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37th out of 99 books
—
7 voters
A World of Love
In a writing career that spanned the 1920s to the 1960s, Anglo-Irish author Elizabeth Bowen created a rich and nuanced body of work in which she enlarged the comedy of manners with her own stunning brand of emotional and psychological depth.
In A World of Love, an uneasy group of relations are living under one roof at Montefort, a decaying manor in the Irish countryside. Wh...more
In A World of Love, an uneasy group of relations are living under one roof at Montefort, a decaying manor in the Irish countryside. Wh...more
Paperback, 160 pages
Published
August 12th 2003
by Anchor
(first published 1954)
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Elizabeth Bowen has somehow managed to portray stasis as an art form. In a book where mere suggestion alone can result in so much soul searching and change is truly amazing. Yet her story is told beautifully and not only that, but there are some wonderfully bleak moments thrown in as well. The ending is both unexpected and eccentric; yet it’s fun...it’s on par with that perfect 10 moment with Bo Derek and Dudley Moore. I couldn’t help but giggle. ;) That said, this scene does work, since you can...more
Sometimes I love Bowen, sometimes she bores me to tears. And this is pretty easy to explain: when she's writing about peoples' relationships and the way we're always talking past one another and not saying what needs to be said, she's fabulous. When she's describing landscape or interior decorating she's almost always insufferable. Unfortunately for this short book, there's too much landscape and not enough people not quite relating to each other. Also, the ending is unbearably stupid; I suggest...more
This is third of Elizabeth Bowen's books that I've read, and I just can't really get into any of them. They have all the ingredients of a book that I would love--female protagonists, first half of the 20th century British setting, romance (without being A Romance Novel), but the characters always seem so distant, so unrelatable, that I don't particularly care what happens to them. She does write beautifully, but I can never become immersed in a book without being able to put myself into the shoe...more
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This book was written in 1954. It's a story about a group of relatives living at Montefort, a decaying manor in the Irish countryside. Jane, who is 20, discovers a packet of love letters in the attic that were written by her mother's one-time fiance who died in World War I. It's not really clear who the letters were written to, but the effect on the family is like opening a Pandora's Box. In this book I
didn't like any of the characters, so it's hard to really care what happened. Few quotes were...more
didn't like any of the characters, so it's hard to really care what happened. Few quotes were...more
Examining "Life with the lid on and what happens when the lid comes off" was apparently at the heart of Elizabeth Bowens writing. This is the second book i've read by her and i can see that concept as central to both. In this slight novel she examines one small family living under the shadow of Guy, a young man who died during WWI. Guy's cousin Antonia inherited Montefort, his Irish estate. Antonia determined to take care of Guy's fiance Lilia, by manipulating her into marriage with another dist...more
The story didn't really develop for me, and seemed lacking of the really powerful characters that I love in Bowen's writing. Her short stories, The House in Paris, and Eva Trout are splendid, but I can't recommend this one.
Challenging yet rewarding. Ultra emotional and intense. One is so engrossed in the world of the book that one doesn't want it to end. The last line is one of the most beautiful I've read in literature.
Jane, a young woman, lives with her family in the english countryside between the wars. Her family came about out of a marriage of convenience, brought about by the death of a betrothed cousin in first war. One day however, she finds a bundle of letters in the attic that awaken her to the world of love that existed before her birth. Although this novel is one of "100 best of the 20th century," most of the time, I couldn't really figure out what was happening during the awakening. There's a lot o...more
Despite its (in my opinion, unfortunately cheesy) title, the small world Bowen examines is lacking in love: this intimate portrait shows a dissatisfied family haunted by love's ghosts. The story covers a span of only a few days at a decaying country home. The drama is in the emotional tension unleashed by a packet of old love letters Jane, the elder of two daughters, drags out of the attic. I think this book has depths I couldn't reach this time; I will read it again, maybe multiple times. I thi...more
I was curious about the 1001 books you must read before you die http://www.listology.com/content_show.cfm/content_id.22845/Books and took a look at it. Some I agreed with, some not, but most I'd heard of--so who was this mysterious woman Elizabeth Bowen who had a number of titles on the list? How had an esteemed woman author from the early 1900's escaped my notice? I will never know, but she's good. Put the book down and see and hear the characters and walk through the landscape good. Now, what...more
Elizabeth Bowen could teach a master class in excessive use of the comma.
I like this novel. It's very romantic in its twisted and supernatural yet cynical way.
2.5 stars more accurate. Started off really liking this, but I found it quickly ran out of steam. I will re-read though, like many of Bowen's novels the plot is quite evasive and it's easy to miss significant details and developments.
Hard to follow but wonderfully atmospheric.
The sort of soap opera plot did not draw me in. But her beautiful writing and thoughtful meditation on what death means were eventually irresistible.
Dec 18, 2011
Mblack
added it
This wasn't my favorite Bowen book.
Textured, profound language of inner and outer worlds and emotions. It reminded me of Ford Maddox Ford's The Good Soldier in the precise and loving details of how this frozen family begins to come to life.
Jun 19, 2013
Diane Barnes
marked it as to-read
Jun 15, 2013
Dave
marked it as to-read
Jun 10, 2013
Jessica
is currently reading it
Jun 09, 2013
Mary Sue
marked it as to-read
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Elizabeth Dorothea Cole Bowen, CBE was an Anglo-Irish novelist and short story writer.
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“When you love someone, all your saved-up wishes start coming out.”
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“A living dog's better than a dead lion.”
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