tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28169009.post3481052357938031569..comments2023-09-16T09:00:31.715-04:00Comments on Telecommuter Talk: Elizabeth Bowen's Friends and RelationsEmily Bartonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13971084813206845680noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28169009.post-87373359656936507542008-09-21T10:22:00.000-04:002008-09-21T10:22:00.000-04:00Teresa, Death of a Heart will be what I try next. ...Teresa, Death of a Heart will be what I try next. I really like your first date analogy. I think I did that a bit, too, which is very unfair.<BR/><BR/>Sniggie, you're right about the "other planet." I will be giving her another go soon, because I just finished reading a great biography about Ross Macdonald, and she was apparently a big fan of his. Any big fan of his has just GOT to be good.Emily Bartonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13971084813206845680noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28169009.post-11406208607004695102008-09-18T16:19:00.000-04:002008-09-18T16:19:00.000-04:00I agree with A Lurking Reader that the language, p...I agree with A Lurking Reader that the language, particularly of The Little Girls, but also others, is often impenetrable. But the delicacy of her word painting is really sublime and often transcendent. I just can't get past feeling like she is from another planet that I have been privileged to be visiting. Some of the descriptive passages are among the most splendid I have ever read.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28169009.post-15939701172125352782008-02-14T19:17:00.000-05:002008-02-14T19:17:00.000-05:00Hi Emily,I think I was expecting to fall in love w...Hi Emily,<BR/><BR/>I think I was expecting to fall in love with Elizabeth Bowen the way I did with Edith Wharton. Reading Death of the Heart was sort of like going on a first date having planned the names of all our future children, the location of our house with the white picket fence, etc. Thinking back I realize how unfair I was being. Death of the Heart has some wonderful passages of insight and sensitivity. I just wish more of the book had charmed me. I wanted to love it, really I did... :)<BR/><BR/>-TTeresa L.https://www.blogger.com/profile/14463569162883915831noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28169009.post-86942610790755165312008-02-12T07:47:00.000-05:002008-02-12T07:47:00.000-05:00Thank you, all, for making me feel I'm not the onl...Thank you, all, for making me feel I'm not the only one missing the crocodile hovering above it all.<BR/><BR/>Stef, well, yes, of course. I thought for a while about doing a blog called "Don't Bother," posting on books not worth reading, so people could read it without increasing the sizes of TRB lists and piles, but others made me think better of it.<BR/><BR/>Dorr, maybe people in certain classes spoke that way in early 20th-century England, but I find it hard to believe myself. If so, I'm glad I wasn't part of it, as I would have been considered very rude, I'm sure, wandering around, the word "What?" being the first thing out of my mouth everywhere I went. When you posted on DEATH OF THE HEART, though, you made it sound a bit more appealing than this one was.<BR/><BR/>MFS, yes, that's it: it was like reading a (confusing) play without the benefit of cool scenery and brilliant acting.<BR/><BR/>Teresa, were you also waiting for it to be funny? I'd read Bowen was humorous. That was lost on me.<BR/><BR/>Lurking Reader, oh what fun to have a "lurking reader," kind of like having a secret admirer. I've discovered I have a copy of DEATH OF THE HEART, so I will give Bowen a second try with that come this summer. Maybe I'll end up loving it, since my expectations won't be too high. I'll let everyone know.<BR/><BR/>Litlove, I have to admit that one of my thoughts while reading this books was, "Well, Litlove likes her, so there's GOT to be something good here." As mentioned above, I will try DEATH OF THE HEART (although it isn't exactly getting rave reviews here), and see what I think. Could it be we might actually have discovered someone you like that I don't? Shocking!Emily Bartonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13971084813206845680noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28169009.post-45599572697055697222008-02-10T16:48:00.000-05:002008-02-10T16:48:00.000-05:00I have seen several people attempt Bowen lately wi...I have seen several people attempt Bowen lately without much joy (and the comments suggest as much). I do know I've enjoyed some of hers much more than others and I'm wracking my brains to remember the good ones (she's an author whose works tend to merge). I think I really liked The Death of the Heart and The House in Paris. I have Friends and Relations to read and must do so, as bloggers comments have aroused my curiosity!litlovehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10952927245186474480noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28169009.post-27775139406853347282008-02-09T09:40:00.000-05:002008-02-09T09:40:00.000-05:00Hello Emily!I'm an occasional lurker and I enjoy y...Hello Emily!<BR/><BR/>I'm an occasional lurker and I enjoy your posts very much. I was very relieved to read this one! I read Bowen's 'The Little Girls' and felt exactly the same about it - rather as if everyone was speaking a different language and I couldn't fathom the real meaning of what they were saying.<BR/><BR/>But I have loved many of her other books. If you do try again with her, I'd recommend Death of the Heart. There are others which are very good - To the North, The House in Paris and Eva Trout - but I think DotH is the best place to start.<BR/><BR/>Thank you for your lovely posts!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28169009.post-25153657760661297222008-02-07T13:16:00.000-05:002008-02-07T13:16:00.000-05:00Hi there,Thank you! You've vindicated my own confu...Hi there,<BR/><BR/>Thank you! You've vindicated my own confusion and frustration over another Elizabeth Bowen title, "The Death of the Heart." I kept waiting for it to be the masterful book I was expecting, but all I came away with was a vague feeling of dissatisfaction... <BR/><BR/>TTeresa L.https://www.blogger.com/profile/14463569162883915831noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28169009.post-83897425142741611802008-02-07T09:33:00.000-05:002008-02-07T09:33:00.000-05:00I also read an Elizabeth Bowen for Outmoded Author...I also read an Elizabeth Bowen for Outmoded Authors, and I had a similar reaction. I could follow what was going on, at least superficially, but the book was unpleasant and seemed stilted, more like a play than a novel.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28169009.post-44262090437941607562008-02-06T19:10:00.000-05:002008-02-06T19:10:00.000-05:00I know what you mean about Bowen, although I didn'...I know what you mean about Bowen, although I didn't find The Death of the Heart quite as impenetrable. But the conversation did go on in ways that didn't make sense to me, and I wondered if there are people out there who really talk that way. I was willing to image their might be, but I haven't met them yet!Rebecca H.https://www.blogger.com/profile/10825532162727473112noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28169009.post-34026375792188350492008-02-06T17:15:00.000-05:002008-02-06T17:15:00.000-05:00Emily, I think that must have been the best post o...Emily, I think that must have been the best post on not liking a book that I have ever read! If I ever write a book and it stinks badly, could I convince you to review it? :)Stefaniehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14943596258182968212noreply@blogger.com