From the Bookshelf of Constant Reader…

The Children's Book

A.S. Byatt

Start date: September 15, 2010

Finish date: October 15, 2010

Discussion: Reading List

Discussion leader: Jane

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Reading List

* The Schedule for July through Dec. 2025
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What Members Thought

Jan 12, 2010 Laura rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: books-on-books, historical-fiction, british-literature, hf-world-war-i, literary-criticism, family-saga, mtbr-challenge-2013, read-2013, 1001-books-you-must-read-before-you, edwardian

Page 69:
The English formed an impression of conspiratorial secrets, partly because the only words they understood were the names of the recently assassinated French President, Carnot, and the guillotined anarchist, Vaillant, who had thrown a nail-bomb into the Chamber of Deputies.

Page 70:
Prometheus vase.

Page 72:
Marionettes, by contrast, are creatures of the upper air, like elves, like sylphs, who barely touch the ground. They dance in geometric perfection in a world more intense, less hobbledeho ...more

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Aug 28, 2010 Sheila rated it liked it · review of another edition

This was my first Byatt. I found it hard going. Yet there was something about it. In amidst it all is an incredible family saga, but I found it really hard to follow - too many characters, too much preaching/teaching about the socio-political context of the time, and an annoying tendency to wonder off down rabbit holes, and stories within the story. None of these in themselves are unusual or hard to cope with but when all of them are present together it becomes a much more difficult read. Perhap This was my first Byatt. I found it hard going. Yet there was something about it. In amidst it all is an incredible family saga, but I found it really hard to follow - too many characters, too much preaching/teaching about the socio-political context of the time, and an annoying tendency to wonder off down rabbit holes, and stories within the story. None of these in themselves are unusual or hard to cope with but when all of them are present together it becomes a much more difficult read. Perhaps the audio version wasn't the best format for this particular book. The consequence of all this is that even having just finished it I feel competely unable to hold in my mind any one character in full and doubt whether I could map out any character's story in its own right. A case of not being able to see the wood for the trees. As family sagas go then this fails this test for me.

I felt the book to be overly long. For me, editing out some of the socio-political context sections, or at least trimming them down, would have improved the overall read. For example, if I want to read about Women's Suffrage then I'd go and read a book on that subject: from general knowledge I know enough, perhaps with a little bit or prompting, to recall enough to position this story within that context - what I dont want is what seemed like about 45 minutes of it in the final 3 hours of the story! On the other hand I did think the balance was better for the large part in the section about the boys expereinces of WW1 trenches. Now I admit I am not someone who normally reads historical novels but I can understand why some folks like this type of book, and for them I suspect that what Byatt does she does very well as she clearly knows her stuff and must have done an incredible amount of research. And I do reckon that the book is well worth some close reading, for which the text copy would be much more appropriate a format. However, other books will have their call on my time and I suspect I will never get round to rereading it. What is more likely to happen is that I try another Byatt - benefit of the doubt and all - putting this one down to experience.

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Mar 17, 2011 Marius van Blerck rated it it was ok · review of another edition

I really wanted to like this book. I found the opening few chapters fascinating ... but slowly, imperceptibly, the narrative became precious, lecturing, self-conscious. I hung on, and I hung in, but to no avail. Somewhere inside this work was a Pullman story waiting to break through. Sadly, it was unable to peck its way out, and died in the shell.

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Dec 16, 2010 Melissa rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: constant-reader, directed-reading

This is a very long book, chock-full of historical detail from a vibrant period of English life - from late Victorian times down to the First World War and its immediate aftermath. We follow the personal stories of a large cast of characters, whose interrelationships are slowly shown to be both more or less complicated than they might at first seem. Some of the characters are drawn more fully and successfully than others, but the full panoply of people and events is by the end quite stunning -- ...more

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Aug 19, 2011 Lisa rated it liked it

Shelves: own-nook

I think this book gave me more mixed feelings than any other book I've read in the past five years. On one hand, I'd like to give the book one star; on the other hand, it could also be a four star book.

The string of character is bit confusing at first, then I started to get very attached to them. That's when the book became disappointing. Not because I genuinely liked some of the characters, but because she felt the need to turn it into a history book just as the story is getting good. This happ ...more

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Jan 14, 2011 Cookiesue9x rated it really liked it

Hmmmmmm, LOTS of (English from England) words and phrases I was not familiar with.
Interesting info about the Arts and Ctafts Movement. Fabian Society, fairy tales,the suffrage movement and family dynamics. Lots of names I was not at all familiar with(of artists politicians, etc) .
Time period from the late 1800's to beginning of WWI.
In some way all of the impetus for and examples of, culural change remind me of the 1960's and 1970's(as I look back) ...more

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Aug 30, 2010 Pang rated it it was ok

Shelves: why-did-i-bother, constant-reader

I'm disappointed to say that I actually didn't finish the book. Only got to about 156 pages. I was too cumbersome for me. Wordy with no point. It wasn't even entertaining. The thought of reading it to the end seemed like a waste of time. Plus a bunch of comments from this group that I was reading the book with were not very positive. Time to move on. Too many other books I could read. ...more

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Jul 13, 2012 Jessica rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: historical, england, world-war-i

So. So. Long. I barely finished this nearly-900 page doorstop in time to return it to the library, and it just never seemed to pick up speed in a sustained way. There were pieces that grabbed me (particularly Phillip's story), but Byatt throws so much else into the mix that it's hard to keep up your interest. If I hadn't picked this up for a challenge, this would be a rare DNF for me. Byatt writes very well and the talent is evident, but wow, I need a break. ...more

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