Customer Reviews

Consequences

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Normally, I never read other reviews before writing my own, for fear they will inadvertently change what I am going to say. This time, for some reason, I read the "Editorial Reviews," and I am horrified.

"Consquences" is not meant to be a "sweeping saga of several generations of women." Instead, it is the measured, thoughtful look at people, men and women, whose entire lives are changed by chance--a rest on a park bench, a chance meeting at a job, a problem at a poetry reading. And in each case, the protagonists themselves, and yes, particularly the women, realize that if not for this tiny happenstance, their lives would have been that of somebody else. For instance, if you make a mistake in sleeping with a man you do not really love, but that relationship results in a beloved daughter that you cherish forever, was the initial situation truly a mistake?

If a bored young woman hadn't run out of the house in tears after a fight with her mother, would she have met the love of her life?

And so on and so forth. Woven throughout the novel are the stories of four women, beginning with Lorna as mentioned above, who escapes her rigidly upper-class family in pre-war England to settle down with an equally young artists in a bare-bones cottage. They have a daughter, whose fate is similarly sealed, as is that of HER daughter...and all of these quick quirks of time, so fleeting, have changed every life.

I found the book well-written as always, and absolutely fascinating. It is well worth the read and leaves one thinking in the end.

I had a flu; it was New Years' Eve and everyone was out having fun or no fun. I had to admonish myself not to go the route of self-pity and so I read Consequences right through, losing myself to Penelope Lively's three decades cast of characters.

Although falling in love via Lively is somewhat formulaic I found this book's characters quite wonderful. From Lorna and Matt, whose romance is the first and very well developed, to daugher Molly, who finds love rather later in life, to the granddaughter Ruth, whose story was most obviously plotted, I felt all were interesting people, living from 1935-2001+ and it kept my interest on a pretty hot boil.

Though as David Denby, the film critic observed about the popular Mexican film (name?) that you can't have fate and formulaic together, I will post the film's name when it comes to me: I also enjoyed said unnamed film as much as I did this novel. It was in fact rather comforting to see how falling in love via this author is so very sweet even as it has consequences and I also liked very much arriving back at the beginning here with the third generation living in the same place with the same art we saw being made at the beginning. I highly recommend this book and once "in" it is pretty great and definitely involving, many well drawn bohemian characters.

4.5 stars

"Consequences: Something that logically or naturally follows from an action or condition.
The relation of a result to its cause.
A logical conclusion or inference." Dictonarly.com


"The women are buffeted by events but do not break. The consequences come from their refusal to conform; which generally leads to happiness." Ruaridh Nicoll.


Penelope Lively manages to tell a story of three generations of women, from the early 1930's to the present. The book is always emotionally full. Each sentence gives the feel of conveying the story and emotions of the moment; it's describing without being fussed over. The combination of personal life and historical events is Penelope Lively's forte in fiction This latest story begins in 1935, with an unhappy rich girl, Lorna, sits weeping on a bench in St James's Park. Nearby, a young man, Matt, sketches the ducks. "Their accidental meeting will later be described as the opening of a game of consequences, from which flows a long, rich narrative." Livley. Lorna and Matt and their child, Molly. Molly develops into a a beautiful young woman and has a child out of wedlock. Later on Molly marries and her life begins again. Ruth, the daughter carries on the tradition of independence and marries, has children and the natural consequences follow.

'Consequences' has a great feel and story lines. For me,it falls short of developing the characters in depth. The story jumps from one decade to the next. Penelope Lively replays memories. Penelope Lively sets her novel in the lovely lands of England.

"And "Consequences," despite its shadows, is also a joyous ever-widening dance. At its center shimmers the idea of resiliency, of the continuity of humankind as embodied in one family, shattered and reconstituted, fragile, stubborn, enduring." Nancy Kline

I often speak of a novel that affected me as a journey. Penelope Lively's 'Consequence' is a return for me of the storyline that brings me great satisfaction. Her prose and her style bring me to a new place each read. A traditional novel that equates great love to great happiness.

Highly Recommended. prisrob 07-11-07

You can almost smell the wood smoke and taste the tea and biscuits in Penelope Lively's CONSEQUENCES, so eloquent and emotionally direct are all its elements. The characters, the prose, and the tragic but uplifting story of three generations of women --- from World War II to the present in a Britain that continues to redefine itself --- is a wonderful literary achievement.

The story begins with Lorna and Matt, a rich, sensible girl who has grown up with all the privileges of polite society and a Welsh man whose country upbringing somehow has led him to London to study art. A chance meeting on a park bench brings them together, and against all odds and the fears of their parents, they forge a life in the country. This turns out to be an idyll, regardless of the fact that they have no running water or the other amenities they're both used to. Their adventure in the country proves to be inspiring for Matt and happy for Lorna.

But as the specter of World War II sounds its sirens across the beautiful landscape, Matt and Lorna bring a baby, Molly, into their midst. Suddenly, the three of them are a family in crisis. Matt is shipped off to war and tragedy ensues. Molly is eventually left living with a kindly stepfather and making her own way into the world. So we follow her into the madness that is postwar England. Her own encounter with a wealthy older man from London leads her into the modern-day world. Molly's own daughter, saddled with the echoes of regret and sadness that have shaped the lives of her family's women, goes back to those halcyon days of her grandmother's early marriage to try to resolve the conflicts and emotional baggage that bogs down the three generations throughout the turbulent eras in which they spread out.

Penelope Lively is a thoroughly modern writer, but the memories of England's great catastrophes are reflected quite surely in the stories of these three fully-fleshed characters and the men who surround them. CONSEQUENCES shares some of its tragic whimsy with great works like Noel Coward's BRIEF ENCOUNTER and THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA by C.S. Lewis, literary masterpieces that employed the backdrop of the war to put the history of their beloved country into a new context, using love and fantasy as the ramps. The book speaks to any generation plagued by war and conflict, and surely deserves an audience today that can relate to its heartrending twists and turns.

As love hurtles these women into new lives filled with both hope and tragedy, so does CONSEQUENCES hurtle us into bright and shining hearts filled with the positive message that, even in bad times, life can go on --- and smashingly so.

--- Reviewed by Jana Siciliano

British author Lively's latest novel (after "The Photograph") is at first disconcerting. She introduces two very different young people - Lorna, an unhappy rich girl, crying in St James Park over yet another argument with her mother, and Matt, an artist from a small-town, working-class background, feeding ducks in order to keep them close enough to sketch.

"Lorna stopped crying and watched, increasingly entranced. When eventually Matt became aware of her, he looked sideways and was done for."

It's June 1935 and all this seems very promising. But in 15 pages they are married and moving into a rustic cottage with no electricity or running water. We know no more about them than their background, which is familiar enough in literature to be clichéd. Lorna is pretty much disowned and Matt's parents are very sweet and supportive.

Yet Lively's beguiling prose draws the reader in and soon the shape of the story becomes more clear. It's the tale of one family, a succession of people emerging as the century advances, the ties of memory growing vague and tenuous, while the legacy of character lives on. It's an exploration of the consequences of choices we make, large and small, and the intervention of fate. And while each character is an individual, shaping his or her own destiny, the reader can see - as they cannot - how their personalities hark back to the past.

Lively centers on the women: Lorna; Lorna's daughter Molly; Molly's daughter Ruth. Each has a streak of unconventionality and independence, a bit of artistic flair, a noticeable efficiency. They move through life with intent, trying to remain true to themselves, with varying degrees of success at any given time.

But character and intent is no match for fate. Matt, in the full of his life, his art beginning to be noticed, his marriage wonderfully happy, his little daughter a joy, is called off to war and is killed. Lorna leaves the cottage and life merely passes for a while. Then a job comes up in London, life begins again; Lorna remarries and within a year is dead in childbirth.

So Molly grows up never really knowing either of her parents, though she lives with a stepfather who cherishes their memory. The changing times and a generous dollop of serendipity inform her life as much as her own determination does.

Lively maintains that early distance from her characters, which allows the shape of time and history to show itself. We see how public views and trends change, how people dwell in their own time while incorporating the past. This has its own charm and beauty, but many readers will long to spend more time getting to know Lorna, Molly and Ruth, rather than seeing their lives pass in a series of snapshots, vignettes, and summarized histories.

The ending, while satisfying, even gratifying, brings the story full circle in a way that happens so seldom in life as to feel contrived. This is unsettling in a story that relies on the vagaries of large and small happenstance to show how life can turn on a whim - or a war.

Lively has always been taken by themes of chance and character. Her fascinating "anti-memoir," "Making It Up," supposes the very different life she might have led if choices or chance had been different. "Consequences" explores the generational thread of three lives from the omniscient view of one who can see how free will is influenced by what came before and how life takes big turns on small choices. Similar territory, but very different approaches.

Musing and intricate, this is a novel which both intrigues and frustrates.

Ruth, daughter of Molly and granddaughter of Lorna tends to compare her facial features with that of her two closest relatives. In remembering her mother and grandmother, however, she finds traits that go far beyond the physical: there is an emotional bond that connects the three of them very deeply and there are parallels that permeate through each of their lives. Penelope Lively tells a warm and heartfelt story of those three women, more or less in chronological order, spanning a period of close to sixty years and starting on the eve of World War II.

I am not repeating what others have said about the story itself. For me, three major themes form the underlying fabric of the universe created in this novel: a) Some of the best things happen in life by chance and subsequently direct our lives. b) Women can succeed in their drive to move against tradition and etiquette, succeed as independent women and will likely experience personal happiness at some point in their lives. c)And, of course, in this reality, there is always a Mr. Right somewhere, one just have to keep one's eyes open and follow one's instincts. All three women discover, at different stages of their personal development, that life in the countryside can bring a different level of peace, contentment and joy. For Lorna it was her and Matt's retreat to the village that allowed them to have a life together, for Molly and Ruth it is a return to an oasis of peace in a busy world.

While I enjoyed Lorna's story tremendously - it had drama and drive and historical context, my interest flattened as events and people became more predictable. There is scant historical context, to convey the passage of time, but it doesn't deepen the story in any way. Also unsurprisingly after a while, the most suitable partners for all three women were men from creative arts or similar backgrounds, creative types who loved the outdoors.

Lively applied a structural technique throughout that also lost its impact after a while: in most chapters the story jumps forward, establishing a new reality or scenario, such as somebody died, had married or had a child. Then, the narrative goes back to help the reader catch up with what happened in the meantime.

Overall, Lively's novel is an enjoyable read, heart-warming, romantic and nostalgic and in some ways quite old-fashioned. She writes in a beautiful easy-going style. Her characters are well drawn even if not as rich in diversity as they could have been to add more complexity to the story. This being my first book by the author, I cannot compare her writing and narrative depth to previous novels. [Friederike Knabe]

I was a bit disappointed with this book. I know Lively's work quite well, but this novel didn't quite reach her usual standards.
It started off well, I liked the story up till the point when Molly takes Lorna's place in becoming the protagonist. While Lorna and Matt are lovable characters and are introduced in a personal, intimate manner, all subsequent protagonists (Molly, Ruth) seem distant and unimportant. The connection between the reader and the characters gets lost in the attempt to tell a story with too few personal details. Besides, the story becomes repetitive and relies on a few too many coincidences to make it believable and acceptable.

I ordered this book based on a great review for it.
I must be missing something because this book lacked a good plot and/or character development.
Yes the desciptions and use of words were good but I felt the story was muddled. too many characters without enough story for them all.

This is a truly warming story of three generations of women, spanning 70 years from 1935. In pre WW2 England, Lorna met Matt on a bench in the park, following a terrible row with her mother, and her life changed instantly, and for the better. Lorna is the product of a solidly middle class upbringing with all of its traditions and mores, while Matt is an engraver/book illustrator and therefore when she tells her horrified parents that she and Matt intend to marry and live in a rundown cottage in the country, they cannot believe that she is marrying so far "down" and virtually wipe their hands of her. Matt is killed in Crete in WW2, leaving Lorna to raise their daughter alone until she meets Lucas, a former friend of Matt's. They eventually marry and have a daughter and the remainder of the book is the story of this generation and the following one and is a beautifully written, thoughtful account of the lives of these women and one which I thoroughly recommend.

Lively is blessed with the gift of being able to render matters of great import with a breath, a barely audible sigh, a touch. The result is wonderful writing. (from NYTimes) Her descriptions set the scenes in lovely Somerset through the eyes of young couple in love.
With great interest we follow the narrative of the lives through times of war and changes.