Camomile Lawn

Rating:
Summary: The latest English novel I have devoured..
Review: ..and I loved it. I particularly like English settings during World War II, and this wasn't a disappointment! The adventures and misadventures of a group of cousins during the war, the sexual tension and attraction between two of them, and the general soap opera atmosphere is told in flashbacks by the cousins' elderly aunt as she is on her way to a funeral, the funeral of her own wartime lover. The book itself reminded me of "The Cazalet Chronicles" series by Elizabeth Jane Howard, which I also highly recommend, though with racier language. This is the first of Mary Wesley's novels that I have read, but it certainly won't be the last.

Rating:
Summary: War time experiences.
Review: I found this to be a delightful story ,set firstly in just pre-war England,about a group of cousins and how they interact with each other as the war begins. I wonder if the sexual licenses taken were really a reflection of how young people felt at that time--live for all your worth today for tomorrow we'll probably be dead-- or would it have happened an any case.You really come to grips with these characters as the book is written by a woman in her 70's who HAS lived and obviously knows what she's writing about. Great read and I'll be looking for more by Mary Wesley--a woman after ny own heart.

Rating:
Summary: Slogging my way through this embarassingly bad novel
Review: I simply cannot finish reading this patronising, overwrought, smarmy (yes, smarmy) bit of prose by a writer I wanted so much to like and admire. I kept going back to it, giving it a fifteenth or sixteenth chance, only to abandon it quickly, in favor of truly brilliant Penelope Lively or even merely skilled Rosamunde Pilcher (other mature, contemporary British female novelists).

The dialogue in the Camomile Lawn is nearly always unrealistic, the characters cartoonish, and the atmosphere / setting overly fussed over. In prewar Britain, the embarassingly good, upper class protagonists go on and on about their simpathy with the Jews (so politically correct now, simply not such an important part of upper crust 1930's Anglo Saxon sensibility), the sexy lovers dish out measured amounts of sauce and swear words... it's just an embarassing mess of an attempt to be raw and real.

I never got past the first hundred pages, and I will not seek out Wesley's other works. I really wasted my time, rolling around in a little bit more than just camomile blossoms.

Rating:
Summary: Slogging my way through this embarassingly bad novel
Review: I simply cannot finish reading this patronising, overwrought, smarmy (yes, smarmy) bit of prose by a writer I wanted so much to like and admire. I kept going back to it, giving it a fifteenth or sixteenth chance, only to abandon it quickly, in favor of truly brilliant Penelope Lively or even merely skilled Rosamunde Pilcher (other mature, contemporary British female novelists).

The dialogue in the Camomile Lawn is nearly always unrealistic, the characters cartoonish, and the atmosphere / setting overly fussed over. In prewar Britain, the embarassingly good, upper class protagonists go on and on about their simpathy with the Jews (so politically correct now, simply not such an important part of upper crust 1930's Anglo Saxon sensibility), the sexy lovers dish out measured amounts of sauce and swear words... it's just an embarassing mess of an attempt to be raw and real.

I never got past the first hundred pages, and I will not seek out Wesley's other works. I really wasted my time, rolling around in a little bit more than just camomile blossoms.

Rating:
Summary: An Underdeveloped Novel
Review: In August 1939, shortly before the outbreak of the Second World War, five cousins come to spend the summer holidays with their uncle and aunt in Cornwall. (The title refers to the lawn in front of the house, which later becomes a symbol of their carefree pre-war youth). The novel then follows the changing fortunes of these five, of their Uncle Richard and Aunt Helena, of Max and Monika, an Austrian Jewish refugee couple, of the local Rector and his wife and of their twin sons, through the war. Intercut with the wartime scenes are scenes set in the 1980s, at Max's funeral, when his surviving friends and acquaintances meet to reveal what has happened to them during the intervening years.

The above synopsis might suggest that this is a lengthy novel; in fact, it is quite a short one (in my edition only 330 pages), and in my view it is the shortness of the novel which is its major problem. Miss Wesley has set herself the task of telling the stories of a large group of people, but has not allowed herself adequate space in which to perform that task. As a result, the complex story is told in insufficient detail, which means that the characters fail to come alive.

The major theme of the novel is the challenge posed to conventional ideas of morality by the changed conditions of wartime. (Most of the characters either form adulterous liaisons or indulge in casual promiscuity). This theme could have been an interesting one, but unfortunately the characters are under-developed and lack any sense of an inner life. It is therefore difficult to understand their motivation or the reasons for their behaviour, and the oportunity to develop this major theme is lost. Most of the main characters, in fact, simply come across as self-centred and lacking in feeling. Even those described as being in love are frequently unfaithful to each other. This would not matter if Miss Wesley's aim had been to create a portrait of a cold, selfish group of people, but I was left with the strong impression that she wanted to make many of them sympathetic or attractively unconventional and failed to do so. This is not a book I could recommend.

I noticed a few factual errors in the book. I will not go through them all, but I must say that, contrary to what Miss Wesley states, the conductor Wilhelm Furtwangler was not "very pro-Hitler".

Rating:
Summary: Enjoyable
Review: My very first Mary Wesley and I enjoyed it very much. The characters are somewhat unorthodox but I feel that it adds to the flavour of the book. It was a fun read and I certainly plan to read more of Mary Wesley. Highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Enjoyable
Review: My very first Mary Wesley and I enjoyed it very much. The characters are somewhat unorthodox but I feel that it adds to the flavour of the book. It was a fun read and I certainly plan to read more of Mary Wesley. Highly recommended.