My second review for the Man Booker Challenge is for Moon Tiger by Penelope Lively, winner of the Booker Prize in 1987.Synopsis from BarnesandNoble.com:
The elderly Claudia Hampton, a best-selling author of popular history, lies alone in a London hospital bed. Memories of her life still glow in her fading consciousness, but she imagines writing a history of the world. Instead, Moon Tiger is her own history, the life of a strong, independent woman, with its often contentious relations with family and friends. At its center — forever frozen in time, the still point of her turning world — is the cruelly truncated affair with Tom, a British tank commander whom Claudia knew as a reporter in Egypt during World War II.
I enjoyed this book immensely. It's very cleverly structured, and even a bit difficult to follow, as Claudia's memories drift in and out of her consciousness. It's interesting to learn the stories about the characters in Claudia's life: her brother Gordon, with whom she has an unusually close relationship; her estranged daughter Lisa; her on-and-off lover Jasper; and her lost love Tom.
Lively uses a shifting point of view, employing Claudia both as first and third person narrator, and even using other character's points of view. The author often recounts the same scene twice, by the different characters' points of view. What she's getting at is that history isn't fixed and universally valid, but different for each person's sensibility.
I'd recommend this book to anyone. Although I think it would be understood better at a second reading.
Other reviews for this post:
2 Comments:
Just today I picked this one up at the library and took a quick look at it. The title caught my attention. I'm glad to hear it's good. I have to bring it home with me at some point.
Yes, it's very good!
Post a Comment