I had been wanting to read the 2001 Orange Prize winner The Idea of Perfection for a long time since I have a goal of eventually reading all the winners. I have to admit, it took me a few chapters to get into it. At the beginning of the book, I felt that Grenville was way too detailed with her descriptions and it bogged down the flow of the storyline a bit. Eventually, though, I was able to overlook it and got interested in the characters’ lives and foibles.
There’s not much plot, but that’s not something I have to have in my reading, as I like character-driven novels if they’re well written, and this one is, except for the caveat above. The story essentially revolves around two very imperfect people and one that tries to be the ultimate in perfection, at least in her looks if not her character. The setting of the book, the bush town of Karakarook, as well as a dog figure prominently as well.
Douglas Cheeseman is an engineer sent to the town to oversee the demolition of the Bent Bridge. The town is divided over the issue, with some wanting to preserve it as part of their Heritage initiative. Harley Savage is a part time museum curator sent in to oversee the town’s development of a Heritage Museum. Both are somewhat loners and outcasts, and both feel they are basically unlovable. Meanwhile, a woman named Felicity is a bit too taken with her looks and her effect on those around her. She is so obsessed she will only smile about two times a day to avoid getting wrinkles.
If she did not smile between now and when he came home, she could afford to give him two smiles tonight. And after each smile she could just pop into the bathroom for a moment to undo the damage by smoothing a little dab of moisturiser around the corners of the mouth. She would listen very attentively as he told her about his day, and after the second smile there would probably be no need to smile again for the rest of that evening.
The Idea of Perfection explores, not surprisingly, the idea of perfection. How far should one go to achieve it? Is perfection really necessary? Do people in our lives expect perfection from us? I enjoyed some of the philosophical questions raised by the book and even applied them to my personal life. As a “discouraged perfectionist,” do I give up entirely on something because it’s not perfect, or do I accept that nothing is perfect and just be happy making things the best they can be?
Winner, Orange Prize 2004 Winner, Whitbread Book of the Year 2004 Winner, Commonwealth Writers’ Prize 2005
Andrea Levy wrote Small Island as a way to research her Jamaican parents’ immigrant experience. The title, Small Island, is apt as it refers to both Jamaica and Britain. The book takes place both before and after World War II and is comprised of 4 main characters, with each character speaking in his or her own voice throughout the novel. Gilbert and Hortense are a couple from Jamaica who rent a room from Queenie in England. Queenie is renting rooms out because her husband Bernhard has not yet returned from the war.
The novel covers several issues: war, immigration, prejudice, and class. I love historical fiction because history is so much more interesting when it’s portrayed in the personal experiences of the men and women who lived it. I’ve always wondered why England didn’t have as much of a racial problem as the U.S., but in this book we discover that there were, in fact, prejudices that needed to be overcome. While Gilbert was so proud to be a part of Mother England as a Jamaican citizen, enough so that he went to war for her, his ‘Mother’ not only didn’t appreciate his efforts, she didn’t even recognize him as her child.
Each character in the book is so well defined. I got a kick out of Hortense and her ‘white-gloved,’ prudish ways. I appreciated that Queenie was ahead of her time in terms of racism, and even though Bernhard was quite the opposite, I felt sorry for him. Gilbert was perhaps the star of the novel as just an overall good-hearted person and patriot.
I always enjoy hearing authors speak about their novels, and if you’ve already read the book (because there are spoilers), you might want to hear her interviews here:
Andrea Levy interview for The Guardian Book Club:
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Andrea Levy interview with BBC’s World Book Club:
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Not only did Small Island win the Orange Prize, it was also voted The Best of the Best out of all the winners by the Orange Prize committee chairs. While my favorite Orange winner so far is probably Half of a Yellow Sun, I do understand why Small Island has a strong following as well.
Larry’s Party is the third novel I’ve read by Carol Shields; it won the Orange Prize in 1998. Having loved the previous two, The Stone Diaries and (especially) Unless, I had high hopes for this one as well. However, it didn’t really live up to my expectations.
Over the course of his life, Larry Weller goes from flower arranger at a flower store to a master designer of landscape mazes. I’m not that into botany, so that part was only marginally interesting to me; however, I would definitely like to visit some of the mazes described in the book, particularly in Europe. More interesting to me was the progression in Larry’s thought life and love life over the course of the book. He starts out not knowing much about himself or what he wants in his twenties and of course knowing himself infinitely better by the time he’s in his late forties. Youth is so wasted on the young, right? (Not that there aren’t exceptions to you youngsters out there!) Being in my early forties, I definitely related to that aspect of the book.
“He (Larry) is recovering; in a sense he’s spent his whole life in a state of recovery, but has only begun, at age forty-five, to breathe in the vital foreknowledge of what will become of the sovereign self inside him, that luxurious ornament. He’d like that self to be more musical and better lit, he’d like to possess a more meticulous sense of curiosity, and mostly he’d like someone, some thing to love. He’s getting close. He feels it. He’s halfway awake now, and about to wake up fully.”
Some of the aspects I didn’t like about the book are that it was a little boring in places, i.e. the botany and the fact that Larry is just a regular Joe with not much in the way of personality. I think that was supposed to be the point, though. There is even a chapter dedicated to his name and what the stereotypes of “Larrys” are. Another aspect is that in quite a few places she repeats details that we already know about characters or events. I know that was by design, but I’m not sure I liked it. Also, it is a bit raunchy in places. There’s a chapter called “Larry’s P#n*s” that goes on and on in very descriptive detail about that specific body part and all the different names for it that people use. Some people would find that extremely funny, I’m sure, but I could have done without the more graphic parts of that chapter.
The last chapter is called “Larry’s Party,” and that chapter and the dinner party itself wrapped up everything in Larry’s life to that point very nicely. I really liked the metaphor that our lives are mazes. Sometimes there’s only one way in and one way out. Sometimes there are four exits. But always, there is the ‘goal’ in the center. Honestly, the last chapter made me lift my rating from 3 1/2 stars to 4. It was very cleverly done. And although this book was my least favorite of Shields’ books so far, I still plan on reading many more if not all of her works. I really do think she was an amazing writer.
I really enjoy reading from the Orange Prize lists. The longlist for 2010 was announced March 17th. Unfortunately, I’ve only read the bottom two titles** on this list. While I enjoyed both of them very much (4 1/2 stars each), I’m wondering if any of the others are even better. Have you read any on the longlist that you would recommend? Or do you have a prediction for the winner? I’d love to hear your thoughts!
Jill from The Magic Lasso has been hosting Orange Januarys and Julys for awhile now. The challenge is to read at least one (or as many as you want) book(s) that has won or been shortlisted or longlisted for the Orange Prize. I did better this time than I normally do, and I’m fairly happy with my results this time.
The books I read:
How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff (2005 New Writers’ shortlist)
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver (1999 shortlist)
The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri (2004 longlist)
I really liked all of these, but especially Unless and The Poisonwood Bible. Both were truly magnificent. I also am halfway through The Monsters of Templeton by Lauren Groff (2008 New Writers’ shortlist) and am on page 70 of Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood (1997 shortlist), so I’ll finish up those in August.
A group of us are participating in Orange July, and I haven’t posted my intention to participate yet — after we’re almost halfway through the month! I have been reading winners and shortlist and longlist titles, which all qualify.
Books so far:
How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff (2005 new writers’ shortlist)
The LORD is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth. He fulfills the desire of those who fear him; he also hears their cry and saves them. (Psalm 145:18-19, ESV)
I had been wanting to read the 2001 Orange Prize winner The Idea of Perfection for a long time since I have a goal of eventually reading all the winners. I have to admit, it took me a few chapters to get into it. At the beginning of the book, I felt that Grenville was way too detailed with her descriptions and it bogged down the flow of the storyline a bit. Eventually, though, I was able to overlook it and got interested in the characters’ lives and foibles.
Winner, Orange Prize 2004
Rosie Alison The Very Thought of You
