Quote:
Originally Posted by gmw
. Or, if there is no lesson learned, at least make me feel for what has happened. For me the prose of this novel, while undoubtedly clever in places, kept me distanced from the characters. Many of them were interesting enough to intrigue me, but I was never let in, let close enough, to really care.
|
it’s interesting that you felt shut out. The article
Bookwork_Girl referenced in her link is worth a read. Apparently Fitzgerald was a very private, stiff upper lipped person, and was reticent to share her own experiences and feelings.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Catlady
Some earlier comments mentioned parallels with The Natural. There, Roy was largely the agent of his own downfall, a hero with a tragic flaw whose transgressions were on full view. Even though I felt Roy's punishment was disproportionate to his sins, and bemoaned the absence of a chance for redemption, Malamud wrote a bleak and depressing morality tale.
But what has Fitzgerald written? Florence has neither grandeur nor great flaws. What was the point of The Bookshop? She opens a bookshop and muddles along with it, until she's forced out by someone who wants her space. There could be some drama in that, but Fitzgerald doesn't make it dramatic. Florence is mostly passive, from beginning to end--she barely even tries.
I'm just now seeing the parallels between Florence and Christine. Both are attempting something new, both are optimistic about success, both are crushed. Christine, though, seems to have so much more life than Florence, which made me care so much more about her fate.
|
I really don’t know what
The Natural was about, but I couldn’t find any redeeming features. Not only was it bleak and depressing, but I thought the worldview of the book was preposterous. Practically every person was selfish and out for number one. Even the universe itself is out to get you. ..I won’t repeat my rants about it
But in terms of what this book is about,
Bookpossum’s suggestion that it’s about loneliness captured it for me. I take
gmw’s point that we should not conflate authors and books. But having read a bit more about Fitzgerald’s life, it’s tempting to think some of the isolation and loss in the book resonate with her personal experiences, especially as she wrote later in life.
I didn’t pick up the parallels between Florence and Christine, but your observation makes me remember a line in the book that I thought was verybodd at the time. They were having tea and there was a line about seeming to be the same woman at different stages in her life.