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A review by marc129
Moon Tiger by Penelope Lively
3.0
I don't understand why this book does not appear in toplists. Agreed, it was awarded the Bookerprice in 1987 (before the great hype), but seems to be forgotten since, whilst according to me it really is a pearl. Maybe it is because the story appears to be a kind of pulp fiction: that of a remarkable woman, Claudia Hampton, looking back on her life, on her death bed, and with a passionate love affaire as crucial ax. But don't get me wrong: this really is a very interesting book and even a tough read. This review can never do justice to that.
In the first place it is the story of a woman with a very unconventional attitude, confronting everything society expects of her. In the private sphere she has an on- and off-relationship with the father of her child, and she refuses to fulfil the traditional motherhood role; in the public sphere she becomes a war-correspondent, publishes historical books that confront traditional academic (male) historians, etc. Lively does not present her as a heroin, on the contrary, Claudia is bluntly unsympathetic and selfish.
Secondly, the book illustrates very handsomely the interwooven character of individual lifes and world history. Claudia constantly philosophizes about her rather insignificant place in history. People contain the whole history of the universe in their bodies and in their mind, but to them history feels very strange, very far from their own lifes. The official, academic history even seems to obliterate the essence of life. In this sense this book is a typical postmodernist reflection on the relativity of history (everything is story, there are only personal stories). Lively also focusses on the subjective nature of experiences (including that of time), and on the problematic relation between language and reality. She's a worthy representant of the postmodernist literature, next to Julian Barnes and Graham Swift.
I have real admiration for the sense of nuance and dosage Lively applies in her writing. Claudia is a very complex personality, she gradually discovers that her competition with and attraction to her brother Gordon is one of the driving forces in her life; - I can hear you exclaim, "ah, the classical incest-theme!", but beware, it is brought in a very refined way.
The love story also is brought with much delicacy: Claudia's passionate love affaire with the soldier Tom in Cairo in the second World War and the dramatic turn after Tom is killed in battle of course have a tremendous impact upon Claudia's life; but Lively handsomely avoids the trap of too much sentimentality; she lets Claudia give this drama a place in her long life after the episode; this attests to Lively's great wisdom. The death scene at the end by the way is one of the most beautiful I have ever read. In short, this booklet is a real treasure!
(rating 3.5 stars)
In the first place it is the story of a woman with a very unconventional attitude, confronting everything society expects of her. In the private sphere she has an on- and off-relationship with the father of her child, and she refuses to fulfil the traditional motherhood role; in the public sphere she becomes a war-correspondent, publishes historical books that confront traditional academic (male) historians, etc. Lively does not present her as a heroin, on the contrary, Claudia is bluntly unsympathetic and selfish.
Secondly, the book illustrates very handsomely the interwooven character of individual lifes and world history. Claudia constantly philosophizes about her rather insignificant place in history. People contain the whole history of the universe in their bodies and in their mind, but to them history feels very strange, very far from their own lifes. The official, academic history even seems to obliterate the essence of life. In this sense this book is a typical postmodernist reflection on the relativity of history (everything is story, there are only personal stories). Lively also focusses on the subjective nature of experiences (including that of time), and on the problematic relation between language and reality. She's a worthy representant of the postmodernist literature, next to Julian Barnes and Graham Swift.
I have real admiration for the sense of nuance and dosage Lively applies in her writing. Claudia is a very complex personality, she gradually discovers that her competition with and attraction to her brother Gordon is one of the driving forces in her life; - I can hear you exclaim, "ah, the classical incest-theme!", but beware, it is brought in a very refined way.
The love story also is brought with much delicacy: Claudia's passionate love affaire with the soldier Tom in Cairo in the second World War and the dramatic turn after Tom is killed in battle of course have a tremendous impact upon Claudia's life; but Lively handsomely avoids the trap of too much sentimentality; she lets Claudia give this drama a place in her long life after the episode; this attests to Lively's great wisdom. The death scene at the end by the way is one of the most beautiful I have ever read. In short, this booklet is a real treasure!
(rating 3.5 stars)