The House on Fortune Street: A Novel
by Margot Livesey
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Book Reviews of The House on Fortune Street: A Novel
Book Review: Livesey at top of her game
Summary: 5 Stars
Until now, Eva Moves the Furniture was my unqualified favorite of Margot Livesey's works - it has a quiet loveliness that, for me, is shared only with Norman MacLean's A River Runs Through It and Brian Kitely's Still Life with Insects. However, The House on Fortune Street, with it's multiple parts and viewpoints and narrative voices and literary allusions is, by far, her richest, most ambitious, and most successful and satisfying work. The four principal characters' stories are woven tightly and seamlessly together to form a powerful narrative that never feels contrived. The allusions are similarly rich, but never depend upon a reader's familiarity with 19th century literature.
I appreciate Mr. McDonald's thoughtful review, but I respectfully disagree strongly with him - in particular his statement that the novel `starts over in a new setting, with a new cast and a new problem in each part'. As I mention above, The four related parts refract the characters and plot elements in various ways, and, in so doing, create a complex, compelling moral and psychological texture. Livesey never waivers in her focus, in all of the sections, on the principal characters. Finally, aside from my essential disagreement with his assertion that `These people are always eating', I would point out that preparing and eating food actually consumes a substantial proportion of the time that we're not working or sleeping or (for many people) watching television.
I'm a long-time fan of Margot Livesey, I've read all of her books, and this is the first time I've been moved to review a book on the Web.
Book Review: A great character study of 4 people, but ......
Summary: 4 Stars
This is another very well written, interesting book by Margot Livesey, a great character study of 4 people.
The problem for me is the first of the interlinked novellas. Livesey can do a lot in a short space; a great example is Sean's thoughts while taking the bus to Oxford (p.24). Still the first novella seems a bit compressed, especially since it has to lay the groundwork for the subsequent novellas. I actually started rereading it, and found two points that bothered me. First, there are two very different descriptions of the scene in which Sean packs up and leaves Judy (both very brief). In one (p. 27), Judy "hauled his suitcases out of the closed, and told him to pack" after calling him a moral pygmy. In the other (p. 22), in the height of Sean's anguish over Abigail's disappearance, "Judy announced that she was moving in with a vet named Roger", and "in a daze Sean had packed". Secondly, not only did Abigail ask Sean for rent, she asked for much more than he expected and he could afford. Yes, she was surprised Sean had as limited income as he did (why would she be); but still, presumably, she was asking for rent on principle, and for legal reasons, and it doesn't seem part of her character that she would be mean about it.
Is it possible Livesey is not as interested in Sean as in the other characters? I certainly have no idea what the future arc of his life will be. I found it interesting that other reviewers did not mention one of the themes: passionate love affairs are dangerous, and perhaps not the basis for a long term relationship.
Book Review: Well written and insightful
Summary: 4 Stars
This should be a 5 star rating! It appears to be written effortlessly although this reader suspects this was not, necessarily, the case. The structure is different, and that's what I really enjoyed. I loved getting to know these people -- they came alive! I found this to be a melancholy book although not depressing. It all made sense -- while life does not always do likewise. I felt so much for Dara who is affected by her father's departure. Then, Abiligail whose parents seem to view her as extra baggage. Sean, too, is a lost soul as is Cameron. While I read this book, I kept wondering about nature vs. nurture. For example, take Dara and Abigail and place them in warm, loving and supportive environments. Would they evolve into the same adults? Would they be "conventional" women? I wonder if Lively gave us Dara's client for a reason. If all of this sounds cryptic, I apologize. However, I don't like reviews that spoil a book for a prospective reader. Allow me this: if you're a character-driven reader who doesn't mind lots of sadness, this is a must read. It takes you to England and to a House on Fortune Street where a number of individuals, who appear to keep company with misfortune, dwell. Recommended reading.Book Review: This is the best book i've read so far this year!
Summary: 5 Stars
"The House on Fortune Street" is a wonderfully complex novel set in contemporary London. The novel focuses on two friends, Dara and Abigail, and uses the voice of four distinct characters--each of the women, Sean, Abigail's boyfriend, and Cameron, Dara's father--to tell different segments of these women's lives.
The novel starts in the present and works backwards, a technique which hooks you instantly, because you want to know how these characters reached the known resolution. Although the novel really focuses on the two women, each of Livesey's four narrators is a fully developed character and you sympathize with the plights of each.
"The House on Fortune Street" is emotional, complex and thoroughly engaging. I had my doubts about this book based on the somewhat lukewarm review it received in the New York Times, but it was definitely worth the read. I really loved this novel, and found myself identifying with the characters, even the less sympathetic ones. I am recommending this book to all of my friends--and if you like deep, literary reads, I am recommending it to you too!
Book Review: "YOU DON"T KNOW ME"
Summary: 5 Stars
This is the best work yet from a terrific novelist. The book has four sections describing four different versions of the same events as experienced by the four main characters , who are related by blood, marriage or friendship . Each character's temperament and personal history colors his or her experience of the same event. I was amazed by the psychological insight and the breadth of Livesey's empathy. The searing honesty of it's investigation into the relativity of morality and perceived reality are presented with memorable power as are her depictions of sexual politics, The large structure is effective, and clear but what moved me most were the offhand riffs and insights into our sad ignorance of others motives . Sentences of stunning perception and nuance occurred often enough to be termed "amazing". They hit me to the quick. Livesey delves into the mysteries of intimacy and otherness in a way I rarely experienced in literature and in a way which shined a light on aspects of my own experience. All this without obvious moral judgment or preachiness What a rare gift.!