The Children's Book by A.S. Byatt

A.S. Byatt's The Children's Book, like Possession, was not a quick read for me, even if it weren't nearly 700 pages long. At times it took a dogged plodding along and then, suddenly, would absorb me in an hour of attentive page turning. Truth be told, I probably did read it "too fast" and will need to reread it several years down the line in order to really get what the heck I was reading. Part of the difficulty of reading The Children's Book was my lack of knowledge regarding European history preceding and during Word World I. Knowledge that will help you read and understand this novel: late 19th century/early 20th European history, sociopolitical movements in Europe at the time (socialism, the Fabians, anarchists, the suffrage movement, the emergence of psychoanalysis), communal and artistic movements of both the late 19th/early 20th century and everything preceding it (in literature, the theater, arts and crafts), a working knowledge of the German language (translations would have been nice . . .), England's geography, class differences and divisions during the time period, the differences in temperament of the European countries, being able to keep a large cast of characters in your mind and separate them.

The novel has no real . . . plot. There's no literary mystery driving the story like in Possession. It's much more--really, I think of Jane Austen's words to her niece: "3 or 4 Families in a Country Village is the very thing to work on." ( I'm not sure I can actually tell you what this novel is about without spoiling everything. )

( Here thar be quotes and spoilers. )

And now something completely unrelated (but actually maybe not):