Long out of print, Shirley Hazzard's classic novel of love and memory
A young Englishwoman working in Naples, Jenny comes to Italy fleeing a hi... read full description
A young Englishwoman working in Naples, Jenny comes to Italy fleeing a hi... read full description
reviews
Aug 19, 2011
Teresa
rated it: 
I wanted to say that this is a book that could only have been written by an author at the height of her powers, but I know Hazzard went on to write two even more beautifully written, complex novels after this one.
"The Bay of Noon" is about much more than what it seems to be about. It is about more than Naples, or even Italy, though a very strong sense of both comes through (including, through the pasts of two of the characters, what the city and the country suffered durin More...
"The Bay of Noon" is about much more than what it seems to be about. It is about more than Naples, or even Italy, though a very strong sense of both comes through (including, through the pasts of two of the characters, what the city and the country suffered durin More...
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Sep 02, 2010
Karen
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Shirley Hazzard has a most wonderful knack of precise, deft characterisation: the narrator describes her sister-in-law as "an emphatic little woman. When I first knew her she could look delicious even so, an infuriated kitten.", which succeeds in giving us a picture of the sister-in-law and an idea of Jenny, the narrator, too. And although Jenny is the voice we hear, we are nevertheless made privy to how others see her: the time she spent in Naples she was a young woman of twenty somet
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10 comments
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(4 people liked it)
Jan 26, 2011
Laysee
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A quiet novel about friendship and love set in Naples, Italy. This is a book you'd want to linger over and luxuriate in the wonderful dialogue and vivid phrases that act like color in a painting. You see the landscape infused with thought and joy. Hazzard has a rare gift of subtly capturing states of mind and tones of voice. The Bay of Noon touches me deeply in a way I did not feel in The Great Fire. A rewarding book to read when you are not in a hurry and simply wish to savor the moment of plea
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(1 person liked it)
Mar 26, 2009
Joan
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I loved The Great Fire by Shirley Hazzard. At the time that I read it, it was the most beautiful, poetic prose that I had ever read. I recently decided it was time to go back and to read Hazzard's older novels.
I really enjoyed The Bay of Noon. Hazzard's characteristic poetic language, though not as well-formed yet in this book as when she wrote The Great Fire, is still present and soothing to read. She has a way of describing a feeling, evoking an emotion, describing a personalit More...
I really enjoyed The Bay of Noon. Hazzard's characteristic poetic language, though not as well-formed yet in this book as when she wrote The Great Fire, is still present and soothing to read. She has a way of describing a feeling, evoking an emotion, describing a personalit More...
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(2 people liked it)
Sep 09, 2008
James
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A young English woman in Naples in the aftermath of World war II meets an Italian writer. A simple enough encounter that leads to a friendship with both the writer, felicitously named Gioconda, and the writer's lover Gianni, a Roman film director. This book is short, yet far from simple as the encounter contrasts both the trio and a fourth person, a Scotsman named Justin, and highlights the background of each of the characters as their lives are woven together. Shirley Hazzard demonstrates here
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Jun 21, 2008
John
rated it: 
I selected this novel in the hopes that Hazzard would deliver another story as compelling as The Great Fire. Although the two works share some similarities, this one falls short in comparison.
Both novels examine characters dealing with the aftermath of WWII, The Great Fire set in reconstructionist Japan, while The Bay of Noon is set in Naples. The great strength of The Bay of Noon is the excellent clearly described rendering of the city of Naples and to a lesser degree the people o More...
Both novels examine characters dealing with the aftermath of WWII, The Great Fire set in reconstructionist Japan, while The Bay of Noon is set in Naples. The great strength of The Bay of Noon is the excellent clearly described rendering of the city of Naples and to a lesser degree the people o More...
Sep 26, 2011
Moira
rated it:
Gorgeous and precisely, almost surgically, heartbreaking. As with The Great Fire (which everyone everywhere should immediately read), and in spite of it being very specifically concerned with post-war Naples, this book feels oddly timeless, as if I could be reading something written in second century Rome or 19th century England.
I loved it. It hurt.
I loved it. It hurt.
Aug 28, 2010
Sarah
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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May 30, 2010
Carol
rated it: 
This novel centers around Jenny, a young British woman assigned to work at the NATO base in Naples shortly after WWII. While there, she assimilates into the city and becomes close to Gioconda, a Neapolitan writer, her film-maker lover Gianni, and a fellow NATO employee, Justin. While the book was well-written and did a marvelous job of conveying the atmosphere of time and place, I found it overall quite dull. Nothing much really happens until the very end, and even then, the climactic events are
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Feb 18, 2011
Charita
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I was bored. There was so much description of place but the characters felt undeveloped. I didn't care about them and found myself skimming to get through it. There was a hint that something exciting might happen but I found myself disappointed.
Feb 05, 2010
Lisa
rated it:
Shirley Hazzard is a fantastic author, and if you haven't read anything of hers, this is a good one to start with because it's in the news - as one of the longlisted books in the Lost Booker Prize Award.
See my review at http://tinyurl.com/ylzld3s
See my review at http://tinyurl.com/ylzld3s
Jun 29, 2010
Peter
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A delight to read, written in a style that is now considered old. Long, complex sentences, wonderful full descriptions, intelligent and elegant.
Jan 19, 2011
Maria
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This is a gem of a novel. I plan on reading everything by this extraordinarily perceptive writer.
9 comments
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(1 person liked it)
Sep 30, 2011
Melanie
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Young English woman moves to Naples and meets a group of people who change her life.
Jun 06, 2011
Julianabadescu
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the writing transports you back in time and to Italy..she does descriptions better than most authors
Jan 07, 2010
Mark
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It doesn't really seem to matter what Shirly Hazzard writes about, the quality--texture--of her writing is so extraordinary, I feel transported whenever I read her.
Her story lines are interesting enough and her characters are interesting enough, but neither approach the sheer virtuosity of her writing. But it doesn't matter that the story is sometimes merely 'normal'; it provides a vehicle for the display of some of the best writing in English one will find.
Her story lines are interesting enough and her characters are interesting enough, but neither approach the sheer virtuosity of her writing. But it doesn't matter that the story is sometimes merely 'normal'; it provides a vehicle for the display of some of the best writing in English one will find.
Oct 01, 2008
Erin
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The writing here is elegant and subtle, belying the turbulence of the characters and their stories in Post WWII Italy. It's passages like this one near the end that I most admired:
"Arriving in America, I was coming from this. Some part of me would always be coming, now, from this. Like the dye they had injected into my veins, the country coloured my essence, illuminated the reaction to everything else. Here, literally, I had come to my senses."
"Arriving in America, I was coming from this. Some part of me would always be coming, now, from this. Like the dye they had injected into my veins, the country coloured my essence, illuminated the reaction to everything else. Here, literally, I had come to my senses."
Jun 21, 2010
Nancy
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Slow and boring. The end finally had some suspense, but the story ended before the suspenseful part happened. Very frustrating!
Oct 06, 2008
Lindsay
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This was good. I love Hazzard's writing style... it's so full of wonderful superlatives that you feel a real connection to the time, place and people of her stories. The end was a bit anti-climatic, but I understand that this was a story about the passage of time, so I suppose the ending was suiting.
Apr 23, 2008
Trina
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an exquisite book about a young Englishwoman in post-World War 2 Naples.
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