Maura (maura853) -
This was slightly disappointing. It's a beautiful book, but the content (with one or two exceptions) felt slight, and going over familiar old ground.
In fairness, Hardyment does exactly what she promises to do in her Introduction. Each chapter looks at a house that is crucial to a well-known novel. Almost like a character in its own right. The definition of "house" can be stretched. (Hogwarts? I suppose, as a boarding school, Harry Potter lives there, but ...) And Hardyment is clear that she isn't going for deep analysis: she recaps the plot of the novel, tells you a bit about the author, a bit about the house it was based on. (Again, sometimes stretching a point to breaking: the cabin in "Uncle Tom's Cabin" doesn't exist in reality, it was based on Stowe's romanticised rendering of a slave cabin. And we ALL know that 221B Baker Street didn't even exist as an address until the tourism industry got hold of it ...) And that's about it.
Now, I didn't need this book to be deep, or rigorous, but I did need it to have ... a point, And that's where I felt this didn't work. What it the point? What is it for? Characters in books live in houses, usually, so there are houses in books. Sometimes the house in books are based on real houses, or an author's rendering of a Platonic Ideal (or nightmarish opposite) of a home. OK -- but where does that take us? The selection: 20 novels (and houses) that span 250-odd years. Seventeen are British, three are from the USA: why?
My favorite chapters -- imho, the best chapters -- are the ones on "Wuthering Heights" (because I actually learned something that I did not know ...), "Howards End" (because Hardyment clearly relates to E.M. Foster, and his love of Rooks Nest, the house that Howards End was based on. She fondly recalls having tea with Foster when she was a Cambridge undergraduate, and he was living his last years at King's College Cambridge. The connection she made with him clearly shows), and the chapter on "Cold Comfort Farm" (because I love Cold Comfort Farm, and any excuse to read about it is a delight ...) But otherwise, a missed opportunity.
In fairness, Hardyment does exactly what she promises to do in her Introduction. Each chapter looks at a house that is crucial to a well-known novel. Almost like a character in its own right. The definition of "house" can be stretched. (Hogwarts? I suppose, as a boarding school, Harry Potter lives there, but ...) And Hardyment is clear that she isn't going for deep analysis: she recaps the plot of the novel, tells you a bit about the author, a bit about the house it was based on. (Again, sometimes stretching a point to breaking: the cabin in "Uncle Tom's Cabin" doesn't exist in reality, it was based on Stowe's romanticised rendering of a slave cabin. And we ALL know that 221B Baker Street didn't even exist as an address until the tourism industry got hold of it ...) And that's about it.
Now, I didn't need this book to be deep, or rigorous, but I did need it to have ... a point, And that's where I felt this didn't work. What it the point? What is it for? Characters in books live in houses, usually, so there are houses in books. Sometimes the house in books are based on real houses, or an author's rendering of a Platonic Ideal (or nightmarish opposite) of a home. OK -- but where does that take us? The selection: 20 novels (and houses) that span 250-odd years. Seventeen are British, three are from the USA: why?
My favorite chapters -- imho, the best chapters -- are the ones on "Wuthering Heights" (because I actually learned something that I did not know ...), "Howards End" (because Hardyment clearly relates to E.M. Foster, and his love of Rooks Nest, the house that Howards End was based on. She fondly recalls having tea with Foster when she was a Cambridge undergraduate, and he was living his last years at King's College Cambridge. The connection she made with him clearly shows), and the chapter on "Cold Comfort Farm" (because I love Cold Comfort Farm, and any excuse to read about it is a delight ...) But otherwise, a missed opportunity.
