Fraud

Rating:
Summary: Vintage Brookner
Review: A book by Anita Brookner is always depressing. I can't read more than one at a time. But why read them at all? A friend asked me this question and after pondering it I thought: Because when you open a Brookner, you know what world you're in. It's a discreet world of well-educated, upper middle class people (mainly women) living in comfortable circumstances. Yes, they're also desperate and blighted people. Someone is usually dying but meanwhile sitting up in bed in a very perky peignoir. Once that elderly mother dies, though, things get much worse for the unmarried daughter or son left behind. "Fraud" follows all of Brookner's usual conventions yet it resolves itself strangely quickly, without a firm foundation, after an intriguing beginning suggesting a mystery. If you like Brookner, you'll like "Fraud."

Rating:
Summary: Vintage Brookner With A Twist
Review: I shall go out on a limb and deem this the best Brookner I have read thus far. A good holiday read, for as with most Brookner, this is a demanding read, requiring time, dedication, and attention to her detailed prose. However, this book differs from most Brookner, as it slides between points of view, taking us effortlessly and seemlessly into the minds of three disparate main characters ~ Anna Durrant; the doctor; and Mrs Marsh. There are also other, supporting characters whom we are introduced to, all of whom provide enlightening peeks into Brookner's trademark 'circumscribed lives'. Anna Durrant, the heroine, is written almost as a parody of Brookner's well-educated, well-off, well-kept women who have devoted themselves to some desperate, hopeless cause or another. Anna is disatisfied, she realises how boring, how up-tight she appears to others, and this adds for a bit of ~ dare I say? ~ light relief. Mrs Marsh, the elderly curmudgeon Anna befriends despite herself and against the oppositions of Miss Marsh, is a wonderful outspoken, fully-fleshed, roundly-experienced individual ~ the perfect foil for the reticent, protected Anna. And the doctor who suffers a reluctant attraction to Anna's very slender charms is superbly characterised. The doctor has chosen another over Anna, a bright, active, shimmery, shallow sort of woman, an Anna-antithesis, and this becomes the catalyst for all sorts of inner turmoil and Brooknerian heartbreak. Take this one out to the terrace, pour yourself a lemonade, and settle into a satisfying, depthy read.

Rating:
Summary: Vintage Brookner With A Twist
Review: I shall go out on a limb and deem this the best Brookner I have read thus far. A good holiday read, for as with most Brookner, this is a demanding read, requiring time, dedication, and attention to her detailed prose. However, this book differs from most Brookner, as it slides between points of view, taking us effortlessly and seemlessly into the minds of three disparate main characters ~ Anna Durrant; the doctor; and Mrs Marsh. There are also other, supporting characters whom we are introduced to, all of whom provide enlightening peeks into Brookner's trademark 'circumscribed lives'. Anna Durrant, the heroine, is written almost as a parody of Brookner's well-educated, well-off, well-kept women who have devoted themselves to some desperate, hopeless cause or another. Anna is disatisfied, she realises how boring, how up-tight she appears to others, and this adds for a bit of ~ dare I say? ~ light relief. Mrs Marsh, the elderly curmudgeon Anna befriends despite herself and against the oppositions of Miss Marsh, is a wonderful outspoken, fully-fleshed, roundly-experienced individual ~ the perfect foil for the reticent, protected Anna. And the doctor who suffers a reluctant attraction to Anna's very slender charms is superbly characterised. The doctor has chosen another over Anna, a bright, active, shimmery, shallow sort of woman, an Anna-antithesis, and this becomes the catalyst for all sorts of inner turmoil and Brooknerian heartbreak. Take this one out to the terrace, pour yourself a lemonade, and settle into a satisfying, depthy read.

Rating:
Summary: Brilliant Brookner
Review: This book is wonderful. Although the characters don't DO much, it's their inner world that counts.

Just when you think Anna is lost forever, she manages to find some inner resource to turn her life around. Hooray! And those that she leaves behind will have to face the honest truth about themselves, or risk living a wasted life.

The author is so very adept at exploring the differences of how we act, in order to be socially acceptable, and how we really feel--what we'd do if we didn't live in "polite society."

Rating:
Summary: supremely disappointing
Review: While Anita Brookner is very adept at character analysis, I found the book and the characters to be quite dull. As to the mystery of the story...yawn...Was supremely disappointed with the end...

Rating:
Summary: Brilliant Brookner
Review: With this book, I have just discovered the wonderful talent of Anita Brookner (where have I been?). The book's idea is common and simple- growing old,being alone, missing out on life- and it is woven into a story that is worth reading every page. I found that I got to really know the characters and cared about them. I agree with a reviewer that writes about her "satiny prose". Can't wait to try her other books.

Rating:
Summary: A wonderful character study.
Review: With this book, I have just discovered the wonderful talent of Anita Brookner (where have I been?). The book's idea is common and simple- growing old,being alone, missing out on life- and it is woven into a story that is worth reading every page. I found that I got to really know the characters and cared about them. I agree with a reviewer that writes about her "satiny prose". Can't wait to try her other books.