Welcome back, Sam, and thank you for this brilliant and illuminating review, as always! I haven't come across this book before, but it sounds fascinating and frustrating; very much in line with a lot I enjoy researching. I shall be seeking it out :) As an aside: I remember loving Anita Brookner's Hotel du Lac, thanks for reminding me, I think it might be time for a re-read!
Thanks, Kate! I’d love to hear what you think when you get to it. She’s a marvellous writer. Strains of almost unbearable melancholy, and notes of sharpness as well. Hotel du Lac is very beautifully written, but I must admit I found it frustrating: see my reply to Claire above. Have you read other Brookners?
One of my favourite novels, and you've made me rethink Evelyn,though I still disapprove of his behaviour.
One of the small details among so much else is the food; the iced ham mousse, which is hard to imagine and makes me think of Fanny Craddock, though you’re too young for that name to mean anything!
This was a brilliant read, thank you. It sounds like a book I’ll thoroughly enjoy. Very much here for Archive of Elizabeths! Loved the Brookner quote and the gentle nudge to get Skylight off the bookshelf as a bought a copy after seeing the NT Live revival about ten years ago!
Thanks for reading, Claire! Yes, I recommend it. Actually I remember not getting on that well with Hotel du Lac when I read it, because I kept thinking of other authors who do a similar thing more interestingly - not least Elizabeth Taylor in a certain favourite of yours and mine! But her writing is always beautiful, and that quote is razor-sharp. Carey Mulligan was wonderful in that Skylight revival.
I read HdL so long ago and very little has stuck with me (maybe some domestic scenes before/after?), but now I'm intrigued at the thought of comparing and contrasting Hotel du Lac with The Claremont! When your Archive of Elizabeth is full, you could start a literary TripAdvisor!
Welcome back, Sam, and thank you for this brilliant and illuminating review, as always! I haven't come across this book before, but it sounds fascinating and frustrating; very much in line with a lot I enjoy researching. I shall be seeking it out :) As an aside: I remember loving Anita Brookner's Hotel du Lac, thanks for reminding me, I think it might be time for a re-read!
Thanks, Kate! I’d love to hear what you think when you get to it. She’s a marvellous writer. Strains of almost unbearable melancholy, and notes of sharpness as well. Hotel du Lac is very beautifully written, but I must admit I found it frustrating: see my reply to Claire above. Have you read other Brookners?
I know what you mean. I have also read Altered States by Brookner, which is also a bit frustrating, come to think of it...
One of my favourite novels, and you've made me rethink Evelyn,though I still disapprove of his behaviour.
One of the small details among so much else is the food; the iced ham mousse, which is hard to imagine and makes me think of Fanny Craddock, though you’re too young for that name to mean anything!
This was a brilliant read, thank you. It sounds like a book I’ll thoroughly enjoy. Very much here for Archive of Elizabeths! Loved the Brookner quote and the gentle nudge to get Skylight off the bookshelf as a bought a copy after seeing the NT Live revival about ten years ago!
Thanks for reading, Claire! Yes, I recommend it. Actually I remember not getting on that well with Hotel du Lac when I read it, because I kept thinking of other authors who do a similar thing more interestingly - not least Elizabeth Taylor in a certain favourite of yours and mine! But her writing is always beautiful, and that quote is razor-sharp. Carey Mulligan was wonderful in that Skylight revival.
I read HdL so long ago and very little has stuck with me (maybe some domestic scenes before/after?), but now I'm intrigued at the thought of comparing and contrasting Hotel du Lac with The Claremont! When your Archive of Elizabeth is full, you could start a literary TripAdvisor!
😎