Moon Tiger

Rating:
Summary: Powerful, Moving and Beautifully Wrought
Review: "I'm writing a history of the world. The whole triumphant murderous unstoppable chute-from the mud to the stars, universal and particular, your story and mine", so says Claudia Hampton, in her 76th year, as she lies dying. We all have books we can't put down, this is mine. This is the glorious book that I did not want to end, that I read in one sitting. I could not, absolutely could not put this book down. A ten star book if there ever was one!

Claudia is a character so rich, you feel her in your bones. You want to know her as your own. Claudia Hampton and her brother Gordon born of a comfortable family. Father died in his war, and mysteriously not much is known of him. Mother lived her life, she withdrew from the world. She lived for her roses, tapestry and unchangeable weather. Gordon and Claudia, sister and brother, wild, untamed as children, brilliant and wild and untamed as adults. They were self-involved and never needed an other person when they were together. The important people in Claudia's life are so well defined and characterized- they become the story.

Claudia became a write of books, history, and met her off and on lover, Jasper and father of her child, Lisa, when she was writing a book about Tito. Not one of Claudia's acquaintances or family approved of or liked Jasper, but that made him much more interesting, and, anyway, theirs was a sexual love-sex kept them together. And the fact that Claudia was beautiful and intelligent and such an asset. Men loved her and women approved of her. They never married, but they saw each other many times throughout their lives.

Tom Southern, the love of Claudia's life. She met him while she was a correspondent during the War in Egypt. Theirs was a love like no other. A sweet, short love, and one of the most memorable affairs.

Sheila, Tom's wife. A woman to be put up with. A stable wife who said not much and did little else, but she kept their life together. A woman who mattered not to Claudia- someone to be tolerated.

Lisa, the child of Claudia and Jasper. Like neither her mother nor father and treated as such- like a neither. Shunted off to be brought up by her grandmothers a child who so wanted to be loved by her mother, and was, but the love was not spoken.

Laszlo, the child of a Hungarian, who was left homeless and family less after the Hungarian uprising. Claudia took him in and treated him almost as a son.

These the important people in Claudia's life. This strong, independent woman who had such contentious relations with family and friends. Penelope Lively, won the Booker Prize for this novel. And well she should! What a powerful, moving and beautifully wrought book she has written. Claudia Hampton, a literary figure not to be forgotten. Well done, Penelope Lively !prisrob

Rating:
Summary: Powerful, Moving and Beautifully Wrought
Review: "I'm writing a history of the world. The whole triumphant murderous unstoppable chute-from the mud to the stars, universal and particular, your story and mine", so says Claudia Hampton, in her 76th year, as she lies dying. We all have books we can't put down, this is mine. This is the glorious book that I did not want to end, that I read in one sitting. I could not, absolutely could not put this book down. A ten star book if there ever was one!

Claudia is a character so rich, you feel her in your bones. You want to know her as your own. Claudia Hampton and her brother Gordon born of a comfortable family. Father died in his war, and mysteriously not much is known of him. Mother lived her life, she withdrew from the world. She lived for her roses, tapestry and unchangeable weather. Gordon and Claudia, sister and brother, wild, untamed as children, brilliant and wild and untamed as adults. They were self-involved and never needed an other person when they were together. The important people in Claudia's life are so well defined and characterized- they become the story.

Claudia became a write of books, history, and met her off and on lover, Jasper and father of her child, Lisa, when she was writing a book about Tito. Not one of Claudia's acquaintances or family approved of or liked Jasper, but that made him much more interesting, and, anyway, theirs was a sexual love-sex kept them together. And the fact that Claudia was beautiful and intelligent and such an asset. Men loved her and women approved of her. They never married, but they saw each other many times throughout their lives.

Tom Southern, the love of Claudia's life. She met him while she was a correspondent during the War in Egypt. Theirs was a love like no other. A sweet, short love, and one of the most memorable affairs.

Sheila, Gordon's wife. A woman to be put up with. A stable wife who said not much and did little else, but she kept their life together. A woman who mattered not to Claudia- someone to be tolerated.

Lisa, the child of Claudia and Jasper. Like neither her mother nor father and treated as such- like a neither. Shunted off to be brought up by her grandmothers a child who so wanted to be loved by her mother, and was, but the love was not spoken.

Laszlo, the child of a Hungarian, who was left homeless and family less after the Hungarian uprising. Claudia took him in and treated him almost as a son.

These the important people in Claudia's life. This strong, independent woman who had such contentious relations with family and friends. Penelope Lively, won the Booker Prize for this novel. And well she should! What a powerful, moving and beautifully wrought book she has written. Claudia Hampton, a literary figure not to be forgotten. Well done, Penelope Lively !prisrob

Rating:
Summary: Where the Future Begins
Review: A history of the world. What's said and what's left out. The things and people that construct the world of an individual. The grand events of a civilisation are on an equal level with the detailed actions of human relations and rather than recount a life as a progression it is looked at as a mosaic, focusing on points here and there, gathering the impression of a whole life. The narration jumps between all forms of telling: 1st, 2nd and 3rd person narration recounted events through numerous viewpoints. A focused attention is required throughout the novel to keep track of who is talking and in what point of history they are at in any section. What Claudia is trying to do in this history of the world is an impossibility. She moulds languages to work for her own purposes by using it for multiple perspectives. "The power of language. Preserving the ephemeral; giving form to dreams, permanence to sparks of sunlight." The question of how to recall the past is the central issue. Rather than flow through the past as in a stream of conscious novel we're given slabs of moments pitted against each other pointing out the importance of individual emotions. Slowly throughout the novel the reader is made increasingly aware of what isn't being remembered. Claudia's relationship with Tom was on of the most emotionally turbulent times of her life, one she is uncertain of how to recount which is why she avoided writing about Egypt for so long. But once she has recalled it she can begin to leave the past behind and what begins is the future.

Rating:
Summary: Wonderfully moving and intellectually captivating ride
Review: A kadeidiscopic history of a totally fascinating Britishwomen and how war can destroy our lives. Also a wonderfulaccount of how history rests so firmly in the eye of the beholder. Everyone is shaped by their life's experiences, and Ms. Lively so elegantly exposes how we prejudice others when we judge them without knowing of the reasons for their behavior. A beautifully written, intellectually captivating and totally involving work of literature. A truly worthy recipient of the Booker prize in England.

Rating:
Summary: A book that follows me
Review: After reading Moon Tiger I unintentionally and unknowingly connected every situation and incident to Claudia and her experiences. I read the book as a part of my A-level course in Cyprus, I felt as a totally different person after I read it. The character of Claudia is a wonderfully strong and brave woman whose life is an adventure in itself. Her attitude and character is nothing short of admirable. Lively's attitude to war, time, love and life is uniquely challenging and inspiring!

Rating:
Summary: Good ideas, but falls very short
Review: Certainly an interesting premise -- a story shifting through tense and perpsective in order to highlight the fluidity of time and associations. Too bad, then, that in execution the book fails miserably.

The novel is filled with detestable characters, especially the protagonist Claudia Hampton. Of course, one need not like characters in order to enjoy a book. But when the reader stops caring about the characters there is a problem. It's not as much that the characters are detestable as they are inaccessible. The prose becomes merely two hundred pages of self-absorbed nonsense that saps the reader of his or her own life.

Ms. Lively becomes too bogged down in her own rapture of creating a clever book -- any issues or styles that might have been fresh or original with the book become only annoying.

Yes, the novel deals with issues such as time, death, children, parenting, lost love, fate, choices et cetera et cetera. But it offers nothing unique that a better written book does not already offer -- even Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse 5, though radically different, would be a much better choice.

This novel cannot be recommended to anyone who values both literature and not wasting time on inanity.

Rating:
Summary: Skillfully Rendered
Review: Claudia Hampton is a marvellously waspish old lady, her sting undulled by time.
Her wit and honesty in assessing her life spare no one, starting with herself. The evocation of Claudia's doomed love affair in wartime Egypt far surpasses Ondaatje's novel "The English Patient".
Good luck to adolescents trying to appreciate it, though.

Rating:
Summary: A brilliant novel for adults
Review: Claudia Hampton is a marvellously waspish old lady, her sting undulled by time.
Her wit and honesty in assessing her life spare no one, starting with herself. The evocation of Claudia's doomed love affair in wartime Egypt far surpasses Ondaatje's novel "The English Patient".
Good luck to adolescents trying to appreciate it, though.

Rating:
Summary: under-read, under-appreciated
Review: here in the states, few people seem familiar with lively's work, which is a shame. those of us here who like annie proulx and lorrie moore should know about her, but often don't. lively's got a lot more bite than pym and more daring than brookner, but her subject matter is refreshingly "english." despite it's mawkish title, i recommend moon tiger.

Rating:
Summary: unforgettable
Review: I actually read this as a compulsory book for my A level English exam several years ago. I feel so fortunate that we explored so deeply into the text. It is an exquisitely written, poignant romance and a tragedy. It is easy to admire and envy Lively's beautiful, intelligent cool, complicated Claudia, and it is Lively's skill in making us weep for her by the end of the book which sets her aside as one of the best British writers around today.