of Mice and Maltesers: Stickylittlefinger's book

[stickylittlefingers]

Hope you like it - this was formative for me and I think it's an amazingly honest book. Might not be everyone's cup of tea tho, especially if you feel you can't "like" the protaganists.

Anyway, I will be very interested to hear what other people thought. I hope it's not something everyone's already read!!

Hello stickylittlefingers, I'll just post on here to get it on to my threads for now. I'll get back to you on the book!

Whinegums, I think it's me who's reading SLF's book, is it not?

Anyway, if it is the book I'm reading, I'm throughly enjoying it. I started it last night and stayed in bed till noon today reading it. I'll post again when I've read more.

I'm stuck in the middle of this book at the moment. I've lost momentum with it, but I have a couple of nights alone in a hotel this week, so will hopefully make progress.

Mrs Muddle, yes it is [head up arse emoticon]. SLF is reading my book. I am reading Poshwellies' book, but I don't think she's started a thread, so I think I posted on the one where I recognised the name most IYSWIM.

As you were...

I've finished this now.

I quite enjoyed it. I don't think I've read a book that's been set in this period before, so I found the social mores fascinating. And the whole "class" element of it was interesting too. Is that how the upper class live, the mother basically condoning the affair? And despite the whole affair, the fact that they had sex was only ever alluded to - defnitely a book of its time.

I found the style of writing quite difficult to get into - long, unstructured sentences. I think that that's because I'm an impatient reader and I tend to skim, which I wasn't able to do with this book. As a result, I had to re-read parts, and because it took me so long, I kept forgetting who the people were that were mentioned later in the book.

I felt frustrated by Olivia giving up her independence when it was clear he'd never leave his wife. She was confident and strong willed enough to get a divorce, yet she ended up hanging around like a wet rag waiting for his call. I also thought it was too convenient when she bumped into her ex.

I'd never have picked this book up, and to be honest, if it wasn't for this book club, I'd have given up in the middle. I found its very Englishness alien to me, and it was a bit too quaint. However, I'm glad I finished it, and I will, one day (when I've got time to read for long uninterrupted stretches) read the prequel.

Actually, I think my review was a bit harsh. It was a beautifully written book, and parts of it were probably ahead of its time. It seemed that O&R were genuinely in love, although they could never be together.

Some of the writing was very subtle (ie, too subtle for me to get the meaning on first reading!) and I agree with Stickylittlefingers that it is a very honest book.

hello - I'm glad you liked it =almost more glad that you did (at least quite) like the book when it wasn't one you'd have read anyway - makes the book club seem worthwhile!

I think what struck home with me the most was her complete honesty about not being a particularly admirable person - if you remember, she didn't get a divorce, they just let it drift (tho of course the divorce laws made it all very sordid then, so perhaps you wouldn't blame her), but she seemed to have so little will power to do anything really. Her meeting with the mother seems to show that she does have some backbone, and at last the mother is shown up for what she really is, when at the beginning of the book she (through Olivia's eyes) is the one who is perfectly at ease and a leader in her own world.

Then I thought the way we were taken through her wishing to have the baby to the realisation that she can't is so pitiful, through to the abortion. I agree it is a little unbelievable that her husband would just turn up that way, but I think it's necessary to the plot, to show how she has moved on from her childlike "just let life happen to me". Does she really see Rollo for what he really is, do you think?

As a teenager I also liked the outsider themes - how she admires and tries to get in with the posh set, how her brother is even more of an outsider, but then you see how being on the inside doesn't make them any the happier. The different marriages are interesting - the happiest seem to be the ones where the man is dying (her Father, Simon) - I wonder why that is?

Hi there. I'm currently reading SLF's book. Haven't posted properly yet as I'm still reading it but hoping to get finished by the end of the weekend. I found it really slow and hard-going at first but now enjoying it more (currently at the bit where Olivia hasn't long found out that she is pregnant). Of course, reading this thread now has given away some of the plot later but nothing I wouldn't have foreseen anyway!

Will post again when finished ...

All finished ....

An interesting read and tbh, I really struggled with it to start with. For the first time, I was concerned about whether I'd finish it in time as I found it really slow-going which is unusual for me. In the early part of the book, there was a definitely an emphasis on long periods of dialogue (the train journey, the dinner party) which I normally enjoy but in this case found frustrating because there seemed to be lots of chat without much being said, IYKWIM. However, the book definitely improved as it went on - once the affair started, I felt like the story started to come to life. As MrsMuddle says, it's an interesting window into society in the 1930s and the social norms of the time. Until I read this thread i hadn't noticed that sex was never mentioned, only alluded to, but it's true and a fascinating point since the whole book is about their affair.

I did find it hard to get a handle on the peripheral characters - perhaps because they were introduced at the beginning when I was losing patience and didn't pay enough attention. Also, an interesting ending and quite an appropriate one, that just as you thought Olivia was going to find some strength and gumption from somewhere, it kind of dissolved.

I'll be interested to read what others think, as the months go by. Also, out of interest, StickyLittleFingers, have you read anything else by the author?

Sorry - not been back here for a while - didn't mean to ignore the question.

Yes - she wrote quite a lot. The Dusty Answer is well worth reading, I think - rather a shocking storyline (for the time) of a bisexual woman at Cambridge. There is also a film version of The Echoing Grave, tho I can't remember what it was called. It had Helena Bonham Carter in it, but perhaps not the best film-of-the-book. The theme of intelligent women caught in that only just post Victorian world, pre all the changes that WWII brought on I find interesting because I wonder what on earth I would have done! Have you read/seen Atonement? I've only read it, but I think the difference between the books is very striking (i.e. if you read RL, IME seems very superficial, imo). Also I love the way you get so deeply embedded in her characters (or the protaganist, more specifically). I wish I was more of a literary critic, I do find it interesting how her voice changes in the book and the effect that has, but don't really have the words to explain! Perhaps some else will have... I also think she portrays women wonderfully - I love the conversation between Rollo's mother and Olivia - the moment when their relationship suddenly changes.

I'm conscious this book is really quite different to the others I've received through the book swap - hope you all don't mind that. I'm enjoying reading out of my usual comfort zone - sure it's very good for me!!

Hi - well it took a whole month but i got there in the end! Like others found, this book didnt compel me to read itn until the affair started. I had some problems with her writing style - the whole train of thought writing with no proper sentences doesnt lend itself to quick reading and i was a little impatient with it at times. Ironically this is how i think i write myself - how annoying for other people .

I found myself liking O and R, but being irritated by O's lack of backbone. The whole affair rang true - the way it is with someone she has daydreamed about since childhood, so she can't really resist him - the way she is so careful and adamant that she will always be upbeat and not whinge in the beginning - then the way she wants more from him than he can ever give to her.

I found it a bit tricky at times to discern what exactly was happening - did they have sex? Did she have a miscarriage? - because of the indirect writing style. I clearly need things spelling out to me! (It all becomes obvious, of course, but i like to know what the hell is going on!)

Was anyone else really disappointed in the ending? I was really taken by the book by then and stayed up far too late so i could finish it. I was at the stage of thinking "well, shes had her affair - phases of excitement, love, lust, anguish and resignation - now its time to move on..." But she isnt going to move on is she? That bloody man (who i USED to have a little sympathy for) is going to wheedle himself back into her life and she will spend the best part of her youth waiting for his call and jumping to his every whim whilst denying herself a family and life of her own. Grrrr.

In my mind O has told him where to stuff his advances, and is now comfortably off thanks to Simon and Anna - and is writing novels whilst having a relationship with a lovely young man. so there.

Thanks for the book choice sticky - i would never have read it otherwise, and I came to really enjoy it, especially the insights into life at that period and in that social set.

Glad you enjoyed it overall pooter I agree Olivia is lacking in backbone - but in that I like the author's acknowledgment of human weakness (rather than a "let's wrap everything up and make Olivia a Better Person" ending).

bump to get back on active threads page

I have to confess I didn't finish this book, but I now feel like I should give it another go, based on the reviews here. I think I must have gotten stuck at the point where lots of other readers stalled - although I did get to where the affair started and even that didn't really drive it on for me.
It's a shame because it's not that I didn't like the writing, but I think perhaps it was the pace that just didn't work for me - or perhaps even the period feel. I did like the presentation of family dynamics though, they seemed very real and it was nice to see the mothers of both central characters well described and not just sketched and relying on stereotype.

I think it's gone down on my 'library' list.

Hi, this author has been on my 'to read' list for a while so I was really pleased to receive this book. That said, I didn't enjoy the first few chapters much - I initially found the switches between the dialogue and the characters' stream of consciousness (if that's the correct term) a bit irritating and sometimes confusing. However, once I got to used the writing style, I found it quite a compelling read, especially once the affair began in earnest.

I had a lot of sympathy for Olivia and Rollo. For Olivia, because she seemed constantly struggling to find her place in the world and because she was so financially insecure. I'm not sure whether she really was that independent, I thought of her more as a drifter who was hoping that something or someone would turn up and rescue her from it all. Hence the attraction to Rollo, who by comparison was very sure of his position and obviously quite wealthy. And I think Rollo found a sort of freedom or honesty with Olivia that he didn't have with his family or wife. I didn't see him as a manipulator, at least not until the very end of the novel, but more as confused and unhappy and caught between being a 'gentleman' and his feelings for Olivia.

The class aspect of the novel was interesting and I loved the depiction of the bohemian lifestyle and all those intimate lunches and dinners in darkly lit restaurants!

Sticky, have you read Invitation to the Waltz? I'm wondering whether I would enjoy that as much as this novel.

Hi Flyingmonkey. Re ITTW, it depends: it is a description of O's birthday, and then the evening of her first dance. So there isn't an awful lot happening, I suppose, more atmosphere and O's thoughts on growing up, description of how her life is. I must admit I find it fascinating - a real window into another world. But less happens in it than in TWITS!

If you'd like just to borrow it I could send it over if you like. It's not the sort of thing that seems to just be in libraries and bookshops, sadly.

And PS sorry I haven't looked on this thread for a while to reply.

Hello slight hijack!

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/meetups/876001-DURHAM-2010-Meet-Ups?msgid=18450534

SLF - you coming ??

OK I'm not reading through what the others have said already... just marking my place here. Am determined to finish this by the beginning of next week so I can send it on to Arti . I like it so far...

Like others, I didn't like this book at all to begin with, mainly because of the style. I especially hated the way she would be writing in the third person and suddenly dive into first person thoughts e.g. Olivia handed Anna a cup of tea. 'Thank you,' said Anna. Oh, how I love tea, I really do love a nice cup of tea!

That drove me round the bend! And endless conversations that didn't move the narrative on at all. But I persevered and then got quite hooked and ended up begging DP to give DS breakfast so I could finish it even though poor DP is off to work on a Bank Holiday!

I'm afraid though that I didn't find the main couple sympathetic at all and didn't give a monkey's about them. Rollo just struck me as the archetypal married man who wants to have his cake and eat it. Yes, so his wife was a bit of a wet lettuce but she didn't force him to marry her - quite the opposite, she was in love with someone else. 'My wife doesn't understand me, blah, blah, blah.' And as soon as he told her that they didn't sleep together anymore I knew the wife was going to get pregnant! Perhaps I'm just harsh!

Anyway, I wouldn't have picked this book up but I'm glad I read it, so thanks slf.

slf this is a difficult book to read and right from the start i thought it was obvious that there was never going to be a happy ending for Olivia.

i agree that the story must have been scandalous in the 1930s, however i didnt bond with the characters of Olivia and Rollo either.

i found it difficult to understand why she couldn't move on with her life and disliked Rollo because he wanted both women - greedy man!!!

anyway sorry to be so negative but this wasn't for me.

Hi SLF, having been meaning to post on here for a while as I bought a copy of Dusty Answer. It was a good read although Judith was a bit provoking - like Olivia - and I just wanted to slap some sense into her!

Thanks for the offer to send me Invitation to the Waltz. I'm a bit RL-ed out at the moment but may come back to her in the future. Our local library is pretty good so I'm hopeful they will stock some of her other work.

I have got this book now - have only read the introduction as am still finishing last month's book.

Waiting to see what I think - have only skimmed through earlier posts...