Scan barcode
foggy_rosamund's review against another edition
2.0
An atmospheric and vivid book, this captures a few months in the life of Clare, when she is 14. It's a bleak January in Oxford in the early 1970s, and Clare lives with her two great-aunts who are both around 80 years old. They were dynamic and imaginative women from a wealthy background, but are now living in a quiet twilight, where the past seems more important than the present. At its heart, this story is about how Clare reconciles her aunts' ageing, and the knowledge that they will one day die. An orphan, Clare knows about loss, and tries to make the possessions within the old house at Norham Gardens root her to the present. Penelope Lively is wonderful at writing about the passing of time, and the loss of the past, and the way the present cannot be recaptured. Her portrait of Clare, the snowy winter, and the lives of Clare's aunts, is beautifully evoked, and I was very moved.
I'd known about this book for a long time, and I had decided not to read it because of the initial paragraph, which describes a man in New Guinea around the turn of the century, including this sentence, "The man is remote from England in distance by half the circumference of the world: in understanding, by five thousand years." I knew I would be annoyed by the assumption that indigenous people are "primitive" and that Western Europe is the pinnacle of all knowledge, and I was repeatedly frustrated and angered by Lively's depictions of New Guinea throughout the book. In the strand of the book in 1970, Clare needs to let go of some aspects of the past, beautiful as it is, so she can fully live her life. Thematically, this is compared to tribes within New Guinea, who give up a traditional way of life in order to live in the modern world. But these two things are in no way comparable. The destruction and desecration of indigenous people and their lands continues to this day, and there is no excuse for the ways these people were and are denied agency, respect, or the right to keep their own lands. Lively is making excuses for imperialism and colonialism, and trying to erase violence.
So while I found many aspects of this book really enjoyable, I can't rate it highly, because it's another story trying to make the British empire sound cosy and positive, and to make excuses for the destruction of people's lives.
I'd known about this book for a long time, and I had decided not to read it because of the initial paragraph, which describes a man in New Guinea around the turn of the century, including this sentence, "The man is remote from England in distance by half the circumference of the world: in understanding, by five thousand years." I knew I would be annoyed by the assumption that indigenous people are "primitive" and that Western Europe is the pinnacle of all knowledge, and I was repeatedly frustrated and angered by Lively's depictions of New Guinea throughout the book. In the strand of the book in 1970, Clare needs to let go of some aspects of the past, beautiful as it is, so she can fully live her life. Thematically, this is compared to tribes within New Guinea, who give up a traditional way of life in order to live in the modern world. But these two things are in no way comparable. The destruction and desecration of indigenous people and their lands continues to this day, and there is no excuse for the ways these people were and are denied agency, respect, or the right to keep their own lands. Lively is making excuses for imperialism and colonialism, and trying to erase violence.
So while I found many aspects of this book really enjoyable, I can't rate it highly, because it's another story trying to make the British empire sound cosy and positive, and to make excuses for the destruction of people's lives.
stewg's review against another edition
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
sophieemeredith's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
larrys's review against another edition
2.0
At first I wondered why the protagonist was talking like a middle-aged woman and then I realised that Clare today would be in her mid-fifties. This got me wondering about how we don't really 'turn into middle aged women' -- we somehow cement our ways of speaking and our views on the world, and it's the world around us that changes.
The opening paragraph of this book is wonderfully spooky and introduces the House In Norham Gardens as a character in its own right. But overall the story didn't hold my attention. It's always interesting to read a retro young adult novel and see how stories have changed. This one feels dated for its entries on a tribe in Papua New Guinea (which I wasn't interested in at all -- I ended up skipping them), and for the fascination of a black man from Uganda befriending a white girl from somewhere near Oxford. This relationship seems a bit strange to me today, but perhaps for different reasons.
This book reminded me a lot of See You Thursday by Jean Ure. Apart from the shared setting:
Women (one a teenage protagonist) live together and take in a boarder
The boarder is young and male and distinctive in some way (one for being blind, the other for being black in a time when this was less common in England)
The young men both work for educational institutions
These young men have a certain allure for the female protagonist
The girls each live in highly articulate households with much very English-sounding banter taking place.
If you liked this book, I do recommend the one by Jean Ure. Both of these stories are interesting as a trip back to 1970s England.
The opening paragraph of this book is wonderfully spooky and introduces the House In Norham Gardens as a character in its own right. But overall the story didn't hold my attention. It's always interesting to read a retro young adult novel and see how stories have changed. This one feels dated for its entries on a tribe in Papua New Guinea (which I wasn't interested in at all -- I ended up skipping them), and for the fascination of a black man from Uganda befriending a white girl from somewhere near Oxford. This relationship seems a bit strange to me today, but perhaps for different reasons.
This book reminded me a lot of See You Thursday by Jean Ure. Apart from the shared setting:
Women (one a teenage protagonist) live together and take in a boarder
The boarder is young and male and distinctive in some way (one for being blind, the other for being black in a time when this was less common in England)
The young men both work for educational institutions
These young men have a certain allure for the female protagonist
The girls each live in highly articulate households with much very English-sounding banter taking place.
If you liked this book, I do recommend the one by Jean Ure. Both of these stories are interesting as a trip back to 1970s England.
hallymichelle's review against another edition
4.0
This is such an interesting book. I love books with strange settings like crumbling mansions/castles and the characters were wonderful too. I think adults would actually like it more than children.
maggiecn's review against another edition
4.0
Totally charming and quick. Clare is funny and absolutely lovable.
mat_tobin's review against another edition
5.0
Only the second Lively book that I have read (everyone's probably read [b:The Ghost of Thomas Kempe|470062|The Ghost of Thomas Kempe|Penelope Lively|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1348346774s/470062.jpg|1693048]) and yet another author who I am ashamed to have allowed to pass through my literary net. Extremely powerful, ahead of its time in relation to sensitively tackling the problems of British Imperialism and race, Lively sets her story in central Oxford where Clare, a young teenager, lives with her elderly aunts. Not only is it the absolute clarity in her depiction of everyday life and the people in it or her incredible grasp of language and deftness of dialogue but, in Clare, she has created a strong, independent-minded teenage girl whose focus is on knowledge and recognising the strengths in everyone. We speak about how the prevalence of girls in literature as independent is on the rise but this book was published in 1974. Perhaps it's more a case of culture and publishers caring more and wanting to display it more. You want a powerful image of an independent, intelligent, real teenager; then Clare Mayfield could be one of them.
skyereads's review against another edition
4.0
Less fantastic than Lively's other YA books, but very sensitive and observant.
More...