"Rather Dated" November: Anita Brookner, A Start in Life 📚

Just finished. I didn't like this at first but I persevered and in the end I loved it. Such amusing, clever characterisation. The dialogue and black humour was great. Loved Mrs Cutler. The short marriage to Roddy seemed to sum up Ruth's luck. I have read a few Balzac novels but I have since had 12 years of rubbish sleep so can't say it helped me understand it.

This was my first Brookner and I really enjoyed this, I have a couple others on my shelf including Hotel du Lac which I think will read some rather than later.

Like other posters I didn't find this that depressing, the parents were so awful but they were so over the top and not like real people that I found them more funny than anything.

I wanted Ruth to escape and stay in Paris but ultimately she was a very passive character. She had a great career which she seemed engaged and interested, she didn't seem like she particularly enjoyed her marriage and yet it felt as if something was missing. Maybe she didn't count on becoming her fathers carer?

It was a strange one, so late in the story.
Did she marry him to please her father as her father liked Roddy? She didn't seem happy in her marriage. It seemed impulsive on her part.

Yeah I found that an odd twist too, I didn’t feel it served any narrative purpose.

The marriage to Roddy was odd and then he conveniently died; I felt the last bit of the book was rushed

Definitely, IceandIndigo. Academia did serve as a refuge for Ruth and Brookner portrayed it well.

I thought the last line was significant; 'the section on the life of Eugénie Grandet has turned out rather longer than expected. Do you think anyone will notice?' I haven't read Balzac either, but I surmised that there was a parallel between Ruth's life and Eugénie's, but that Ruth saw this as a stage in hers and that once her father died, that she would be free to live her own life.

I enjoyed the book. It's the first Anita Brookner I have read so I didn't know her major theme is disappointment. Until pretty near the end I was hoping Ruth would escape! I can see that some people might find it depressing or bleak, but for me the author's humorous tone prevented this, as well as the fact it was written in the third person. It seemed like the narrator was quite distanced from the characters and was both laughing at them while also having compassion for them. I admired how the writer was able to do that. I think the aspect I enjoyed most was her skill in characterisation - even some of the minor characters like Richard and Molly were very vividly drawn.

I've never read Balzac so there are probably a whole bunch of plot and thematic resonances that I've missed. I think it was mentioned in the book that the title is also taken from Balzac: Un début dans la vie? As someone familiar with academia I do think that for some people it can be a bit of a refuge from the real world, and I thought that was accurately portrayed in Ruth's case.

It was a good read and even though the majority of the characters were unlikeable and Ruth could potentially be frustrating - I didn't dislike any of them.

It had a bit of a Matilda vibe for me - v studious daughter completely misunderstood by her parents who were almost caricatures.

I guess in the end Ruth chose a life of virtue. She had tried a bit of vice (sleeping with Hugh, about to start an affair with Duplessis). That's probably why I didn't feel it was too bleak, she did have a choice. She had made a life for herself, moving into the Parisian flat without letting her parents know. And she sort of fell into the marriage with Roddy 'almost as a matter of course' so I wonder if in a different way she was passive like her parents. Only Mrs Cutler seemed quite assertive.

I also loved Molly who 'found that she needed to spend a good deal of time on her own if only to keep her philosophy of life a going concern'. Lots to think about there (and elsewhere).

Thanks to whoever suggested ASIL!

George was slightly better in some ways as he was kinder to Ruth but Helen just annoyed me so much. Ultimate CF

Very odd when she suddenly died

Cutler !

Mrs Cutler was the real sponge, woodhill.
She didn't* *do a tap and she didn't do Helen any favours either. She was a terrible influence on her. They were an unlikeable lot, weren't they. I think 'grotesque' describes them well; Helen, Mrs Cutter and to a lesser extent, George.

Helen was particularly annoying and a real spoilt sponger

Assuming the book was based in the early 60s and I felt sorry for Ruth

Mrs Cutler wasn't much of a housekeeper

Yes I've finished

Great book

Thanks for posting that Julian Barnes essay which has just helped me fill a train journey. Brookner sounds pretty formidable, and so interesting.

The article that Terpsichore linked to is a really interesting read. It suggests that while Brookner loved her parents almost painfully, that she started living her own life after they passed on when she was in her forties. 'The phrase 'the emotional pandemonium of life' could be applied to Ruth's situation in 'A Start in Life' I think.

The article also refers to a tour of French provincial art galleries that Brookner undertook in winter in foggy weather which has a parallel in the novel when Ruth visits some towns as part of her research for her doctorate. She cuts the visit short, however, as she finds it underwhelming, unlike Brookner who loved it.

I'm not assuming that 'A Start in Life' draws on Brookner's own life, but I think there may be resonances. Brookner came across as a stoic person and I think the character of Ruth is too.

Thank you very much @Terpsichore !
I'm feeling a lot better today, thankfully.

Sorry to hear you’re both unwell @tobee and @IsFuzzyBeagMise - wrap up well and hope you’re better soon.

Get well soon 🌷I have it too this week.
Living like Helen by keeping to my bed!

Just popping on to say I'm either out this month or very late as have had covid last few days and not read the book as a bit too blah!

I'll be back later. Your remarks made a lot of sense to me @Terpsichore .

I've been thinking about my own remark that I didn’t know whether or not Brookner intended to give the fairy-tale quality to the plot that I detected….on further reflection I’m pretty sure that she would never have done anything without intending it!

I'm even more sure of this having read this really interesting and thought-provoking tribute to her by her friend Julian Barnes. She sounds formidable, all right.

I’ve only just found this thread! I was impatiently waiting till tomorrow until we could discuss this! Anyway, I loved it. It has been my favourite so far. Yes I suppose I agree that it’s bleak, and that Ruth is living the sad life of someone utterly sacrificed on the altar of her parents selfishness. And I totally agree that it plays out in your head like a Mike Leigh film. But that’s the situation, if you like; the comedy comes from the writing, which is like a razor. I’ve jotted down my favourite bits, but really the whole book was full of this pin sharp observation which is acidly funny. Miss Cutler collecting the library book: nothing with a happy ending, nothing set in (can’t read my own writing), nothing with anyone called Douglas. Her clothes: elephant coloured trousers, nylon blouse and remedial footwear- this made me laugh aloud. The ghastly bit where you just know terrible Richard isn’t going to turn up for the dinner Ruth has cooked. The male characters were all terrible really, although I did feel sorry for George. He was drawn to Mrs Jacobs just because she offered a comfortable flat, compared to his existence with Helen. Almost every time Anita Brookner mentioned Helen, it was to remark on her thinness, so in my head she got thinner and thinner till by the end of the book she was skeletal! And finally, I copied out this description of Ruth: She was attractive enough for a clever woman, but it was principally as a clever woman that she was attractive. I’m having that on my gravestone.

I’ve just finished it too.

It surprised me a bit because the only Brookner I’ve read previously was more depressing, iirc (I’m afraid I can’t recall which one it was, it was years ago). I agree this was in parts very funny, and the writing was superb.

I was struggling throughout to try and put my finger on what it reminded me of - it felt at times like the written equivalent of a Mike Leigh film in the grotesqueness of the characters and the bleakness of the scenario - the absurd Helen lying in bed; poor crippled Molly in her beach-hut, and Sally with her pristine flouncy flat (surely Brenda Blethyn would play her?).

And also there was something almost fairytale-like about it that stopped me feeling too depressed by the narrative, because Ruth's parents are so very monstrous that I couldn’t quite take them seriously as real people. I don’t know whether Brookner intended that, but they were almost like the Ugly Sisters and Ruth was Cinderella, allowed out for a brief giddy time (in Paris - although how hilariously grim was that chambre de bonne) but inevitably called back to her ashes at the end. There was a hint that, when her father died - as he of course would - she'd be released at last.

Agree with everyone else that I feel I really ought to have read the whole of Balzac before even starting this! I suspect an awful lot more would have fallen into place then.

I've just finished reading the book. I agree with comments so far.

I thought it was good and well written, but it was very bleak and an uncomfortable read at times. I'm going to go back and read it again to think about it a bit more.