Reviews

A Buyer's Market by Anthony Powell

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paola_mobileread's review against another edition

3.0

This for me was rather slow going - I got quickly tired of the parties, of Sillery, of some of the hyperboles, and the main character's apparent detachment from most that is going on around him: he is the narrator who does not seem to add much to an omniscient narrator's voice. I am glad I got this as part of the "movement" set of three volumes, as I might have otherwise let the series go.

dgullaci's review against another edition

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funny medium-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

3.5

silvej01's review against another edition

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4.0

I read much of this novel several times at different times, but on finishing it now, I'm rather certain that I didn't finish it previously; the first two thirds of the book were certainly familiar, while the last was not at all. (Not to mention the bookmark I found sitting a little more than midway though in my old copy.) Even more than in the first book, the characters here seem more remote to me and, with some exceptions, didn't strongly hold my interest. Many left me indifferent. Jenkins, our narrator and guide to this world of mostly upper crust 1920s London, has now finished university and, while not himself working especially hard to make his way, is moving in circles where social and financial advancement is very much on the mind of most of the other characters. Deacon, his now largely passe artist friend, provides some tonic against the many high level business people, landed gentry and Maggie Smith-esque dames and their more attractive, if not otherwise appealing, daughters and neices. I suppose I connect slightly better with the academic environments that provided the backdrop of much of the first novel, but there too it was hardly the sympathetic qualities of the characters that makes either book the wonders that they nevertheless are. It's the writing. As in the first, Powell's writing in this second (book of twelve) in his Dance to the Music of Time is wonderfully fluid and expressive. It's a marvel and the subtlety of observation he achieves in his judgements of character and nuanced description of various social encounters are enormously compelling.

tomhill's review against another edition

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3.0

The prose is great. The plot is virtually nonexistent. It's interesting that this, and all the novels in A Dance to the Music of Time sequence, were published as stand alone novels, because to read them that way, they feel rather incomplete, simply a piece in a larger puzzle. And of course, they are that, but wouldn't it be great if they also stood on their own a little more as distinct works? This, at least, is how I feel about the first two novels. While not at all a propulsive novel, fans of the crisp, economical style of Evelyn Waugh, etc. will no doubt find Anthony Powell's work very readable (although Powell does employ a lot of very long sentences--maybe not so economical after all). I certainly did, and for this reason I will continue to plug away at this series.