Feel free to share your general thoughts and opinions on the book - the plot, the characters, the style of writing, the setting, whatever strikes you. Also, you're invited to reference any scenes or passages you found memorable (for whatever reason).
If you'd prefer to answer questions rather than write freestyle, here are some:
1. Did you like the book? Why or why not?
2. Would you read it again or recommend it to a friend?
3. Who was your favorite character, and why?
4. Did it make you think? What about?
5. Did it make you happy or sad, afraid or hopeful...what did it make you feel, was there an overall impression when you finished it?
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11 comments:
I'm going to have to write from memory about this book - a book I finished reading more than a month ago (I know! I got ahead in my reading as I fell behind my blogging). Granted, leaving a coherent comment would be much easier if I could FIND MY BOOK!!! But I've just spent 30 minutes searching the house, which isn't very big so just imagine me looking every possible place multiple times (just in case I missed it the first three times!!). SO, this is as good as it gets until it turns up somewhere.
First, I only read this book because I had seen the movie and liked the movie so much. The movie is quite whimsical. As in, not realistic. As in, just my style. The book version is different from the movie in several aspects: plot and characters included. The movie is more "Hollywood" which makes sense, so even though the book is still whimsical, there seemed to me to be a bit more realism in tha book than in the movie.
It's set in old London - after WWI - the time when nightclubs and bands and dancing and parties and fashion and romance were all the rage. The setting appealed to me. Took me back...
The characters were likeable, even the unlikeable ones. My heart ached for Miss Pettigrew, and even for Delysia. The men were much easier to choose between in the movie - in the book, they were more developed and were written about in such a way to make them all appealing in their own way.
Which reminds me, I really enjoyed the writing style of the book - a bit scattered and helter skelter, which not only suited the context of the story but also suited my tastes. And I really enjoyed Pettigrew's commmentaries - on life, on people, on her past, on desire.
It was difficult for me to get the movie characters out of my mind (I kept picturing them no matter how hard I tried not to), so I recommend reading the book before seeing the movie. And I would definitely read this book again - maybe in a year or so. And I've already seen the movie more than once, and will again. Anyone care to join me??
I am making a trip into the big town tonight and plan to pick this book up. :)
I think I will be "watching" this book instead of reading it this month... Sorry, I just have other books going right now and the end of my Masters! So I will post my "movie review" instead of a "book review!" Hope that will be sufficient... ;)
mjm: did you get it? started it? like it? :o)
fth: no problem - totally understand! would enjoy hearing your movie thoughts.
I FOUND MY BOOK!!! Yay me!!
Some thoughts (without giving too much of the plot away): I have to admit that I found myself more sympathetic to Pettigrew than to Delysia. On the surface, Delysia got on my nerves. She seemed superficial and self-centered. Pettigrew seemed to have more perspective and more interested in the important things in life...she was self-aware without being selfish. But as I thought about it...
IMO, these women are two halves to the same whole. They need each other. Delysia knows what she wants from life but doesn't know who she is. Whereas Pettigrew knows who she is but doesn't know (or *allow* herself to know/admit and thus pursue) what she wants. Delysia's lack of self-awareness comes from deep-rooted insecurity over her family, history, and circumstances. Pettigrew's lack of fulfillment comes from deep-rooted repression stemming from her family, history, and circumstances. Hmmm...
It's when these women befriend each other - through their being together and their shared experiences - that they find their own missing parts and are made complete. I don't know if it's that Pettigrew "completes" Delysia and vice versa, or that their presence so enriches/enlightens the other that the other is then empowered to become the full person they were meant to be all along. If it's the former, I don't think Pettigrew and Delysia will fare very well apart, but if it's the latter, they will both be able to continue living in their new skin even as they set off on their own.
Would that we all had a friend such as this, someone who lets us into our own life as surely as we let them into theirs...and would that self-actualization could be achieved in a single day!!! :o)
FYI: As much as I dig Pettigrew, I don't condone her anti-Semitism, but I tend to think this footnote was included by the author as a sign of the times rather than because it fit with Pettigrew's true character. Even as a character, Pettigrew doesn't judge people based on such superficialities but on their character.
There were SO many great scenes and lines...here are just a few of the lines I love:
"Guinevere," gasped Miss LaFosse. "Control, I implore you. Your make-up. Remember your duty to your make-up." (99)
"I don't know why these things are happening. I don't care. They're happening. That's enough." (101)
"Oh, but my dear Miss LaFosse," said Miss Pettigrew agitatedly, "please, please consider. Michael is a man. Nick is only a...a disease." (148)
[Speaking of men...did Delysia make the right choice? Did Pettigrew?]
"Oh!" said Miss LaFosse meekly again. "I'm sorry." - "Then act as though you were." (154)
"Oh!" thought Miss Pettigrew blissfully, "I think I'd like to die tonight before I waken up." (168)
"I quite understand," said Miss Pettigrew surprisingly. "I have never had any fun or amusement. Today has taught me a lesson. I have discovered a lot of frivolous tendencies in myself hiterto quite unsuspected." - "Excellent," said Joe. "We can enjoy life together." - The words were only a phrase, Miss Pettigrew knew, but she had a sudden vision of a life rich, varied; a little vulgar perhaps. He would get drunk sometimes. He would undoubtedly shock her. He was not refined. He would bring odd people to the house. Her standards would be turned topsy-turvy, but what a sense of ease, of security, of fullness he would bring to existence! (203)
I did get it...had to go to two bookstores and ended up finding it in downtown Nashville. I have started and liked what I have read. Unfortunately I am working day 3 of 3, then off 1, and back for 3 more. I'll get a chance to read tomorrow when I am off. I also still need to comment on Bro. Lawrence.
I watched the movie last night so here is my movie review (ha, even though I tell my students NEVER to watch the movie first and that it is cheating, I suppose I am now a hypocrite. ;)
After watching the movie, I am glad I did not read the book... because as Rissalee said, it was whimsical and unrealistic-- which are NOT my style! ;) I think I would have been annoyed with Delysia (a very unique name) the entire read as I was the entire movie. Her naive, dramatic, and self-indulgent character was a good foil to Pettigrew's old-fashioned, moral, and traditional character. I felt for Pettigrew in that she went from a "no good very bad day" to one of the most magical and exhausting days. Lucky for her, Delysia's naivete as to what a "social secretary" does benefited Pettigrew. Therefore, everything that Pettigrew did was the "expert" opinion. As much as I thought Delysia would negatively influence Pettigrew, I was glad that it was Pettigrew who positively influenced Delysia. And as all good "fairy tales" must end with "they lived happily ever after," I am glad that Pettigrew got hers with Joe and Delysia/Sarah Grubb got hers with Michael.
Overall, this movie/book indeed has the "Cinderella" archetype and allusions. It makes me wonder how many times can you remake a plot line?
Rissalee: I agree with your opinion that "these women are two halves to the same whole. They need each other. Delysia knows what she wants from life but doesn't know who she is. Whereas Pettigrew knows who she is but doesn't know." That is why I think they are good "foils" (contrasting characters). Also, I have a friend who is my opposite (she is an extrovert, I am an introvert) and I think it does indeed help us balance and compensate for each other. We can always learn from someone else! ;)
FTH: You made me laugh with your opening about being a hypocrite. Movies and black and gold Cliff's Notes!!! :o)
Please explain the Cinderella reference if you can...
And, whimsical isn't your style? I admitted that I fancy it, but especially between Revolutionary Road and The Ten-Year Nap...one needs a wee bit of hope in her novels!! :o)
Interesting that you said Pettigrew positively affected Delysia rather than D negatively affecting P...I thought they both positively affected one another. Perhaps this influence is more detailed/clear in the book? Shame on you for watching the movie!! (Just teasing...had to be one of your kids for a moment.)
confession: I rented the movie! I was trying to catch up with this book club and had felt so left out that Chris and I turned it on and had a fun time watching it! Not the best movie ever- but cute :) I thought the casting was good and of course the conclusion at the end too! Very sweet
Lisa: No worries about renting the movie...but someday, you should think about reading the book - when you finish that BBC Top 100 list. :o)
The book is "meatier" than the flick and well-written. English flavor, which I know you like. Not on par with Austen, but more literary than the movie version - richer characters, deeper thoughts. Glad Chris got in there with you! :o) And SO GLAD to have you back on the blog.
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