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on How It All Began
I dearly loved this book about an event which spawned a series of followon events, some of which could be termed momentous, in the context of a life.
The story was funny and true and ridiculous and painful and all those things that life can be.
It was comforting to hear about folks whose lives had hit a major speed bump but who managed, by shuffling the deck, to usher in a new chapter in their lives, one that they liked even better.
But it is lightly told, and not so painful for us, safely behind our reading glasses, sipping tea and considering just how awful divorce could befor the characters of course.
I was also struck by parallels between the theme in this book by Lively and Kate Atkinsons new offering sitelink Life After Life.
It is almost as though the grande Dames of British Literature were given a writing assignment to mull over the possibility that Hitler had never been born or had died in early life, before the tragedy of World War II.
The assignment might have specified that they didnt have to focus on thes, they just had to mention Hitler and make their story relevant to a new reality.
Consider Livelys contribution, that she places in the mouth of Henry, retired University professor and a man sure of his talent to make history interesting and relevant:
I myself have a soft spot for what is known as the Cleopatras nose theory of historythe proposal that had the nose of Cleopatra been an inch longer the fortunes of Rome would have been different.Then, consider Kate Atkinsons contemplation of this question, whom she gives to Ursula, her protagonist :
A reductio ad absurdam, perhaps, but a reference to random causality that makes a lot of sense when we think about the erratic sequence of events that we call history.
And we find that we home in on the catalyststhe intervention of those seminal figures who will direct events.
Caesar himself. Charlemagne. Napoleon. Hitler. If this man or thatno, this person or thathad not existed, how differently could things have turned out Focus upon a smaller canvasEngland in the eighteenth century, of, indeed, any other centuryand we find again that it is personalities that direct events, the human hand that steers the course of timeA decision is made in one place, and far away a thousand will die.
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“Dont you wonder sometimes, “ Ursula said.And it is a great theme to be going along with: eliminating those pesky outsized actors from our history.
“If just one small thing had been changed, in the past, I mean, If Hitler had died at birth, or if someone had kidnapped him as a baby and brought him up inI dont know, say a Quaker householdsurely things would be different.
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After all, isnt life complicated enough with just our own mistakes to manage
In any case, the thing that really caught my attention in this book, and that I loved above even the story something which Lively spends some time consideringhow a story can draw us in is the discussion an older woman, a retired teacher of literature as it happens, has with a younger economic migrant to whom she is teaching the fundamentals of reading.
They speak of language, words, and the passion the younger man has for stories, Hed had trouble learning English, both spoken and written, but he was passionate about stories, So she teaches him, rather than the language of commerce, the language of poetry, She gave him stories, and his passion for stories developed into a passion for words, which he collected assiduously and used ardently.
He loved, and was loved though words, It was delightful.
This was a book I read as a book club book, If it hadn't been for that I would never have finished it, It was a slow book in which nothing happened, It was almost as if Lively's publishers wanted a book from her, she struggled amp upon completion added this concept of the "butterflys wing" effect in an attempt to make it a full book.
I loved the concept amp the book should've made full use of that idea, Instead it laboured along, occasionally bringing the concept back to the readers mind with clunky, clumsy, obvious paragraphs starting with things like "and how had all this started Because someone had been mugged" or something like that.
I've never read a Penelope Lively book before amp on this offering I
don't think she's going to get another chance with me! I have been a devoted Penelope Lively fan ever since I read "Moon Tiger" back in the earlys.
In fact, I've reread that novel a few times since, and it holds up every time.
I think it's because there is such authority in her writing, Not arrogance Lively writes from a place of genuine understanding of human nature, Better yet, she doesn't take herself too seriously, Her brilliance is in her ability with nuance, a talent that never fails to impress me.
In this novel, Charlotte Rainsford is mugged, and with this one minor act, a domino effect occurs, one domino tipping another tipping another, until a seemingly unrelated cast of characters are all affected by this incident.
I take great pleasure in Lively's attention to detail, not just in the physical world but in the emotional world.
She knows what to describe, and just how important it can be to not describe something, but instead skip beyond it and let the reader put the pieces together.
I have always felt trusted when I read her books, and "How It All Began" is no exception.
Somewhere in the Amazon, a butterfly flaps its wings and provokes a tornado in Texas, So goes the chaos theory a proposition that apparently random phenomena have underlying order, It is the premise of Penelope Livelys thoroughly engaging and delightful new book, where at least seven lives are derailed one day in midApril.
It all begins when Charlotte Rainsford ayearold woman is accosted by an unknown teenage thief on the streets of London and breaks her hip.
That one random event gives way to a slew of other related events: Charlotte must recuperate at the home of her daughter and soninlaw, Rose and Gerry.
Bored out of her mind, she takes on an adult student Anton, a European immigrant who is learning the English language who fascinates Rose in a way that hasnt happened in years.
And, since Rose must tend to her mother, she cannot go to Manchester with her boss, an ancient historian named Henry, who takes his niece Marion instead.
Its during that trip that Marion meets a shyster and, at the same time, is forced to start reconsidering her affair with the verymarried Jeremy, whose wife Stella finds out about the affair, and well, the “chaos theory” goes on and on.
None of this is particularly innovative but its done so exceedingly well and with such aplomb and good humor that the reader cannot help but be carried along.
As the historian Henry notes, “Progress is forever skewed by circumstance the unforeseen event, an untimely death, the unpredicted circumstance, and the course of history would be one of seamless advance.
” History and life are,the author suggests, subject to interpretation and random fate,
I cannot help but end this review by quoting Ms, Livelys key character, Charlotte, on her love of reading, “She has read not just for distraction, sustenance, to pass the time, but she has read in a state of primal innocence, reading for enlightenment, for instruction, even.
She has read to discover what it is to be good or bad she has read to find out if things are the same for others as they are for her then, discovering frequently they are not, she has read to find out what it is that other people experience that she is missing.
” I have read Once We Belong for many of these same reasons and Ive been rewarded.
Charlotte, an intensely independent seventysomething widow, is mugged on the street, breaking her hip, and must live with her daughter, Rose, while she recovers.
This book is a humorous and poignant character study of seven lives impacted by this single event.
It is chaos theory in novel form, or a sequence of unintended consequences, The author employs an understated plot and welldeveloped characters, She brings the intertwined storylines together in a satisfying ending,
The characters are the highlight, In addition to Charlotte and Rose, we have:
Lord Peters an aging historian with a rather pompous attitude that adds to the amusement
Lord Peters niece, Marion, an interior designer having an affair with a married man
Jeremy, the married man, and his wife, Ruth, whom he hopes to keep from divorcing him
Anton, Charlottes student, an eastern European immigrant learning English to get a better job
Supporting characters augment the humor, such as the young academic who plays up to Lord Peters ego to further his own career.
Each has a distinctive personality, I felt like I knew them personally by the end of the book, I am impressed by the authors skill in deftly designing their interplay, This is the first book I have read by Penelope Lively, I enjoyed it tremendously and will be reading more of her works,
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This is how it all began:
While the premise of this book the butterfly effect is intriguing, the execution was a real turn off.
Incomplete sentences and a very British style and I love England!! kept me from getting into it.
Take the first page:
", . . A face is alongside hers, Woman. Nice woman. " Or another sentence a few pages later: "So, Just what one didn't want, Being a burden and all that, What one had hoped to avoid, " Ugh!
Sentences are filled with ellipses and narrations are changed abruptly, Like when Lively is in Jeremy's mind, and then suddenly starts describing him in a different way: "Jeremy may seem a somewhat contradictory figure.
Here is someone "
I feel so much better having decided to chuck this! A vibrant new novel from Penelope Livelya wry, wise story about the surprising ways lives intersect
When Charlotte Rainsford, a retired schoolteacher, is accosted by a petty thief on a London street, the consequences ripple across the lives of acquaintances and strangers alike.
A marriage unravels after an illicit love affair is revealed through an errant cell phone message a posh yet financially strapped interior designer meets a business partner who might prove too good to be true an oldguard historian tries to recapture his youthful vigor with an illconceived idea for a TV miniseries and a middleaged central European immigrant learns to speak English and reinvents his life with the assistance of some new friends.
Through a richly conceived and colorful cast of characters, Penelope Lively explores the powerful role of chance in people's lives and deftly illustrates how our paths can be altered irrevocably by someone we will never even meet.
Brought to life in her hallmark graceful prose and full of keen insights into human nature, How It All Began is an engaging, contemporary tale that is sure to strike a chord with her legion of loyal fans as well as new readers.
A writer of rare wisdom, elegance, and humor, Lively is a consummate storyteller whose gifts are on full display in this masterful work.
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