In a red brick mansion block off the Marylebone Road, Vivien, a sensitive, bookish girl grows up sealed off from both past and present by her timid...
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Aug 17, 2008
Stewart
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Linda Grant comes to this year’s Booker longlist following on from her longlisting for this year’s Orange Prize, an accolade she won in 2000 with her second novel, When I Lived In Modern Times. Her third novel, Still Here, flirted with the Booker back in 2002, but never made it to the shortlist. The Clothes On Their Backs (2008), her fourth novel, might yet see her take one step further to the Booker, especially in a year where, judging by the discussions on the Booker site, the field seems aver
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Dec 20, 2008
Stephanie
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YES, as the title suggests, this book talks a lot about clothes – silk gowns and vintage cocktail dresses, leather jackets and red snakeskin shoes, rags to riches.
But this is not your usual novel about fashion, written by a disgruntled magazine editorial assistant and studded with designer names. Orange Prize-wining British author Linda Grant takes the familiar phrase used to describe so many immigrants – “they came to this country with only the clothes on their backs” – and turns it into More...
But this is not your usual novel about fashion, written by a disgruntled magazine editorial assistant and studded with designer names. Orange Prize-wining British author Linda Grant takes the familiar phrase used to describe so many immigrants – “they came to this country with only the clothes on their backs” – and turns it into More...
Jul 29, 2011
I really enjoyed this short book, which has a small coned down scope--it is a story of two brothers who are seperated first by choice and then by war--think Go Zucker--they are a Jewish family in Hungary, and the situation is changing, where there are quotas and only so many Jews in each job--the younger brother, who is a Mama's boy, has a sexual indiscretion and decides to emigrate to England rather than have his fincee find out about it--and it turns out to be the decision that saves his life-
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Apr 19, 2011
Felice
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In The Clothes On Their Backs an impulsive decision to revisit a former place of employment before it goes out of business affords Vivien Kovaks the chance to examine a time in her youth that set the stage for the rest of her life. As the daughter of immigrants in some ways Vivien's life has been a series of closings. Her parents, Ervin and Berta, came to England from Hungary in 1938. Upon arriving one of the things they closed the door on was their Jewishness. They showed their gratitude to the
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Feb 09, 2011
Louise
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This is my kind of book- a well-written novel from a woman's point of view that has layers and layers of meaning. The story is captivating and the characters fully realized and multidimensional without being overly conscious.
The joys to be had in dressing and costuming in all of the ways that clothes express who we are or who we wish we could be ties all of the parts of the book into a great package.
The main character, Vivien, is endearing through as she searches for her More...
The joys to be had in dressing and costuming in all of the ways that clothes express who we are or who we wish we could be ties all of the parts of the book into a great package.
The main character, Vivien, is endearing through as she searches for her More...
Sep 17, 2009
Dymphna
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The Clothes on Their Backs, by Linda Grant is a story of a first generation American woman's search for her family's past, something her parents have deliberately kept from her. Isolated in their British flat, her parents keep a kind of old-world mixed with fear outlook on life.
Growing up in the 60's and 70's of such parents, the narrator naturally begins to explore her world in a way that horrifies her parents, even if much of it is kept secret from them.
She gravitate More...
Growing up in the 60's and 70's of such parents, the narrator naturally begins to explore her world in a way that horrifies her parents, even if much of it is kept secret from them.
She gravitate More...
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Dec 28, 2008
Felicity
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How could anyone not like a book in which the author has one of her characters state the following about George W. Bush (whom he fervently admired)?
"Not a smart man, but's that what you want--the last thing we need is for the intellectuals to gain power; I tell you, some ideas are so ridiculous only a professor could swallow them." (15)
Contrary to what you might expect, the novel is actually set in 1970s London against the backdrop of the rise of the National Fr More...
"Not a smart man, but's that what you want--the last thing we need is for the intellectuals to gain power; I tell you, some ideas are so ridiculous only a professor could swallow them." (15)
Contrary to what you might expect, the novel is actually set in 1970s London against the backdrop of the rise of the National Fr More...
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Sep 02, 2009
LindyLouMac
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The narrator of the novel is Vivien Kovacs the only child of Hungarian immigrant parents, Ervin and Berta who keep themselves to themselves and are even secretive about their past with their own daughter. It is a tantalizing portrait of life for this family in 1970’s London, it is only after Vivien is grown up and once again living back at home after a personal disaster that she decides to discover her roots. Using snippets of information she has overheard as a child she discovers her father’s
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Jan 08, 2009
Wendy
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Generally, I don't like when a book is simply about a theme - for instance, a review that starts out - this book is about racism, or classicism, or whatever ism. For the most part, I like a story that comments on a theme, makes you think - and with that said, I was immediately skeptical of a book that has such a hit you in the head metaphor as its title, as well as its running theme. Luckily, this book is about a story, not about a big "ISM", and while the metaphor is perhaps to simp
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May 01, 2009
Brian
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Set in the nineteen seventies, The Clothes On Their Backs is a novel about identity. Vivien, the narrator is the daughter of Hungarian Jewish refugees who have spent their time since coming to London trying to achieve anonymous respectability. Both their anonymity and their respectability are threatened however, by the towering figure of Uncle Sandor, the black sheep of the family, a slum landlord whose character has been based upon the notorious Peter Rachman.
While there are some th More...
While there are some th More...
Sep 24, 2011
Lucy
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I read this book for a bookclub (a very rare event for me) and it that sense it was the first compulsory book I've read in ages. I think this might account for my initial dislike because as the book progressed I really began to enjoy it.
A coming of age tale which tracks a young woman's attempt to forge her identity as a second-generation immigrant set against the backdrop of 1970s London and the rise of the NF.
It brings into consideration what makes our identity: our clot More...
A coming of age tale which tracks a young woman's attempt to forge her identity as a second-generation immigrant set against the backdrop of 1970s London and the rise of the NF.
It brings into consideration what makes our identity: our clot More...
May 19, 2009
Caitlin
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I really loved this book with its sharp, incisive character studies & underlying exploration of how a wardrobe can reveal & conceal.
The main character, Vivien, embarks on a search for her family history by talking with her father's estranged brother, Sandor, once convicted of being a slum lord. Sandor is a complex character - a slum lord, a pimp, a survivor of slave labor camps during WWII, an escapee from communist Hungary. He is by turns "the face of evil" & the soul of More...
The main character, Vivien, embarks on a search for her family history by talking with her father's estranged brother, Sandor, once convicted of being a slum lord. Sandor is a complex character - a slum lord, a pimp, a survivor of slave labor camps during WWII, an escapee from communist Hungary. He is by turns "the face of evil" & the soul of More...
May 14, 2011
Jessica
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I thought this book was great. I don't understand some of the 2 star ratings and people who said it was boring. It is a coming of age story, a story of discovering your roots, and a story of coming to terms with who you are and where you come from. Clothing does play an important role, as the title suggests, but in a way that paints important pictures of the main characters - Vivian Kovaks and her uncle Sandor. Clothing is very important to each character but for entirely different reasons. For
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Jun 13, 2011
Jessica
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I think 3.5 stars would be a more accurate assessment of my review. I enjoyed this story of a family's dissimilar ways of enduring loss and hardship and how the past affects the present. However, I don't think Grant did a convincing job of conveying character's personalities and transformations through their clothes. She certainly is detailed about what they are wearing at any given time, but I thought that it was TMI on most occasions. Perhaps this clothing/personality correlation would wor
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May 04, 2011
Susan
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I'm not sure how Linda Grant got on my "to read" list, but it probably was not because this book was short-listed for the Booker prize. THE CLOTHES ON THEIR BACKS was not quite depressing enough to win the Booker, close, but no cigar. The 50+ narrator Vivien Kovacs, a Londoner and daughter of Hungarian refugees who is excessively interested in clothes, tells the story of how she came to know who she was when, having been widowed in a freak accident on her honeymoon, she went in searc
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Dec 19, 2009
Hubert
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Feb 09, 2009
Leah
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BORING! i was very disappointed in this book. i expected so much for. i found it long, vague, going nowhere.
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Jan 19, 2010
Liz
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This is a novel about a Hungarian family. The narrator, Vivien, is the daughter of parents who come to England before WWII. They have lived an inconspicuous life in a flat in Kensington. Vivien has had a closeted upbringing, marrying the boy she meets at University. He dies on the second day of their honeymoon. By contrast, her father's brother, remains in Hungary through the war, making a living as a pimp and rackateer. He comes to London after the war and becomes a slum landlord. Based o
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Oct 23, 2009
Jgknobler
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The daughter of Hungarian Jewish refugees in London learns about her family's background after a series of interviews with a disgraced uncle. This novel takes a surprisingly forgiving view of the activities of a slumlord and pimp (somehow seen as byproducts of the indomitable human spirit in tough times). There are a number of grammatical errors in this book which I cannot believe are intentional and which made it difficult to read--and also difficult to reconcile with the fact that the book was
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Jan 13, 2010
Ian
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70s london recreated and lots of references to clothes. The story of a timid jewish family - mom, dad and mainly daughter - Vivien. She is finding herself as she goes through univeristy but is more interested in her notorious uncle, Sandor Kovas. He visited once when she was a child but was thrown out by her father in one of his rare displays of emotion. Sandor is a criminal slum lord and pimp. Vivian meets up with him after university and writes his autobiography, discovering some fairly o
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Aug 31, 2011
Erin
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Vivian, an only child of Hungarian refugees, finds herself a widow and unemployed at 24. With no direction and no drive, she patiently waits out her days at the house she grew up in. Will a chance (or was it?) meeting with her criminal uncle, Sandor, who used to be a slumlord be the event that turns her around? Will the connection to her parents' past help her through her struggles?
I'm still not sure what story this book was telling. Was it a story of Vivian overcoming her grief? Was More...
I'm still not sure what story this book was telling. Was it a story of Vivian overcoming her grief? Was More...
Jun 12, 2011
Katherine
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I'm reading this with great interest. I like the characterizations, which are fearless and not particularly flattering. I love revisiting London of the 70's. The sexual coming of age of a young woman who was fiercely protected by immigrant parents who were afraid to go outside of their doors is believable and again, not dressed up to be pleasing. It is just honest. Very irritating is one constantly repeated grammatical error: "which" when "that" is needed. Where are the More...
Aug 29, 2011
Sunflower
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This is a well-written story about one woman finding her roots in 1970's London, at the time of the rise of the National Front. Her Hungarian immigrant family are the background to the story, and in some way they are all searching for their place in the world. The marriages are all fatally flawed (several of them quite literally) and in the background, almost un-noticed until you start thinking about it, the clothing theme weaves itself into the mix. The story comes full circle back to Eunice in
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Mar 02, 2009
Kathleen
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When I first started this book I couldn't put it down. The writing completely drew me in. I liked the fact that Vivien's family from the old country kept to themselves, but the other people in their building took Vivien under their wing, to let her know about the world. Somehow the growing relationship with her uncle (father's brother) the slum landlord who had been in prison and written up in the papers, whom the father refused to acknowledge to Vivien) put me off! I could see how Vivien would
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May 03, 2009
Evelyn
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What a disappointment! This book was shortlisted for the Mann Booker Prize so I figured it was a good bet. Instead, the story was really, really predictable. This is just another coming of age, child of holocaust survivors story, the wrinkle here being the immigrant parents don't tell their daughter about their past at all, and she discovers their history through a rogue uncle she meets when she's a young adult. The plot telegraphed all it's 'surprises' from the get-go. Some of the writing was l
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Jan 30, 2009
Living in London, 53-year-old Vivien recalls coming of age in the 1970s as the only child of timid, immigrant parents from Hungary who are loathe to discuss the past. Drawn to her flashy “evil” Uncle Sandor, an infamous slum landlord who is despised by her parents, she learns about her family history and survival, and about how something as simple as a new dress or pair of shoes can help create a new beginning. Shortlisted for the prestigious Booker Prize, this wise and lively novel is one to s
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Jan 19, 2009
Barbara
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Man Booker Prize shortlisted novel by London author, Linda Grant, packs a whallop. A coming of age story, it examines the nature of good and evil and the murky waters inbetween combined with the difficulty of the immigrant experience. The plot, and unveiling of family secrets, keeps the reader suspended, wondering what's around the next corner. The characters, lovingly clothed by the author, display all the inconsistencies and vulnerability that are part of our human situation. I read the e
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Nov 28, 2011
Athena
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I absolutely loved this book, in large part because I was able to identify with the main character and see echoes of my family's history in the characters. I felt that I understood their emotional responses and motives for their actions. However, even though I really connected with the story, I can see why it didn't ultimately win the 2008 Booker (being beat out by The White Tiger)
Vivien is the only child of Ervin and Berta Kovaks, Hungarian Jews who moved to London in the late 1930 More...
Vivien is the only child of Ervin and Berta Kovaks, Hungarian Jews who moved to London in the late 1930 More...
Jul 30, 2011
Josh
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Built on a promising premise of showing us how clothes define our selves, this novel was also ambitious in its attempt to capture the history of a slum landlord in London through the eyes of his estranged niece.
Interspersed with thread narratives about slavery, the plight of East European refugees, discrimination and family ties, it also tries to deal with a displaced youth's sense of belonging and relations with her timid parents who are afraid to live life (in her opinion).
But perhaps it is More...
Interspersed with thread narratives about slavery, the plight of East European refugees, discrimination and family ties, it also tries to deal with a displaced youth's sense of belonging and relations with her timid parents who are afraid to live life (in her opinion).
But perhaps it is More...
Aug 29, 2009
Leon
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Near the ending of the book, Miranda tells us “The clothes you wear are a metamorphosis. They change you from the outside in.”
All throughout the book The Clothes On Their Backs, clothes play a big part in the story of Miranda, daughter of Hungarian Jewish immigrants, and, specifically, niece of the notorious slum lord of 60s London, Sándor Kovacs.
This was the time of English punk music and fashion. Unfortunately for Miranda she was stuck with a headful of corkscrews and hair More...
All throughout the book The Clothes On Their Backs, clothes play a big part in the story of Miranda, daughter of Hungarian Jewish immigrants, and, specifically, niece of the notorious slum lord of 60s London, Sándor Kovacs.
This was the time of English punk music and fashion. Unfortunately for Miranda she was stuck with a headful of corkscrews and hair More...
