The Well of Loneliness, Radclyffe Hall

What struck me most about The Well of Loneliness was it's depth of feeling. It is a deep, heartbroken, guttural scream from Radclyffe Hall for understanding and acceptance. The book was written in 1923 by Hall who was an 'invert' as she puts it, she was gay, as is the protagonist, and the book was banned. 

We follow a girl who is named Stephen (her parents were sure they were having a boy) from birth until she is around 40, through her childhood, first affair, leaving the home she adores, a war and then life in Paris. There are enough similarities between the author and Stephen that I assume she is, at least partly, a self-portrait.

 

Throughout Hall is trying to reconcile the natural and joyful feeling of being in love with another woman, with the view of a world who finds her and 'her kind' abhorrent, and doesn't allow any kind of expression or acknowledgement of that relationship or feeling. The book gets darker and darker as Stephen sees what the world does to those around her.

The Well of Loneliness is not particularly well written, but it is powerful in its desperation, and hugely moving. It leaves you with a vast amount of love and sympathy for Raycliffe Hall, for trying to reconcile a world which was against her.

Just started reading A Passage to India by E.M Forster, so far so good though maybe it's a little dated.

The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories, Angela Carter

Carter has re-imagined familiar fairy stories to create the tales in The Bloody Chamber. In some the starting points are very recognisable and/or are pointed out in the title and for some I didn't recognise the original tale. There are a few stories which are similar; a couple take Little Red Riding Hood as a starting point, and it is interesting the way these have been curated, invariably the similar ones sit next to each other, which definitely affects your reading of them.

The stories are fascinating, some are graphic, dark and deep, others are lighter and funnier, but still with a dark undercurrent. All are compelling and beautifully written. Puss-in-Boots was my favourite, one of the lighter ones and a vibrant fairy-tale. Puss is imagined as a crude street cat who is valet to a young man, all is well until the man falls in love and adventure ensues. The title story is very dark and quite haunting and this is the story in which the language is most noticable. Carter's prose is visceral and she seems to have a huge passion for the crafting of scentences which are more than the sum of their parts.

I'm reading The Well of Loneliess by Radclyffe Hall now, the quality of prose is alot different to Carter's, but after reading short stories and collecting only fragments of a whole it's good to read this, which is following Stephen as she grows up and discovers life.

Her Brilliant Career, Rachel Cooke

This was super-interesting, it is factual, an account of 'ten extraordinary women of the fifties'. The women are; Patience Gray, cookery writer; Nancy Spain, writer and personality; Joan Werner Laurie, magazine editor; Sheila Van Damm, rally-car driver and theatre manager; Alison Smithson, architect; Margery Fish, gardener; Muriel Box, director and Betty Box, producer; Jaquetta Hawkes, archaeologist and Rose Helibron, QC. 

 

The occupations, personalities and personal lives of these women are hugely varied. It is obviously interesting figuring out who these people were but the main fascination I found was in 'how things worked out'. My mum likes reading obituaries because she likes to know what people did with their lives,  and that is what is compelling about this book. It is mostly quite sad, the chapter on Nancy Spain, Joan Werner and Sheila Van Damm is heartbreaking but the chapter on Margery Fish I found life affirming. 

There is a book by Daniel Miller called The Comfort of Things which is incredible (I urge you to read it if you have any interest in people). I think it is in the foreword to this where he, or someone else, says that the book reveals 'the sadness of lives and the comfort of things' which is a quote that has stuck with me. Her Brilliant Career reveals the sadness of lives and the comfort of work.

The Pearl, John Steinbeck

This is a beautiful, sad and loaded story. Its a short book, only 95 pages but is heavy and full of feeling. 

The book follows Kino, a pearl fisherman just before and just after he finds a huge pearl: 'Perfect as the moon, the great pearl turned Kino the fisherman into every man's enemy. The dreams he conjured from its shining surface were to bring sorrow and death.'

 

Very short so there's not a great deal to say without giving away the tale - though it is mostly concerned with the contentment of having nothing, the fear and lack of control ignorance causes and the fear of losing wealth.  Definitely read it if you get chance.

I'm now reading Her Brilliant Career by Rachel Cooke - telling the stories of ten inspirational (and little known) women of the fifties. 

The Maze Runner, James Dashner

I read this one for work, its a teen book (soon-to-be film) and dubbed as 'the next Hunger Games'.

A group of boys live in the centre of a maze and are trying to find a way out. Some have been there 2 years, but another boy is delivered (with no memory) each month or so. This is until our man Thomas arrives, who turns out to be the last delivery except for a comatose girl who triggers 'the ending'. The boys are shut in the centre of maze at night to protect them from 'Grievers' who patrol the maze corridors - the descriptions of the Grievers are good, they seem to be part machine and part slug. No-one ever survives a night out in the maze (except of course our man Thomas...)

Its hard to judge teen book I think as most of them are written a) so everything is spelt out for you, nothing is assumed and b) very angsty - usually the protagonist is constantly whining and asking 'why me, I didn't ask to be special and amazing at everything...' (you know you've got a good teen book when it does neither of these things)
SO ignoring the above The Maze Runner is pretty good, original (as far as I know) and has a good amount of peril and intrigue.

Also just finished reading The Pearl by John Steinbeck, which is brilliant.

M.C. Beaton, Death of an Outsider

I read this over the course of a weekend and loved it. It is pure entertainment - soft and cushiony and very enjoyable. The protagonist is Hamish Macbeth, a policeman in Lochdubh - a little village in the highlabds of Scotland. In Death of an Outsider he is filling in for a policeman in neighbouring Cnothan when the most hated man in the village is murdered. It is exactly what you would expect, lots of gossip, an overbearing and brutish superiour, a love interest, descriptions of the Scottish landscape... lovely!

Next is Her Brilliant Career by Rachel Cooke - non-fiction for a change.  

Graham Greene, Travels With My Aunt

I thoroughly enjoyed this! Having read (and not enjoyed) Brighton Rock recently I wasn't sure what to expect from Travels with My Aunt, it was a very pleasant surprise, funny, silly and completely engaging.
It is narrated by Henry Pulling - a retired bank manager who has led a very quiet, very sheltered life. he meets his aunt at (what he believes to be) his mother's funeral and a short while later finds himself travelling on the Orient Express with her. His Aunt Agatha is the polar opposite of Henry and is full of improbable stories of her long, eventful and risque life.

Henry is a perfect narrator - he is a boring but endearing man, and reminds me a little of Mr Hastings in Poirot novels, slower and more innocent than the reader but he works well coupled with the other characters and the plot. The novel has something to say as well as being funny and silly. Greene is showing a man who has coasted through life and not experienced anything, never travelled, never married. Pulling gradually loosens up and starts to enjoy himself (though is just as stoic) so the novel seems a sort of warning - though is never overt or preachy - to never avoid adventure, or to seek it out.

I have also just finished Death of an Outsider by M.C. Beaton (guilty pleasure!)