Publications
Partners
The Children's Book by A.S. Byatt (Random House Publishers)
Short listed for the 2009 Exclusive Books Boeke Prize, A.S Byatt's The Children's Book is well worth the read.
Having said that, you should be prepared for the following:
1 - The book is an excessively long read.
2 - It's a very descriptive, highly detailed and thoroughly researched book - which is great, but which can be overwhelming to the point of trying the reader's patience.
3 - A.S. Byatt's writing is enthralling, is of an extremely high calibre and mesmerising to read, but she tends to overwrite and could, at times, really do with an edit.
Anyone who is familiar with A.S. Byatt's previous works, will know that she writes unapologetically long intellectual discourses that often form the groundwork of her narrative. The Children's Book is no exception to that rule. There's no doubt that Byatt knows her way around doing research - her vivid descriptions of the art world and her characters are downright exquisite and daunting at the same time.
The intricate lives of the characters are written down to the finest detail.
Olive Wellwood is a successful writer of children's tales. She lives with her husband Humphrey in a wild and untamed, straight-out-of-a-storybook enchanting cottage called Todefright, where their brood of children often play together. For each of her children, she has written a separate story - each of which is bound in different colours and draws inspiration from British folklore and fairy tales.
Their lives are intertwined with those of a curator and his son and daughter, a manically temperamental potter who lives with his almost catatonically inert wife and daughters, and with other characters from various different political and socialist backgrounds. The arrival of a young working-class boy from the potteries (The novel is set at the end of the Victorian era) and a German puppeteer adds a different dimension to the lives of these characters.
The essence of this book explores the various relationships between parents and children, devastating family secrets and demonstrates how the need of these artists to create often only end up having destructive consequences on the lives of their children.
For example, Olive tries to reach her children through her inventive and personalised fairytales while at the same time using them for inspiration (neglecting her parental duties in the process), while in a darker parallel version, Benedict Fludd, the temperamental finds his inspiration through his daughters in methods which are horrifying beyond belief.
The complex plot of this novel is a work of art, drawing its inspiration from dark fairy tales, folklore and the Victorian and Edwardian era.
This book is not everyone's cup of tea, as it is a novel which often leaves you trawling through it at a rather slow-paced level. It requires an excessive amount of patience in order to get to the actual plot points, but once you're in, the book hooks you right up until the end.
I adored this book.
You should get yourself a copy.
Did you like The Children's Book? Or is A.S. Byatt's previous works better? Share your thoughts in the comment box below.
Short listed for the 2009 Exclusive Books Boeke Prize, A.S Byatt's The Children's Book is well worth the read.
Having said that, you should be prepared for the following:
1 - The book is an excessively long read.
2 - It's a very descriptive, highly detailed and thoroughly researched book - which is great, but which can be overwhelming to the point of trying the reader's patience.
3 - A.S. Byatt's writing is enthralling, is of an extremely high calibre and mesmerising to read, but she tends to overwrite and could, at times, really do with an edit.
Anyone who is familiar with A.S. Byatt's previous works, will know that she writes unapologetically long intellectual discourses that often form the groundwork of her narrative. The Children's Book is no exception to that rule. There's no doubt that Byatt knows her way around doing research - her vivid descriptions of the art world and her characters are downright exquisite and daunting at the same time.
The intricate lives of the characters are written down to the finest detail.
Olive Wellwood is a successful writer of children's tales. She lives with her husband Humphrey in a wild and untamed, straight-out-of-a-storybook enchanting cottage called Todefright, where their brood of children often play together. For each of her children, she has written a separate story - each of which is bound in different colours and draws inspiration from British folklore and fairy tales.
Their lives are intertwined with those of a curator and his son and daughter, a manically temperamental potter who lives with his almost catatonically inert wife and daughters, and with other characters from various different political and socialist backgrounds. The arrival of a young working-class boy from the potteries (The novel is set at the end of the Victorian era) and a German puppeteer adds a different dimension to the lives of these characters.
The essence of this book explores the various relationships between parents and children, devastating family secrets and demonstrates how the need of these artists to create often only end up having destructive consequences on the lives of their children.
For example, Olive tries to reach her children through her inventive and personalised fairytales while at the same time using them for inspiration (neglecting her parental duties in the process), while in a darker parallel version, Benedict Fludd, the temperamental finds his inspiration through his daughters in methods which are horrifying beyond belief.
The complex plot of this novel is a work of art, drawing its inspiration from dark fairy tales, folklore and the Victorian and Edwardian era.
This book is not everyone's cup of tea, as it is a novel which often leaves you trawling through it at a rather slow-paced level. It requires an excessive amount of patience in order to get to the actual plot points, but once you're in, the book hooks you right up until the end.
I adored this book.
You should get yourself a copy.
Did you like The Children's Book? Or is A.S. Byatt's previous works better? Share your thoughts in the comment box below.
