BLAMING
by Elizabeth Taylor (1976)
Encapsulate
the book in one sentence?
Her
husband’s sudden death on a cruise liner leaves Amy stranded in Turkey and
dependent upon the friendship of brash American novelist Martha, who Amy ends
up letting down horribly.
When
did I buy it? Where and why did I buy it?
It
was a present, a couple of Christmases ago.
Why
is it something you stashed away and hoarded?
I
always love reading Elizabeth Taylor. I had a bit of a run on her a number of
years ago, galloping through the novels and story collections – and perhaps
this got set aside in the wake of that. Also, I think I was suffering a little
from the delusion that there would be no surprises in another Elizabeth. Or
perhaps I was saving it up – for the day I next fancied total immersion in that
cool, exact prose.
What
year or edition?
It’s
one of the recent-ish Virago reprints from 2007, with these sort of perfume ad
type photos on the cover. I much prefer the old green Viragos with contemporaneous
paintings of oblique relevance on the front. These are a bit generic, and feel
as if the designers haven’t actually read what they’re repackaging…
What’s
your verdict?
Taylor
keeps us in the precise moment, all the time. The clock ticks and we sit with
her characters in their agonizing, self-serving silences. And as a reader you
fall in love with everyone – even though many of them are just snobbish and
awful. This one in particular features characters who would never dream of
saying what they really think; who do the socially conventional thing – but are
actually motivated by sheer selfish whim. The tragedies here come about because
friends or relations simply can’t be arsed to care enough, and then find a
convenient way to excuse themselves. It’s a quietly frightening read.
Did
you finish it? Did it work for you?
Every
page. Even though I’m yelling at the characters and throwing the book across
the room, I’m enthralled and upset and laughing at their horribleness.
What
genre would you say it is?
Polite
mortification and quiet brutality. In other words – the British middle class
novel of manners.
What
surprises did it hold – if any?
Sudden
death! Twice in one book. Both off-stage. The second one was particularly
shocking.
What
scene will stay with you? What character will stay with you?
I
loved Martha’s day out – a taxi ride through Hyde Park – for her birthday. With
Amy mithering inwardly about the expense and the Christmas lights in Kensington
when they walk back home. It’s an intensely atmospheric novel – conjuring up
London in the 1970s, and especially the rather luxurious homes of Amy and her
son, compared with the cramped flat where Martha lives.
Have
you read anything else by this author? Or anything this book reminds you of?
It
reminds me of all the other Elizabeth Taylor stories and novels I’ve read.
Though I think of her belonging to the 1950s, this was her last, from the
mid-1970s, and it does feel a little more – for want of a better word – hip.
Perhaps it’s a little sadder and more savage. The heroine is less forgivable
and it’s altogether less comic than I’d have expected.
What
will you do with this copy now?
I
think this is one I could pass along to someone I think should read it. It’s a
good warning, I think, against selfishly wriggling out of the attention and
empathy you owe to your friends. Not that I’d ever give anyone a book because I
thought it contained a message they should heed…! I’d give it them because I
thought it was a wonderful piece of writing, which it is.
Is
it available today?
Yes.
For a long time it was hard to get hold of Elizabeth Taylor’s books. At one
point, most of the ‘lost’ twentieth century women writers brought back into
print were modernists, postmodernists, experimentalists of all kinds. Taylor
was dismissed as simply a purveyor of domestic realism for much too long.
Happily, she seems to be part of the canon of twentieth century classics now
and her books are widely available.
Give
me a good quote:
“‘Some
young woman very kindly left the ship with her to look after her on the way
back,’ he told Gareth.
‘I
don’t really know her,’ Amy said. Martha was now part of the bad dream.”
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