Customer Reviews

Cleopatra's Sister

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"Howard Beamish becomes a paleontologist because he is fascinated by the "strange conjunction of likelihood and contingency" that determines one's life" In this book,
"Cleopatra's Sister", author, Penelope Lively initiates a mix of chance encounters, determined by character as well as coincidence. For those of us who believe that there is a reason for everything that may happen, this book gives us pause.

Howard Beamish decided at the early age of 6 when he picked up an ammonite on Blue Anchor Beach that things were not always what they seemed. When he asked what is was he was told a stone. Howard knew it was not a stone and told his father so. This was the kind of boy Howard was and the kind
of man he grew into. He liked orderliness, symmetries, and classification. He wanted language to be technical, complex and innovative. He would rather read than socialize.
He became a lecturer at Tavistock College. He had relationships that did not last. He enjoyed sex very much but he found he did not have much affection for the woman, and he didn't feel it was fair to carry on with that kind of attitude.

Lucy Faulkner, on the other hand, knew at the age of fifteen that she would not follow in her mother's footsteps. Her mother was unable to tell the children their father was gone because she didn't realize it herself until Lucy told her sister that her father would not becoming back. Lucy in a sense became the mother of the family. She made sure her brother and sister had the right education for them. Lucy became a journalist. She fell off a bus and ran into a friend who happened to tell her of a job opening at a paper. Again a chance encounter and coincidence. Lucy, however, knew that she deserved the job and she became quite famous and well read. Lucy was unable to tolerate most men for very long. She loved sex but was unable to fall in love.

Both Howard and Lucy find themselves on the same plane on their way to Nairobi. The plane has engine trouble and is diverted to a small island, Callimbia. All of the British passengers are kept hostage by a very strange dictator. Howard and Lucy find themselves falling in love in the most unusual circumstances. One of them is placed in a precarious position. Another one of Penelope Lively's simple statements- love can be found and taken away.

This novel is fast paced and lively. The lives of the two principle characters are so rich and full. We love them both- we want happiness for them. Why must these strange situations that replicate life be so annoying? The trauma of the daily life that accosts them may change them forever. Another one of Penelope Lively's wonderful books. She has such a polished style and awesome control with her words. My favorite author.
prisrob

This book has sat on my bookshelf for about 2 years, and when I was about to embark on a short plane trip and needed a packable book, knew I could depend on Penelope Lively for an entertaining several hours, and I was right. Loved the 2 main characters, Howard and Lucy and the evolution of the island. The author did a great job of following their histories, and putting them together under rather strange circumstances. There were many phrases and paragraphs that I would like to underline and remember that are applicable to life in general. I had just read HOUSE OF SAND AND FOG and was so afraid that would be a hard act to follow. I was very happy with my choice.

Winner of the 1987 Booker for Moon Tiger, British author Penelope Lively rocks. In Cleopatra's Sister, she introduced us to two people who meet when their plane makes a forced landing in the fictitious country of Callimbia in No. Africa. Fear and terror in hostile surroundings up the odds for our lovers, Howard and Lucy, as well as for the other passengers, and the story soon becomes a delicious Third World satire. Howard is a paleontologist; Lucy is a journalist. But neither finds their training of much help when they find themselves being held hostage by Callimbia's maniacal leader.
Highly recommended, esp if you like Lively's other stuff.

I borrowed the audiocassettes of this book for a long drive, as well as two other audiobooks to choose from. The reader of "A Fine Balance" threatened to put me to sleep; Steve Martin was clever but ultimately empty; but Cleopatra's Sister had me from the first sentence. Lively has an ear for dialogue, creates three dimensional and believable characters whom one really cares about, and is full of fascinating and generous insights. The reader (Nadia May?) has a lovely voice that is totally pleasing to the ear.

This is the third Lively novel I have read recently, and the least satisfying. (The others are "Moon Tiger" and "The Photograph"). Once the novel's action moves to the fictional land of Callimbia, the book becomes quite engrossing, but half the novel is over. Neither of the two main characters, Howard and Lucy, is particularly memorable. Given Lucy's profession, she seems a bit clueless when thrust into the middle of a major news event.

I had never read a fictional account of a hostage situation, and found this one credible. Two secondary characters stand out: Howard's girl friend, who does not really like him, but the sex is fine, and she likes being part of a couple; the translator, who thinks of himself as a nice person, and is not wrong exactly, but who is quite willing to serve as an instrument of evil.