In Search of Love and Beauty

by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala

This observant and insightful novel reveals, in rich and poignant detail, the interior lives of three generations of people in their quest for love and beauty Louise, not content with her husband's gentle affection, strives to reclaim her youth in titillating social and spiritual adventures. Her daughter Marietta searches for beauty in lofty ideas and in her obsession for her son Mark, who believes love is to be found in the pursuit of money and young, vacuous lovers. And Leo, their eccentric, self–styled guru, satisfies himself with power–commanding the bodies and souls of his followers.



Demonstrating Jhabvala's deft twists of irony and humor, In Search of Love and Beauty brings several lifespans, full of hopes and ideals, within our grasp.

Genres: Fiction, Literary Fiction, India, Female Authors

252 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1983

About the author

Ruth Prawer Jhabvala was a British and American novelist and screenwriter. She is best known for her collaboration with Merchant Ivory Productions, made up of film director James Ivory and producer Ismail Merchant.
In 1951, she married Indian architect Cyrus Jhabvala and moved to New Delhi. She began then to elaborate her experiences in India and wrote novels and tales on Indian subjects. She wrote a dozen novels, 23 screenplays, and eight collections of short stories and was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the Diplomatic Service and Overseas List of the 1998 New Years Honours and granted a joint fellowship by BAFTA in 2002 with Ivory and Merchant. She is the only person to have won both a Booker Prize and an Oscar.

Reviews

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good characterisations but the story was all over the place. Louise and Regi are two German women living in New York and are wealthy. They are conned all their lives by Leo a charlatan with charisma. The story is episodic switching from when they were young to when they are in their eighties.

Louise has a daughter Marietta who has a son Mark and adopts a daughter Natasha. None of the characters are likeable and aside from Natasha are all self obsessed. I guess the morale of the story is wealthy people are not necessarily happy but they are comfortable.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Known for writing the screenplays for many Merchant Ivory flicks, this was my first stab at one of her books. At the time I was interested in Indian literature (Rushdie, Naipul, etc) but I found her style a little cold. The characters and story was interesting but did not rate with the others.

[Cherise Wolas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wit, irony, and insights that come with chilling accuracy. The second novel I've read now by Jhabvala in short order and, I think, the first novel she wrote that isn't fully or even mostly set in India. It's New York City primarily and the intertwined lives of a circle of people that congregate around Leo Kellerman, handsome and charismatic, a penniless refugee who is taken up by Louise and her childhood friend Regi, both German refugees who arrived in NY in the 1930s with their money. The ins and outs of their lives, and the lives of Louise's family - husband, daughter, grandson and adopted granddaughter, the full panoply of follies, passions, loves, aging, and more. Tumultuous and often comedic and so deftly written.

[Dominick Bartkewicz · Rating 4 out of 5]

The writing is very smart and literate.Very much Natalie Ginsberg style.You don't really read this to see what happens next.It's a real crash course in fiction writing.More superior than heat and dust.

[Matthew Lawrence · Rating 5 out of 5]

Knowing her only as the Merchant Ivory Screenplay Lady, I was quite taken with this one (though it may be considered one of her lesser novels, based on some quick Googling). I'll include some more thoughts in my next Patreon update.

[Alex Soong · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely love this work. The captivating prose just draws you into other lives and other places like the shifting bits of a kaleidoscope. A writer of enormous talent, Ruth Prawer Jhabvala can somehow make you feel that you know a character well with a deft and economical word sketch. Scenes appear so realistically in the mind's eye that one feels that it could never have happened any other way. There is not the least bit of spare fat or padding in her writing. The lack of a strong plot does not matter in the least when even the most mundane detail -- a hat, the cry of a baby or a hair-cut-- is rendered interesting from the poetry of her description. This is a book for those who love the sheer beauty of words, a book like shimmering silk which catches the light and leaves you gasping.

[Lexi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Personally one of my favourites, I wholeheartedly love this book! The pacing of the plot was done very well, and the wide range of characters called for many different and unique scenarios. The ending was perfectly climatic while also leaving a sense of disgust with the reader - I would highly recommend this book.

[Lori · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sadly, the characters may have been in search of love and beauty, but they had no idea how to find it. I kept wishing someone in the book would show a little self-respect. Jhabvala writes beautifully, but it was so hard to root for any of these selfish, shallow people.

[emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

this book was sooooooo good. so thoughtful. so melancholic

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

The pacing of this book was kind of slow, but I enjoyed it. The characters were engaging and multi dimensional. I don't know if I'd go out of my way to find more books by the author, but I'm glad I read it.

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Must reread. I think I'm supposed to like it much more than I did.

[Alexa · Rating 3 out of 5]

beautiful character exploration, but the story had little movement and was ultimately disappointing. Is it that I'm just tired of dysfunctional family novels, no matter how well written?

[Simon newson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not a lot

[Em]

20 pages in and i despise all the characters. i don't know that that is something i can get over.