Reading the 20th Century discussion
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Look at Me
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Look at Me by Anita Brookner (November 2020)
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I must confess I'd completely forgotten about it.
My library has a copy but between lockdowns (and reduced stock on the shelves) it has disappeared.
Annoyingly the library service has also suspended the ordering service since March of this year.
No worries, I shall buy a copy and give it a read.
Who else is joining in?
I will be reading this, probably starting tomorrow. Sounds intriguing. Haven’t read any Brookner before
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The solitary and lonely Frances has fallen into the orbit of the charismatic and stylish couple Nick and Alix Fraser who appear to offer Frances a rescue her from her solitude and ready access to their dazzling social life.
I suspect Frances is a self-portrait and that Look At Me is probably autobiographical, at least in thrust if not detail.
Frances wants to be a writer, and perhaps compensate for a life of lonely routine in exchange for creating art? Like Anita Brookner herself. What do you think?
This is all based on the belief that Nick and Alix will either withdraw access to their world, or betray Frances in some way. I look forward to finding out. Either way it’s very well written, and is a powerful portrait of an insular, perceptive and intelligent woman.
I’m looking forward to seeing how this plays out
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When I've finished I'll do some research to try and ascertain the extent to which it might be autobiographical. Certainly your post suggests there are some sections which are probably based on her own life.
I'm nearly halfway through now and still really enjoying it. I won't say anymore about the plot as I know Pamela is currently reading it too and I may be ahead of her.
Is anyone else going to be reading this?
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"I will be reading this, probably starting tomorrow. Sounds intriguing. Haven’t read any Brookner before"
How are you getting on with it Pamela?
It looks as though it's just you, Susan and me reading Look at Me
I'm about 65% complete now and getting ever more engrossed as Francis seems to be descending into a nightmarish scenario. It's actually getting quite harrowing.
I believe all her books are about characters whose lives haven't quite worked out, but doesn't she do it well?
This is heading towards a four or five star read for me.
In other Brookner related news, I have discovered a blog about Anita Brookner, the aptly named The Brooknerian and this post is quite interesting. It's entitled The Brooknerthon and, to quote from the post....
New to Anita Brookner? Let me suggest a route into and through what a critic (unfavourably but memorably) once called the long dark corridor of her fiction.
https://brooknerian.blogspot.com/2017...
I’ve read the first two chapters, I love the writing and Frances’s wry look at life, but with hints that’s she’s not a reliable narrator. I suspect things are about to start moving...Great blog, I think I’ll read Hotel du Lac next, as it sounds like it complements this one in a way.
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Yes, there are certainly hints that Frances is not to be entirely relied upon.
Please keep us updated with your reactions.
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I liked the setting of the academic library, where Frances worked. Like her apartment, it had a sense of a closed world.
Susan wrote: "I liked the setting of the academic library, where Frances worked. ..."I liked the sound of her work too, especially cutting out words and sticking them onto photos. I could do that!
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Certainly many people have far worse lives, but you know how it goes, the grass is always greener etc. She wanted to go from observer to participant, and relishes the changes we read about.
I think it's a magnificent character study that really gets to the heart of an inner life.
I'm now in the final section and it's wonderfully dark and vivid. What a writer eh? That all too real descent into hell is really quite something - specifically the final dinner and the horrendous walk home through the empty London streets.
I'll finish it today.
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As you may have surmised I have just finished Look At Me. I'll pen a review soon.
5/5
I have just finished this too. What a bleak story, but totally compelling. Brookner’s writing is so incisive and knowing. I will digest further and write a review later.
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It was then that I saw the business of writing for what it truly was and is to me. It is your penance for not being lucky. It is an attempt to reach others and to make them love you. It is your instinctive protest, when you find you have no voice at the world’s tribunals, and that no one will speak for you.
Nigeyb wrote: "Yes, it is bleak and has some truly harrowing sections too. That said I thought I detected a streak of redemption running through it as well..."Having now read a few other reviews, you’re not alone in that view Nigeyb. I’m afraid I saw it a bit less optimistically - I see Frances trapped forever between what she wants but can’t have (circle of lively friends, straightforward loving relationship) and what she can, and must have, but won’t satisfy her (writing career, kind but rather dull friends). She’s always going to be unhappy but can’t quite accept it, because it’s not fair, and having a glimpse of happiness makes that worse.
Maybe I’ve been locked down too long and am becoming too pessimistic :)
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Also, I did think the visits to the ex employee was brilliantly done. How often are such relationships kept up on misconceptions? As Frances was so blinded by Nick, she assumed the other woman was as well.
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And since I had apparently understood so little, I could not even blame him. I get things wrong, you see.
Back to the mixed messages, it's instructive to compare these two quotes....
1. I wanted, you see, to make it all come out right this time. I wanted contentment and peace for myself and for him and I wanted the approbation of others. Perhaps, above all, the approbation of others. I wanted it to go according to plan; I even wanted the small satisfactions of congratulations and good wishes. I wanted to see the smiles on the faces of Mrs Halloran and Dr Simek as they raised glasses to me. I wanted, for once in my life, a celebration.
2. I had become diligent instead of spontaneous; I had become an observer when I saw that I was not to be allowed to participate. I had refused to be pitiable. I had never once said, Look at me.
Whichever way you cut it you're quite correct that she is trapped in her role as observer (and writer) and her hopes of a different life were dashed. Whether this means long term unhappiness, or whether she will derive solace and satisfaction from her writing is unclear. At the end she finds the words of her novel are flowing out of her and, perhaps, therein lies some kind of redemption? Even revenge?
Well I hope so. I liked it that Nancy gave her her mother’s room, an acknowledgment that she’s now an adult, and in a way a new start.Frances can’t let go of her illusions though- even at the end she’s imagining Alix will call her, because she always was kind. Alix kind? That was pushing the bounds of delusion.
I loved this book, I couldn’t look away even though I knew what would happen. So glad this group finds these books for me!
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I know what you mean about not being able to look away. It was never going to end well for Frances.
And yes, Alix kind? The height of self delusion.
Curiously though, Frances had the option of moving in with Alix and Nick but chose not to. Why do you think that was? I wonder if she always knew that life was not really for her. That she was first and foremost a writer.
I'm so glad you got so much out of it too - and you Susan.
Susan wrote: "I would agree with Nigeyb about the final dinner, which was just excruciating to read."
I want to go back and reread that section. It was ghastly, as was the walk home afterwards. I highlighted this section...
The faces before me seemed to me to be flushed, venial, corrupt, gorged with sweet food and drink, presaging danger. Smoke wreathed through the hot air, and flakes of ash fell on to the unheeded plates. Alix stubbed out her cigarette in the remains of her yellow custard and smeared red over her wide mouth. Nick encircled her with his arm. I did not dare to look at James. It was very hot, and I knew that I must get out soon, but that I must not betray my haste.
Susan wrote: "Also, I did think the visits to the ex employee was brilliantly done. How often are such relationships kept up on misconceptions? As Frances was so blinded by Nick, she assumed the other woman was as well."
Yes brilliantly done. Frances was so put upon wasn't she? Both of them hating to go through the charade of the monthly visit.
Great point about Frances assuming they both felt the same way about Nick.
We haven't talked about Mrs Halloran yet. What a character. Memorably described as...
".....a wild-looking lady with a misleading air of authority who claims to be in touch with the other side"
Susan wrote: "I also thought it was quite depressing, Pamela. Not that I didn't really love reading it, as I did. It was beautifully written and very poignant. I would agree with Nigeyb about the final dinner, w..."Yes that final dinner was awful, like one of those pictures of Hell or the Deadly Sins (gluttony, lust etc)
Yes, Miss Morpeth was another example of Frances getting things wrong. Interesting that she’s such an observer, but she doesn’t understand what she’s observing most of the time.
Dr Simek was another great character. And another case that should have made Frances wary of Nick but didn’t.
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I had the exact same thought Pamela - like a medieval painting of gluttony and lust.
Back to the novel more generally, despite its content which is pretty bleak fare, I didn't find it depressing, indeed I described it as exhilarating in my review.
Do you think there's something wrong with me?
By any objective measure it is quite a depressing story and yet....
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Dr Simek was a good character. It seemed that Frances was blinded to the faults of Alix and Nick and yet, even at the end, she seemed to cling to the delusion that somehow it could be solved. I think most of us would have twigged when left holding the bill at the restaurant, but she was so desperate for approval, she overlooked everything.
Reading the 20th Century
Books mentioned in this topic
Look At Me (other topics)Hotel du Lac (other topics)
Look at Me (other topics)
Look At Me (other topics)
Look At Me (1983)
It's 192 pages and £2.99 for a Kindle edition
Looking forward to discussing this novel with you
By day Frances Hinton works in a medical library, by night she haunts the room of a West London mansion flat. Everything changes, however, when she is adopted by charming Nick and his dazzling wife Alix. They draw her into their tight circle of friends. Suddenly, Frances' life is full and ripe with new engagements. But too late, Frances realises that she may be only a play thing, to be picked up and discarded once used. And that just one act in defiance of Alix's wishes could see her lose everything....