I have a thousand and one posts I want to do here but I made a resolution to write more book reviews and not fall behind in 2025 (cue hysterical cackling from the peanut gallery). So the other posts can wait a while and I'll talk a bit about The Light Years by Elizabeth Jane Howard, my second book for 2025.
So, the setting for this book is two consecutive summers: 1937 and 1938. The Patriarch and Matriarch of the Cazalet family are William and Kitty, both in their seventies. They live somewhere near the south coast of England in a large house and every summer they host the whole family for the school summer holidays. They have three sons, Hugh, Edward and Rupert and an unmarried daughter, Rachel, who lives with William and Kitty. The sons all have wives and families so the house, in the summer, is very lively and full.
It's hard to say what this book is about as it doesn't have an exciting plot that cracks along and whizzes the reader off on a roller-coaster ride. It's not at all 'pacey'. It's a book about the every day lives of the middle classes just before the war: what their attitudes to current affairs were, how their marriages worked, or didn't, how they dealt with their children, how said children felt about their upbringing, schools, relatives, that kind of thing. The big surprise to me was to discover that this book was not written in the 1930s but in the 1990s. But as I went along I realised that I would not have been under that misapprehension for very long. Some of the issues featured in some detail in this book, infidelity, sex, lesbianism, menstruation, married women not being happy with their lot and much more - these are not things that would you find in books by Angela Thirkell, D. E Stevenson, Molly Clavering, who actually did write in the 1930s. Not as blatently or in such detail anyway. But none of it is offensive... don't come away with that idea. It's all handled very delicately, matter-of-factly, 'this is what happened, you decide for yourself what you think about it' sort of thing. I love it when authors do not tell you what your opinion should be (happens far too much in modern fiction), that approach can be far more effective in informing and stretching the reader.
I loved the voices of the children. There were of course brothers and sisters, cousins, ranging in age from a newborn to fifteen or sixteen, a dozen or so in all. (Thank goodness for the family tree and list of characters at the beginning!) The dynamics between boys and girls in the 1930s was interesting, sometimes quite 'Enid Blyton', others very much not in depicting the selfishness of children, their very real worries, the manipulative or predatory nature of some teenage girls... even one of the wives is only just into her twenties for instance (second marriage) and has yet to grow up properly... and the sometimes uncontrolled violence of boys and what they're prepared to do to be top dog amongst their peers.
There are some fascinating stories here. I was transported to another age but one that is about to change out of all recognition, and they know it. The writing is sublime (I was reminded of Rosamunde Pilcher), so much detail and beautiful characterisation, from the aging parents, to cheating husbands, bored housewives, vivacious children and even the cook and chauffeur were every bit as real as the rest of the cast.
I gave this an unreserved 5 stars on Goodreads. I had a feeling I would like it as I've seen glowing reviews from bloggers I respect, but as we all know that's not always what happens. Book two, Marking Time, deals with the outbreak of war. I already have it, having anticipated liking The Light Years enough that I would want to read the second book fairly soon. Good choice.
So, this is only my second book for January and I'm quite happy with that. Last year I decided to read more slowly and actually cut my number read by about 30. And I may well end up reading even less this year but enjoying more.
I hope you're all keeping well and finding excellent books to read this first month of 2025.
2 comments:
Very insightful as to the different approach Howard took vs authors writing in that era. I had forgotten exactly when this was set although I thought it was right before WWII. I knew you would enjoy this and now I want to reread it! This was the sort of book that made me long for cousins and a big country house (although I prefer to read about outdoorsy activities than participate in them!).
So glad you enjoyed this. This is one of my favorite series and I have reread it multiple times. I hope you enjoy the rest of the Cazalet Chronicles as much as I did!
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