Elizabeth Savage (1)
Teoksen The Last Night at the Ritz tekijä
Katso täsmennyssivulta muut tekijät, joiden nimi on Elizabeth Savage.
Tekijän teokset
But not for love; a novel 3 kappaletta
A Fall of Angels 2 kappaletta
Associated Works
Madame Curie; Die laatste zomer; Spaar de spotvogels; De meute — Tekijä — 1 kappale
Merkitty avainsanalla
Yleistieto
- Suhteet
- Savage, Thomas (husband)
Jäseniä
Kirja-arvosteluja
A good novel is more than a string of good sentences, but the sentences in Elisabeth Savage's “The Last Night at the Ritz” (1973) are so good you might miss the fact that it is also a good novel. I found myself reading many of these sentences more than once, meaning that reading the novel once was almost like reading it twice. No wonder it took me so long to make it through a 188-page book.
Another reason for that could be the many digressions by the story's unnamed narrator, a middle-aged woman whose literary aspirations, like her first husband (she calls him "the real one"), died young. Even her digressions often have digressions, meaning readers frequently need to reorientate themselves to figure out where they are. In other words, the novel takes a little work, worth it though it is.
The novel occupies just one day in Boston when our narrator meets her best friend, Gay, and Gay's husband, Len, for some drinking, dining and reminiscing. Yet through the many digressions, or flashbacks, we learn virtually everything significant about the relationship of these three people from college days till now.
Our narrator — how I wish she had a name — had a brief affair with Len years before. She is childless but regards Gay and Len's eldest son, Charley, as her own son. Len works for a publishing company. Both Gay and nameless once hoped to be published themselves.
Several factors bring things to a boil on this day in Boston. They are all drinking too much. Len worries about Charley, now in Canada dodging the draft. Gay worries about Marta, Len's lovely and self-assured assistant who goes with them on their night on the town. Wes, a man with whom the narrator has had a casual affair, is also at their table, as is Walter, an author whose first book has just been accepted for publication.
OK, not much really happens, but Savage gives us every subtle nuance, every little change in mood, so one is aware of a great deal happening just beneath the surface.
And then there are those wonderful sentences. One could almost open the novel anywhere, point a finger blindly and find a choice one.
Although an excellent novel, “The Last Night at the Ritz” was quickly forgotten soon after publication, forgotten by everyone but Nancy Pearl, that is. Pearl raved about it in one of her “Book Lust” books. Then it and few other forgotten treasures were reprinted as Book Lust Rediscoveries. Before it is forgotten again, discover it for yourself.… (lisätietoja)
Another reason for that could be the many digressions by the story's unnamed narrator, a middle-aged woman whose literary aspirations, like her first husband (she calls him "the real one"), died young. Even her digressions often have digressions, meaning readers frequently need to reorientate themselves to figure out where they are. In other words, the novel takes a little work, worth it though it is.
The novel occupies just one day in Boston when our narrator meets her best friend, Gay, and Gay's husband, Len, for some drinking, dining and reminiscing. Yet through the many digressions, or flashbacks, we learn virtually everything significant about the relationship of these three people from college days till now.
Our narrator — how I wish she had a name — had a brief affair with Len years before. She is childless but regards Gay and Len's eldest son, Charley, as her own son. Len works for a publishing company. Both Gay and nameless once hoped to be published themselves.
Several factors bring things to a boil on this day in Boston. They are all drinking too much. Len worries about Charley, now in Canada dodging the draft. Gay worries about Marta, Len's lovely and self-assured assistant who goes with them on their night on the town. Wes, a man with whom the narrator has had a casual affair, is also at their table, as is Walter, an author whose first book has just been accepted for publication.
OK, not much really happens, but Savage gives us every subtle nuance, every little change in mood, so one is aware of a great deal happening just beneath the surface.
And then there are those wonderful sentences. One could almost open the novel anywhere, point a finger blindly and find a choice one.
Although an excellent novel, “The Last Night at the Ritz” was quickly forgotten soon after publication, forgotten by everyone but Nancy Pearl, that is. Pearl raved about it in one of her “Book Lust” books. Then it and few other forgotten treasures were reprinted as Book Lust Rediscoveries. Before it is forgotten again, discover it for yourself.… (lisätietoja)
Review included on my personal blog: http://uhleesuh-uhleesuh.blogspot.com/2012/12/book-review-elizabeth-savages-last...
Have you heard about Nancy Pearl's "Book Lust Rediscoveries"? She inked a deal last year with Amazon to republish some of her favorite out-of-print books. By my count, there are nine so far (the plan was to publish six a year), and each has an introduction explaining her reasons for republishing it.
Last Night at the Ritz was my first Book Lust Rediscovery. Originally published in the early 1970s and set in the late 1960s, it's not a novel I would have been likely to find on my own. I purchased it from an Amazon email link a couple of weeks ago, inspired by my own recent stay at the Ritz. It seemed fitting to read something set there. I hope one day myself to have a tradition of meeting old friends for lunch at the Ritz. Or possibly the Waldorf. I'm not hard to please.
The writing/narration of this novel is like a vintage mirror with a tarnished finish -- it's not entirely reliable, and it's certainly not the modern fashion, but it's undeniably lovely in its own way. The narrator's voice is genteel but a bit mysterious; it reminded me very much of [a:Daphne du Maurier|2001717|Daphne du Maurier|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/authors/1357663068p2/2001717.jpg]'s [b:Rebecca|12873|Rebecca|Daphne du Maurier|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1327871977s/12873.jpg|46663] in that way. Reading this novel is a little like spending a pleasant afternoon listening to your grandmother reminisce about what a slightly wicked woman she was in her youth. I did find myself rather reveling in the narrator's unabashed fondness of cocktails and flasks.
And the narrator is a book lover to boot!
In other words, the narrator, despite all her subtle mysteries and her tendency to leave her stories without a perfectly satisfying ending, is at least a little bit my soul mate. As is anyone who combines a love of books with a genteel appreciation for booze.
Last Night at the Ritz was my first Book Lust Rediscovery. Originally published in the early 1970s and set in the late 1960s, it's not a novel I would have been likely to find on my own. I purchased it from an Amazon email link a couple of weeks ago, inspired by my own recent stay at the Ritz. It seemed fitting to read something set there. I hope one day myself to have a tradition of meeting old friends for lunch at the Ritz. Or possibly the Waldorf. I'm not hard to please.
The writing/narration of this novel is like a vintage mirror with a tarnished finish -- it's not entirely reliable, and it's certainly not the modern fashion, but it's undeniably lovely in its own way. The narrator's voice is genteel but a bit mysterious; it reminded me very much of [a:Daphne du Maurier|2001717|Daphne du Maurier|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/authors/1357663068p2/2001717.jpg]'s [b:Rebecca|12873|Rebecca|Daphne du Maurier|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1327871977s/12873.jpg|46663] in that way. Reading this novel is a little like spending a pleasant afternoon listening to your grandmother reminisce about what a slightly wicked woman she was in her youth. I did find myself rather reveling in the narrator's unabashed fondness of cocktails and flasks.
One hour is not enough for cocktails. It may be enough for that handful of nonserious drinkers who hold a glass just for the looks of things, but they are not many. Most of us had taken the precaution of having a few in our rooms, but the foolish virgins with no oil in their lamps had to down drinks so rapidly that by the time we left for dinner, a disproportionate number of the class was drunk, and two never achieved the table at all.
I was feeling the gathering excitement and the sense of well-being that is the reward of gin carefully and knowledgeably applied.
And the narrator is a book lover to boot!
... I lay upon the bed and was suddenly bone-tired and cranky, and I wished to hell I had something to read. It is very dangerous to get caught without something to read.
In other words, the narrator, despite all her subtle mysteries and her tendency to leave her stories without a perfectly satisfying ending, is at least a little bit my soul mate. As is anyone who combines a love of books with a genteel appreciation for booze.
What I really missed was an encyclopedia; an encyclopedia can always cheer you up... But you can't very well lug an encyclopedia around hotels. Fortunately, I did have my flask.… (lisätietoja)
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The moment I saw number six I knew where I had always wanted to live: in a white house with green shutters and a back entry where a boy could sneak his dog in, and a box for galoshes and a front sun porch where that boy could sleep with a rattan rug that wouldn't show dog hairs so that boy could pretend nobody knew that he kept his beagle in. And a mother who pretended that she didn't know what he pretended.
If you want to read one about Missoula, try The Girls from the Five Great Valleys.… (lisätietoja)