Fetch Your Copy The Hanging Garden Penned By Patrick White Conveyed In Pamphlet
Not quite a recovered masterpiece but a fascinating read nonetheless,
White was such a sure, material stylist amp builder of psyche interiors that the sheer strength of his 'unhurried prose' leaves a tremendous impact,
I can't pretend that I don't feel sad for what the novel would have been if White had returned to it amp performed another draft or two but I'm also grateful for this glimpse into the vastness of his storytelling.
For some time now I've been wanting to take on Patrick White, one of theth century's most disgracefully underread major novelists, but have found his style somewhat intimidating.
I did read a collection of his short stories called 'The Cockatoos' several years ago, and enjoyed it very much, but wasn't at all sure how I could handle him over a longer and more convoluted narrative.
Then I came across 'The Hanging Garden', and it seemed like the perfect solution,
In, with the world in turmoil, two children Eirene Sklavos, the daughter of an Australian mother and murdered Greek father, and Gilbert Horsfall, whose mother has been killed in the London Blitz and whose father, a colonel, is away at war are sent as refugees into the care of the alcoholic Mrs.
Bulpit. Over the coming years, they are forced to adapt to a new way of life, learning to become Australian, bearing all sorts of misfortune, falling a little bit in love, and bearing up against the sorrow of separation.
As this comingofage tale is only a third of what White had intended the entire novel to be, it's inevitable that it should seem to fall short of greatness.
Yet the section that does survive, being neatly selfcontained and in no way a first draft, certainly gives ample evidence of his prodigious talent, It is beautifully written, sad and lovely, complex in its winding sentences and frequent unannounced shifts in first, second and thirdperson perspectives while still remaining eminently readable, and extraordinarily vivid in its depictions and quietly devastating in its manipulation of the emotions.
Ultimately, 'The Hanging Garden' has given me exactly what I'd hoped for: a fine, absorbing and challenging read, and the impetus now to take on some of his bigger and more polished works I have on my shelves copies of 'the Solid Mandala' and 'The Aunt's Story' and am determined to get to one or the other of them before the year's end.
This book was an okay read, I knew before I started, that the book was unfinished due to the author's death, It is aboutchildren that are taken in by a widow during WWII, While staying in Australia at this time, they develop a strong bond that they will maintain for many years, possibly always,
The story was a bit confusing and not easy to follow, The author would sometime refer to adults by The and then their last name, Then it would switch to "you" which I assumed was referring to Eirene, The writing is lyrical but just flips around so much from character to character, Overall the story seemed dark and sad, I just felt I had to finish reading it, since I had won a copy and was entitled to write a review, Otherwise, I may have left this book unfinished,
I received a copy from Goodreads giveaway in exchange for a review, I've read other comments on this book and smile at the ones that take issue with how unsympathetic White is, For me, this is his great virtue, Too few contemporary writers and readers risk the discomfort he offers what comfort there is lies in the prose, and even in this draft of an unfinished novel there are standout passages the boy's journey to Australia, the girl's schooldays, the final passages where, in late adolescence, the pace accelerates and sets up the rest of the novel, which sadly doesn't come.
If anything, the prolonged for White inhabiting of a child's consciousness makes this sketch one of his most sympathetic pieces, White's prose demands one slow down and work as a reader, adjust to his vision, come to him, as it were, and it can seem a big ask.
The Hanging Garden doesn't reward the reader as much as The Vivisector or The Twyborn Affair or Voss, but it makes a good primer for his work, and a reminder how very good and unique a writer he was.
A previously unpublished novel from the winner of theNobel Prize for Literature
Two children are brought to a wild garden on the shores of Sydney Harbour to shelter from the Second World War.
The boy's mother has died in the Blitz, The girl is the daughter of a Sydney woman and a Communist executed in a Greek prison, In wartime Australia, these two children form an extraordinary bond as they negotiate the dangers of life as strangers abandoned on the far side of the world.
With the tenderness and rigour of an old, wise novelist, Patrick White explores the world of these children, the city of his childhood and the experience of war.
The Hanging Garden ends as the news reaches Sydney of victory in Europe, and the children face their inevitable separation,
White put the novel aside at this point and how he planned to finish the work remains a mystery, But at his death inhe left behind a masterpiece in the making, which is published here for the first time, Oh, my goodness, why was this book ever published I don't care that the author is dead, nor do I care that he is a two time Miles Franklin winner as well as having won the Nobel Prize for Literature, this was a woeful read.
At the halfway mark I finally gave up, It's not often that a book beats me, but trying to struggle through the second half was more than I could endure, Life is just too short!! The writing was all over the place, the characters totally depressing and the plot, . . what plot Ugh! Scritto in maniera curata, di un livello superiore rispetto ai romanzi commerciali, Il finale lascia in sospeso, vorresti sapere cosa succede dopo, . . Back at University I read a fair bit of Patrick White and really enjoyed his work, This novel publishedyears after his death is his last unpublished and unfinished work, It is very White, a strong command of prose and sense of place, As with classic White, the story is dark, deeply and beautiful as well as erotic, with a dark underline, At times funny, it paints the portrait of a peaceful happy childhood after the trauma of war, the journey of discovery and growing up and discovering yourself and life.
Unfortunately as it is unfinished, and was to be part of series, we can only imagine where White planned to take this, A strong.stars. I don't usually read books that were not completed by their author, but I was given to understand that Patrick White's final incomplete novel was worth reading, and ended as part one of a longer novel.
It certainly had that feel, but it left me wanting to know what happened to the two main characters, both children evacuated to Australia during the second world war.
There are a few notes within the text indicating passages White wanted to expand upon, and some minor errors that have been left in, but this gives the reader a sense of sharing a workinprogress something I believe White would have hated!, although he had put it aside quite a while before he died.
One of the best books I've read in a long time!
This is the story of a young girl Eirene Sklavos who is trying to discover who she is in a huge upside down world of war.
She is paternally Greek descent and maternally Australian, Her father dies in prison as a communist during WWII and her mother moves her back to Australia where an estranged sister lives Aunt Allyson Lockhart, but the sister doesn't want this responsibility, so Eirene's mother Gerry, pawns this child off on an elder Mrs.
Bulpit while the child's mother has decided to return to Greece to fight for a cause, There is a boy in Mrs, Bulpit's charge as well, Gilbert Gil Horsfall, whom Eirene becomes enamored with, They part company and I would have liked to know where the story of these two would have gone, had Mr, White lived to write more about them, The story is captivating and you become convinced this girl is a phenomenal young lady, however, she doesn't think much of herself in this regard, She sees herself as something less than scum, Breathtaking beauty of a girl, so wise beyond her years, I wish I could tell her, "You are every bit as much, if not, then more so!" A well written unfinished novel, posthumously published in,years after White's death.
Patrick White's last attempt at writing a novel when he wasyears of age, A recommended read for Patrick White fans, who should not be disappointed, The story of two unrelated young children, Irene and Gil, removed from the war in Europe infor safety reasons, a common practise where European families had relatives in countries far from the war, find themselves living with relations in Sydney, Australia.
The story follows their experiences over the periodto, making friends and living with their relations, The story is complete in itself, It is surmised that White had completed a third of the novel and was to explore the lives of Irene and Gil after, Patrick White's is the most interesting writing style I've come across since reading Italo Calvino in college, The story itself is not stunning just the tale of two kids relocated from England to Austalia during WWII but the inner monologue of both children, switching back and forth, often
in the same paragraph, made for a very challenging read, and one I enjoyed more and more as I waded through the book.
Wading is the right term one has to progress slowly and sometimes laboriously through the prose, making sure with each phrase who is speaking to whom, Full disclosure: I received an free copy of this book from the publisher, Patrick White is a two time Miles Franklin award winner and has also won the Nobel prize for literature, His unfinished novel The Hanging Garden was recently published it feels like an old novel in the sense that, while its nicely written nothing ever happens in the book.
This is very much a character driven book, focusing on the two and a wild garden, I think Id be alright with reading a book like this if I didnt have the feeling that the author hated every single one of his characters he was mean and cruel to them all, not just the key characters.
As a general rule I love dark and flawed characters but this just felt mean and even the attempts of trying to being erotic felt awkward, I spent the whole book waiting for something to happen and I was left disappointed, Also as this is an unfinished novel, I dont know what the overall goal was with this book and I get the feeling that maybe Patrick White doesnt either.
My review and thoughts on an unfinished novel can be found on my blog
sitelink com If you love Patrick White and I do you will want to read this posthumous publication of an unfinished work by the great novelist, Thepages of this work actually represents only the first part of a projected threepart novel which unfortunately was not completed, owing to other pressing social, political and theatrical work in which White was preoccupied with at the end of his life.
This is a draft of that first third of his book, something he had written comparatively quickly, and with which he admitted to friends he was generally pleased.
The setting is WWII, but set in Australia, As usual, his two main protagonists have developed special insights peculiar to themselves see also my review of Happy Valley, Irene Sklavos is the daughter of a Sydney woman and a Greek father, a Communist who has been executed in a Greek prison, Her mother needs to return to continue the struggle in Greece, Gilbert Horsfalls father is a Colonel, fighting in the war, During the Blitz on London, Gilberts mother and his best friend Nigel are killed, As was common at that time, these orphaned children were despatched to the care of foster parents in faraway Sydney, where it was hoped they would be safe from what was happening in Europe.
When the two children meet, despite their differences, they recognise a common affinity to special awareness
This first part of the projected novel concentrates on the two children, particularly Irene, and how they cope with the people in the new country they have been sent to, their different schooling, and the acquaintances they are more or less forced to make.
Both are aware of the Australians cultural differences they need to deal with, and this contributes to their budding common awareness and special friendship, As time passes, Irene seems apparently more selfpossessed and selfaware but Gilbert increasingly appears to need to deny his internal reality and mimic instead what he considers to be his uncouth Australian school companions, at least in his external actions.
This first part ends with the announcement of the end of the War, and the presumption is that the two children will be more completely physically separated than they already are, and perhaps forever.
What White might have had in mind for the remaining two parts of the novel are anyones guess: the only clue appears to be that he intended the relationship between Irene and Gilbert to continue for at leastyears, and probably to find them back together in Sydney inbut speculation is pointless.
It doesnt matter, really, although what White might have come up with is tantalising, especially for someone who has read and relished his other work, This first part draft still resonates with Whites concerns and preoccupations, and his writing, even in draft form, is as powerful, moving, and observant as in his other works.
This book has been transcribed unedited from Whites handwritten manuscript, Whether White would have retained this first part as it now stands is a moot point: what we have, instead, is something unique: an unprecedented insight into the workings of a great novelist.
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