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Rating: 
Summary: Wistful
Review: Anita Brookner intrigued readers with this attempt. She wrote her characters with in depth psychological reality and sensibilities. The narration and description were detailed and sentimental. With a dash of moody feel. Claire Pitt intent to be a spinster.She's 29 and works as a literary helper for 2 old ladies in the basement of an old book shop. She is live alone after her mother died.She lead a routine life. Her only adventure is to take long walks and try to act like Sherlock Holms.She always psycho analysing people she know and try to collect her thoughts and linked them the way she assumed. Her only leisure is to dine every Saturday with her close friend,a lady named Wiggy. One day she met this guy who soon turned widower. She seem interested and thought she stand a chance until...one day......she realised her made a biggest misjudgment. The ending was a little surprise but expected. All in all quite well-written
Rating: 
Summary: Deja Va All Over Again
Review: Every now and then I pick up a novel by Anita Brookner after I've read something rather Rabelaisian or epic. The smaller canvas and quiet introspection provide a nice contrast to larger, more flamboyant works of fiction. As I read "Undue Influence," I was struck by the fact that the inner landscapes of Ms. Brookner's characters(in particular, her female protagonists)are as exotic and fascinating as any jungle or tropical beach. I believe that the central character of this novel, Claire Pitt, could ONLY have been created by a female. As a male reader, I find this exploration of the feminine mind a real adventure, full of unexpected twists and turns. This is not meant to be a condescending remark--I truly believe that men and women process their thoughts and emotions differently. I will go so far as to say that this book presents a challenge to male readers(and this is a GOOD thing). There is an intense female sensibility in Brookner's fiction. Claire reminds me of Austen's Emma Woodhouse, or Catherine Morland in the way that she speculates and create fictions about friends, acquaintances, and even total strangers. Maybe it's a way to make her self-imposed isolation more bearable. At times I want to hit her over the head, but she continues to follow her own path and sort out things in her own time. Even at her most delusional moments, she can be profound. My favorite epiphany in the book begins with Claire saying to the reader(and I paraphrase this)"Let me tell you what women really want."(Chapter 17) Even though she's all wrong about the guy, Claire has startlingly insightful things to say. Often, I had trouble reconciling Claire's mousy demeanor with the fact that she was, by her own admission, reasonably attractive. In places, I found this novel to be somewhat diffuse and, at times, attenuated. My favorite novels of her's so far are "Hotel Du Lac, A Friend From England, and A Private View." Still, Anita Brookner continues to write fiction that is elegant and probing. Recommended.
Rating: 
Summary: Social commentary for the rest of us
Review: I am a devoted Brookner reader so perhaps I am not qualified to "review" any book written by her. I so thoroughly enjoy her sentences and observations that to me the theme and characters inhabiting her works are almost vessels for the delicious and striking images and ideas which exist in her books. Nevertheless, in this last novel it occured to me that of all the protagonists in the novels Claire Pitt is so immersed in her fantasy life as to be nearly insane. Her fantasies seem to have increased as a result of mourning the loss of her mother. In bordering on insanity, I am reminded of Defoe's Roxana but this comparison could only be considered capricious by any serious critic. The characters around Claire, in particular the two elderly women who own the rare book store, as well as the father and son who buy them out, are intriguing and fully, if sadly, developed.
Rating:
Summary: Men Should Read This Book
Review: I've read the other reviews here and I can not understand how anyone would rate UNDUE INFUENCE one star and complain it was boring. If a reader had cause to finish the novel, the story of Claire Pitt must have had some fascination, some impact that rates it higher! I found Claire facinating and very human. Loveable in her way. She represents a side of the human condition we don't like to think about: loneliness, longing, vulnerability, regret. To a great extent she is the byproduct of her past, her upbringing; it is this which casts a wide net on her inexplicable behavior--an undue influence. She needs to care for another, as her mother cared for her sick father. It is only through love that we fulfill our full capacity to be human. I found Claire to be very human. She is extremely intelligent, with an introspection that was continually interesting. She wants to love, be loved, to be listened to (which is a sign of love); yet her "misunderstandings," her takes on people, including her feelings about Martin, mislead and upset her and she pays the price. I empathised greatly with her in the end. Claire's is a feminine voice though. She speaks, honestly, without a filter, the needs of a woman and I think men especially should read it to broaden their view of a woman's mind. Brookner is a superb writer. If you have an interest in serious fiction that is character based, intellectually honest, and psychologically facinating, read Brookner.
Rating:
Summary: Bravo Brookner!
Review: It is difficult for me to deconstruct a novel by the great Anita Brookner, especially as I have finally gotten around to reading something by her. The book (and the author) lived up to expectations. This is not a book about which you say it was enjoyable or fun to read. You have to come to a book like this with patience and a willingness to let the characters overtake you. It doesn't take long. Right away from the opening pages in Claire's (the main character and narrator) bookshop, the stage is set and you learn all you need to know about her. She is intelligent, quiet and serious, introspective, attractive enough, yet she doesn't quite have the social skills to form a relationship with the opposite sex. When she does so, she chooses the wrong type of man and she knows it. She also knows that it will have disastrous consequences, but she goes after him anyway. At times, the British manners and style get in the way for me, although maybe it's just what I am accustomed to reading. Nevertheless, I believe Ms. Brookner, in the end, transcends time and place and speaks with a brave forthright voice to the universal wisdom and longings of the human heart, and particularly as a champion of women.
Rating: 
Summary: insighful but not consistently so
Review: this a is a strange novel that seems to have been caught up in authroial intrusion of its main character. Brookner seems to try to have it both ways imbuing her main character with some startling insights on the nature of love, longing, lonliness et al which are obviously the author's, not the main chracters.i say this because claire seems remarkbly self-deluded on many of these same issues and cluless as to the motivations of the people around her.therfore the book is a remarkable combination of some extrodinary insights and some completely facile ones.yet despie this failing and some turgid prose mixed in with some clean elegant writing this uneven effort is well worth reading
Rating:
Summary: insighful but not consistently so
Review: this is a strange novel that seems to have been caught up in authorial inntrusion of its main character. Brookner seems to try to have it both ways imbuing her main character with some startling insights on the nature of love, longing, lonliness et al which are obviously the author's, not the main chracters.i say this because clair seems remarkbly self-deluded on many of these same issues and cluless as to the motivations of the people around her.therfore the book is a remarkable combination of some extrodinary insights ans some completely facile ones.yet despie this failing and some turgid prose mixed in with some clean elegant writing this uneven effort is well worth reading
Rating: 
Summary: What century is this set in?
Review: While the book was beautifully written, all the main characters speak and act like characters out of the early 20th century. The conversation is so arch, and the progression of whatever plot there is so reliant on early 20th century modes of communication, that the dilemmas, characters and situations they find themselves in do not ring true to this 21st century reader. Brookner presents her heroine as a contemporary independent woman, but she comes across as a stereotypical helpless female figure straight out of post-War British black-and-white films. She even uses a typewriter! She and the author should get out more.
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