THREE TIMES TABLES

by Sara Maitland

Three women share a house in London. Rachel, her daughter Phoebe and her 15 year-old granddaughter Maggie all have to confront crucial but apparently unrelated personal dilemmas in the same twenty-four hours. Rachel an eminent palaeontologist, has to face the fact that her life work is scientifically wrong; Phoebe has a breast lump she has ignored long enough; and Maggie has to recognise that her adventures with her dragon are preventing her from growing-up.
The novel has been described as “symphonic” because of its tight structure and interwoven imagery and as “a rare blend of erudition and flamboyance” because of the way it pulls together scientific ideas and magical realist writing.

Genres: Fiction

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1990

About the author

Sara Maitland is a British writer and academic. An accomplished novelist, she is also known for her short stories. Her work has a magic realist tendency. Maitland is regarded as one of those at the vanguard of the 1970s feminist movement, and is often described as a feminist writer. She is a Roman Catholic, and religion is another theme in much of her work.

Reviews

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I may read this again. I liked it well enough but there were certain things about it that set my teeth on edge a bit. Possibly a feeling of the author's "having an agenda".
Still I did enjoy it, and I recommend it as a worthy read.
Be prepared to be uncertain about certain aspects most of the way through.

Do read it, with patience.

[Holly · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Not every experience fits neatly into numbers or rules; some truths slip between the cracks..."

For a while, I didn't know what to make of this book. I found it to be an unsettling and yet unique combination of both a comfort story about love and family bonds and also an eerie, thought-provoking, psychological exploration of reality.

In essence, I think across the three generations we see in the main characters, the main theme of this book is about growing up - and how we continue to do so in different ways throughout our lives. And the tension between rational thinking and the supernatural Sara Maitland creates only makes the journeys these characters go on more haunting.

Ultimately we're looking at three human beings trying to connect to each other and the world around them in three different places in time.

And in the end, my guess is that we, the audience, are offered the opportunity to decide for ourselves.

[Helen Meads · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very engaging tour through the interweaving of the lives of a grandmother, her daughter and her (grand)daughter, with the added interest of emerging social issues (in 1990, when it was first published) and the palaeontology of dinosaurs. Highly recommended.

[Jeffrey Knightly · Rating 5 out of 5]

This one deserves a second read

[Kay · Rating 5 out of 5]

A unique blend of straightforward narrative, feminism, and magical realism that in lesser hands would be ridiculous. Somehow, Sara Maitland brings it off with this tale of three women living under one roof. The grandmother, a distinguished paleontologist, is grappling with new hypotheses (Catastrophe rather than gradual evolution) cast serious doubt on the work on dinosaurs that made her reputation. Her daughter, who showed every indication of being a math genius, in shock after the death of her father, abandoned her place at Oxford to travel the world as a hippie and has now settled down as a city gardener. Her granddaughter (with no father in the picture) loves both women but struggles with the ongoing tension between the two, not to mention the dragon, Fenna, who has taught her to fly. At this point you have to suspend disbelief--something I'm not normally good at. Nevertheless, Maitland's tight but lyrical prose and the power of the story kept me going. You don't often get to read a novel about the importance of work in the lives of women. That in itself earns five stars from me.

[Elizabeth]

Another book in a long list of eccentric tales by the British writer Sara Maitland. This book reminds me of Peter Greenaway's early films, especially the film, "Counting Times Tables" ( I think this was the title); magic realism, I suppose is the phrase, at it's best; Much better than Garcia-Marquez who is always paired with that phrase.

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my desert-island books. I re-read it roughly every other year.

[Richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lucid account of three incredible personalities, woven though with magic and fabulous writing.

[Leti Hawthorn · Rating 5 out of 5]

An absolutely brilliant read. I finished reading it on a train journey and cried unashamedly. Must read it again!