In a Summer Season FINISHING Thoughts/discussion questions

[Karen]

Share your thoughts and any discussion questions here on finishing 'In a Summer Season'.

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

I finished this yesterday. I have mixed feelings. I liked the beginning - actually through about 75% - but then I began to get bored and just wanted it to be over.

I liked some of the humor. There was one scene where Dermot was arguing with his mother on the phone. Afterward, he tried to start an argument with Kate, to which she replied "if you want to argue, call your mother."

[Mariann]

I really enjoyed this character driven story. Each character was well drawn out and I felt like I was part of the group, completely drawn into the relationships. I almost felt relief at the climax because I was rooting for Kate and Charles to get together. It felt like it was meant to be.

[Susan]

This was very witty, full of aphoristic observations so that it reminded me a little of Barbara Pym, but despite the very quotable writing and a great beginning, I struggled to stay engaged with the characters and the action as the book went on. I did notice how different her books are — for example, Angel about a whole life, and In a Summer Season about one summer’s events. There is also more explicitness about Kate and Dermot’s sexual attraction than I remember in any of her other books.

[CanadianReader]

Susan wrote: "This was very witty, full of aphoristic observations so that it reminded me a little of Barbara Pym, but despite the very quotable writing and a great beginning, I struggled to stay engaged with th..."

I enjoyed reading your observations. I’m just starting this and will be interested to consider why it might be difficult to stay engaged.

[Susan]

Canadian wrote: "Susan wrote: "This was very witty, full of aphoristic observations so that it reminded me a little of Barbara Pym, but despite the very quotable writing and a great beginning, I struggled to stay e..."

I'll be interested to hear what you think. I'm not really sure why it was

[Karen]

I found this to be the wittiest of Taylor's novels and loved the writing and sharp observation. The ending did shock me and I didn't see it coming at all, but it seemed to be concluded quite quickly.
The letters Ethel wrote to her friend Gertrude are hilarious and I loved the scene where Gertrude is visiting Ethel and Mrs Meacock walks in the room just as Gertrude says 'Marriage isn't all bed , let's face it' !
Quite saucy too compared with her other novels : D
Loved the bit where Tom said he preferred Ignazia in her loose-haired,cinema, fish-and-chips, love-in-the-back-seat mood !

[Karen]

Can i just add that i set this group up for it to be fun and enjoyable and please don't feel obligated to join in reading every book every month !
If members of the group 'feel bored and need to take a break' please do !!! :D
reading should be fun after all

[Susan]

Karen wrote: "I found this to be the wittiest of Taylor's novels and loved the writing and sharp observation. The ending did shock me and I didn't see it coming at all, but it seemed to be concluded quite quickl..."

I totally agree this is the wittiest of her novels, and the differences between what Ethel says to Kate and her family and what she writes to her pal Gertrude are so funny! And revealing of her perspective on events and her social compromises. I didn’t see the ending coming at all — but I thought the suddenness and unpredictability of the accident rang very true. Perhaps this novel is more of a “slice of life” which lets us look over the characters’ shoulders at Kate’s love for Dermot, Lou’s crush on the curate, etc. I did love Mrs Meacock. I wondered if anyone knew if there was any background about this novel in the Eluzabeth Taylor bio?

[Mela]

I totally agree with Karen and Susan.

And, Susan, about your question, in this review is a suggestion that in her biography (The Other Elizabeth Taylor) are some fascinating insights and parallels from Elizabeth's life, which are then woven into the content of In a Summer Season. But we will have to read this biography to get to know them.

[Mela]

By the way, yes, this group is fun for me, but it is also a great motivation to read Taylor's books. I knew (from the first novel I read) that I was going to read all of them (all I could get somehow). The group simply help me to do it sooner ;-)

[Susan]

Mela wrote: "I totally agree with Karen and Susan.

And, Susan, about your question, in this review is a suggestion that in her biography (The Other Elizabeth Taylor) are some fascinating insight..."

Thanks for the link, Mela! I enjoyed the author’s insights and her tantalizing reference!

[Karen]

Susan wrote: "Karen wrote: "I found this to be the wittiest of Taylor's novels and loved the writing and sharp observation. The ending did shock me and I didn't see it coming at all, but it seemed to be conclude..."
Hi Susan and Mela, Elizabeth loved people watching and often sat in coffee shops 'overhearing' funny conversations!
She loved letter writing too and was often worried that letters should be burnt after being read incase anyone should see what was written in them.
(page 149) She went back to Kate for a few more pages.Then, as usual, she bade her friend burn the letter ( as if any of the people mentioned in it might travel down to the Cornish Bird Sanctuary and go through Gertrude's desk out of curiosity), signed it 'Yours affy, Ethel', and sealed it.

[Susan]

Karen wrote: "Hi Susan and Mela."

Thanks, Karen! Interesting to see how her interests come out in her novels ;). Those letters are a hoot

[Mariann]

Mela wrote: "By the way, yes, this group is fun for me, but it is also a great motivation to read Taylor's books. I knew (from the first novel I read) that I was going to read all of them (all I could get someh..."

I am loving this group and the motivation to read all of Taylor’s books. All I want to read these days are books written by British women in the early 1900’s. I find the every day British life so interesting and then the bits of wit thrown in just put the icing on the cake.

[Karen]

Mariann wrote: "Mela wrote: "By the way, yes, this group is fun for me, but it is also a great motivation to read Taylor's books. I knew (from the first novel I read) that I was going to read all of them (all I co..." I agree Mariann : )

[Tania]

I enjoyed this one, I also think it was the wittiest of her novels, I loved Ethel and Gertrude and those letters. (has anyone read Elizabeth and Ivy? a book of letters between Elizabeth Taylor and Ivy Compton-Burnett. I think it looks quite interesting, especially after this discussion).
I found I also wasn't too upset at the ending, I didn't really like Minty and I agree with Mariann that Kate would be better off with Charles

[Karen]

Tania wrote: "I enjoyed this one, I also think it was the wittiest of her novels, I loved Ethel and Gertrude and those letters. (has anyone read Elizabeth and Ivy? a book of letters between [autho..." Hi Tania, I would be interested to read Elizabeth and Ivy too. Only a few of her letters are shown in the bio by Nicola Beauman.
Ethel was my favourite character !

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

I thought the ending was lazy. Apparently it was too much trouble to write that Dermot would leave Kate. Oh wait - it was too much trouble for Dermot to actually do anything, lazy bastard that he was, having found a woman he could use and use and who might almost support him the style to which he'd become accustomed.

[Rosemary]

It's funny how we have such different experiences of her books, liking and disliking different aspects! I'm with Elizabeth (Alaska) on this one (but not Angel!) - I was loving it up to a certain point, but I too thought that the ending was lazy. The crash, but the postscript too. I can't believe that a man would marry a woman whose husband had been responsible for the death of his daughter. That doesn't make psychological sense to me - at least not without seeing all he went through to get to that point.

One thing I did love about this book (especially reading them in order) was the acutely observed sense of social change coming quite suddenly at the very end of the 1950s with the beat generation, and the gap that opened up between people of Tom and Minty's age and their parents. Minty made me think of Jean Shrimpton and all the changes she brought to modelling.