The first book in a saga that explores the impact of the changes that overtook Britain in the late twentieth century, The Light Years focuses on an extended upper-middle class family just before the outbreak of World War Two. Elizabeth Jane Howard has an unusual narrative technique in that the point of view is distributed more or less evenly over more than a dozen characters so that the story is brought to us in a series of snippets. I found this unsatisfying in that no character had ownership of the story and there was no-one to identify with. I imagine, however, that it enables the author to create a richly layered tapestry of plot as the series extends. What I did like about this technique is the opportunity it affords of including the thoughts of the children alongside those of the adults, giving us a more complete picture of the family under her fictional micropscope.The quality of the writing struck me as uneven. There are parts that seem really rather clunky, almost like formulaic genre-fiction, all tell and no show, but then there are other moments of real insight.The characters are difficult. I found it hard to really like any of them, except for the lonely, impoverished old governess whose fiancé was killed in the First World War. They are depicted warts-and-all and there are so many warts. What really makes this book work for me is the sense of period and in particular the evocative description that summons up with such filmic quality a picture of England before the war:As she opened the front door and stepped into what had been the old cottage garden she was assailed by the heat, by the sound of bees and the motor mower, by honeysuckle and lavender and the nameless old-fashioned climbing rose of ivory peach colour that was thickly wreathed round the porch. The Duchy’s rockery, her latest pride and joy, was blazing with little mats and cushions and sparks of flowers. She turned right and followed the path round the house. On the west side was a steep bank that ended in the tennis court that McAlpine was mowing. He wore his straw hat with a black band, trousers as round as drainpipes, and, in spite of the heat, his jacket. This was because he was in view of the house; he took it off in the vegetable garden. He saw her and stopped, in case she wanted to say anything to him. ‘Lovely day,’ she called and he touched his forehead in acknowledgement.But alongside such idyllic rural scenes the author doesn't flinch from laying bare the stultifying narrowwness of so many of these middle-class lives, protected as they are by wealth and deference - the women obsessed with their appearance and the men with their importance, all of them so uninformed about the rest of the world. It made me very glad to be alive now.
Chock full of details. Thoughts, clothes, furniture, what's for dinner, servants, youth, age, aunts, and there's a war coming. This was not the kind of book where turn of phrase had me repeating paragraphs, but the story moved along. The landscape was green, the tendre-vert. More buds, more leaves, more details. There was a point where I wondered why I kept reading. I managed to figure it out. It reminded me of the books they used to read to us in elementary school. They were always about wartime British families. Lots of children and milk chutes. Everything was brick. And so full of exotic details like paying for weird sweets with peculiar money or putting the same odd coin into a gas or electric meter. Pay as you go? Really? And what the hell is treacle?I got to do the meter thing once. I was in London and my friend's electricity cut out. He let me put the coins in the meter just like in the books. Swoon. Those coins were big.This book reminded me of those books only with sex, but not too much. Dalliances, just right for the mood. Also the children and adolescents were very well written. It didn't matter that they were 1938 children. The essence was there.
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I've read 3 of the four books in the series now. Marking Time and Confusion follow this one, and Casting Off is the last.These books are extremely well-written, very engrossing and quite entertaining. (Usually the words "multi-generational saga" are enough to make me set the book aside, unless specifically recommended to me.) This is the story of the three grown children and their children who all retreat to the parent's large country home to get through WWII. In addition to the family, other characters include family servants and retainers, friends, in-laws, and as the children grow up through the books, their friends, lovers and spouses.One of the most enjoyable aspects of the books is that the author tells much of the story from the perspective of the children, ranging in age from 6 to early teens, and older. The children are articulate, funny, and sensitive, and provide a welcome and interesting counterpoint to the adult experience. The elderly characters, especially the aging governess, Mrs. Milliment (who I love), are also very well done.Wonderful books - I can't wait for the fourth and last to arrive.Another great recommendation from Amy! Thanks to her, between Olivia Manning's Balkan and Levant Trilogies, and these 4 Cazalet Chronicles, I will have read 10 books about British life in WWII.
—Ann
I've read this before and I'm reading again. Currently revisiting Elizabeth Jane Howard in a big way. She is a superb writer, her characterisation is extraordinary and I love the masterly way she weaves multiple points of view to create a deep and enthralling portrait of family life which is far from perfect. Why is she always seen as a sort of posh chick lit writer when in fact she is incredibly gifted and skilful? Is it the subject matter? She's really Jane Austen by way of Viriginia Woolf and not a light weight writer at all. She deserves to be marketed better the book covers always look a bit dreamy and like the old Cadbury's Flake advert. Gets 5 stars because anything I re-read automatically does but she deserves them with bells on.
—Annette
Stumbled across this book at a used bookstore in NY. The second I saw the descriptors "upstairs, downstairs," I was hooked. Ever since Gosford Park, I've been fascinated by early 20th century landed gentry British customs. The calm, cultured, faintly ridiculous atmosphere of the "upstairs" where you dress for dinner, and the frenzied pace of the "downstairs," where cooks plan elaborate meals well in advance; maids scurry around the rooms before dawn to light fires, prepare tea, set out clothing; butlers shine shoes, set out newspapers and whisky; groomsmen ready horses for the day's hunt. It's a world I find utterly engrossing.This particular series takes place directly before WWII (and I imagine during) and focuses on the Cazalet family, from the grand dame and sir to the youngest children. It is a "typical" English novel in that there are no less than 5 different storylines winding about, dozens of characters and no obvious plot. This may sound like a nightmare to some, but for me, it is the ultimate satisfying read.
—Rowena
