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paola_mobileread's review against another edition
5.0
Maturity starts setting in - and perhaps symbolically, historical events now come more forcefully to the fore - we are in the days of the Spanish Civil War, which however still manifests as almost academic discussions of a war between different ideologies which is actually being played out in what still feels like a distant land. And even when one of their own gets involved, it is still mostly an extravagance which after all is to be expected of such a character. Yes there is political debate, but it plays out in the drawing rooms of the good families, and life still goes on amid a whirlwind of social activities.
As usual, Powell manages to intertwine many themes in a short book - so another big topic under scrutiny here is marriage: Powell puts forward various alternative versions of it, though there seems to be an underlying pessimism that marriage can ever work as an institution, no matter which particular shade it takes. As usual, Nick’s personal circumstances are only sketched in the background.
The third main theme is friendship, and we see again so many alternatives ways for it to manifest: Powell is masterful at this, and in showing as completely believable and natural relationships that might at first sigh look improbable - not just that between Nick and Windmerpool, which seems more of a need that both have to probably feel better about themselves, but the one between Moreland and Maclintick, its strengths
Failure is one more theme emerging through Stringham and Maclintick, both tragic figures in different ways, compared and contrasted in the cruel light of yet another fashionable party. Stunning.
As usual, Powell manages to intertwine many themes in a short book - so another big topic under scrutiny here is marriage: Powell puts forward various alternative versions of it, though there seems to be an underlying pessimism that marriage can ever work as an institution, no matter which particular shade it takes. As usual, Nick’s personal circumstances are only sketched in the background.
The third main theme is friendship, and we see again so many alternatives ways for it to manifest: Powell is masterful at this, and in showing as completely believable and natural relationships that might at first sigh look improbable - not just that between Nick and Windmerpool, which seems more of a need that both have to probably feel better about themselves, but the one between Moreland and Maclintick, its strengths
Failure is one more theme emerging through Stringham and Maclintick, both tragic figures in different ways, compared and contrasted in the cruel light of yet another fashionable party. Stunning.
orlion's review against another edition
5.0
Casanova's Chinese Restaurant, as the title suggests, is a novel about marriage. As such, it is a novel of courtly intrigue, unbridled passion, betrayal, and suicide. Marriage, amirite?
lizemanuel's review against another edition
funny
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
joe2d2's review against another edition
4.0
book 5 is when real life really starts to hit these privileged, but realistically drawn characters as we follow them through their entire lives over 12 novels.
charlottesometimes's review against another edition
funny
reflective
slow-paced
- 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
3.25
andriella's review
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
phileasfogg's review against another edition
5.0
This review contains spoilers for Casanova's Chinese Restaurant and for subsequent books in A Dance to the Music of Time.
Love and Marriage
This is, to my eye, the first in the series to have a recognisable 'theme' like an ordinary standalone novel. It celebrates Nick's marriage by showing us the marriages and relationships of his friends and associates. As ever, Nick's own marriage is kept firmly in the background, no doubt of necessity when so much seems to be recognisably drawn from the author's own life.
Nick's thoughts, on visiting Isobel in hospital, the first time we see them as a married couple, explain why he has said, and will say, so little about their marriage. They also provide a sort of statement of intent for the rest of the novel.
It might be said that Barnby, with his success at picking up women, and the emotional detachment that enables him to remain on good terms with them after their departure, represents an ideal kind of love life.
At the other end of the spectrum there's the Maclinticks. Various apparent foreshadowings made it seem so likely that one would murder the other, or else (in defiance of reader expectation) that they would stay together and carry on fighting for decades, that soon after they appeared I had to read ahead to find out which.
Borne Back Ceaselessly Into the Past
We return again to the time Nick most often recalls in his memoirs, the late 1920s; this time to see his first meeting with his best friend, Hugh Moreland. Also present is Mr Deacon, whose resurrection is a little uncanny but welcome. There's nothing like bringing back a dead character to clearly establish for the reader the timing of a 'flashback'.
These scenes show us a new side of Nick -- his nights out with the lads. Characteristically, the 'lads' are composers, music critics and artists. The unremitting fun of this chapter balances some of the grim or blackly humorous scenes that follow.
One effect of this return to the 1920s is to remind us that Nick is only providing snapshots of a few hours, and that there's a lot more to his life than he writes about -- every time we return to this period we meet new friends and associates who haven't been mentioned before.
Other notable elements, in brief
We are properly introduced to some more of Isobel's siblings, all likeable characters who I welcomed on their reappearances in later volumes.
Widmerpool is not seen much, but his scenes are as always fun. Nick's new life as a married man seems to be keeping him out of Widmerpool's way.
Spoiler
Love and Marriage
This is, to my eye, the first in the series to have a recognisable 'theme' like an ordinary standalone novel. It celebrates Nick's marriage by showing us the marriages and relationships of his friends and associates. As ever, Nick's own marriage is kept firmly in the background, no doubt of necessity when so much seems to be recognisably drawn from the author's own life.
Nick's thoughts, on visiting Isobel in hospital, the first time we see them as a married couple, explain why he has said, and will say, so little about their marriage. They also provide a sort of statement of intent for the rest of the novel.
A future marriage, or a past one, may be investigated and explained in terms of writing by one of its parties, but it is doubtful whether an existing marriage can ever be described directly in the first person and convey a sense of reality.
[...]
To think at all objectively about one's own marriage is impossible, while a balanced view of other people's marriage is almost equally hard to achieve with so much information available, so little to be believed. Objectivity is not, of course, everything in writing; but, even after one has cast objectivity aside, the difficulties of presenting marriage are inordinate.
It might be said that Barnby, with his success at picking up women, and the emotional detachment that enables him to remain on good terms with them after their departure, represents an ideal kind of love life.
At the other end of the spectrum there's the Maclinticks. Various apparent foreshadowings made it seem so likely that one would murder the other, or else (in defiance of reader expectation) that they would stay together and carry on fighting for decades, that soon after they appeared I had to read ahead to find out which.
Borne Back Ceaselessly Into the Past
We return again to the time Nick most often recalls in his memoirs, the late 1920s; this time to see his first meeting with his best friend, Hugh Moreland. Also present is Mr Deacon, whose resurrection is a little uncanny but welcome. There's nothing like bringing back a dead character to clearly establish for the reader the timing of a 'flashback'.
These scenes show us a new side of Nick -- his nights out with the lads. Characteristically, the 'lads' are composers, music critics and artists. The unremitting fun of this chapter balances some of the grim or blackly humorous scenes that follow.
One effect of this return to the 1920s is to remind us that Nick is only providing snapshots of a few hours, and that there's a lot more to his life than he writes about -- every time we return to this period we meet new friends and associates who haven't been mentioned before.
Other notable elements, in brief
We are properly introduced to some more of Isobel's siblings, all likeable characters who I welcomed on their reappearances in later volumes.
Widmerpool is not seen much, but his scenes are as always fun. Nick's new life as a married man seems to be keeping him out of Widmerpool's way.
bookpossum's review against another edition
4.0
The detachment of the narrator really comes out in this volume of "A Dance to the Music of Time". Early on, in a reported conversation there is reference to Nick's wife being in a nursing home, and eventually it turns out she has had a miscarriage. For all the concern he has, you would think she had lost a pencil, or something equally unimportant. Another character and his wife have a child who lives for only a few hours. Again, it creates barely a ripple.
It's brilliantly done but curiously bloodless. The British stiff upper lip at its best I suppose! And of course the period is the late 1930s, when it didn't do to get emotional about such things.
It's brilliantly done but curiously bloodless. The British stiff upper lip at its best I suppose! And of course the period is the late 1930s, when it didn't do to get emotional about such things.
adamantium's review against another edition
5.0
Things are getting real. And the war isn't even on yet.
nocto's review against another edition
4.0
I've found the first four volumes of this series interesting but this is the first one I can definitely say that I've enjoyed. Nick has married himself off to one of the daughter's from the large aristocratic Tolland family and this book felt like a volume from a family saga, even though most of the plot was still mostly concerned with the interactions between a few of his male friends.
I don't think we're ever going to find out much about Isobel, his wife, and he says as much himself, there's a whole passage on the impossibility of talking about your own relationships. There's a rather bizarre section early on in the book where we find out Isobel is in a nursing home but he says nothing of the reasons for that for pages and pages. Eventually Nick visits Isolbel but we don't see her directly and it's only when he gets together with several other males characters that there is a discussion about miscarriage. I think the indirectness with which the subject is approached is appropriate for the book though, that's how things are in these times.
These times are the 1930s, and there is much talk of the abdication of Edward VIII and the civil war in Spain, making the time period more obvious than I've felt it to be in previous books. And in a way that made the characters more real. I felt the abdication and Franco could have been swapped for Brexit and Trump quite easily, and people would still be whispering about miscarriages.
Although we see little of Nick's marriage, other than between the lines reading that it seems well matched and happy, there is much talk of marriage here. Moreland and Maclintick are the two friends of Nick's who get most of the pagetime here - I struggled to keep the two M names separate in the beginning, especially when a pub called the Mortimer is also a feature - and the ups and down of their marriages are the main feature of this book. I've complained before about the near invisibility of women here, they are no longer invisible and I think I have less complaints, this is very much a series about a male take on the world, and the male-centricness is of its time, and part of what it's recording.
The series has taken a long time to grow on me, but I'm really looking forward to the next volume now and hope I carry on enjoying it. It's fun seeing the same minor characters appear and it is definitely more interesting now they seem to have accepted themselves as adults, it's taken a long time!
I don't think we're ever going to find out much about Isobel, his wife, and he says as much himself, there's a whole passage on the impossibility of talking about your own relationships. There's a rather bizarre section early on in the book where we find out Isobel is in a nursing home but he says nothing of the reasons for that for pages and pages. Eventually Nick visits Isolbel but we don't see her directly and it's only when he gets together with several other males characters that there is a discussion about miscarriage. I think the indirectness with which the subject is approached is appropriate for the book though, that's how things are in these times.
These times are the 1930s, and there is much talk of the abdication of Edward VIII and the civil war in Spain, making the time period more obvious than I've felt it to be in previous books. And in a way that made the characters more real. I felt the abdication and Franco could have been swapped for Brexit and Trump quite easily, and people would still be whispering about miscarriages.
Although we see little of Nick's marriage, other than between the lines reading that it seems well matched and happy, there is much talk of marriage here. Moreland and Maclintick are the two friends of Nick's who get most of the pagetime here - I struggled to keep the two M names separate in the beginning, especially when a pub called the Mortimer is also a feature - and the ups and down of their marriages are the main feature of this book. I've complained before about the near invisibility of women here, they are no longer invisible and I think I have less complaints, this is very much a series about a male take on the world, and the male-centricness is of its time, and part of what it's recording.
The series has taken a long time to grow on me, but I'm really looking forward to the next volume now and hope I carry on enjoying it. It's fun seeing the same minor characters appear and it is definitely more interesting now they seem to have accepted themselves as adults, it's taken a long time!