Possession

Rating:
Summary: Very, Very Beautiful, but Lacks Passion
Review: For me, POSSESSION was a special book. I thought it was extremely well-written, heartbreakingly gorgeous and I loved the intertwining love stories. One of these love stories involves two rather obscure nineteenth century English poets (Randolph Henry Ash and Christabel La Motte), while the other involves a man and woman (Roland MIchell and Maud Bailey), who, in the late twentieth century are researching the nineteenth century poets. It is the interweaving of these two romances that makes POSSESSION so very special. Byatt does well what many authors attempt to do and fail...she uses letters, poems and other devices to reveal the nineteenth century romance...little by little.

So, is POSSESSION a romance? Yes, but it is a literary romance of the highest order. Readers looking for something on the order of Danielle Steele should steer clear of this book. This is a book for lovers of books, for readers who want to read a book for the sheer joy of discovering lush, luxurious writing and an unforgettable story.

Although most of POSSESSION is set in the present, the book still has a distinctly claustrophobic Victorian atmosphere due to the love story of the past the two present day researchers are unearthing. Personally, I loved this Victorian aspect of POSSESSION and wish Byatt would have given us even more of it. There will be some readers who won't care for the inclusion of so many poems and love letters and might even be tempted to skip reading them. My only advice is...don't! These poems and letters aren't extraneous material provided simply for atmosphere...they are essential to a full understanding of this beautiful and timeless book. Byatt has also done a wonderful job of fashioning the letters and, especially, the poems, in totally different styles. The poems of La Motte remind me of Christina Rossetti, while those of Ash are freer and looser in construction. He reminded me a little of Robert Browning (though I doubt that Browning would have ever been unfaithful to Elizabeth!). Of course, these being Victorian poets, it is Ash's work that is the better known. La Motte has been all but neglected and it is only because Maud is related to her by blood that she is interested in researching her work.

Together, Roland and Maude discover Randolph and Christabel's love affair, an affair that is all the more surprising since Randolph was married and everyone had assumed that Christabel had a same sex lover, Blanche Glover, and, as Roland and Maud discover more and more about Randolph and Christabel, they discover their own connection to the long dead poets, a connection that is as fascinating as it will be heartbreaking.

Maud and Roland are quite ordinary people dealing with ordinary problems. Roland can't find a job. He's dissatisfied, not only with his professional life, but also with his personal life...his girlfriend, Val, doesn't mean quite as much to him as she should. Maud has her own problems. She's the very quintessence of the "repressed English woman," even going to the extreme of covering her golden hair lest some poor male find her even the slightest bit attractive (which, of course, she is).

I found the romance between Ash and La Motte more interesting than the romance between Maud and Roland. Ash and La Motte were, to me, at least, more passionate, more daring, more heartbreaking. Maud and Roland seemed, in comparison, a little boring and stiff and this, I think, is the book's only fault and the reason I gave it four starts instead of five. For me, Maud and Roland simply weren't fully developed or fully believable.

The way the two love stories twine about each other, though, is nothing short of genius and it's what sets POSSESSION apart from other "good" novels. It's a literary device that's been tried by other authors, but never with much success. Not until Byatt used it in POSSESSION.

POSSESSION is perfectly written and it is gorgeously beautiful...but it somehow just misses the mark. While this is supposed to be a book about possession, itself, it lacks fire and passion. I just couldn't fully believe in the passion of either Maud and Roland or Ash and La Motte. The very last pages are heartbreaking, but in a very quiet way.

I would recommend POSSESSION to anyone looking for an extremely well-written literary novel. It is a romance, but it's a romance for men as well as for women. It's a beautiful book and one that will always be remembered even if it does lack some of the passion I would have expected it to have.

Rating:
Summary: A rich, textured, poetic tapestry - though somewhat tedious
Review: A.S. Byatt has pulled off a stunning achievement with her Booker Prize-winning novel - excuse me, ROMANCE - entitled Possession. Some, like myself, may find it tedious at times, especially if you are not a fan of Victorian epic poetry, with which Byatt opens many of her chapters and fills dozens upon dozens of pages. But quality literature is worth the effort, and this is indeed quality literature. If at first the poetic interludes frustrate you, give yourself time to appreciate them. By the end you will realize how much texture and flavor they add to a beautifully woven literary tapestry.

Possession is the story of two young scholars, Roland and Maud,whose paths cross when they realize that the poets they are researching - Randolph Henry Ash and Christabel LaMotte, respectively - may have had a brief yet passionate affair. Through recently discovered journal entries, letters, and poems, the two scholars follow a trail of clues that they hope will lead them to a profound discovery. The plot thickens as an overzealous American scholar attempts to woo the holder of these manuscripts in an attempt to remove them from England and store them at his university's library across the pond.

Possession is reminiscent of the best of 19th century British fiction. It is filled with an overwhelming feeling of period authenticity. Byatt masterfully blends poetry with prose in a way few authors can. And as a result she has produced a work of immense beauty that will be treasured for years to come.

Rating:
Summary: Fabulous!
Review: This is one of the best books I've ever read. What a masterpiece. Byatt is just superb in this book. I've read one other book by her and didn't care for it at all. With Possession, she managed to tap into a wealth of talent and imagination. It's about as close to being perfect as a book can get. I was always totally engaged by it, and loved even the poetry she'd written (and I am NOT a poetry fan by any means! .. so this was quite an achievement.) ..Fabulous, beautiful book.

Rating:
Summary: Beautiful..
Review: I have to admit that this is not light reading. I found that in some spots it was very tough to get through because it was slow but completely hang-in there, it gets better.

What makes Byatt's work beautiful is the language she uses. It's not typical 21st century writing, it goes back to the Victorian period feel that she tried to evoke and suceeds. Her main protagonists, Roland and Maud were very intriguing characters and the side characters were fascinating as well.

I also loved the themes that she uses, male versus female, etc. It was a hard read but I want to go back to it; go through it and I love books like that.

Rating:
Summary: Masterpiece
Review: Readers expecting a "romance" in the contemporary sense may well be disappointed with "Possession". While it does offer its fair share of relationship drama, Byatt's Booker-winning masterpiece makes clear in its epigraph that "romance" is being used in a more arcane, literary sense here: it's an adventure, a hunt, a quest or chase, with elements of love, fantasy and improbability. In that sense, it doesn't disappoint. Indeed, Byatt's tale about the quest of two frustrated young academics to find and prove the veracity of a set of love letters between Victorian poets becomes the locus around which she builds one of the most accomplished novels of the twentieth century. It's an exploration of Victorian poetry, contemporary criticism and the biography industry as well as a ripping yarn. Byatt's range - in both style and theme - is immense, as is the scope of what she's attempted here and she nails every bit of it. My only criticism is that some readers will lose interest battling their way through the extended letters of Ash and LaMotte and the lengthy extracts from Sabine's diary. These sections, though important and beautifully written, are longer than they need to be and a little frustrating, if only because the main plot is so exciting that we want to get back to it as soon as possible. Readers who've studied literature at university level will probably enjoy this novel the most, not only because the poetry will pique their interest, but because the academic characters - with their vanity, arrogance, anxiety and obsession - are so recognisably human. Byatt's real achievement with this novel is that she manages to poke serious fun at the literary-critical industry, cut the legs from under everything from metaphor to Freud and feminism, and yet she never loses sight of, and respect for, those spine-tingling, hackle-raising moments that make literature worth reading and writing. Indeed, she delivers a suite of them.

Rating:
Summary: Fearless, witty and rewarding
Review: Talk about entering into a writer's world...even the faux poetry frequently rises to brilliant heights. Utterly convincing and captivating throughout.

Spend the time to fall in love with this very literary romance; you won't regret it.

Rating:
Summary: Indeed, it was BORING
Review: The theory behind this book is good, but, boy is it DULL. As another reviewer stated, it does hook you in the beginning, but then continues on with nonsensical poetry and meaningless tales. Once I got to the correspondence between Ash and LaMotte, I didn't know if I could make it through. I finally skipped the whole section, as well as most of Sabine's journal because poking my eyes out seemed like more fun. However, I'd already invested that much time in the book so I had to finish it. Interesting tale. Maybe someday it will follow in the footsteps of The Princess Bride and publish the "good parts version."

Rating:
Summary: A Modern Classic
Review: A.S. Byatt is one of my favorite authors. She is definitely an author for literate people, although a book like Possession can be enjoyed by anyone. Anyone who loves literature can identify with the characters and their stories.

Roland Michel and Maud Bailey are both literary scholars and both have their "pet authors" whom they are studying and trying to fill in the blanks of the lives of. Roland is studying Randolph Ash, whose letters he has, while Mott has the diaries of Christabel LaMotte. Both are Victorian poet, and Byatt does a wonderful job creating their works in such a way, that you could swore you read their poems as part of your English survey classes.

The love story is the driving force of this book, yet the part of the story that hits home for me is the strange obsession with discovering the inner workings of poets and authors. I understand it, because when you really love a certain poem or other work, it is because it means something specific to you. But after you have derived your own satisfaction from your own meaning of the poem, it is suddenly replaced by a desire to know what the author REALLY MEANT when he or she wrote what they did.

The chance to delve into the author's life and find out their secrets, find out exactly what circumstances are behind what they have written is irresistable, but at the same time, once the knowledge is discovered, it comes with the realization that you have looked at parts of someone's life that they didn't want anyone to look at.

The very secretiveness and tragedy of the relationship between the two poets makes it vivid and interesting and some reviews point out that the relationship of Roland and Maud is stiff and dull by comparison. But I think that is purposeful. Roland and Maud are not poets, they are scholars. They are trapped in a world of repression and disappointment and dullness and because of that, even the smallest step toward passion means volumes more than it appears.

This book can be enjoyed on many levels and if you like it, I urge to read more of the author's work.

Rating:
Summary: Two romance stories entwine in a witty literary fiction
Review: "All of us have things in our lives which we know in such brief, usual way, and neglect deliberately to explore."

The quote is redolent of the novel's essence. Roland Michell, a young scholar, was reading a bristled volume belonged to the late poet Randolph Henry Ash from which all the papers sprang out. He found two drafts of the beginning of a letter to a woman whom Roland identified later as Christobel LaMotte. Together with Professor Maud Bailey, who turned out to be a descendant of LaMotte, Roland unveiled, through bundles of correspondence letters between Ash and LaMotte, Ellen Ash's journal, and Blanche Glover's (LaMotte's lesbian partner) letters and a suicide note, the shocking romantic relationship between Ash and LaMotte.

What followed upon discovery of letters in Seal Court (where in a room of which Christobel LaMotte once resided) was one of the most ferocious wrangle about a correspondence between dead Victorian poets that Roland had just discovered. An American professor had offered huge sums for the manuscripts but the British were trying to have all the letters declared of national importance and forbade the export. As a matter of fact, these letters, journal entries and poems are entwined apropos with the prose as Byatt unfolds the story. The literary insertion is meant to accentuate the lives of the poets and their relationship - and readers should take to serious perusal and pay attention to the clues from which the scholars resolve the clandestine affair.

As the title implies, the story revolves around the multiple meanings of possession. Roland must have felt possessed to take the letters from the book into his possession. He even felt irritation at the privacy Maud assumed in the affair that began with the discovery of his purloined letters. Little did Roland know that his indefatigable pursuit of the letters had distanced him from the poet as the letters edged closer to the essence of his unknown private life. His finding had, in a sense, turned out to be a loss for him as a reader.

The book is beautifully written, intertwined with vestiges of the Victorian poets' lives, their musings and poems. Progression of the relationship between Roland and Maud is relatively subdued and insipid when measured against the vividly limned love life of the poets. The young scholars' relationship is executed with such stoicism that one might not surmise the slightest of passion. Possession is truly a literary fiction, or thriller, that is riddled with twisting intrigues.

2004 (13) © MY

Rating:
Summary: Hopelessly boring
Review: Hmm...how best to describe this book? Dull. Dull. Sleeper. Boring. Dull. Take my advice: don't read it. It hooks you in in the beginning (however slight that hook may be) but then it drags on FOREVER. It's hard to follow, and you read about 100 pages total of useless junk and letters...blah blah blah. Don't waste your money on such a worthless, sugary, boring book.