagers in which certain nuns or priests have taken on a mythical meaning, different from the more mundane existence they actually led. It's hard to explain -- almost like a piece of music, how maybe there is a kind of background of strings from which a theme will emerge and recede, replaced by another, and then be reprised in a slightly different way.
The world Townsend Warner creates here is somehow both brutal and banal. The pervasive tone, in my opinion, was a sense of impending doom, mainly due to the way the convent was founded, which is followed by the mortal sin of Sir Ralph, which affects all of the nuns. Even so, my favorite parts of the novel -- aside from hints of witchcraft and odd little rebellions from the nuns -- were the elections of new prioresses, during which things never go as planned, the right person is rarely chosen, and even when she is, somehow she is not quite the leader everyone had wished for -- so like politics. As with Lolly Willowes,, Townsend Warner draws a particularly vivid picture of remote English locales; as with both of the other novels of hers I have read, the world she creates is utterly immersive, convincing, and troubling. This was a strange and beautiful reading experience.
hawthorne's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.0
vannychopiny's review against another edition
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.25
jo_crescent's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
brokelibrary's review against another edition
challenging
dark
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
alixiroflife's review against another edition
4.0
-this was a really delightful, more subtle work by townshend warner. i don't think it is my favorite book of hers but it really slowly grew on me and i think a re-read will make me appreciate it even more
-to start, her world-building and vibe curation is always perfect. you can drop into her world and not have any disconcerting "wait what" moments? she always has a perfect level of whimsy as well that doesn't feel like it takes away from the book and is snarky without being mean to her characters
-the beginning was in fact a bit slow but again i think once you got past the fact that she doesn't really differentiate between the characters almost as a way of anonymizing them, it makes a lot more sense
-overall really enjoyed this book and definitely will give it a re-read
-to start, her world-building and vibe curation is always perfect. you can drop into her world and not have any disconcerting "wait what" moments? she always has a perfect level of whimsy as well that doesn't feel like it takes away from the book and is snarky without being mean to her characters
-the beginning was in fact a bit slow but again i think once you got past the fact that she doesn't really differentiate between the characters almost as a way of anonymizing them, it makes a lot more sense
-overall really enjoyed this book and definitely will give it a re-read
funktious's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
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? Yes
3.5
Trying to dig deep into the TBR occasionally rather than just skim from the top. I picked this up because I loved Lolly Willowes, but this is a very different book.
No plot to speak of, large cast of nearly indistinguishable nuns, a lot of 14th century history which needed frequent wikipedia look ups. A very interesting read though, I enjoyed the setting, the tension between the church and the poor, the obsessiveness about money, how little religion actually seemed to impact on their lives. I probably won't reread but I'm glad I read it.
I really wanted Dame Lilias to run away to sea at the end though and I really hope Adela ended up OK!
No plot to speak of, large cast of nearly indistinguishable nuns, a lot of 14th century history which needed frequent wikipedia look ups. A very interesting read though, I enjoyed the setting, the tension between the church and the poor, the obsessiveness about money, how little religion actually seemed to impact on their lives. I probably won't reread but I'm glad I read it.
Content Warnings
Minor: Rape