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tasmanian_bibliophile's review against another edition
4.0
‘I don’t know, these letter were supposed to be about you, and me, they were supposed to be my gift to you ..’
In this novel, told though a series of letters, Yvette Walker explores love and loss in the lives of three couples. While the letters come from different places and different times (Bournemouth in 1948, Cork in 1969, Perth in 2011) a form of love - past or present, ended, ending or continuous - is at the centre of each relationship.
In the Bournemouth letters, John (a retired English physician) writes to his lost love David (a German artist). John recalls the time he and David shared in Vienna during the 1930s. John's letters are prompted by the visit of a man carrying a message from David, and are John's way of coming to terms with the loss of David as a victim of the Nazis. Without his soul mate, John is and remains incomplete.
`You walk back to a place you once were, to find someone else there instead.'
In Cork, Dmitri (an exiled Russian painter) writes to his wife Caithleen (an Irish writer).Both are struggling with Dimitri's fatal illness, and the imminent threat of separation. Caithleen has requested that they write to each other as a means of recording `the ordinary things, ordinary poetry' of the four decade span of their relationship. The certainty of the past can be held against the uncertainty of the future.
`I love your emails but this letter of yours, it breathes.'
In Perth, two women are struggling in their relationship. Grace is a bookseller who stays close to home, while Lou is always travelling as part of the entourage of a musician who is said to be `the new Dylan'. The correspondence, by letter and by eMail is initiated by Grace and covers both the past - memories involving minutiae - a longing for each other's company, and future aspirations. Can these letters lead to a strengthening of Lou and Grace's relationship?
Paul Klee's painting `Ad Marginem' (1930) has significance for each of the three couples, and is the one connection between each set of letters. Art has its own power.
In Ms Walker's writing, John, Dmitri, Caithleen, Grace and Lou each have their own unique voice. I found it hard to put the novel down, as I wanted to find out more about each character and whether writing these letters would bring them the understanding they were each seeking. Each story is personal; events (whether small or large, personal or global) have an impact.
I enjoyed reading this novel, and when it ended I wanted more. These characters came alive for me and their life journeys were important.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
In this novel, told though a series of letters, Yvette Walker explores love and loss in the lives of three couples. While the letters come from different places and different times (Bournemouth in 1948, Cork in 1969, Perth in 2011) a form of love - past or present, ended, ending or continuous - is at the centre of each relationship.
In the Bournemouth letters, John (a retired English physician) writes to his lost love David (a German artist). John recalls the time he and David shared in Vienna during the 1930s. John's letters are prompted by the visit of a man carrying a message from David, and are John's way of coming to terms with the loss of David as a victim of the Nazis. Without his soul mate, John is and remains incomplete.
`You walk back to a place you once were, to find someone else there instead.'
In Cork, Dmitri (an exiled Russian painter) writes to his wife Caithleen (an Irish writer).Both are struggling with Dimitri's fatal illness, and the imminent threat of separation. Caithleen has requested that they write to each other as a means of recording `the ordinary things, ordinary poetry' of the four decade span of their relationship. The certainty of the past can be held against the uncertainty of the future.
`I love your emails but this letter of yours, it breathes.'
In Perth, two women are struggling in their relationship. Grace is a bookseller who stays close to home, while Lou is always travelling as part of the entourage of a musician who is said to be `the new Dylan'. The correspondence, by letter and by eMail is initiated by Grace and covers both the past - memories involving minutiae - a longing for each other's company, and future aspirations. Can these letters lead to a strengthening of Lou and Grace's relationship?
Paul Klee's painting `Ad Marginem' (1930) has significance for each of the three couples, and is the one connection between each set of letters. Art has its own power.
In Ms Walker's writing, John, Dmitri, Caithleen, Grace and Lou each have their own unique voice. I found it hard to put the novel down, as I wanted to find out more about each character and whether writing these letters would bring them the understanding they were each seeking. Each story is personal; events (whether small or large, personal or global) have an impact.
I enjoyed reading this novel, and when it ended I wanted more. These characters came alive for me and their life journeys were important.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
poetryrose's review against another edition
5.0
Heart-wrenching intimacies of love and loss. Cleverly woven stories and a gorgeously written exploration of the delicacy of relationships. I took my time with this book and lingered on language that often surprised me, and the indulgences of love reflected and explored — a wonderful, beautiful book.
aseel_reads's review
4.0
This was SOOOOO good and sad at the same time
I really loved all the characters, I love a letter format! It was just so heartbreaking to see them at the end of their love stories
I really loved all the characters, I love a letter format! It was just so heartbreaking to see them at the end of their love stories
tashreads2manybooks's review
3.0
As the title suggests, this novel consists of a collection of letters all dealing with some kind of loss. There are three main couples involved: In Cork (1969), a Russian painter and his novelist wife who must come to grips with a terminal illness; Perth in 2011 where a bookstore owner writes to her estranged partner trying to fathom what went wrong with their relationship; and Bournemouth in 1948 where a retired doctor writes to his partner who never made it through the war.
These three couples are all vaguely connected through art, war and parallel imagery. I found this to be quite a clever literary tool. It makes lives that seem so random suddenly seem part of some grand plan. All couples have memories involving the artist or artwork of Paul Klee. I also found the imagery of diving and of watches (time) to be quite effective.
Dreams are also of a great importance in the novel and are described vividly. I suppose when love is lost; dreams are sometimes all you have left.
The novel is beautifully written. It is soulful and sorrowful. As a reader you can feel the yearning in Walker’s words; the heartbreak over lost love. There is not really any plot at all – these are simply a collection of love letters. So I don’t think this will appeal to the general reading public.
One aspect I didn’t really enjoy was the graphic sex scene. Please let me state that I am by no means a prude, I appreciate that sometimes to go into great detail about lovemaking is necessary. It just seemed so out of place in this novel. There are these beautiful and lyrical descriptions of love then all of a sudden BANG! (excuse the pun) and we are into 50 Shades of Grey. I just didn’t think it fitted into the novel’s gentle themes.
Overall a beautifully written novel without much of a storyline.
These three couples are all vaguely connected through art, war and parallel imagery. I found this to be quite a clever literary tool. It makes lives that seem so random suddenly seem part of some grand plan. All couples have memories involving the artist or artwork of Paul Klee. I also found the imagery of diving and of watches (time) to be quite effective.
Dreams are also of a great importance in the novel and are described vividly. I suppose when love is lost; dreams are sometimes all you have left.
The novel is beautifully written. It is soulful and sorrowful. As a reader you can feel the yearning in Walker’s words; the heartbreak over lost love. There is not really any plot at all – these are simply a collection of love letters. So I don’t think this will appeal to the general reading public.
One aspect I didn’t really enjoy was the graphic sex scene. Please let me state that I am by no means a prude, I appreciate that sometimes to go into great detail about lovemaking is necessary. It just seemed so out of place in this novel. There are these beautiful and lyrical descriptions of love then all of a sudden BANG! (excuse the pun) and we are into 50 Shades of Grey. I just didn’t think it fitted into the novel’s gentle themes.
Overall a beautifully written novel without much of a storyline.
wtb_michael's review
4.0
A lovely meditation on love, in the form of letters between three couples from different eras and places. The structure took me a little while to settle into - a few tenuous links between the stories had me looking for deeper connections which weren't there - but I eventually realised that the three stories were only thematically linked. In each, people are facing the end of love - through illness, death or estrangement, and the letters they write to each other dig into their rich, messy, passionate experiences with each other and with life, as well as into the tiny, ordinary details that make up a relationship. It's impressively done.
louiseallan's review
5.0
I was prompted to read this exquisite debut novel after it won the WA Premier’s Emerging Writers Award. I also met the author, the warm and wise Yvette Walker, at a small gathering she held to celebrate her win. Last year, after I'd read the rave reviews, I'd bought the book, but it had sat patiently by my bedside. I didn’t know what a gem I was missing out on …
The title of this book is so apt, the story being being told in epistolary form, and about loving relationships that are coming to or have come to an end.
It features the letters between three couples, in three different types of relationships, and living in three different countries and time periods. The common theme is love. Apart from this, the only other common thread is that they all mention the artist Paul Klee, a 20th century modernist, and his painting, ‘Ad Marginem’ (On the Edge), which he painted in 1930. The painting is of a central dark red sun, with animals and plants scattered around the periphery. I’ve drawn my own conclusions as to why the author chose this painting. I wonder if the sun represents the love theme central to this novel and, just as the sun is essential for animals and plants survival, love is just as central and necessary to our lives.
The first couple readers meet are Dmitri, a Russian painter who is dying, and his wife, Caithleen. They live in Cork, Ireland, in 1969, and although they share a house, they write to each other of the things they cannot say, knowing Dmitri’s death is imminent. They include playful references to the ‘notorious dog’ and Dmitri’s hand drawn stamp and postmark on his letters, as they talk about their forty-year relationship. We learn of their daily routines, Dmitri walking through rainy Cork with the ‘notorious dog,’ and smoking in his studio as he tries to finish his white painting before he dies. Their mutual respect and love is evident, however, one gets the idea that Dmitri hasn’t been the easiest person to live with. Here is Caithleen to Dmitri:
The next couple is Grace and Lou, writing to each other in 2011. Grace lives in Perth and works as a bookseller, while her partner, Lou, travels the world. Their relationship is strained, Grace feeling as if it is one-sided, and Lou feeling that Grace’s grief over the death of her brother is a barrier between them. The two women write to each other of their memories and their love, their desire to marry, and the obstacles in their way. Neither are prepared to give up on their relationship just yet:
The third couple is shown through the sad, unilateral letters of a retired English doctor. He’s writing in Bournemouth in 1948 to his German lover, David, with whom he had a secret relationship until the beginning of World War II. These letters were, for me, the most poignant, as they went unanswered by David who had died after being interred under the Nazis for his homosexuality.
It’s hard to believe that with so many books and poems already written about love, something could be original, yet this is. The writing is poetic but not over done, and never becomes cliché. The research has been meticulous, and the details are evocative so the reader is immersed in the settings, the times, and the stories of each of the couples. It’s made all the more nostalgic because letter writing is increasingly becoming a lost art.
This is a very moving book, exquisitely told, and anyone who has known love will relate.
The title of this book is so apt, the story being being told in epistolary form, and about loving relationships that are coming to or have come to an end.
It features the letters between three couples, in three different types of relationships, and living in three different countries and time periods. The common theme is love. Apart from this, the only other common thread is that they all mention the artist Paul Klee, a 20th century modernist, and his painting, ‘Ad Marginem’ (On the Edge), which he painted in 1930. The painting is of a central dark red sun, with animals and plants scattered around the periphery. I’ve drawn my own conclusions as to why the author chose this painting. I wonder if the sun represents the love theme central to this novel and, just as the sun is essential for animals and plants survival, love is just as central and necessary to our lives.
The first couple readers meet are Dmitri, a Russian painter who is dying, and his wife, Caithleen. They live in Cork, Ireland, in 1969, and although they share a house, they write to each other of the things they cannot say, knowing Dmitri’s death is imminent. They include playful references to the ‘notorious dog’ and Dmitri’s hand drawn stamp and postmark on his letters, as they talk about their forty-year relationship. We learn of their daily routines, Dmitri walking through rainy Cork with the ‘notorious dog,’ and smoking in his studio as he tries to finish his white painting before he dies. Their mutual respect and love is evident, however, one gets the idea that Dmitri hasn’t been the easiest person to live with. Here is Caithleen to Dmitri:
‘I suppose the anger will come once you are gone. I can’t imagine. I am supposed to prepare myself for this after, for years of after. It’s not as though I don’t wish to be alone, some days. Especially when you are overbearing and relentless, your Siberian shadow everywhere, all over Granny’s house. But no, not this final goodbye. My love for you is shifting, archiving, preparing to become a memory.’
The next couple is Grace and Lou, writing to each other in 2011. Grace lives in Perth and works as a bookseller, while her partner, Lou, travels the world. Their relationship is strained, Grace feeling as if it is one-sided, and Lou feeling that Grace’s grief over the death of her brother is a barrier between them. The two women write to each other of their memories and their love, their desire to marry, and the obstacles in their way. Neither are prepared to give up on their relationship just yet:
‘When you are asleep, as I have said before, sometimes when you are asleep I am on the edge of beginning to understand how much I love you because in that early-morning moment there is nothing else to understand. Every other concern is gone, every other motive has disappeared, every other fear is, for now, tucked away in its envelope and I only have one, pure motivation. To be loved.’
The third couple is shown through the sad, unilateral letters of a retired English doctor. He’s writing in Bournemouth in 1948 to his German lover, David, with whom he had a secret relationship until the beginning of World War II. These letters were, for me, the most poignant, as they went unanswered by David who had died after being interred under the Nazis for his homosexuality.
‘On that first afternoon, our first afternoon together, we were only at the beginning, at the beginning of everything, when we hadn’t reached love but the ghost of it was there with us in the room, the third, uninvited guest.’
It’s hard to believe that with so many books and poems already written about love, something could be original, yet this is. The writing is poetic but not over done, and never becomes cliché. The research has been meticulous, and the details are evocative so the reader is immersed in the settings, the times, and the stories of each of the couples. It’s made all the more nostalgic because letter writing is increasingly becoming a lost art.
This is a very moving book, exquisitely told, and anyone who has known love will relate.
theliteraryhooker's review
5.0
I don't even know where to begin with this book. I'm speechless. This book is gorgeous beyond words. It's heartbreaking and uplifting and beautiful and cruel and perfect and so, so fantastically flawed all in one. I didn't know I could feel so many emotions over the course of so few pages, but Yvette Walker has turned me into a weeping mess of a human being; after finishing the last chapter, I just sat and cried over the sheer beauty of this little book.
All three of the couples featured in this book are wonderful. They're so human and real that I couldn't help feeling drawn into their relationships, feeling their pain and their love. While I completely adored all three stories, John and David's was the one that really hit me, the one that will stick with me in the months and years to come. John's pain and devotion are expressed so genuinely, so beautifully, that I felt my heart break just a little each time I read one of his letters.
Walker's writing is flawless. She knows exactly which words to string together to form some of the most devastating, wonderful, beautiful writing I've ever had the pleasure of reading. I'm so glad that I happened upon this book and took a chance with it, because it truly is a masterpiece.
All three of the couples featured in this book are wonderful. They're so human and real that I couldn't help feeling drawn into their relationships, feeling their pain and their love. While I completely adored all three stories, John and David's was the one that really hit me, the one that will stick with me in the months and years to come. John's pain and devotion are expressed so genuinely, so beautifully, that I felt my heart break just a little each time I read one of his letters.
Walker's writing is flawless. She knows exactly which words to string together to form some of the most devastating, wonderful, beautiful writing I've ever had the pleasure of reading. I'm so glad that I happened upon this book and took a chance with it, because it truly is a masterpiece.
emilypaull's review
5.0
This review appears at http://elimy.blogspot.com
Letters to the End of Love
by Yvette Walker
University of Queensland Press
I thought I would write this review in the form of a letter to Yvette. I hope she gets to read it.
Dear Yvette Walker,
You could just as easily have called your beautiful novel Letters to the End of Hate, because that is what it is. To me, your words have celebrated a place you love, and the things you love about people, and about being in love itself. I wanted to quote you to yourself here, but the page escapes me- I wanted to reference the remark either Lou or Grace makes about loving receiving emails, but letters singing.
The very act of letter writing is very intimate, and that you have paired it with this kind of romantic love and longing seems incredibly apt. Your novel is about three couples- the first live in County Cork in 1969. Dmitri is a painter. His wife, Caithleen is a writer. He is unwell, dying in fact, and the fear that they have of losing each other, leaving one another behind has altered their relationship. The letters appear to be both an attempt to restore a lost intimacy, and to grant a new level of sharing in their relationship. By writing to one another, Dmitri and Caithleen can finally share the deepest secrets of their hearts, the things they feel and fear but cannot admit even to themselves. I think in doing so, they get some comfort, and some closure. They also get a chance to celebrate the things that have made them special as a couple in words.
Contrast this with Grace and Lou- very much the modern couple. Grace is a bookseller in Perth. She loves her family, she loves her home town, and she loves Lou most of all, who seems to be the one person who she feel understands her. But she also feels abandoned by Lou whose job requires her to travel around the world with a local boy who is suddenly a big shot musician. The constant transit of her life means that the two have been communicating with text messages, emails. Lou is lonely but only when she gets a chance to be, and Grace is almost giving up on the idea that this person who makes her happy will ever have to to actually be with her. Their letters are a slowing down process, a reassuring act that requires quiet reflection on their relationship, and making time to write.
The Bournemouth letters are only written by one person, by John in 1948. He writes to his dead lover David, who was a victim of the Nazis. These letters are difficult to read, because, I imagine, they were difficult to write. David and John had to love each other in secret. The way that they loved each other was viewed as being wrong. I get the impression that John has previously viewed his relationships with men as being to serve a purpose and not necessarily to be enjoyed just for the sake of it, and he seems to be overwhelmed by both his capacity to love David and his capacity to feel incomplete without him.
I don't think, though, that I need to explain your own book to you. After all, you wrote it. You wrote it very well and I hope that you are immensely pleased with it because you should be. This book is poetic, it has vivid imagery, and while it is realistic, it is also hopeful. I have already recommended it to a number of people.
Sincerely,
Emily
Letters to the End of Love
by Yvette Walker
University of Queensland Press
I thought I would write this review in the form of a letter to Yvette. I hope she gets to read it.
Dear Yvette Walker,
You could just as easily have called your beautiful novel Letters to the End of Hate, because that is what it is. To me, your words have celebrated a place you love, and the things you love about people, and about being in love itself. I wanted to quote you to yourself here, but the page escapes me- I wanted to reference the remark either Lou or Grace makes about loving receiving emails, but letters singing.
The very act of letter writing is very intimate, and that you have paired it with this kind of romantic love and longing seems incredibly apt. Your novel is about three couples- the first live in County Cork in 1969. Dmitri is a painter. His wife, Caithleen is a writer. He is unwell, dying in fact, and the fear that they have of losing each other, leaving one another behind has altered their relationship. The letters appear to be both an attempt to restore a lost intimacy, and to grant a new level of sharing in their relationship. By writing to one another, Dmitri and Caithleen can finally share the deepest secrets of their hearts, the things they feel and fear but cannot admit even to themselves. I think in doing so, they get some comfort, and some closure. They also get a chance to celebrate the things that have made them special as a couple in words.
Contrast this with Grace and Lou- very much the modern couple. Grace is a bookseller in Perth. She loves her family, she loves her home town, and she loves Lou most of all, who seems to be the one person who she feel understands her. But she also feels abandoned by Lou whose job requires her to travel around the world with a local boy who is suddenly a big shot musician. The constant transit of her life means that the two have been communicating with text messages, emails. Lou is lonely but only when she gets a chance to be, and Grace is almost giving up on the idea that this person who makes her happy will ever have to to actually be with her. Their letters are a slowing down process, a reassuring act that requires quiet reflection on their relationship, and making time to write.
The Bournemouth letters are only written by one person, by John in 1948. He writes to his dead lover David, who was a victim of the Nazis. These letters are difficult to read, because, I imagine, they were difficult to write. David and John had to love each other in secret. The way that they loved each other was viewed as being wrong. I get the impression that John has previously viewed his relationships with men as being to serve a purpose and not necessarily to be enjoyed just for the sake of it, and he seems to be overwhelmed by both his capacity to love David and his capacity to feel incomplete without him.
I don't think, though, that I need to explain your own book to you. After all, you wrote it. You wrote it very well and I hope that you are immensely pleased with it because you should be. This book is poetic, it has vivid imagery, and while it is realistic, it is also hopeful. I have already recommended it to a number of people.
Sincerely,
Emily
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