I chose this book because my local library was doing a challenge where readers read a book from each continent - this was one of the Australian books they recommended. It's a novel about a character called Lilian, who is born into a middle class family and then as an adult chooses to be a bag lady who quotes Shakespeare to people. It chronicles her life and the choices she makes and why.I enjoyed it a lot. Interestingly, a lot of the reviewers I've read say they don't like the character of Lilian, but I liked her. Not sure she's someone I'd want to be friends with, because she's very 'in your face', but I liked her as a character and found her interesting. The whole concept of opting out of cultural conventions and values, and choosing a lifestyle that is not socially accepted is one that I find fascinating and I feel I can understand and relate to. One thing that intrigued me as I read the novel was the concept of 'madness' - Lilian and her family were supposedly mentally ill, and I found myself wondering whether what was being described really was mental illness, or maybe some level of autism instead. Particularly her brother and father, with their collections of facts, and their tendency to turn inwards, but also Lilian, in a very different way, with her inability to fit in socially. Another thing that intrigued me was Lilian's weight - she deliberately lets herself get fatter and fatter, as a form of self-protection. Everything she does seems to be very deliberate - she is determined to do and be what she wants regardless of convention, and yet she also really seems to want to be accepted by society and gets genuinely upset when she is excluded. So of course these two desires clash - ironically until she becomes a bag lady. Then she realises that she has an impact on people's lives - that they remember talking to her, and it's a story they can tell to their families. So in order to be both fully herself and also accepted as part of her society, she has to embrace a role which is not officially accepted by society. It's an odd paradox, but makes sense.
I thought I was going to still be reading this book when I was an old bag lady myself. I love Kate Grenville's writing but beautiful, original prose is not enough to keep a reader engaged. This is seriously lacking in plot. Especially as I knew from the blurb that Lillian becomes a lady who lives rough and recites Shakespeare. There was no hook to keep me reading. I felt bad because at times I was skimming through paragraphs. However, it was extraordinarily good in parts. Don't want to include any spoilers here but the relationship with her father is very well drawn and I thought her depiction of that very dysfunctional relationship and where it eventually goes was brilliant. Except that she leaves home quite a long way before the end of the book and then nothing else is done quite so well. This is her early work, and shows how much promise she has as a writer, but it is crying out for a plot.
Do You like book Lilian's Story (2007)?
The theme of Lilian’s story is from our everyday life and Lilian is not a stranger to us. The story is told in superb prose blended with poetic touch. But the flow gets hindered at many places by the abrupt ending and dramatic opening of the chapters. It may be the author’s attempt to dramatize the sequences but I would not say that she had succeeded in it every time, but leaves the reader confused with characters and scenes. Lilian’s gradual change to a bag lady in the street is well presented with the vivid descriptions of the psychological trauma she suffered from her family atmosphere, bully school mates and the snobbish society. But, After finishing the last page I could not help wondering whether the whole world has gone insane!. Transformation of F J Stroud (Frank) and Rick into street people could not be digested so easily.
—Gopakumar Nair
I am ready for whatever comes next.Last line from Lilian’s Story. I was looking forward to reading this after finishing Grenville’s great Australia trilogy. It was written with Grenville’s usual lovely writing voice. However, Lilian’s Story was a disappointing drag, due to Lilian herself. I didn’t like her to begin with and my feelings didn’t change at the end. Yes, she’s led a cruel and miserable life but she doesn’t help herself by aggravating everyone around her to make her situation worse. I just didn’t care about her, or her dreary life, which made it impossible for this dull read to hold my interest.
—da-wildchildz
A little disappointed with this book, not least because the blurb spoiled it by telling the reader what was gong to happen. In most books this doesn't matter because the novel will be substantial enough to overcome the blurb, but this novel simply charted Lilian's descent in a fairly linear way. It was a bit of a grind to read, the whole thing rendered too predictable by that blurb. It was further marred for me because Lilian never won my sympathy, even with her family of completely flawed and dysfunctional characters and her equally odd friends. It felt as though KG didn't know this character as well as she might have done. Because there was no actual plot the whole emphasis was on the character and this allowed the weaknesses to show.Part of the problem was that KG's other books are so vividly alive with fully rounded characters that, by comparison, this more half- hearted effort was never convincing enough for me.
—Cas
