Rating: 
Summary: For a beautiful, lucid read...
Review: ...look to A.S. Byatt. Hers is a voice that carries you until the book's final pages. Having read Possession, Byatt has catapulted herself toward the writer of distinction that she truly is. I love Morpho Eugenia -- the words carried me. And even though The Conjugal Angel isn't as impressive as the first novella, the sensuous and lucid language is a work of art nevertheless. I have got to spread the word on this exceptional book! I hadn't expected the writing to move me so much. What more could I say other than the fact that this is an excellent piece of literature. Ms. Byatt, I applaud this marvelous effort...
Rating: 
Summary: Fly like an angel, sting like a bee
Review: A.S. Byatt is best known for her lush, time-spanning historical romance "Possession." In "Angels and Insects: Two Novellas," Byatt revisits the intellectuals of the Victorian era. She dips into Victorian interests in spiritualism, insects, poetry and love -- not to mention their darker sides as well."Morpho Eugenia" introduces us to a young naturalist named William, who until recently had been studying insects in the Amazon. He was shipwrecked, then rescued by the wealthy Alabaster family. While continuing to study butterflies, he marries the beautiful eldest daughter Eugenia and for a time, lives the good life. The only problem is that unknown to him, Eugenia is wrapped up in a lifelong tangle of obsession and incest. "The Conjugial Angel" introduces us to a group of mediums who gather to call up spirits. Mrs. Papagay is still in love with the dead Arturo. Emily mourns her dead lover, immortalized in her brother Alfred Tennyson's "In Memoriam" -- except she has married again. Now she struggles with her past emotions, her present doubts, and her longing to communicate with her love again. As in her prior works, Byatt's writing is almost dizzily lush. She has a good sense of detail, describing ribbons, moths, butterfly wings, and the flames of gaslights. But pretty words are not all that Byatt has to offer -- she makes use of poetry (her own, and that of others), Darwinism and religious faith, Swedenborg, a family whose opulence covers their decay, and the nuances of love. Not to mention the dialogue: Eugenia's rambling explanation about her relationship with her brother is chilling. Perhaps best of this collection is that Byatt has a fantastic grasp on period descriptions and dialogue -- it all sounds like a novel from the 19th centuy, with the polish of a modern book. Which is not to say that "Angels and Insects" is perfect. Byatt spends a little too much time on the moths and too little on the Alabaster family. And she's not at her best in "Conjugial Angel," which lacks the punch of the first novella. It's moving at the end, but takes awhile to get there. Delving into such topics as survival of the fittest, poetry and love, Byatt produces a solid pair of novellas written in her usual sensuous prose. Despite some flaws that bog it down, this is a unique read.
Rating:
Summary: Fly like an angel, sting like a bee
Review: A.S. Byatt is best known for her lush, time-spanning historical romance "Possession." In "Angels and Insects: Two Novellas," Byatt revisits the intellectuals of the Victorian era. She dips into Victorian interests in spiritualism, insects, poetry and love -- not to mention their darker sides as well. "Morpho Eugenia" introduces us to a young naturalist named William, who until recently had been studying insects in the Amazon. He was shipwrecked, then rescued by the wealthy Alabaster family. While continuing to study butterflies, he marries the beautiful eldest daughter Eugenia and for a time, lives the good life. The only problem is that unknown to him, Eugenia is wrapped up in a lifelong tangle of obsession and incest. "The Conjugial Angel" introduces us to a group of mediums who gather to call up spirits. Mrs. Papagay is still in love with the dead Arturo. Emily mourns her dead lover, immortalized in her brother Alfred Tennyson's "In Memoriam" -- except she has married again. Now she struggles with her past emotions, her present doubts, and her longing to communicate with her love again. As in her prior works, Byatt's writing is almost dizzily lush. She has a good sense of detail, describing ribbons, moths, butterfly wings, and the flames of gaslights. But pretty words are not all that Byatt has to offer -- she makes use of poetry (her own, and that of others), Darwinism and religious faith, Swedenborg, a family whose opulence covers their decay, and the nuances of love. Not to mention the dialogue: Eugenia's rambling explanation about her relationship with her brother is chilling. Perhaps best of this collection is that Byatt has a fantastic grasp on period descriptions and dialogue -- it all sounds like a novel from the 19th centuy, with the polish of a modern book. Which is not to say that "Angels and Insects" is perfect. Byatt spends a little too much time on the moths and too little on the Alabaster family. And she's not at her best in "Conjugial Angel," which lacks the punch of the first novella. It's moving at the end, but takes awhile to get there. Delving into such topics as survival of the fittest, poetry and love, Byatt produces a solid pair of novellas written in her usual sensuous prose. Despite some flaws that bog it down, this is a unique read.
Rating:
Summary: 1st Novella is Wonderful -- 2nd Leaves Much to be Desired
Review: ANGELS AND INSECTS contains two novellas. The first of which is the insect portion of the book: MORPHO EUGENIA. The second of which is angel portion of the book: THE CONJUGIAL ANGEL. Both have surprise endings and both concern themselves with two different forms of societally forbidden loves. MORPHO EUGENIA is definitely the best of the two. Evidently, the movie based on the book only contains this story and leaves out the other. However, the purchase of the book was worth it for the value of the first story. Below is a short description of each novella: MORPHO EUGENIA - ***** (5 stars)
Things are not what they seem. William Adamson returns from the far reaches of the Amazon only to be castaway at sea and lose most of his precious insect collections. He and only the rarest of his insect collection (always kept close at hand) are recovered and now find themselves to reside in a Gothic English
mansion. Upon his arrival, he meets the beautiful Eugenia of whom he brashly writes in his journal: "I shall die if I cannot have her. I shall die if I cannot have her. I shall die if I cannot have her." He woos her with a cloud of butterflies and gets his wish, coming to reside with her family in the Gothic mansion. To pass his time and earn his keep, he categorizes Eugenia's father's various exotic collections. Becoming bored with this, he helps the children's teacher, Matty Compton, with various science experiments for the children. The chiefest of these is an elaborate study of local ant colonies. Things are not what they seem. William begins to see harrowing parrallels in the insect world he observes and his own world. Things are definitely not what they seem. THE CONJUGIAL ANGEL - ** (2 stars)
This is mainly the story of the intense grieving of three people over loved men lost at sea. Mrs. Papagay morns Arturo and never marries again. Emily and her brother, Alfred Tennyson, morn the Arthur immortalized in Tennyson's poems. The two women, Mrs. Papagay and Emily, spend many hours at seances, hoping to come in contact with the spirits of their long-lost loves. The surprise ending is very sweet, but not worth wading through the rest of the story. This second novella was immensely difficult to become interested in and to follow. The author, in trying to be historical, refers to too many different characters and uses different names for the characters at random. In fact, I had nearly completed the story before I realized that Emily Tennyson and Emily Jesse were one and the same. The storyline also incorporates lots of poetry that, truly, doesn't seem to fit in with the text.
Rating:
Summary: 1st Novella is Wonderful -- 2nd Leaves Much to be Desired
Review: ANGELS AND INSECTS contains two novellas. The first of which is the insect portion of the book: MORPHO EUGENIA. The second of which is angel portion of the book: THE CONJUGIAL ANGEL. Both have surprise endings and both concern themselves with two different forms of societally forbidden loves. MORPHO EUGENIA is definitely the best of the two. Evidently, the movie based on the book only contains this story and leaves out the other. However, the purchase of the book was worth it for the value of the first story. Below is a short description of each novella: MORPHO EUGENIA - ***** (5 stars)
Things are not what they seem. William Adamson returns from the far reaches of the Amazon only to be castaway at sea and lose most of his precious insect collections. He and only the rarest of his insect collection (always kept close at hand) are recovered and now find themselves to reside in a Gothic English
mansion. Upon his arrival, he meets the beautiful Eugenia of whom he brashly writes in his journal: "I shall die if I cannot have her. I shall die if I cannot have her. I shall die if I cannot have her." He woos her with a cloud of butterflies and gets his wish, coming to reside with her family in the Gothic mansion. To pass his time and earn his keep, he categorizes Eugenia's father's various exotic collections. Becoming bored with this, he helps the children's teacher, Matty Compton, with various science experiments for the children. The chiefest of these is an elaborate study of local ant colonies. Things are not what they seem. William begins to see harrowing parrallels in the insect world he observes and his own world. Things are definitely not what they seem. THE CONJUGIAL ANGEL - ** (2 stars)
This is mainly the story of the intense grieving of three people over loved men lost at sea. Mrs. Papagay morns Arturo and never marries again. Emily and her brother, Alfred Tennyson, morn the Arthur immortalized in Tennyson's poems. The two women, Mrs. Papagay and Emily, spend many hours at seances, hoping to come in contact with the spirits of their long-lost loves. The surprise ending is very sweet, but not worth wading through the rest of the story. This second novella was immensely difficult to become interested in and to follow. The author, in trying to be historical, refers to too many different characters and uses different names for the characters at random. In fact, I had nearly completed the story before I realized that Emily Tennyson and Emily Jesse were one and the same. The storyline also incorporates lots of poetry that, truly, doesn't seem to fit in with the text.
Rating:
Summary: Another Byatt Gem!
Review: Angels and Insects is my third Byatt book. Naturally I approached the book with certain expectations: that it would contain poetry, utilize a broad and deep set of metaphors, probe existential meaning, and require me to think. Right. And I am still thinking, trying to understand all of the connections between the two novella and why Byatt chose this particular format - two novellas linked by a common character who is minor to both. As others have stated, the two novellas present wonderfully rich situations that allow the characters to explore the fundamental issues that confronted women and men at the dawn of modernism. A description of the Tennyson siblings childhood home provides a metaphoric description for the Victorian age: "Everything was double there, then - it was real and loved, here and now, it was glittering with magic and breathing out a faint cold perfume of a lost world, a king's orchard, the garden of Haroun al-Raschild." Darwinism, naturally, informs one level of discourse. Swedenborg plays an important role. Add a shake of Carl Linnaeus, a dash of the Bible, and some good hardcore Victorian poetry and you have a proper Petri dish environment for discussion. And the topic appears to be: what is man? Given that Byatt is anything but a "black and white" thinker, I am prone to believe that her title provides an answer. There is a duality, a "compositeness," and a depth to our experience. Perhaps that is why Byatt cannot escape from Victorian and Romantic poetry, which probes meanings and begins to ask the questions about man that inform modernism. In Tennyson, in particular, with echoes of Shakespeare and Keats, we find the essential voice to examine the question. There we find an insolvable tension between the dead and living, between life and art, between the ephemeral and eternal, between angels and insects. After one reading, I don't pretend to understand all that this book is about. But I have had great enjoyment tracing some of the questions about in my mind. And, as always, I have an endless appreciation for the structures around which Byatt winds her tales and for the fascinating connections her fiction present to us.
Rating:
Summary: Another Byatt Gem!
Review: Angels and Insects is my third Byatt book. Naturally I approached the book with certain expectations: that it would contain poetry, utilize a broad and deep set of metaphors, probe existential meaning, and require me to think. Right. And I am still thinking, trying to understand all of the connections between the two novella and why Byatt chose this particular format - two novellas linked by a common character who is minor to both. As others have stated, the two novellas present wonderfully rich situations that allow the characters to explore the fundamental issues that confronted women and men at the dawn of modernism. A description of the Tennyson siblings childhood home provides a metaphoric description for the Victorian age: "Everything was double there, then - it was real and loved, here and now, it was glittering with magic and breathing out a faint cold perfume of a lost world, a king's orchard, the garden of Haroun al-Raschild." Darwinism, naturally, informs one level of discourse. Swedenborg plays an important role. Add a shake of Carl Linnaeus, a dash of the Bible, and some good hardcore Victorian poetry and you have a proper Petri dish environment for discussion. And the topic appears to be: what is man? Given that Byatt is anything but a "black and white" thinker, I am prone to believe that her title provides an answer. There is a duality, a "compositeness," and a depth to our experience. Perhaps that is why Byatt cannot escape from Victorian and Romantic poetry, which probes meanings and begins to ask the questions about man that inform modernism. In Tennyson, in particular, with echoes of Shakespeare and Keats, we find the essential voice to examine the question. There we find an insolvable tension between the dead and living, between life and art, between the ephemeral and eternal, between angels and insects. After one reading, I don't pretend to understand all that this book is about. But I have had great enjoyment tracing some of the questions about in my mind. And, as always, I have an endless appreciation for the structures around which Byatt winds her tales and for the fascinating connections her fiction present to us.
Rating:
Summary: Subtle and mesmerizing
Review: Byatt is one of my favourite authors, and her talent for style, subtlety and depth in her narrative are present in these novellas. Both these novellas are alluring, in different ways. The first, Angels and Insects, drew me in firstly because of its title. The pervasive feeling of things not quite fitting together for the main character holds the reader throughout the story. The author keeps the story the perfect length. Check out the movie also...it is quite faithful to the story. The second novella, initially appeared to be less interesting, but it is the more subtle of the two. As I learned of the lives of the characters, as they reminisce and review their emotions from long ago that refuse to entirely die, I found myself unable to put the book down. And I'm glad I didn't because the conclusion was very satisfying. Don't give up on it if you're inclined to, give this novella a chance, you won't regret it.
Rating:
Summary: Victorian Obsessions Explored
Review: Literally a work of two halves, these novellas form two sides of a coin, exploring contrasting Victorian responses to the sense of loss, almost grief, following the undermining of the beliefs that underpinned their entire world view by the revelatory theories of Darwin, that no thinking person could reject out of hand.
One response is anchored in the rational, the study of the natural world, and the second could be called the irrational, the recourse to the world of spiritualiam.
I found the first, Morpho Eugenia, to be the more intense and intriguing. Having seen the film years ago, foreknowledge of the shocking climax of the story did not in any way lessen my enjoyment in finally reading the original.
Byatt creates many vividly drawn characters, such as the soft, supine, pampered, increasingly Queen-bee like Eugenia, producer of ever-more white and pupa-like offspring. Contrasted with her is the quiet desperation of the semi-invisible dependant spinster relative Matty Crompton, almost but not quite masking her fierce intelligence and inner fire. Reverend Alabaster perfectly personifies the man of faith, and intelligence, profoundly shaken by the theory of evolution and it`s consequences for his system of faith.
The Victorian layman`s earnest interest in the natural world is fascinating, completely remote and an almost alien concept in these days of shorter attention spans and a thousand forms of entertainment. The book is woth reading alone for Matty Cromptons' charming story within a story "Things are Not What they Seem"
The Conjugal Angel addresses the Victorians' obsession with spiritualism, also linked to a creeping fear that the here and now is all there is, the wanting to prove otherwise. It imagines the effect of a reappearance of one of the beloved dead upon Emily Tennyson and her famous brother Alfred. This became bogged down in what amounted to a very long-seeming session of poetry lit-crit, and I found myself far more interested in the story and fate of the jaunty Mrs Papagay.
Rating:
Summary: Intriguing novellas in Victorian settings
Review: The first book I read by A.S. Byatt was Possession, which remains one of my all-time favorite books. Then I wanted to read more of her work. Angels & Insects won't be an all time favorite, but I enjoyed reading it and prefered it to the F. Potter trilogy and most of the short stories. Both novellas have interesting, detailed Victorian settings and fascinations (insects, spiritualism), layers of stories (insect studies, poems), surprises and quirky characters. "Morpho Eugenia" is the stronger novella. I enjoyed the ants, William and the satisfying ending. I liked "The Conjugal Angel" better than most of the reviwers here, perhaps because I like Tennyson's poetry. Angels & Insects the movie is an adaptation of "Morpho Eugenia" and quite good. The costumes are dazzling.
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