A review by caja
The Go-Between by L.P. Hartley
5.0
"The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there."
I didn't expect a lot from this book when i first started reading it, but it turned out to be one of my new favourites of this year. A story about a 12 year old boy trying to navigate the complex passionate and sexual world of grown ups as he was unknowingly made into a messenger of a love affair was so captivating. I felt a lot of sympathy for him, he was too young to grasp the full scope of the situation. Yet i don't hate the manipulating grown ups of the story - the year 1900 was a different country and they didn't have a lot of choice.
Hartley explores a lot of different themes: adolecence, sexuality, class differences, family relations, role of women in the family, loss of innocence. He had woven some carefully picked out motifs in the story (the Zodiac, the spells, deadly nightshade, colour green, Mercury). I definitely feel some biblical influences here too, specifically the garden of Eden and the snake. The time of the story is also expertly chosen - the summer of The Beginning of the Century, full of hope and heat that was growing stronger and stronger each day, signifying the tension that was growing bigger. Throughout the whole book you feel a sense of dread rising with each bad omen that was shown in the book.
All in all I am quite happy i've read this book. It is pretty short but I was taking my time with it. I'd recommend it to people that read the books like The Great Gatsby or watched movies like The Atonement (I haven't read the book so i can't speak for it).
I didn't expect a lot from this book when i first started reading it, but it turned out to be one of my new favourites of this year. A story about a 12 year old boy trying to navigate the complex passionate and sexual world of grown ups as he was unknowingly made into a messenger of a love affair was so captivating. I felt a lot of sympathy for him, he was too young to grasp the full scope of the situation. Yet i don't hate the manipulating grown ups of the story - the year 1900 was a different country and they didn't have a lot of choice.
Hartley explores a lot of different themes: adolecence, sexuality, class differences, family relations, role of women in the family, loss of innocence. He had woven some carefully picked out motifs in the story (the Zodiac, the spells, deadly nightshade, colour green, Mercury). I definitely feel some biblical influences here too, specifically the garden of Eden and the snake. The time of the story is also expertly chosen - the summer of The Beginning of the Century, full of hope and heat that was growing stronger and stronger each day, signifying the tension that was growing bigger. Throughout the whole book you feel a sense of dread rising with each bad omen that was shown in the book.
All in all I am quite happy i've read this book. It is pretty short but I was taking my time with it. I'd recommend it to people that read the books like The Great Gatsby or watched movies like The Atonement (I haven't read the book so i can't speak for it).