Valentine's Day Reading: 'Possession' by A.S. Byatt

We are reading Possession by A.S. Byatt during the Valentine's season.

Get your copies ready (along with chocolates and tea/coffee)!

According to amazon.com:

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"Literary critics make natural detectives," says Maud Bailey, heroine of a mystery where the clues lurk in university libraries, old letters, and dusty journals. Together with Roland Michell, a fellow academic and accidental sleuth, Maud discovers a love affair between the two Victorian writers the pair has dedicated their lives to studying: Randolph Ash, a literary great long assumed to be a devoted and faithful husband, and Christabel La Motte, a lesser-known "fairy poetess" and chaste spinster. At first, Roland and Maud's discovery threatens only to alter the direction of their research, but as they unearth the truth about the long-forgotten romance, their involvement becomes increasingly urgent and personal. Desperately concealing their purpose from competing researchers, they embark on a journey that pulls each of them from solitude and loneliness, challenges the most basic assumptions they hold about themselves, and uncovers their unique entitlement to the secret of Ash and La Motte's passion.
Winner of the 1990 Booker Prize--the U.K.'s highest literary award--Possession is a gripping and compulsively readable novel. A.S. Byatt exquisitely renders a setting rich in detail and texture. Her lush imagery weaves together the dual worlds that appear throughout the novel--the worlds of the mind and the senses, of male and female, of darkness and light, of truth and imagination--into an enchanted and unforgettable tale of love and intrigue.

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Warning: This book contains 576 pages! :p


Book Club Procedures

Now I have to read two books at a time:

~Re-read MotF
~Possession

sheesh 1176 pages for both books!!! Although Possession does look pretty good.

So was this Ash guy a real person?

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Originally Posted by papayahed

So was this Ash guy a real person?

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hehe I've just googled him.. i've put the answer at the bottom in orange. highlight it to read what it says...
errr, sorry i dunno how to hide spoilers in here

when does Valentine's season finsih? I've just got started on the book and read only 2 or 3 chapters... so far I've liked it fair enough


his poems and those of his lady poet lover are based on those of Robert Browning and Christina Rossetti. so it seems they're made-up characters

I wasn't to crazy about it during the first chapter but it picked up a little and now I'm getting "put off" by the poetry.

Thanks for the goggle SW!!

I have just managed to get my copy today; should start reading it tomorrow!

I started it but then I found that it was not my cup of tea and I also found it a heavy read so I stopped reading it.

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Originally Posted by Pensive

I started it but then I found that it was not my cup of tea and I also found it a heavy read so I stopped reading it.

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It is heavier than I thought it would be.

Does it seem like every single character is slightly eccentric??

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Originally Posted by papayahed

It is heavier than I thought it would be.

Does it seem like every single character is slightly eccentric??

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It was really complicated. I felt that they were all odd (mad would be a strong word so I have used odd) especially Kris and that guy.

The story is really zooming along now - now that I'm skipping over all the poetry and letters.

I'm around page 200 and I'm beginning to like it. i think their love letters are awesome!!! but the poems are either boring (i skipped most of the long one about the insect guy, whozzname Lammerdam, Hammershwam, whatever) or wobbly.. some of them are worse than mine :)
it's been a bit long-winded so far, but I think Byatt brings across all this Victorian stuff better than some Victorian writers!!! am i making sense? hehe, well, she's not exactly a better writer, but it's nicer to read than some Victorian stuff where you're supposed to suspect amorous motives behind every silly everyday gesture...
I like the was she makes everyday things have a symbolic meaning,.. e.g. the chess game in the diary of Ash's wife... whats her name...

Ellen.

I finished the book, sort of I skipped all the poems and the letters, both of which were far too long winded for me. I know some of you will say I'm not getting the full meaning of the book but I can live with my loss.

I'm sort of surprised how it all came together.

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Originally Posted by papayahed

It is heavier than I thought it would be.

Does it seem like every single character is slightly eccentric??

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I have read only 1/3 of the book so far; it is a slow moving book and wish there were less poetry and letters.

As for the characters, I like them. It is true that they are all eccentric but aren't we all in real life as well? With our own little hang ups and idiosyncrasies. Especially some of the academics remind me of my own professors... with their goods and bads! :D


Is the use of colour symbolic? Maud seems obsessed with it and it is mentioned quite often in descriptions as well.

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Originally Posted by Scheherazade

I have read only 1/3 of the book so far; it is a slow moving book and wish there were less poetry and letters.

As for the characters, I like them. It is true that they are all eccentric but aren't we all in real life as well? With our own little hang ups and idiosyncrasies. Especially some of the academics remind me of my own professors... with their goods and bads! :D


Is the use of colour symbolic? Maud seems obsessed with it and it is mentioned quite often in descriptions as well.

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yeah, Maud seems to like green a lot doesn't she? and Christabell has green boots (well, they are related..).. isn't it the colour of hope or something?
Pesive who are "Kris and that guy"? am I reading the wrong book?

it's a really strange book... i dunno what to think about it really... maybe that's on purpose? maybe it's gotta do with some sort of detachment or emotional restraint kind of thing? (maybe it's just because it's typically English) ;)