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The Seven Sisters
When circumstances compel her to start over late in her life, Candida Wilton moves from a beautiful Georgian house in lovely Suffolk to a two-room, walk-up flat in a run-down building in central London--and begins to pour her soul into a diary. Candida is not exactly destitute. So, is the move perversity, she wonders, a survival test, or is she punishing herself? How will ...more
Paperback, 320 pages
Published
October 13th 2003
by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
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SarahC
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Recommends it for:
story about change, not taking yourself too seriously, finding who you are and liking the answer
this is my favorite Margaret Drabble book to date. For this book, I would love to meet her, buy her dinner, and tell her how in awe of her I am. It is about how to love life, literature, change, yourself. There is nothing standard about this tale -- Margaret Drabble clearly raises the bar. It is wit defined.
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On the whole, this was good; readable, at times witty. A tale of a woman in her fifties who's glad to be divorced and remaking her life, even if in a largely timid manner. The narration is mildly suspect, however. The first section is in first person, the second in third, the third and fourth in first (I don't want to reveal too much about that, but...) Our protagonist, writing her diary, is a woman with no admitted prior experience writing, and while I am, I think, nearly always willing to acce...more
This, the first work I have read by Drabble left me with mixed feelings. This work traces Candida (all sorts of allusion and inferences can be made becasue of this characters name), a recent divorcee as she moves to London and slowly accumulates a diverse collection of friends. This group ultimately plans, and travels on a joint holiday to greece and other mediterranean venues.
The novel is partitioned into a couple of distinct sections, the first which is told in the first person...more
The novel is partitioned into a couple of distinct sections, the first which is told in the first person...more
Candida Wilton, a divorcee of a certain (past middle-aged) years, lives alone in an apartment in London. Writing a diary on her new laptop, she tells of her estrangement from her daughters and her husband’s infidelity in analytical, impersonal tones. She makes a new friend or two and puts up with the occasional attentions of some old friends whom she has mixed feelings for. Then she comes into a large sum of money, and funds a trip to Tunisia in Anaeas’ shoes, bringing six other women in her ...more
An interesting coming of age book, which I tend to enjoy, typically. The protagonist, however, is an unlikely subject - recently divorced headmaster's wife, with a disinterested attachment to her three children and recent arriveal in London. Along the way Candidia's life becomes rather cliched. She 'comes into' money, joins a health club, takes a night class, makes a set of new friends and goes on a cruise to Italy.
The literary twist, however, is that her character barely evolves from her...more
The literary twist, however, is that her character barely evolves from her...more
After some months abroad in far-flung literary landscapes, I tend to return to Margaret Drabble as a sort of literary comfort food, though since this may be the 17th of her 18 novels I have read, it may soon become time to look elsewhere.
By contrast to what I think of as the "writer's workshop" sort of writers who take on the personae of people entirely alien to their actual experience, I rather like the fact that the protagonist of any given Drabble novel is almost always a cult...more
By contrast to what I think of as the "writer's workshop" sort of writers who take on the personae of people entirely alien to their actual experience, I rather like the fact that the protagonist of any given Drabble novel is almost always a cult...more
"We hadn't had time to bulid up an easy extra-mural social life" (12).
"...clouds that lay parallel above the horizon like Magritte baguettes" (19).
"Writers have to tell. It's what they do. It's what they are for" (32).
"She digresses to the forbidden subject of solitaire" (35).
“The machine hasn’t got a cliché-spotter, but its cool objective format throws them into high relief” (52).
“At first sight, the produce looked varied and...more
"...clouds that lay parallel above the horizon like Magritte baguettes" (19).
"Writers have to tell. It's what they do. It's what they are for" (32).
"She digresses to the forbidden subject of solitaire" (35).
“The machine hasn’t got a cliché-spotter, but its cool objective format throws them into high relief” (52).
“At first sight, the produce looked varied and...more
Although this reader is overly familiar with the storyline of a 50ish divorcee re-starting her life in the big city, I enjoyed The Seven Sisters very much. As a matter of fact, once I started the book I couldn't put it down. It's always refreshing to read another take on one's own situation although Candida,a doubly well-chosen name,is almost annoyingly passive at times. Yet that's a part of the process she's undertaken by moving out on her own for the first time in her life and moving to London...more
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I am an American and a huge fan of the very English writer Margaret Drabble who was born in Sheffield, Yorkshire. I love her sister A.S. Byatt too. I'm sure I would love her entire family. What I really love is her delicious use of the English language, but then she is an editor of the Oxford Companion to English Literature. She makes the short list of my absolutely favorite writers. And in this book she is at the top of her form.
“The Seven Sisters” is a book that speaks directly to me...more
“The Seven Sisters” is a book that speaks directly to me...more
Margaret Drabble manages to turn the diary of a middle-aged, recently divorced woman into an interesting book to read. Candida Wilton writes about her new life in a small London flat, contrasting it with her former incarnation as the wife of a snobbish headmaster living in a lovely home in a small town.
As Candida hesitantly charts a new path as a single person, she wryly describes her change in circumstance and attitude. Timidly, she reconnects with old friends and makes new ones...more
As Candida hesitantly charts a new path as a single person, she wryly describes her change in circumstance and attitude. Timidly, she reconnects with old friends and makes new ones...more
At the end of it all, I'm really unsure what this book is about... the salvation to be found in good company? Redemption of the meek through a heady dose of independence? Travel therapy? Why I'm glad I took Latin instead of a more "practical" language?
Forgive my levity, I am truly muddled - M. Drabble is the author of two of my favorite books of all time: the Realms of Gold and the Radiant Way. Both followed interesting characters, unrolled captivating plots and underscored all w...more
Forgive my levity, I am truly muddled - M. Drabble is the author of two of my favorite books of all time: the Realms of Gold and the Radiant Way. Both followed interesting characters, unrolled captivating plots and underscored all w...more
This was just a random book I picked up at the library based on its praise listed on the back cover, but it was so incredibly boring and weird, I quit reading about 1/3 through and skimmed the rest. It's about this lady whose husband cheats on her, probably multiple times, and finally divorces her so he can marry someone else. The unfortunate ex-wife must now fend for herself in the latter years of life - never having been forced to live alone before. We hear all about her health gym, her gro...more
Interestingly written and organized, this novel starts with a first-person account (a diary) from an English woman who has divorced her otherwise esteemed husband post his affair,left her comfortable suburban home and moved into a gritty London neighborhood to live out her days in a small apartment. Gradually she reconnects with old friends and some newer ones from a class on Virgil. When she comes into some money, she proposes a trip that kicks off the second part of the novel, told in the thir...more
Not the best of the Drabble novels I've read, but nevertheless intriguing. The point of view shifts four times in the course of the book. It starts with the diary of a woman, aged around 60, recently divorced, who has moved to London. I didn't like her very much and wondered what Drabble felt about her. Later we see her in third-person perspective, and then again from the point of view of her daughter. But just when you think you've got a grip on the multiple POVs, another turnabout leaves you s...more
I would genuinely enjoy sitting down for a cup of coffee with those readers who enjoyed this book; I found it dispiriting and tedious and would like to understand what I missed in my reading of this dreary tome.
If this was not a selection of my book club, I would not have made it through the first 75 pages and, as it was, I plodded along without much enthusiasm until the narrator appeared to change the course of her life.
Perhaps my challenge is that the narrator is a "...more
If this was not a selection of my book club, I would not have made it through the first 75 pages and, as it was, I plodded along without much enthusiasm until the narrator appeared to change the course of her life.
Perhaps my challenge is that the narrator is a "...more
I liked the voice in the diary of newly divorced Candida Wilton, who had been wife to a headmasternow married to a wealthy younger woman. Wilton is angry, depressed, and honestly trying to make a life for herself. She makes friends, spearheads a trip for seven women to the land of Virgil with her favorite scholar along. The travel group make up the seven sisters. She makes every effort to be honest with herself, surprising the reader as she reconnects with her daughters and old friends. The...more
Not my favorite Margaret Drabble novel, but definitely readable. The shifting point of view and coy secretiveness were annoying at times but the tale of Candida, former wife of a headmaster, making her middle aged new life in a London slum, studying Latin, and traveling in the steps of Virgil with an odd assortment of friends did engage my interest. Reading her journal was sometimes shocking in it's candid (pun alert) assessment of "friends." Drabble can somehow make an unlikeable cha...more
The book is horrible. While reading the first chapter, I thought, "This is bad, I hope it will get better". During the second chapter I was ready to rip my face off. The third chapter got kind of interesting but at the fourth chapter it turned out to be a hoax. The ending was horrible, strange and disappointing. I don't see the purpose of this book or what the author was trying to say. Maybe I am just too young to read about a middle aged depressed woman with nothing to do. I won't rec...more
http://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/4290...
I have not read Margaret Drabble’s entire extensive list of novels, but I have always enjoyed them from as far back as I can recall. I think the first one I read was Jerusalem the Golden in 1967 and over forty years later she is still writing entertaining and literary novels.
The humour and excellent characterisation is up to the author’s normal high standards.
‘The Seven Sisters’ is not written in chapters but in four parts, which...more
I have not read Margaret Drabble’s entire extensive list of novels, but I have always enjoyed them from as far back as I can recall. I think the first one I read was Jerusalem the Golden in 1967 and over forty years later she is still writing entertaining and literary novels.
The humour and excellent characterisation is up to the author’s normal high standards.
‘The Seven Sisters’ is not written in chapters but in four parts, which...more
I now regret not having picked up other Drabble books which were on the table at a bookswap last week!
I really enjoyed her clear style of writing. This was refreshingly different from my recent reads. I really like books which make me think 'Oh no! She didn't! That was a rotten trick! That is irritating.' Books, in other words, which make me feel emotionally involved and sympathetic to the character(s). Also anything which makes me think and grin has to be a good thing. However I don't know tha...more
I really enjoyed her clear style of writing. This was refreshingly different from my recent reads. I really like books which make me think 'Oh no! She didn't! That was a rotten trick! That is irritating.' Books, in other words, which make me feel emotionally involved and sympathetic to the character(s). Also anything which makes me think and grin has to be a good thing. However I don't know tha...more
So a friend recommended this book because of all the references to the Aeneid. These were pretty much the only things I enjoyed about this book. The author uses lots of different voices to tell the story, and I didn't really like any of them. The main narrator seemed whiny to me, and I felt like not much really happened! Perhaps I missed something or just didn't "get it." All in all, I won't be recommending this book unless to people who just want Latin references and otherwise have lo...more
Hmmm. So-so. I did get annoyed that the term "en effet" was used 3 times in 5 pages - I couldnt work out whether it was Drabble or the narrator trying to be overly pretentious.[return][return]Did pick up because I thought there was going to be more about the trip to the Sorrento area of Italy, but was dispappointed that it was dominated by the journal entries of a slightly bitter "deserted" woman, living in near poverty in London
This book has a neat approach that is not evident until about 2/3 of the way. The problem for me was that I didn't especially like the main character. And, it was pretty much all about her. She was just a little too gloomy and judgmental and I didn't want to listen to her that much. But, I did ejoy the writing style. It was clear and evocative without being trite or heavy-handed.
Recently divorced and estranged from her three daughters, Candida Wilton and has downsized her life to a modest flat in a run-down section of London. She keeps a diary of sorts on her computer, and from this we follow her thoughts as she honestly assesses her life and relationships. She at first seems incredibly lonely, but gradually builds a network of friends. An unexpected financial windfall opens her world in ways she never anticipated, and yet, was it all a dream?
Beautifully ...more
Beautifully ...more
I am a fan of M Drabble and of her books that I have read, this is one of my favorites. The characters are well developed, Candida especially. The twists and turns of the story-line are well crafted. The humor is subtle. It is about facing the facts about aging, so may not be everyone's thing, but it is something we have to deal with (hopefully) and it does so bravely.
I found this book interesting but that's not to say I liked it. There was a little character development by the single narater and hardly any story development. I believe it to be the lazy workings of a bored author. The only solice in reading this book was the death of the whingy narator. But has she died? no she's just far more twisted than previouly thought!
I think Drabble is a good writer, but for me, this is an example of a story I couldn't get into. Maybe it's just me? Bottom line, I couldn't connect with the narrator. But, I did find the this book interesting as far as experimenting with point of view goes. So if you're investigating first person novels, this might be a good read for you.
I was honestly bored to tears with it for the first 100 pages – the main character just wasn't very likable to me – but just kept thinking it had to get better. It did, but not enough for me to actually say I liked it. The author employed some unusual methods, which were interesting, but also kind of annoying. I wouldn't recommend it.
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