Probably unfairly, I tend to be a bit suspicious of novels which have reams of enthusiastic quotes adorning the cover ond inside pages, and which have won prizes as well. Jealousy, perhaps? Well, it's possible. So it's a good job that this book was chosen for our next book group discussion, else I would probably never have read it.
Well - I've just read it, and I loved it. Why? Well, it's about a woman in her seventies - Sybil Van Antwerp - who is stuggling to come to terms with several difficult things in her life. I too am in my seventies, so if not - I hope - sitting in Death's waiting room, I am certainly heading towards the carpark. And so... well, you do tend to contemplate things a bit, as Sybil does.
Sybil is an enthusiastic and inveterate letter writer - we take this on trust for most of the novel, which is entirely told through letters (though we do eventually find out the reason for her preference for expressing herself through letters). She has an eye condition which means she will eventually lose her sight. She lives alone. The letters are to a number of different correspondents, including Rosalie, her dear friend and sister in law, her son and daughter, her eye specialist, Harry Landy, the rather unhappy son of an old friend, her neighbour, Theodore, and the dean of the local college, with whom she is having a long-running dispute about her admission onto some courses. She also writes to famous people - mostly writers - such as Joan Didion, and gets letters back.
None of this sounds particularly gripping, does it? But it is. Partly because underlying all the apparent trivia, there are two mysteries. One relates to the death of her son, Gilbert, as a child, and the other concerns some rather disturbing anonymous letters which she begins to receive. Of course, we are invested in finding the solutions to these.
But mostly, I think, it is the character of Sybil itself which captures our interest. At first, she appears to be rather acerbic, perhaps selfish, set in her ways. But gradually, so much more emerges. She is honest. She admits when she is wrong. She is caring, even if she doesn't shout about it. She is formidably intelligent. She is willing to change - and she does change. One key scene for me is when, after years of wrangling with Melissa, the college dean, by letter, she finally decides to go to confront her. And when she sees Melissa, exhausted after a difficult meeting, she suddenly stops in her tracks and properly sees the other woman, and understands why she has behaved as she has done. And they become friends.
So she can recalibrate, she can change - she may be old, but she's not stuck. And in the end, her life does change - instead of narrowing down, it opens out. Which is a distinctly encouraging thing to read about.
As well as all that, the book is sharply written and cleverly constructed. I hugely enjoyed it.
