I'd never heard of Henry Green or his novel Loving until I ran across it on the list of the top 100 novels in English of the 20th century as chosen by the Modern Library's editorial board. (Re: the reader's list? Step away from the Ayn Rand -- she's a crazy lady!) I decided a few years ago that I was going to try and read all 100. This one obviously deserves to on be the list. It's a story about English people living in a mansion in Ireland during World War II. Most of the story is about the servants' lives and loves, and the tension between them and their employer. It's a visual book, almost cinematic. The action moves smoothly from one place to another -- you can almost see how it would be framed on screen. The characters have depth. So I don't know why I didn't enjoy it more. It is only 200 pages, but it took me forever to read. I kept looking to see what page I was on. I do believe that you have to be in the mood for books, and often when I really enjoy one, I think it's because it happened along at the right time. Your timing must be off, Mr. Green. OK.
3 comments:
Sounds interesting...since it is short, I might suggest it for our book club. Do you think it would be okay for that or would you put the kibosh on it?
I think it would be great for a book club. I can tell that it really is lovely, but I'm just not in the right place to appreciate it. It's pretty straightforward, not a dense read or anything.
It sounds interesting. I could be up for a short book.
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