Book #28 A Start in Life

A Start in Life by Anita Brookner
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Anita Brookner's debut novel first published in 1981. This paperback edition reissued in 2016 by Penguin Random House as part of a series in perfect understated livery.

"Dr Weiss, at forty, knew that her life had been ruined by literature." A captivating first line... She is studying the heroines of Balzac in order to discover where her own childhood and adult life has gone awry. She is seeking enlightenment. I have a weak-spot for any book that uses Paris as a location although Weiss' Parisian love affairs were doomed from the start.

Brookner's novels explore themes of emotional loss. (She was once labeled "the mistress of gloom"). But beyond this tag her writing is exquisite and A Start in Life is a beautiful, sophisticated work endowed with many moments of gentle comedy. And it should not be overlooked that Brookner won the Booker Prize in 1984 for her novel Hotel du Lac (which I have read). Her talent for excellent prose is evident with A Start in Life.

I suppose that Brookner is (was - she died in 2016) an acquired taste. Well, I enjoy her writing and I can anticipate reading another twenty-two novels that she wrote after a distinguished career as an art historian. I might even try some Balzac....

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Book #40 Hotel du Lac

Hotel du Lac by Anita Brookner
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I first read Hotel du Lac in 1986 I think it was. Anita Brookner had been awarded the prestigious Booker Prize for her short novel. "The Hotel du Lac was a dignified building, a house of repute, a traditional establishment, used to welcoming the prudent, the well-to-do, the retired, the self-effacing, the respected patrons of an earlier era". It is beautifully written, quietly commanding, a humorous, witty, touching and formidably clever love story. 30 years on and it has stood the test of time. Anita Brookner died earlier this year by which time most of her books were out of print. Penguin has decided to revisit her back catalogue and, once again, publish them all in their typical modern classic format. I came across this edition of Hotel du Lac on a recent visit to Waterstones and was beguiled by the cover; the cover design will often persuade me to purchase. I enjoyed reading again about Edith Hope, the romantic novelist who has been exiled from home after embarrassing herself and her friends. She has refused to sacrifice her ideals and remains stubbornly single. And yet, her actions then would cause hardly a ripple in today's society. It is a story anchored in the 80s and should be approached as such. The eloquent prose is typical Brookner and deserves its place in the realms of great 20th century literature.

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