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A review by 1mpossiblealice
The Go-Between by L.P. Hartley
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.