Quite a challenging book both to read and review given the breadth of subject matter, characters, historical periods and themes that were interwoven into this book. There was a general consensus among the book club (with the exception of one) that this was "a curates egg" of a book - good in parts but not so good in others.
So here goes with a list of those elements that were appreciated by the critical membership.
The authors expertise as a historian was notable interweaving four different periods into the storyline with characters who were felt to be generally well drawn with the events of the different periods described well. Her way with words and expertise in the use of archaic english which sounded plausibly appropriate to the historical periods was complimented.
Two of the four periods that were written about-1663 and 1961 were found interesting and developed a number of intriguing themes-the sectarian divides in the Civil War, 17th century parkland design and the foresight of wealthy Landowners planting small trees which would become stately avenues in centuries to come, the devastating impact of the plague, the construction of walls both to contain a private estate and contain a political system and the way in which the uber rich spent their money .The characters that were developed during these two periods were enjoyed particularly Norris, Nell, Cecily and Flora.
It was recognised that the wall was a metaphor for keeping people both in and out with the wall around the Wychwood estate, between east and west Berlin and containing modern day prisons being three that were introduced in the book.The recent Brexit vote raising the question of access to Britain for foreigners and Donald Trump's 3000 mile long Mexican barrier were discussed and even Hadrian's Wall keeping out the barbarous Scots. (It was noted that the book club had read too many books recently about the fall of the Berlin Wall following on so soon after The File (A personal history) which caused tedium for some) .
At the start of the book the description of the multiplicity of religions in England was appreciated-papists, pagans, Methodists and the allusions to witchcraft creating the melting pot from which our"Englishness" is derived. The social hierarchy -The wealthy, the poor with artisans in the middle was well described and interesting to observe the similarities between relationships in 1660 and 1960 at Wychwood but by 1980 these divisions were starting to break down.
On the negative side it was felt that the book lacked coherence and although it was possible to empathise with several of the characters an explanation for the ultimate purpose of the book was missing. Was it meant to be "a historical piece, a metaphysical novel with pagan elements, a soap opera or a social comment on the British class system or what? All very confusing. Did the author really know what she was trying to do?" "At this point I wondered if I was really that bothered about these privileged souls who lived off the apparent goodwill and limitless funds of the proprietor and his wife." The majority felt that whilst well described the chapters in the 70s and 90s were confusing and unnecessary and readers got bored with the details of the rock concert and some of the characters who appeared at this stage particularly Manny. One reader found these more recent chapters "very disappointing and that a book the promised so much descended into a cliche ridden soap opera with too many shallow poorly developed irritating privileged characters that were of no interest to him" another felt "to be honest I really started to feel this was becoming a bit of a sprawling mass at this stage. Too many characters and strands, none of which was really adding much to the whole..... walls falling, characters dying, winds blowing etc etc That 1970s chunk could have gone completely in my mind"
Another irritation to readers was the confusion over character names that were duplicated in two periods possibly to assist the reader but which resulted in recurrent review of the Dramatis Personae which under the power of Kindle is most tedious.
So to finale which reverts to 1663,the plague and fountains and tying up loose romantic ends . One reader felt that these final pages seemed almost "mawkishly twee"
(Mawkish - excessively sentimental or so sappy it's sickening. ... Oddly enough, it's rooted in the Middle English word maggot and originally meant “sickly or nauseated.” But mawkish eventually evolved to mean something so overly sentimental it makes you sick.)Ed.
Another concluded that the final chapters somewhat redeemed the book as they contained the conclusion to the love story between Norris and Cecilia who were well developed characters.
So all in all a mixed bag of a book. What started out with a number of promising themes ended up losing direction and thus reader interest."It was clear that the book was written by historian who felt that she had a brilliant idea but then was unable to self-edit down to a more manageable package, rather than a novelist who kept the reader experience at the forefront of her priorities at all times - a bit disappointing"
But to conclude on a positive note our one exceptional reader really appreciated the book on many levels particularly the social commentary of the 70s and 80s which resonated well with him."This was a very rich book with a wide range of themes"
Even if not fully appreciated this breadth of themes did however generate an interesting level of debate even managing to introduce references to climate change!
Chris W
18 August 2017
