Literary The Master by Colm Tóibín

[HomeInMyShoes]

I'm 80% through now. I can't say the book is enamoring me that much. I like the tone and the book speaks through atmosphere quite well, but it's a lot of nothing about a person who outside of shyness and sexual orientation that was not social norm felt as an outcast. It's lacking much drama for me. It's a very soft book for me and easy to read in that respect. Probably deeper for many.

I believe that not having read any of Henry James' work yet I am at a disadvantage for getting more out of the book. Either that or I'm just daft. Which is quite possibly true.

I did like the scene of them drowning the clothes. I thought it was one of the best descriptions and alluded to so many things in his life.

[ccowie]

A 6 hour flight delay yesterday permitted me to finish the book. I loved the first half and then the style really ran out of gas for me. This book should have been 250 pages. By the time Henry had cycled through what felt like the same interior patterns regarding several people it just wore me out and became somewhat predictable. There was some beautiful and smart writing, but I just grew tired. I'll contribute more when everyone is finished.

[Bookpossum]

I have just finished the book, having deliberately spent time savouring it. I loved it - really beautifully done. And I really liked the final paragraph: it rang true in this portrait of such an introverted and reticent man. And I really liked the way that Tóibín showed his self-knowledge, as for example this in describing a story he may be going to write, which is really the story of his own life:

'I have in mind a man who all his life believes that something dreadful will happen to him,' Henry said. 'He tells a woman of this unknown catastrophe and she becomes his greatest friend, but what he does not see is that his failure to believe in her, his own coldness, is the catastrophe, it has come already, it has lived within him all along.'

He goes on to describe another possible story, and then when asked which of these stories he would write first, says:

'I may already have embarked on both,' (Page 355)

What a great nomination. Thanks so much for putting it up, sun surfer.

[fantasyfan]

I've had a bit of good news. My local library has been able to get a copy of The Master for me so I won't have to order one after all. I should be able to pick it up on Monday or Tuesday.

[Bookworm_Girl]

Originally Posted by HomeInMyShoes

I'm 80% through now. I can't say the book is enamoring me that much. I like the tone and the book speaks through atmosphere quite well, but it's a lot of nothing about a person who outside of shyness and sexual orientation that was not social norm felt as an outcast. It's lacking much drama for me. It's a very soft book for me and easy to read in that respect. Probably deeper for many.

I believe that not having read any of Henry James' work yet I am at a disadvantage for getting more out of the book. Either that or I'm just daft. Which is quite possibly true.

I did like the scene of them drowning the clothes. I thought it was one of the best descriptions and alluded to so many things in his life.

I've been reading the book slowly. I really likely it and the writing style. The only work of his that I have read is The Turn of the Screw. Many of his books are on my TBR list and regretfully I've never gotten to them. Toibin was also on my TBR. I've been approaching it like a blank canvas per the suggestion of Desert Blues. I've been treating it more like a psychological study of his mind and memories trying to figure out what the author wants us to know of James (and why?). Therefore I don't mind too much that it is not plot-driven. It started out sort of open-ended anyway since it is focusing on a 5-year time period of his life. I just finished the chapter on Constance and the scene of drowning the clothes. I thought it was very haunting and powerful! What an interesting relationship. I also liked the description of unsealing her rooms as being preplanned in her mind as her final novel and her family and Henry were characters acting out their parts.

[Bookworm_Girl]

I've finished! I really liked this book. I have now read the Wikipedia summaries of both Colm Tóibín and Henry James to have a better biographical understanding of both men as well as the key themes of their works. I found this New York Times book review extremely insightful into what motivated Tóibín to write about James and what influenced him in the manner he chose to portray James. The reviewer also identifies other sources about James and whether some of the events that Tóibín fictionalized are realistic or embellished from the viewpoint of these other sources.
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/20/bo...l?pagewanted=1

I was fascinated by imagining Lamb House and the garden. Here's an article on its history.
http://www.ryemuseum.co.uk/lamb-house/

Lastly I wanted to mention that the Wikipedia article on the Protestant Cemetery in Rome is extremely interesting. What a long list of famous authors and artists buried there! It includes a photo of Story's sculpture, Angel of Grief, which is very beautiful and moving.

[Bookpossum]

Many thanks for these really interesting finds, Bookworm_Girl. I found the review of the book particularly interesting, though I don't agree with the reviewer about Tóibín making James cold. Perhaps the reviewer is an extravert! As an introvert I didn't find James cold, at least in an uncaring sense, but rather very reserved and needing space between him and others.

I can't help feeling that he was the product of a pretty odd family when you think about the father, and William, and Alice. But then I suppose we are all a bit odd in our own ways!

[Bookpossum]

Further to the above post, I was trying to put in the following poem, but kept on being booted out, so am trying putting this on a Word document and then pasting it in.

Reading the book, I was reminded of this poem by Siegfried Sassoon called “One Who Watches”:

We are all near to death. But in my friends
I am forewarned too closely of that nearness.
Death haunts their days that are; in him descends
The darkness that shall change their living dearness
To something different, made within my mind
By memories and recordings and convenings
Of voices heard through veils and faces blind
To the kind light of my autumnal gleanings.

Not so much for myself I feel that fear
As for all those in whom my loves must die;
Thus, like some hooded death, I stand apart
And in their happiest moments I can hear
Silence unending, when those lives must lie
Hoarded like happy summers in my heart.

[Bookworm_Girl]

I thought Tóibín made James appear colder than he probably was. I don't think he was uncaring though. I think his introverted nature made him overthink relationships and worry about perceptions. I've been reading some extracts from his letters, and he seems warmer and less emotionally closed off than the impression that I got from the book.

[ccowie]

Originally Posted by Bookworm_Girl

I thought Tóibín made James appear colder than he probably was. I don't think he was uncaring though. I think his introverted nature made him overthink relationships and worry about perceptions. I've been reading some extracts from his letters, and he seems warmer and less emotionally closed off than the impression that I got from the book.

I didn't find the portrayal to be cold. I completely agree that he overthought just about anything to do with relationships. His interior musings about locations, homes etc. seemed more succinct and decisive. But the hesitancy about everything to do with his relationships, particularly Constance, while possibly accurate, grew tiresome for me.

Your thoughts about his letters are interesting. But, he was a writer and so it's possible that clarity of emotion and resolve may come through in letters in a way that he couldn't muster face to face.

[Bookpossum]

Yes, he quite possibly was more comfortable writing to people than speaking to them face to face. It would give that safety of distance for him. I suppose the modern equivalent is people who spend all day on computers conversing with others on Facebook (and MR!) rather than spending time with people.

[caleb72]

I'm 2/3 through the audio book and although I'm really enjoying the narrator and this view of Henry James (of whom I know very little), I'm finding it a bit scattered.

I think it should be called "Tales of James" or something.

What this book has done more than anything so far is make me interested to read more of James' works. I'm not sure which of his novels is considered the apex of his work, but some of them are a bit "meaty" for me at the moment. Perhaps Daisy Miller or Washington Square?

[sun surfer]

Originally Posted by caleb72

...What this book has done more than anything so far is make me interested to read more of James' works. I'm not sure which of his novels is considered the apex of his work, but some of them are a bit "meaty" for me at the moment. Perhaps Daisy Miller or Washington Square?

From memory I would say I've heard of his apex novels as being The Portrait of a Lady, The Wings of the Dove, The Golden Bowl and The Ambassadors, but it depends on who you ask and which period of his you want. I've read the former two, mainly because they were recommended to me as being his best and I think they were both excellent. The Portrait of a Lady is one of my all-time favourite books.

Of his shorter famous stories, I haven't read Daisy Miller or Turn of the Screw yet. I wouldn't say Washington Square is necessarily his apex but it is very good and I think would give a good feel for James in a shorter package.

[caleb72]

Originally Posted by sun surfer

From memory I would say I've heard of his apex novels as being The Portrait of a Lady, The Wings of the Dove, The Golden Bowl and The Ambassadors, but it depends on who you ask and which period of his you want. I've read the former two, mainly because they were recommended to me as being his best and I think they were both excellent. The Portrait of a Lady is one of my all-time favourite books.

Of his shorter famous stories, I haven't read Daisy Miller or Turn of the Screw yet. I wouldn't say Washington Square is necessarily his apex but it is very good and I think would give a good feel for James in a shorter package.

Thanks sun surfer. I think I'll try out Washington Square.

[Bookworm_Girl]

The Wall Street Journal has a book club. It was just announced that Colm Tóibín will be hosting the next club. He's selected The Golden Bowl to read which is one of the books that James wrote after this time period covered by The Master. I thought the article was interesting because there are interview questions with Tóibín which reveal some further insights on his view of James and his writing style and longevity.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/colm-toi...lub-1427903917

Leisurely paced and at times opaque, “The Golden Bowl,” is a commitment, Mr. Tóibín said, but a thoroughly rewarding one. He recommends covering 200 pages a week with “enormous attention”—meaning 50-page stints free of distractions. Readers who stay the course will encounter “one of the best dramatic scenes in fiction” as well as darker insights. “Anyone wanting to know how capable we are of deceiving one another,” he said, “can read this book and perhaps know more about our capacity for this than if you read a history book.”