Bringing characters alive: Penelope Lively

I've been on a Penelope Lively kick lately. I first discovered her on my mission to read all the Booker Prize winners in 2018. Her Moon Tiger won for its beautiful depiction of romance and nostalgia set in World War II. Her books that I've been reading lately take place for the most part in more recent times. 

The Photograph is the story of a man who discovers, after his wife's death, a photograph of her holding hands with another man. Whom he knew. During their marriage. So Glyn sets out on the warpath to unearth everything he can about Kath. The unexpected discoveries end up overturning more than his own understanding of his departed wife. It's great writing, with varied and believable characters, and unforeseen consequences, of course. 

If you like The Photograph, you might love, as I did, Consequences, which in a similar way explores the consequences of a chance meeting, this time reverberating throughout generations. What I love about Consequences is how it touches on so many varieties of romantic relationship: marriage for love; marriage for friendship; an employer-employee affair; a gay couple; and so on. The narrative begins in the thirties, brings us to the present day, then loops back to the beginning in a most satisfying way. 

Family Album, on the other hand, focuses on, as the title indicates, family relationships -- and secrets. Alison and Charles live in a lovely home where they have raised six children, with the help of au pair Ingrid. The children, adults now, return home for various occasions, comparing notes and uncovering a hidden truth about one of them. It's a delicate exploration of the complexity of familial roles and relationships. 

Finally, How It All Began follows in the steps of The Photograph and Consequences: how does one chance act, in this case a mugging, have a butterfly effect on many lives? After the attack, Charlotte must recuperate from her broken hip with daughter Rose. This disruption has consequences for Rose, her employer, her employer's niece, and the student Charlotte starts tutoring during her convalescence. It's a beautiful story, wistful at times, about possibilities glimpsed, seized or left behind. 

In all, Lively writes stories that dig into relationships, focusing on how people react to and grow from drama, rather than the drama itself. 

Booker Book #21: Moon Tiger by Penelope Lively

Moon Tiger by Penelope Lively is the story of a historian. Claudia Hampton is dying, and she wants to write a history of the world. But what she ends up writing, of course, is the history of herself. We begin with the characters whom one would expect to be the most important to her, Claudia's daughter Lisa and Lisa's father Jasper, but they end up playing only minor parts in the end.

Before we go any further I'll tell you what Moon Tiger means, because I did not understand it until about a third of the way through the book. Moon Tiger is the brand name of an anti-mosquito coil, and in Claudia's mind its scent is strongly associated with her first true love, Tom. Also, since it burns away within a limited amount of time, it comes to represent Claudia's own life ticking away.

Tom and Claudia meet in Egypt during World War II. This portion of the book strongly reminds me of The English Patient, which will win the Booker Prize a few years after Moon Tiger. I have to wonder if Michael Ondaatje was influenced by Lively's novel. I'll know better when I reread The English Patient in a few weeks.

What sets this novel apart from your typical World War II love story is the fragmented point of view. That is probably also what won it the Booker Prize. Various portions of the story are told in overlapping segments from different perspectives: Claudia's of course, but also Jasper's, and Lisa's, and Tom's. Oh, and her brother Gordon's.

Aside from the expected themes of love and loss in wartime, other ideas that come up are the difference between history and entertainment, nationality's role in nature versus nurture, and the mother-daughter relationship. Oh, and incest.

At any rate, it's a well-written book about a woman succeeding in a male-dominated field. I hope I have as rich a life as Claudia's to look back on when I am on my deathbed.


PS This is my first blog post composed and published entirely from my phone.