smalefowles's review against another edition
4.0
An oddly evocative book.
It not only made me feel as if I recognized a time and place deeply foreign to me, but it also reminded me of what childhood was like. The worldview of a child was so familiar, despite his setting, that I remembered things I'd long forgotten.
It not only made me feel as if I recognized a time and place deeply foreign to me, but it also reminded me of what childhood was like. The worldview of a child was so familiar, despite his setting, that I remembered things I'd long forgotten.
alexisreading23's review against another edition
5.0
A young boy is invited to his friend's home for the summer holidays and becomes a messenger for his friend's older sister and the nearby farmer.
Many narratives from the perspective of children feel either untrue to reality or irritating in their attempts to conform to a 'childish' perspective. This book was neither and succeeded in blending childish naivety and curiosity with lyrical and compelling story-telling that blended the understanding of an older man with his youthful reminiscences. The characters felt warm and alive, and the liveliness of the house and its activities painted a splendid picture of a leisurely and idle summer where the lessons of love, romance, and adulthood lie like snakes in the grass to colour the months that transition the protagonist from boyhood to something beyond.
Contemplative and evocative in equal measure, I admired the balance struck between conveying the 'adult' realities of the summer through the lens of a young boy who does not recognise the significance and profundity of various incidents until much later on. I really enjoyed this and would heartily recommend it.
Many narratives from the perspective of children feel either untrue to reality or irritating in their attempts to conform to a 'childish' perspective. This book was neither and succeeded in blending childish naivety and curiosity with lyrical and compelling story-telling that blended the understanding of an older man with his youthful reminiscences. The characters felt warm and alive, and the liveliness of the house and its activities painted a splendid picture of a leisurely and idle summer where the lessons of love, romance, and adulthood lie like snakes in the grass to colour the months that transition the protagonist from boyhood to something beyond.
Contemplative and evocative in equal measure, I admired the balance struck between conveying the 'adult' realities of the summer through the lens of a young boy who does not recognise the significance and profundity of various incidents until much later on. I really enjoyed this and would heartily recommend it.
seymadrz's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
alpha_build's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
willowbiblio's review against another edition
3.0
"But what I heard was a low insistent murmur, with pauses for reply in which no reply was made. It had a hypnotic quality that I had never heard in any voice: a blend of urgency, cajolery, and extreme tenderness, and with below it the deep vibrato of a held-in laugh that might break out at any moment. It was the voice of someone wanting something very much and confident of getting it, but at the same time willing, no, constrained, to plead for it with all the force of his being."
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I found the main theme of this book- a child’s ascent into adolescence and awakening to the ideas of love and lies- to be promising. Unfortunately, it was really hard to get engaged with the narrative when it began with Leo’s time at school. It felt like two entirely separate narratives once he arrived at Brandham Hall. It was implausible to me that a 12 year old boy would have no notion of adult pleasures and the ability to infer subtext or a deeper relationship between Marian and Ted. As such, it made it impossible to be fully present in the story. It seemed Hartley was attempting to tie Leo’s obsession with the temperature to his awakening but it was so overdone that it was annoying. Additionally it seemed strange that a man in his 60s would still be so wrapped up in something that happened when he was 12, to the extent that he still couldn’t clearly see the adults around him had failed and used him. It just made it all a bit boring for me. The heavy foreshadowing and immediate resolution of any tension created was kind of dull. Not terrible but not great.
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I found the main theme of this book- a child’s ascent into adolescence and awakening to the ideas of love and lies- to be promising. Unfortunately, it was really hard to get engaged with the narrative when it began with Leo’s time at school. It felt like two entirely separate narratives once he arrived at Brandham Hall. It was implausible to me that a 12 year old boy would have no notion of adult pleasures and the ability to infer subtext or a deeper relationship between Marian and Ted. As such, it made it impossible to be fully present in the story. It seemed Hartley was attempting to tie Leo’s obsession with the temperature to his awakening but it was so overdone that it was annoying. Additionally it seemed strange that a man in his 60s would still be so wrapped up in something that happened when he was 12, to the extent that he still couldn’t clearly see the adults around him had failed and used him. It just made it all a bit boring for me. The heavy foreshadowing and immediate resolution of any tension created was kind of dull. Not terrible but not great.
crispeta601's review against another edition
3.0
A bit slow but very atmospheric and touches on some very interesting themes -- the transition from childhood to adulthood, the passage of time, nostalgia, etc., with some great quotes. Very cool to see how it so clearly influenced Ian McEwan
1mpossiblealice's review against another edition
4.0
Really enjoyed this, and it's so well written. It perfectly evokes a hot summer in Norfolk and the far away feeling of childhood summers. I really felt immersed in the setting (maybe not that difficult, as I live in Norfolk and it's a warm August) and its dreamy quality. It's slow-paced, which was perfect, because that's how those summers from childhood feel, endless, but at the same time you know it's building towards something that's going to change things drastically.
It's weird reading this after reading Atonement by Ian McEwan, surely he was inspired by this? He basically lifted half the plot from this book.
A note on the edition I read - it has an introduction which thankfully I didn't read before reading the novel, because it gives away the entire plot and the ending on the first page of it. I can't stand when an introduction does that, very glad I was wise to it as it's spoiled books for me before.
I feel like this is one of those books I'm going to think about for a long time. There's obviously a lot of symbolism about it being the 20th century (the main part is set in 1900) and the death of the Victorian age, which I'm sure I'll think about more, but mainly I just loved the writing and the immersive feeling of it. Wonderful. Very glad I finally read it.
It's weird reading this after reading Atonement by Ian McEwan, surely he was inspired by this? He basically lifted half the plot from this book.
A note on the edition I read - it has an introduction which thankfully I didn't read before reading the novel, because it gives away the entire plot and the ending on the first page of it. I can't stand when an introduction does that, very glad I was wise to it as it's spoiled books for me before.
I feel like this is one of those books I'm going to think about for a long time. There's obviously a lot of symbolism about it being the 20th century (the main part is set in 1900) and the death of the Victorian age, which I'm sure I'll think about more, but mainly I just loved the writing and the immersive feeling of it. Wonderful. Very glad I finally read it.
tomhill's review against another edition
4.0
Interesting for its influence on Ian McEwan's Atonement, but also compelling in its own right as a story of class differences, as an English estate story, and as a coming of age novel. It takes longer to get where it's going than Atonement, and probably could be a bit shorter, but it is very well plotted and well written, and the climax is quite powerful, especially since it is the first time that what has been alluded to the entire novel is finally made explicit. Also, I usually don't like epilogues, but I was okay with this one.
seaswift14's review against another edition
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5