607. Eva Trout

Eva Trout
Elizabeth Bowen
1968
Around 300 pages

And that's a wrap on Elizabeth Bowen, who we have been enjoying since 1929. It's always sad to see a female author go, because it could be many List years until another one pops up. Here's my official ranking of Bowen, an underrated author and adulteress. 

1. The House in Paris

2. The World of Love

3. Eva Trout

4. The Heat of the Day

5. To The North

6. Last September

So Eva Trout falls somewhere in the middle, but only because she knocked 1 and 2 out of the park. Eva is staying with the Arbles after her father's death, but she has much more fun with the Danceys. I guess they are like her Weasleys. Eva is the sole heiress to her father's estate, so naturally, many people are eager to tell her what to do.

Based on that description, you might have a specific idea of what Eva looks like, but Bowen actually gives us something here other than EnglishRose.jpeg. Eva is a big lady and doesn't present as very feminine. She is also incredibly socially awkward to boot. We get more homosexual relationships in this novel, which unfortunately, are just as miserable as the heterosexual ones. 

I'm still digesting how I feel about the ending. On the one hand, it felt abrupt, almost comically so. On the other hand, that's exactly how an event like that would unfold. I never fully felt like I grasped what was going on inside her head, and she made such...questionable choices that I would have liked to get deeper into her psychology.

As always, Bowen's descriptions make me smile. I'll miss you Lizzie.

RATING: ****-

Interesting Facts:

Shortlisted for the 1970 Booker Prize.

UP NEXT: A Kestrel for a Knave by Barry Hines

505. A World of Love

A World of Love
Elizabeth Bowen
1954
Around 160 pages

Like Wyndham Lewis, Elizabeth Bowen is largely forgotten by today's audiences. But unlike in the case of Wyndham Lewis, her obscurity is tragic and not the result of the cosmos protecting us from unreadable prose.

Jane is a young woman living at a decaying Irish manor with her parents, sister, and Cousin Antonia, an eccentric older relative. Jane discovers love letters in the attic from Guy, a soldier who died in World War I, addressed to her mother. In an almost gothic way, Jane's uncovering of the past unleashes the ghost of Guy among her relatives, who choose to ignore/romanticize the past.

You can tell that Bowen enjoyed writing ghost stories, as she puts an almost supernatural spin on this story about characters haunted by the past. I appreciated that the relationships between the female characters were given center stage.  

It's a shame more people aren't Bowenbabies (I'm trying out different fanbase names).

RATING: ****-

Interesting Facts:

Supernatural fiction writer Robert Aickman considered Elizabeth Bowen to be "the most distinguished living practitioner" of ghost stories. 

UP NEXT: The Last Temptation of Christ by Nikos Kazantzakis

458. The Heat of the Day

The Heat of the Day
Elizabeth Bowen
1948
Around 400 pages

Virginia Woolf has passed the baton to Elizabeth Bowen as the most overrepresented female author on this List. We are on our fourth of six Bowen entries. I am never really blown away, but she's not offensive or boring either. I think I just want her to be as good as Edith Wharton, since their styles are similar. But she's never quite as interesting.

We begin in the midst of World War II, in a London park where a concert is taking place. I enjoyed this opening, and how Elizabeth Bowen used the characters' reaction to the music as our introductions to their personalities. Very clever. Louie, a young woman whose husband is fighting in the war, unsuccessfully hits on Harrison, an English counterspy. Harrison rejects her, as he is deeply in love with Stella, who is in turn is in love with Robert. Harrison believes that Robert is a German spy, and attempts to use that knowledge to manipulate Stella into getting freaky with him. 

It seems crazy that not everybody would have been getting the fuck out of London at this point, but I suppose people always adjust to the new normal no matter how wild it seems. Like I said, this story wasn't as engaging as I wanted it to be. I felt like most of the exciting action took place off-screen and we were left with a melodrama with characters I heartily disliked.

So an intriguing setting but rather forgettable as far as this era goes.

RATING: ***--

Interesting Facts:

Harold Pinter wrote a tv movie based on the novel directed by Christopher Morahan in 1989, starring Patricia Hodge as Stella, Michael York as Robert and Michael Gambon as Harrison. Gambon, get out of here.

UP NEXT: Love in a Cold Climate by Nancy Mitford

373. The House in Paris

The House in Paris
Elizabeth Bowen
1935
Around 270 pages

I love novels that take place during a single day. There's something very feminine about those stories. There is so much significance in our everyday actions that's difficult to capture if your characters are having adventures all over the place. And not all personalities are capable of the kind of growth that characters experience in plots with a larger time frames. There's something very real about nobody changing.

Eleven-year-old Henrietta Mountjoy, accompanied by Miss Naomi Fisher, is stopping by Naomi's sickly mother on her way to visit her grandmother. Henrietta is expected to spend the day with Leopold, a nine year old boy waiting to meet his mother for the first time that day. The children are fascinated with each other, in a very believable way.  And Leopold's parentage is explored.

I enjoy Bowen's writing, she gave the scenes with the children the emotional weight they deserved. As children we are capable of creating strong emotional bonds with people we never see again. Elizabeth Bowen should be wider read, I enjoy her novels immensely.

RATING: ****-

Interesting Facts:

Virginia Woolf loved the book and said in a letter: "I had the feeling that your world imposed itself on my world, while I read, which only happens when one is taken in hand by a work."

UP NEXT: Auto-da-Fe by Elias Canetti. 

349. To the North

To the North
Elizabeth Bowen
1932
Around 320 pages

Our streak of so-so novels continues. It's like we are on the B-side of authors who already have plenty of coverage on this List. And the ending of this made me roll my eyes, which admittedly, are easily triggered.

Cecilia Summers and her late husband's sister, Emmeline, live together in 1920s London. Cecilia is having difficulty processing her husband's death, and spends her days drifting through the city's social scene. She meets Mark Linkwater, and is savvy enough to see that Mark is a roguish cad who wouldn't be out of place in a Jane Austen novel. Emmeline, however, is younger and more susceptible to roguery. 

I feel like this was heavily influenced by the Bunner Sisters. She nails the description of the psychological power each character possesses over the other, but not much else stood out to me. And Mark is a dick.

RATING: ***--

Interesting Facts:

Elizabeth Bowen's marriage was reportedly never consummated. I know that has nothing to do with this book, but I thought it was juicy.

UP NEXT: The Thin Man by Dashiell Hammett

332. The Last September

The Last September
Elizabeth Bowen
1929
Around 310 pages

 

It pains me a bit that I read a book called The Last September, when it is not, in fact, September. What can I say? I love me my themes. But the List is above such petty things as timing, so I must soldier on and read this inappropriately scheduled novel.

The story takes place during the Irish War of Independence. It's not a subject I know that much about, my public school thought it was more important to go over the French and Indian War fifty times (I forget what that was about too). Not knowing the background does rob the plot of some of its tension, but Elizabeth Bowen did a wonderful job giving us the information we needed and building an atmosphere where everybody is on edge.

Lois Farquar is in her own coming of age novel, unfortunately, the war keeps getting in the way. It's nice to see a novel that gives the female lead something to do other than fussing over the main male character. It really shows that life is relentless. I do think she is still perfecting her voice as a writer, but this was still a powerful introduction to her work.

RATING: ****-

Interesting Facts:

John Banville wrote a screenplay of this novel.

The film stars Fiona Shaw (Aunt Petunia), Maggie Smith (Professor McGonagall), and Michael Gambon (the worst version of Dumbledore imaginable). 

UP NEXT: Berlin Alexanderplatz by Alfred Doblin