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A review by tstockwell86
A View of the Harbour by Elizabeth Taylor
5.0
Confession: I thought this would be boring. Like, not watching paint dry boring, but just a bit dull and meandering, despite the implorations of the quality of Elizabeth Taylor's writing on the cover. Thankfully, I was wrong.
Why even read it then? Well you see, this book is part of Virago Modern Classics' 40th Anniversary edition, 13 books which have been given makeovers with gorgeously sparkly and symmetrically adorned covers. I can't resist a bit of sparkle, so I decided to read 9 of the books (the other 4 honestly don't appeal in the slightest) this summer.
The title does exactly as it says: this is a book about a small, fading harbour town in the UK, immediately post-WW2. Brits - and I've no doubt people of other nationalities - will be familiar with this type of town. It probably had its heyday in the latter part of the nineteenth and early twentieth century, but has been left to a sort of genteel decay as people choose to jet abroad to sunnier and more enticing climes for their holidays.
Bertram is the central figure in the book, in that he threads interactions together, but I'd hesitate to call him a protagonist. Rather, there are several - a divorced mother, a young widow, a cantankerous older woman who is paralysed from the hips down and her two daughters, a delightfully clueless writer and her doctor husband, and their daughter. Taylor expertly weaves between these characters and their lives, and you know what? I was really, incredibly invested.
I could imagine this being dramatised on the BBC over several episodes, the gentle tragedy of the book playing out. There's no massive build up and no shocking events, but I think that's part of the point. It's about everyday lives, how we affect those around us - either for better or worse - and the decisions we make. If you enjoy realistic dialogue, wonderful characterisation, and truly excellent descriptions, then I'd thoroughly recommend this - whoever called Taylor the 'thinking person's desperate housewife' hit the nail on the head.
Why even read it then? Well you see, this book is part of Virago Modern Classics' 40th Anniversary edition, 13 books which have been given makeovers with gorgeously sparkly and symmetrically adorned covers. I can't resist a bit of sparkle, so I decided to read 9 of the books (the other 4 honestly don't appeal in the slightest) this summer.
The title does exactly as it says: this is a book about a small, fading harbour town in the UK, immediately post-WW2. Brits - and I've no doubt people of other nationalities - will be familiar with this type of town. It probably had its heyday in the latter part of the nineteenth and early twentieth century, but has been left to a sort of genteel decay as people choose to jet abroad to sunnier and more enticing climes for their holidays.
Bertram is the central figure in the book, in that he threads interactions together, but I'd hesitate to call him a protagonist. Rather, there are several - a divorced mother, a young widow, a cantankerous older woman who is paralysed from the hips down and her two daughters, a delightfully clueless writer and her doctor husband, and their daughter. Taylor expertly weaves between these characters and their lives, and you know what? I was really, incredibly invested.
I could imagine this being dramatised on the BBC over several episodes, the gentle tragedy of the book playing out. There's no massive build up and no shocking events, but I think that's part of the point. It's about everyday lives, how we affect those around us - either for better or worse - and the decisions we make. If you enjoy realistic dialogue, wonderful characterisation, and truly excellent descriptions, then I'd thoroughly recommend this - whoever called Taylor the 'thinking person's desperate housewife' hit the nail on the head.