The House in Paris by Elizabeth Bowen


finished 6/29 ....... 20th cent. English ....... rating 8

It was so good to get into a book without any real violence to speak of, with a nice gentle cadance. (sigh)

This story starts out in the present but has to go to the past for the present to get straightened out. In the present, a boy is waiting for his mother but she doesn't show up. He has never met her. A girl he doesn't know waits with him. The boy fantasizes about what it will be like and is totally devastated by her not appearing. Then we go to the past where we find out why the mother didn't show up and then, at the end, we're back to the present. There is a lot of foreshadowing, a tension in the plot which develops, or unfolds might be a better word.

This book is about memories and how they are made and what is important. It's also about expecting things. So Present and Past are appropriate names for the Parts. Bowen can see quite clearly into human nature, I think and the nature or development or realization of identity.

Posted: Sat - June 30, 2007 at 10:38 PM        

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