This is another vaguely rip-offish version of I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith. Confession? I'm not original about selecting books to read. I was looking at different book sites on the web and putting in favorite books to see what came up when I came across The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets. I'd read all of the books that were like all of my other favorites, except for Dodie Smith's I Capture the Castle (I'm still planning on reading the others, as well. Bring on the Elvis impersonators!). I need to get out more. (That could be read that I need to get a life outdoors but what I really meant was that I need to read different kinds of books if I'd read everything considered similar to everything else I already like.) "I liked that! This is safe and probably won't make me feel bad," I said to myself.(I love I Capture the Castle because it is about paying attention to people you care about and trying to understand them as they are, no more or less. It's also about daydreaming and hoping you are more than you are. I know this feeling. I shouldn't read books that think the appeal was living in a run down castle. I shouldn't... but I've got one that's hugely popular in Iran to read next!)[Side note: I've had unselected for quite a long time of my goodreads life the box "Share your reviews with partners of goodreads". Somehow, my reviews kept haunting me elsewhere on the internet like a pornography photo a teenager in a Lifetime movie took. Her '80s celebrity mama does her best but the picture just won't ever die. Will her foolishness haunt her forever?!]So I started reading Eva Rice's The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets before I logged on to goodreads to check it out... Wait, chicklit?! I'm not a snob or anything, it's just that the books I personally associate with chicklit are what I associate with bad young adult novels that don't aspire to aim higher than Twilight. An assumption that the audience doesn't care and you don't have to do your best, I mean. I know there are tons of great young adult books out there, not just from my own teen days, and because I'm a fantasy fanatic and for a long time that was where you got new fantasy novels with kickbutt heroines. I don't know where to look in chicklit so if there are bastians of quality in there I'm not reading them. (I've already admitted to not looking far outside my favorites anyway.) I probably read a couple that were loaned out to me from a friend and then wasn't interested enough to ever peek into the genre again. (That's a shame because it means I hardly ever get to use my "Missjacksonifyou'renasty" shelf that is my "chicklit" shelf.)Okay, so if The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets was a young adult novel I would whine that the author gave up making it all that it could be because it was for a young adult novel and teenagers (apparently publishers believe this) don't care if important parts are rushed. "They are young and have their whole lives ahead of them!" I imagine they say as they pen a nonending. Chicklit= brick wall ending and no whole life ahead of them? Twenty was adult in the '50s. So I have prejudices against chicklit that I don't really understand. I suspect it has something to do with genres. All genres may have these. Romance novels recycle plots like every reader read their first romance novel that day. Fantasy novels often read like their readers never heard of The Lord of the Rings, Earthsea or Star Wars (where were they living?). Anyway, I was kinda annoyed because I had the feeling the book was not what it could be because of genre laziness. It's an historical! Pack on the setting! Who cares if it distracts from the story? Sighs.Penelope is an eighteen year old girl in London in 1955 (before my mom was born! Sorry, that's my timetable of "really old"). She lives in a decrepit mansion that is far beyond its past glory. Her mom is still young (she married and had her first child at seventeen) and obsessed with her own beauty. She's one of those women that hate other women. That said it all to me. I felt that Rice could've left it at that and didn't need to go on and on about how gorgeous Talitha was, or that she scorned her daughter when it counted (once in a great white whale doesn't cut it when you're a young woman who needs her mother). She spends the money they don't have on Dior. Like in 'Castle', they don't do anything real to help out the money situation. It was difficult to feel sorry for them when they had food to eat, a servant and Penelope only worked one day a week (in an antiques store). She didn't protest too hard when her mama bought her new party dresses, either. I guess the author wanted to evoke the lost great houses tragedy of post-war England. I didn't give a crap in Atonement and I didn't give a crap here. It isn't that romantic to live in a freezing house (I've lived in a house with no a/c during Florida summers). The reason to save the house should have been more compelling than it has always been there.Penelope's life gets some excitement when Charlotte barrels into her life at the bus station (she's so poor that she takes the bus twice a year! Penelope, that is). I sorta liked Charlotte. She was mostly sweet, in a selfish way, and loved life. However, there were times when I felt like I was watching movie montages of characters having fun and getting closer in a movie to save on time and convince you of great feeling that happened too fast. Only it didn't save on time and it was constant mentions of how easy going Charlotte was, how everyone liked her, how she turned offbeat behavior into charm, grace, charm, good looking, soooo charming constantly until I wanted to scream: OKAY, I GET IT! CHARLOTTE IS THE PERFECT SOCIETY GIRL! It reminded me of when my mom would sigh over how charming and what a big user my father was. Like the using people part wasn't important at all. It was annoying as reading Sherlock Holmes tell Watson he had the answer the whole time, when she did her superior act. Charlotte is like that about life stuff. Oh, you don't love him. Oh, that wouldn't work out. What makes her so special? No, I didn't mean that. Please don't tell me again! If only at some point Penelope had stood up for herself it would have been okay. But she really doesn't. She's LUCKY that someone like her could attract their attention. Riiiight.Charlotte's cousin, Harry, was an asshole. I prayed that he was not the love interest. "I know he's probably the love interest but I really hope he's not," I said. I wanted Penelope to tell him off for being an asshole. Other characters telling Penelope that he loved her was not doing it for me. He's obsessed with this American society chick, Marina. He liked feeling good that a pretty girl paid him attention. Even better, he got attention because she paid him attention. She dumps him because he has no money and connections. Somehow, Penelope is roped into pretending to be his girlfriend to make the other girl jealous. He's pretty insulting about the whole deal. He's an asshole. Who cares if he has one blue eye and one brown one? David Bowie will not make me forgive Never Let Me Down with his one green and one blue eye.And the namedropping was ridiculous. Marina knew Ari Onassis! Have you heard of this guy, Elvis? He's gonna be big. James Dean times fifty mentions! Hey, why didn't you say this was set in 1955? C.S. Lewis? Check. Penelope and Charlotte are obsessed with Johnnie Ray. I had actually heard of him. I have no idea why I had heard of him.My favorite part of the book was how Penelope pretended to like jazz. Before she discovered Johnnie Ray who made her feel alive and colorful, she'd collect jazz records and fake it about jazz. She's still nervous to admit she likes Johnny Ray and doesn't like jazz. This said more to me about Penelope being afraid to live outside of shadows than anything else. It's too bad her "new life" was living in other people's shadows. She doesn't admit it, though, which was a huge failing of the book. It was a better book when I pretended it had the potential for that to happen. It also killed me the mentions of teddy boys (I know, I complained about namedropping! I can't help it. I find the teddy boys to be so amusing. I love how John Lennon pretended he was one when he wasn't!).I liked reading about rations after the war. Since Gravity's Rainbow I'm perversely fascinated by nasty foods they ate during post war England to compromise for the lack of good treats (and English food is supposed to be bad anyway, right?). My favorite aisle in the shopping market is the foriegn food aisles. I like looking at the wine candy and wondering if it came about like that nasty gin marshmallow from GR.I wish that Penelope had lived outside of someone else's shadow. Her new friend Rocky, the music producer, was a red herring. I saw it coming that he'd end up with her mother. Her change of heart and will to live in the new age was not entirely believable. If she had found love in a way that didn't read like a loose end being tied up, maybe. C'mon, he was initially her daughter's love interest! Yuck! And a music producer come to town to meet her music and America obsessed brother, Inigo? Rice should have stuck to the initial story of a girl stifled by 1950's England who doesn't admit she wants a change. And earned it. Okay, I admit I felt more kindly towards the book after this evening when I watched An Education about a girl who felt stifled by 1960's England. What a shallow mess THAT was.It was a real memoir from a woman who wanted to point the finger at her parents for her messed up love life (they didn't stop her) AND talk about how special her teenaged self was 'cause she could speak French. Penelope's relationship with her mother felt real to me until it was tied up too neatly. I believe a girl will take what she can get, but I also believe that she'll feel sad about the wasted years and wonder why she wasn't enough to snap her out of it. Penelope should have asked more of Harry, too. She should have asked more of Charlotte. Why else write in the form of a memoir? Isn't it YOUR life?Maybe that's where the "chicklit" tag comes in. It's not personal enough. I didn't get mad until the ending. Three stars for being an enjoyable enough read until the ending and she never tells anyone off.
This review was originally posted on [Between My Lines]I love books about female friendship and at the very heart of this book is a friendship that is exuberant, fun and full of life. Actually the whole book is full of that too.First Line of The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets by Eva Rice: "I met Charlotte in London one afternoon while waiting for a bus."My Thoughts on The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets by Eva Rice: The setting of this book is fab. It’s set in post war England at a time of huge change. Teenagers are now a thing and they are ready to throw off the bad memories of the war and just grab life by the horns and shake it for all it’s worth. They’ve had enough of rationing and death and bad news and now it’s time to party and enjoy being young. The moment is everything and that feeling is contagious while you read.Penelope lives in a huge mansion that is falling down around her family's ears. I was picturing a house like Downton Abbey in my head, a few decades on, badly neglected and in need of a huge money injection. Penelope is slightly awkward, very English and desperately in love with Johnnie Ray, an early rock and singer from America.And one day, she meets the zany, high-spirited Charlotte. Who flies in to her life like a whirlwind and stirs everything up. I loved the friendship of the two girls; it was sincere and supportive and brought fun and joy to both girls. And both girls just pulsate with youth and romantic ideas and their fandom of Johnnie Ray was hilarious.So setting, check. Characters, check. But great as those two were, what really shone for me was the writing. It flowed from the page, it was thought-provoking and everything from the language used to emotions evoked just made me live, sleep and breathe the late 1940s and I loved it.It is also a rollercoaster of a book and it made me laugh and swoon but it also choked me up at times. It has a charming, quirky feel but is well able to hit you in the feels at poignant moments too.I do have to say, it was predictable and everything wrapped up very neat and tidy. But I had such fun along the way that I didn’t mind that in the slightest. There were a few romances and they were sweet but not the main focus of the book. Mostly this is a story of friendship and family and is absorbing and entertaining. It might have a simple theme but it is also an unforgettable read.So it gets a huge thumbs up. And I can’t believe the book is 10 years old, how come no one ever told me about this one before? Peeps, if you know more books like this, shout now, I need them in my life! Who should read The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets by Eva Rice? I’d highly recommend this to you if you like historical fiction, books about friendship and strong character development. Fans of I Capture the Castle should also enjoy.Thanks to Bookbridgr and Headline for giving me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.
Do You like book The Lost Art Of Keeping Secrets (2007)?
The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets is probably being promoted as chick-lit. That's at least what I thought when I went into it. But it's so much more. It's a story of love, friendship, music, coming of age, big houses, poverty, a sad, beautiful Mama, moving on after the Second Worldwar and it moved me, for I cried and I laughed and sometimes I cried and laughed at the same time. It was much more special than I could ever have thought. (except for the names. I didn't like those at all, Charlotte, Harry and Aunt Clare being the exceptions)
—Ruby
I think this book is going to find a spot on my list of favorite books of all time. I loved the characters, I loved the story, I loved everything about it. It reminded me a little of Pride & Prejudice, just set in a different era and with a different plot. This snippet of conversation between two of the main characters pretty much sums up my love of this book:Charlotte: "[My mother] hates having me at home - plowing through the books in her library and kicking my heels up at night. She thinks I'm lazy."Penelope: "Are you?"Charlotte: "Of course. Any sensible person is. Aren't you?"Indeed, Charlotte. Indeed.
—Lara
Penelope and Inigo Wallace live with their young, beautiful and widowed mother in a glorious, crumbling medieval English mansion. It is one of the last of the great houses and it is falling down around them as they have no money to keep it up. The year is 1954, Penelope is 18 and Inigo 16. Jonnie Ray is all the rage as a pop star, rationing has ended, the youth of England are bursting with life and change. Elvis Presley is about to be discovered in the U.S. Into this setting enter Charlotte and Harry, siblings, and their Aunt Clare. Charlotte is a brave, funny, sharp-witted, stylish girl and her brother Harry is a slouching jazz fan, with a cigarette and a drink, in love with an unsuitable American girl. Harry is also a magician. The combination of the gothic house and Harry's magic make for some memorable scenes that I thought were the best parts of the book. Harry is a great character.Harry concocts a plan to win back his unsuitable girl, who has become engaged to someone more suitable to her,and this involves bringing Penelope to fancy parties as his pretended new girl. Things happen in a delightful way, fizzy like the champagne they are always drinking. Even the sad comes off nice in this book. British humor plus Harry the Magician and the English haunted house, I just love it. Some of the ending of the book didn't please me as much as the rest of the book, but overall a very good book.
—Chana
