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The Photograph

3.21 of 5 stars 3.21 · rating details · 2,212 ratings · 337 reviews

Booker Prize-winning novelist Penelope Lively's latest masterpiece opens with a snapshot: Kath, before her death, at an unknown gathering, holding hands with a man who is not her husband. The photograph is in an envelope marked "DON'T OPEN - DESTROY." But Kath's husband does not heed the warning, embarking on a journey of discovery that reveals a tight web of secrets: with...more

Paperback, 240 pages

Published May 25th 2004 by Penguin Books (first published January 1st 2003)

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Aug 26, 2008 Mark rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction

Thank you, thank you, Penelope Lively. At a time when I really needed a good writer to tell a good story about real grown-ups dealing with real situations, this novel came along.

At the outset, landscape historian Glyn is rummaging around for a paper he needs and finds an old photograph kept by his wife, who had died some years before. In it, she is seen surreptitiously holding hands with his brother-in-law, Nick. This starts him out on a journey to discover what was going on, and more importantl...more

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Nov 08, 2009 Shannon rated it 3 of 5 stars

I picked this book up because it was the right length for my recent flight. I had no expectations and had not read this author previously.

Glyn finds a photograph of his dead wife and it changes everything for him. As he slowly investigates the implications of the photo, a picture of his wife gradually develops and grows slowly coming into a more perfect focus.

The novel is at once spare in its exploration of the meaning of the life of the central character, Kath, who is the only voice missing fro...more

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Mar 31, 2008 Kate rated it 1 of 5 stars

I looked forward with great anticipation to Penelope Lively's The Photograph. I believe it was selected for Today's Book Club, and most reviews have been very favorable. I must admit that I was highly saddened. I rarely discover a book I don't enjoy at least in some aspects, but I must say this one is an exception…I read the first few chapters, then thumbed through the rest, eager to find something that would peek my curiosity, really anything, that might capture my attention, but it in no way h...more

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Nov 10, 2007 Julie rated it 3 of 5 stars

This book won the Booker Prize, so I sort of expected a little more. It was an engaging enough read, but I figured out the great revelation of the book halfway through and then just had to wait to get there. Most of the characters spend the book gradually realizing how self-absorbed they are, which is sort of the message of the book, but I found their self-absorption so annoying that I felt like I couldn't appreciate the lesson.

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May 23, 2007 Lisa rated it 2 of 5 stars Recommends it for: not many

While the premise was totally interesting, the implementation of it was NOT. Plot was meandering (not in a good way), characters were almost all unsympathetic, and it was just sort of boring overall. I did read it and finish it, but only because I was on a 13-hour flight and had nothing better to do! Not horrible, but not as entertaining as I'd like a book to be.

10 likes · like · see review

Sep 16, 2012 Katherine rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012, general-fiction

A photograph from the past prompts characters to explore different perspectives of their lives and relationships, one after the other, weaving a story. Interactions between various characters progress and over-lay each other until the book culminates in revelations for not only the characters, but the reader as well.

Originally I thought I'd give this 2 stars because I personally found the story terribly depressing--it's a study of various relationships with a chronic lack of connection. However...more

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Dec 28, 2012 Lori Anderson rated it 3 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Jan 23, 2008 Diane rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction

I like most all books by Penelope Lively. This is a good story, well told with some disturbing things to think about. She explores the way we see and know and don't know those closest to us. It was disturbing to think that perhaps I am also more interested in myself than in the people I love so they are only out of focus pictures rather than real people.

Glyn discovers a photograph that indicates that his wife Kath, who died young about 10 years previously, had had an affair with his brother-in-l...more

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Jan 16, 2008 Marie cuatt rated it 2 of 5 stars Recommends it for: no one

Recommended to Marie by: Women In Literature facilitator

Kind of a mystery. The husband of the deseased finds picture of his wife and a group of family and friends. The wife is holding the hand of her brother-in-law in and intimate way (??)
The photo is taken of the rear of the group (so secretive
intimate way) Solving the "crime" all the character defects of the family members and aquaintances hang out all over the place. All the while the lovely,lively and delightful deseased flits in and out of their memories for long episodes (sometime pages)
The hus...more

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Feb 28, 2013 NC Weil rated it 5 of 5 stars

Penelope Lively is the most precise writer since Henry James. Where he carries the reader to the heart of his observation in a closing spiral of phrases set off by commas, Lively offers carefully-spun details, the particulars of work and relationships. And where James offers a Pointillist view of his subject, those dots of deliberately expressed color coalescing at a distance into an image, Lively weaves in tapestry fashion - these threads, these shadings - from which patterns emerge, become viv...more Penelope Lively is the most precise writer since Henry James. Where he carries the reader to the heart of his observation in a closing spiral of phrases set off by commas, Lively offers carefully-spun details, the particulars of work and relationships. And where James offers a Pointillist view of his subject, those dots of deliberately expressed color coalescing at a distance into an image, Lively weaves in tapestry fashion - these threads, these shadings - from which patterns emerge, become vivid; yet, a few more passes of the shuttle subtly change what we see. And when she is finished, Ah. We know she's done, every thread has been incorporated, nothing remains to say, the picture is complete.

Lively's novel The Photograph begins straightforwardly enough: Glyn, a landscape historian rummaging through old papers in his closet, discovers an envelope he's never seen. The photo inside is of a group of people: his wife Kath, her sister, her sister's husband, a woman friend and her man friend. And his wife and her brother-in-law are holding hands in an intimate clasp, unseen except by the camera. Kath has been dead some years - how can this revelation make a difference now? And yet, as Glyn confronts those in the photo with its evidence, one person after another finds life shaken from its moorings. This sylph with her vital glow revisits them all, undoing their certainties, reasserting the mystery that surrounded her.

Lively uses her found-object catalyst to examine people's relations to work, to family, to friendship, to the entire range of emotions from dissatisfaction and jealousy to the full storm of love.

This slight novel, 231 pages, pulls no punches, employs no gimmicks, promises nothing it does not deliver. We are in the hands of a master. There is no bombast, only the struggles and escapes familiar to us all, directed and pointed to illuminate a life. If you appreciate clear simple language which lays bare the hidden heart in all its complexity, you should read this fine book. (less)

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Jan 14, 2013 Tim rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: modern-british-fiction

For some reason, and I am mostly clueless about what that reason might be, I sometimes dawdle in picking up a Penelope Lively novel. It might be because I like her work so much (on a couple of occasions I have stayed up much too late reading her work), and it might be something far subtler (like a book I buy might not be right for me somehow, and I wait until it is).

I bought this book when it was published, and just finished it last night, and it is terrific. So subtle, but always so entertainin...more

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Dec 14, 2012 Jean rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012

An attractive and pleasant read, but beyond that, it was only okay. My major criticism is that the plot of the novel depended upon a kind of cheap device -- the only forward movement was generated by the book's withholding of information from the reader, despite the fact that this information had always been known to all of the major characters. Meanwhile, the major character arcs basically all amount to their learning that people are complex and you shouldn't be a self-absorbed jerk, which, duh...more

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Oct 20, 2012 Erica Verrillo rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is a book you will either love or hate. I did both. The beginning was so painfully slow that I was often tempted to put it down. And, if I hadn't read Moon Tiger first (a truly brilliant novel), I might have simply given up. But, somewhere around the fourth chapter, the characters pulled me in.

The Photograph is, first and foremost, a character study. The protagonist, a beautiful, whimsical creature with the unfortunate name of Kath, is dead. Many years after her death, her husband, Glyn, fi...more

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Sep 29, 2012 Ramona rated it 4 of 5 stars

*** THIS REVIEW IS FULL OF SPOILERS ***

The Photograph was one of those books that initially it may appear to be somewhat dull and boring, but what a great read it turned out to be. Penelope does a great character study of Kath and the impact that those around her had on her life. In the process she gives us extensive background & in depth insight into the characters of each of these people. There’s Glyn, the husband; Elaine, the sister; Polly, the niece; Nick, the brother-in-law; Oliver, the...more *** THIS REVIEW IS FULL OF SPOILERS ***

The Photograph was one of those books that initially it may appear to be somewhat dull and boring, but what a great read it turned out to be. Penelope does a great character study of Kath and the impact that those around her had on her life. In the process she gives us extensive background & in depth insight into the characters of each of these people. There’s Glyn, the husband; Elaine, the sister; Polly, the niece; Nick, the brother-in-law; Oliver, the photographer; Mary Packard, the elusive friend that we don’t know much about until near the end; and a sundry of peripheral people in Kath’s life. For much of the novel we are left to speculate as to how Kath dies, but if one reads closely, it is very apparent that she commits suicide (ten years into her marriage). Glyn finds a photograph years after her death of her discreetly holding hands with Nick, her brother-in-law. A note is with it from Nick making her aware of it & asking her to destroy it which she does not. Glyn is in a quandary over this turn of events & being the historical researcher he is, pursues for more information with an obsession. Did Nick & Kath have an affair? How long did it last? Were there others? As Glyn attempts to find answers he stirs up a real can of worms because he confronts all involved (those who knew or didn’t know anything about the photograph). Elaine kicks Nick out—he is so dependent on Elaine financially and otherwise that he moves in with his daughter, Polly, which totally disrupts her life. Elaine will not discuss the matter with Polly or Nick. The last person that Glyn finally finds to talk to toward the end of the novel after coming to many dead ends in his pursuit for more information, is Mary Packard, who seems to have been Kath’s one & only true friend. Glyn, Elaine & Oliver wind up having a lengthy conversation with Mary learning who the real Kath was. Each of them had been going about their lives & to Kath seemingly constantly inadvertently putting her real needs aside. Keep in mind Kath was a beautiful woman with few aspirations other than to be needed and loved, but no one seemed to realize this. Everyone knew she was beautiful, but didn’t try to see the person underneath the beauty. For me this novel emphasizes the importance of “listening” to our loved ones and our friends and expressing our love not just assuming, “oh they know.” Polly in describing one of her days seems to summarize in a nutshell how many of his go about our lives breezing through our work, exact, but not exactly enough & socializing usefully with our colleagues. This book prompts one to take a look around at the people we know, perhaps the people we’ve dismissed from our lives that we saw as beautiful, self-centered or callous. Do we really see people we know inside? Do we listen? Do we know each other’s “real needs?” If we have something “niggling” at the back of our brain, do we stop to ask ourselves, “are we listening,” what is our subconscious telling us to pay attention to? Can we change our impact on someone’s life? The novel takes us through what many might think superfluous information, but at the end one should see that this exploration into the character’s everyday lives & their interactions (or lack thereof) with Kath were necessary to see the whole picture & understand the purpose of the book. When thinking about what happened to Kath, Oliver says it so well, “He saw—dimly, inexplicably—that in some disturbing way what had happened was heralded, that there had always been something troubled about Kath, something that set her apart. Behind and beyond her looks, her manner, there had been some dark malaise. But nobody ever saw it, back then, he thought. All you saw was her face.”
Oliver mentions the Latin phrase, “lacrimae rum,” in the last pages which he considered untranslatable. When I looked it up, there were a few translations, but the one that touched me was by Robert Fagles, “The world is a world of tears, and the burdens of mortality touch the heart.” Robert Fitzgerald translates it as "They weep here / For how the world goes, and our life that passes \ Touches their hearts."
In the end, all those touched by Kath change in their thoughts & perceptions. Elaine welcomes Nick back home, Polly finds what she thinks might be true love & Glyn continues prodding along with his work and “finds that he has to find a new way of living with Kath, or rather a way of living with a new Kath. And of living without her, in a fresh, sharp deprivation.”
(less)

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Jul 25, 2012 Linda Bond rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: general-fiction, mysterious

While searching for papers that he needs to complete a research project, Glyn runs across a photograph which changes his life forever. In it, he discovers his deceased wife holding hands with a man named Nick, as well as Nick’s wife and another couple. But who’s taking the picture and why was it sent to Kath with a note expressing Nick’s “love” for her.

Throughout, Lively treats us to a panoramic view of Kath’s life. The friends she held dear, yet seemed unable to reach with the truth of her own...more

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Jul 08, 2012 Sarah rated it 3 of 5 stars

Can a photograph change someone's life? That's the premise behind Penelope Lively's 2004 novel The Photograph. As the novel begins, recent widower Glyn accidentally finds an envelope stashed away by his late wife Kath on which is scrawled, 'Don't open -- destroy.' Naturally he opens it, only to find a photograph of Kath holding hands with her brother-in-law. This propels Glyn, an academic, into a new research project: he's determined to find out what happened. As he travels the country on his qu...more

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Jun 17, 2012 Frances Kelly rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: owned, selected-by-cce

Like "Julie," who also reviewed this book on Goodreads, I expected a little more substance to this book since it won the Booker Prize. Consequently, I was disappointed. I thought the great revelation was pretty obvious and it was clear to me midway through the book, so there went the element of suspense. However, I will grant you that this book was not intended to be entirely dependent upon suspense. Nonetheless, it's hard for me really enjoy or bring myself to recommend a book when I didn't rea...more

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Jun 17, 2012 Jenni rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: lovers of Anita Brookner, Lee Smith

Recommended to Jenni by: an old Wash Post review

A slowly unwinding discovery--which creates a very satisfying read. Great writing, though I did not do a lot of underlining.

Structure: Shifting narratives of several flawed protagonists.

Setup: Kath's husband Glyn discovers a damning photo years after her death. Three families are impacted by the subsequent "research": Glyn and Kath; Elaine, Nick and their daughter Polly; Oliver and Sandra. Each of them (well, except Kath) share their view of what happened originally and what is going on now th...more

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Apr 15, 2012 Barbara Bryant rated it 3 of 5 stars

Okay, I think Penelope Lively is quite a good writer, based on her reputation and the two books I have read by her. She is British, which makes the surroundings fun and a little different for the reader, and this book is supposed to be, perhaps, her best.
I rambled through the early chapters rather impatiently, enjoying the writing but not really interested, until the characters started to react to the main event--the finding of an old photograph that pictures the now-dead Kath, a married woman a...more

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Jul 15, 2010 Bill rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction

I think Penelope Lively is one of the best authors around for fully imagining and characterizing human relationships because she expresses not only the way people communicate but also how we miscommunicate - with each other and even with ourselves.

This book is creative with style (the writing changes depending on whose mind we have entered). It is incredibly suspenseful as each of the main characters tries to grapple with and understand a person who is dead, with whom they were intimate (as wife...more

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Jan 03, 2010 Christine Henry rated it 3 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Oct 05, 2009 Jeni rated it 4 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. There is a strange story about this book.

I ordered it off of Books Free . . . awhile ago. I am not sure how long ago I put it on my list. Books Free works just like Netflix and I normally have about 10 books on my waiting list to be sent. I don’t remember adding the book to my list, nor do I remember why I would have. Once I received the book it sat on my counter for about a month. During Thanksgiving, my sister was visiting and noticed it on the counter. She told me that she too had this book f...more There is a strange story about this book.

I ordered it off of Books Free . . . awhile ago. I am not sure how long ago I put it on my list. Books Free works just like Netflix and I normally have about 10 books on my waiting list to be sent. I don’t remember adding the book to my list, nor do I remember why I would have. Once I received the book it sat on my counter for about a month. During Thanksgiving, my sister was visiting and noticed it on the counter. She told me that she too had this book from Books Free and hadn’t read it, although she had had it for awhile. She also mentioned that her husband saw it on the dresser and randomly commented that the book “freaked him out”. It’s very weird for me to have books for so long without reading them, but suddenly I felt that there was a reason we both had the book (without consulting each other) and knew that there was probably a message-from who or what I’d rather not say. In any case, it was still January before I picked the book up to finally read it-making sure that my sister did the same. I finished it, though I am not sure she has started. It was with these preceding events that I read the book.

The story is told from multiple perspectives: a husband, a sister, a lover/brother-in-law, a niece and friends. Kath is the main character, though Kath is dead. Her husband, quite by accident, finds a photo of her holding hands with another man-her brother-in-law. As the new information comes to light-everyone that knew Kath is finding that their memories are being re-written. They now have to look at their past, their relationships and themselves in a different way.

You do not find out until almost the last chapter how Kath dies, though I guessed about half-way through the book. Today someone told me “Perception is reality” and although I am not sure I agree with that thought, it certainly brings to mind this book. Kath was perceived by the people in her life a certain way. Everyone saw her differently, but in the end, it turns out they had it all wrong. Suddenly the characters memories of their times with her are no longer happy. I don’t think, though, the memories were sad-I am not sure what the memories were changed to. I had to wonder-should the new information change the happy life you had? From her husband’s perspective-Kath and him led a wonderfully happy life and had a great marriage. Perception is reality? Should he now be devastated that their marriage wasn’t what he thought it was? Should the peace he made with her death and his subsequent life without her be ruined?

I don’t think our minds work that way. As my sister always says-you can’t UN-know something. Once we have that knowledge it will color everything we know-it can’t be erased. Perception is changed, therefore the reality is changed.

I really liked this book. Lively does a wonderful job at building all of the characters so you understand the why and the how. In the end, I felt like I still had a few unanswered questions about Kath-but I felt like it was supposed to be that way. Dead men tell no tales. You can never really know the “why” after someone is gone.

You have to make peace with your new perception. (less)

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Apr 24, 2009 Colleen rated it 3 of 5 stars

This was a slow-going, dense story but worth the reading. It certainly wasn't a feel-good story, but it made you think about how you treat the ones you love. Kath is the center of this book. Incredibly beautiful, everyone who saw her (especially men) fell in love with her. When the story opens, she has already died but you don't know how. Her husband discovers a photo of her and her brother-in-law that has been hidden in a book. It is clear from the photo that the two have shared an intimate rel...more

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Apr 16, 2009 Sarah B. rated it 2 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Ugh, this was disappointing. I felt like I was reading the author's character sketches for a book, not a finished novel. Lively gives us many points of view to her central story, which apparently took place fifteen years in the book's past. But each character is a flat, one-dimensional type who fails to do or reveal anything interesting or surprising. And, except for the dead woman, they are all tedious people, which is my very charitable explanation for the terrible prose in which this book is...more

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Jan 11, 2009 Kimberly rated it 2 of 5 stars

A man finds a photograph of his deceased wife and another man holding hands, and recognizes the man as someone very close to him. He sets out on a journey to discover more. That defining moment - finding the photograph - causes everything to be seen anew, with a cold eye of disillusion.

The only part of the story that fascinated me was the shifting points of view. A small circle of friends, all of whom have a share in the narration, each have a different view of Kath, which makes her character mo...more

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Jan 12, 2011 Diane rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011-read, most-memorable

I just finished reading this excellent book, and want to put in a review while it's still fresh in my mind. It's a poignant story, very well written, in an engaging writing style. The characters are Kath, who dominates the story, and those in her circle who knew her from many years back - sister, husband, brother-in-law, husband's partner, niece, and friend/confidant. Kath has been deceased for a number of years, and the discovery of an old photograph and its implications serve to bring about me...more

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Dec 03, 2010 Patrick rated it 5 of 5 stars

I enjoyed Lively's excellent writing style. I think the English are really masters of writing characters of omission. In that way, this book is similar to Ishiguro's Remains of the Day. Whereas we learn about Kath through the other characters in the book and the way they saw her and reacted toward her, the Remains of the Day was a masterpiece because we found out about the real story through impressions that were left unsaid.

At its essence, this book is about love and what happens to one who ye...more

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Oct 25, 2010 Agatha rated it 3 of 5 stars

My third book by this author. Continue to enjoy her writing style but think she's better than the topics she chooses, if that makes any sense. In this book, a widower discovers an old photo of his deceased wife holding hands with his brother-in-law. This launches him into questioning their whole entire life together, her life, did others see her as a philanderer, was he just the clueless cuckolded husband, etc. He spreads the news to his sister-in-law, who throws the guilty husband out of the ho...more

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Mar 02, 2012 Katherine rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

“The photograph smolders in its envelope, and in his head” (16).
“Dispassionate appraisal is Glyn's working method” (16).
“Interesting. The operation of memory would seem to be largely receptive: what is seen, what is heard. We are the center of the action, but somehow blot ourselves out of the picture. Glyn rakes around some more and finds that he cannot much hear his own voice. Just occasionally, in delivery of some lecture, or holding forth to a camera, but that will be because the lines have b...more

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May 27, 2009 Alexia561 rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction

A story about a man finding a photograph showing his late wife holding hands with another man, and his journey to find out what happened and who she really was.

While not a bad book, it was easy to put down and forget to pick back up. I can't really understand why it was chosen for the Today Bookclub or how it won any awards, as it wasn't very engrossing.

Kath, the woman in the photograph, seems to have been a rather flighty but engaging woman. Her widower Glyn is not a very sympathetic character,...more

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About Penelope Lively

Penelope Lively CBE (born March 17, 1933) is a prolific, popular and critically acclaimed author of fiction for both children and adults. She has been shortlisted three times for the Booker Prize, winning once for Moon Tiger in 1987.

Born in Cairo in 1933, she spent her early childhood in Egypt, before being sent to boarding school in England at the age of twelve. She read Modern History at St Anne...more

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Quotes from The Photograph

“My understanding of the past has been savagely undermined.” — 4 people liked it

“A stone has been cast into the reliable immutable pond of the past, and as the ripples subside everything appears different. The reflections are quite other; everything has swung and shattered, it is all beyond recovery” — 4 people liked it

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