A review by willowbiblio
The Go-Between by L.P. Hartley
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."
--------
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.
--------
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.