A review by keepreadingbooks
Heat Wave by Penelope Lively

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Lively is such an expert in psychological studies. As someone who is highly susceptible to subtle details that signal mood changes and things being said between the lines, I adore reading about characters who are the same way. In this one, mother and grandmother Pauline gradually comes to understand what is happening in her daughter Teresa’s marriage to her older husband Maurice through exactly such subtle details of their various interactions with both each other and an editor couple who comes to visit several times during a particularly hot summer. That, as much as the increasingly oppressive weather hurtling towards a late-summer climax, creates a palpable tension which, to me, is as good as any action-filled plot. I raced through this one and was happy to finally read more fiction by Lively. 

 

Personally, though, I would have preferred a less sensationalist ending. It seemed like a bit of a genre shift and an easy ‘out’. Considering the time it was published, however, I’m inclined to let it off the hook and let my wish for a strong feminist taking-charge-of-my-own-life ending lie.