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krobart's review
2.0
See my complete review here:
http://whatmeread.wordpress.com/tag/a-whistling-woman/
mepresley's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
The main threads of the novel are the Body-Mind Conference at the UNY, the Anti-University, the Spirit's Tigers turned Dun Vale Hearers, and Frederica's TV show Through the Looking-Glass. Byatt also continues to explore, as she must really, women's growing freedom from traditional roles and choices.
batbones's review
5.0
bookscatsyarn's review
2.0
acton's review
5.0
the title comes from an eighteenth century Scottish proverb that reminded all that the lives of women were naturally circumscribed. Ah, but this is the late sixties, when many traditions are being questioned and protested.
A. S. Byatt is brilliant. This novel is thought-provoking in so many ways, I don't know where to begin. It is long, there are many characters and several plots, and the reader must pay attention. It's dense. It's worth it.
Bravo! And I did not know that this was actually the last of a quartet, or series. At some point, I will need to go back and read about Fredrica's earlier life...
ianbanks's review against another edition
4.0
'That isn't the end. We don't know everything.'
'What's a real end?' said Frederica. 'The end is always the most unreal bit...'
It feels as though the series could continue on, is my initial thought on reaching the end of it.
Some of the other reviews I've read seem to hate on Dr Byatt for what they perceive as her crapping all over the free-spiritedness of the sixties, when in fact, if they'd been paying attention, she's really having a go at a lot of the intellectual laziness that was endemic in politics at the time. Reading about the sit-ins and the protests and the "anti-University" some of the characters set up in a book written fifteen years ago about a time some 35 years before that, made me think quite a bit about the lazy thinking that goes on in politics today. It's a theme that was developed more fully in Babel Tower, mainly because it was a major concern of that novel.
In terms of the main characters, we have more of the same happening: Gideon has become part of a cult (interestingly mirroring the plot of the titular novel-within-the-novel of the third volume), Daniel is still alienated from his kids 10 years after Stephanie's death, Marcus comes more to the forefront after being pushed back in the third novel a bit, Bill appears to be softening a little, and Frederica is still living with Saskia, sharing child-rearing duties as they manage their careers. Thankfully Nigel doesn't make an appearance in this novel, although - according to Leo - he has remarried.
I'd liked to have seen more about Leo, actually, because he appears to have an interesting story: his learning problems appear to be dealt with rather peremptorily, but he voices some thoughts about being part of a blended family long before that sort of arrangement was becoming more common.
Unfortunately, some of these subplots feel a little rushed and tacked-on, as though they aren't as important or interesting as the main story. I daresay Dr Byatt had her reasons for the choices she has made, possibly due to the idea (hinted at in the last sentence of the first novel) that no story ever really finishes, so you pick the place that seems best to end things. As in the other books, there are hints of future history and digressions into the nature of Art and life (something that is expressed to perfection in The Children's Book, although that story does not form part of this).
And that's how I shall think of this story (despite the tolling "FINIS" on the last page): as the closing of our interactions with Frederica and her family and associates, but not the ending of their stories. Because the last sentence couldn't help but make me think of the ending of Arthur C. Clarke's novel of 2001: A Space Odyssey which was the beginning of another, bigger story.
jenniferaimee's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Despite the long gaps between reading the books in this series, I still somehow remember characters and events. I won't claim to remember all of the plot points or characters in the first three books, but I remembered enough to feel completely immersed in A Whistling Woman by the second chapter. This was not my favorite of the Frederica books, and as I've written before, AS Byatt is a complicated author to like, but I liked the book and am glad I read it.
As with the other books in this series, the plot of A Whistling Woman was based on the time in which it was set. A religious cult and student protests feature as the central plot points, and although Byatt's characters are dramatic and exaggerated, the events were believable to me. Frederica and her family—both biological and found—are my favorite characters, and they didn't appear in this book as often as I wished, but the other characters were certainly interesting to read about.
There was one significant issue that jumped out at me. This book was published in 2002, which was much later than the other books in this series, and there was one instance of the n word. It obviously was not necessary or important to the plot or character development in any way, and could have easily been left out. There was other problematic language throughout the book—throughout all of Byatt's books that I've read—but in the context of the time it was set and the characters who expressed the viewpoints, it is easier to understand the authorial choice in including that language. Although this book was not written in the 1960s, it seemed to me that Byatt wrote it as if it had been, and that did make for an uncomfortable reading experience at times.
lectrice's review
3.0
sanjee_b's review against another edition
logophile's review
4.0