Customer Reviews

Electricity

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

What I liked about this book is that I really felt immersed in Victorian life as I read it, yet I didn't feel like the author was trying to "tell" me about Victorian life. She simply portrayed a character who lived that life and "showed" what it was like. I thought Charlotte a very interesting character with some unusual insights into life.

This interesting novel contrasts strength and timidity, old and
new, happiness and pain, and of course darkness and light.

I was intrigued by Charlotte's strong, strange Aunt Susannah,
her creepy, reactive father, stoic, attractive Peter Fisher,
and the rich and appealing George Godwin.

Charlotte eagerly tastes life and love, and learns and is
taught all sorts of new, interesting ideas and considerations,
some quite ahead of their time.

The narration of this story is well-descibed and evocative,
and Charlotte was a believable character. Recommended.

This beautifully written novel lingered in my imagaination long after finishing. It is the story of a young women in Victorian England who marries an expert in the then burgeoning field of electricity. His work takes them from a life of lower class drudgery in London to a large country estate. This novel may be read on many different levels. While the surface storyline alone is enthralling the author's deeper insights into the beginnings of modern life and the victorian mindset is incredible. This novel, like no other, made me feel what it must have been like to live in this era. I would especially recommend to women who are interested in history or historical fiction.

Once again I have to say I think the review from Publisher's Weekly gives away too much of the story and at the same time I whole heartedly agree with their criticism that as a reader it is difficult to feel emotionally connected with Charlotte the narrator.

A lot of interesting issues are woven into the story of Charlotte Mortimer's life. Set in Victorian, London, Charlotte marries Peter Fisher a brilliant young man passionate about electricity. The two of them travel to Morrow Hall, the home of Lord Godwin, who has hired Peter to convert the home to electrical lighting. Charlotte finds herself drawn to the handsome and charismatic Lord Godwin.

The events that unfold and the family history that is only ever really alluded to are all very interesting but I never felt a real connection with Charlotte. I understood her limited choices in life and sympathized with her plight but I wish that Glendinning had allowed Charlotte to explain to us why she made the choices she did. Maybe it was that she had grown up with secrets around her and thought that's how adults operate?

And while I'm not one to enjoy being left hanging, I did like the untidy ending and I think that it's part of what would make this a good book club choice. The ending is completely open for discussion.

There are also plenty of issues to discuss, fidelity always seems like an interesting topic. And what about the quiet of the country before the high voltage lines were installed? What about responsibility? What about mad men running asylums? There's a whole bunch of juicy stuff thrown in here that would be great for a group discussion. But for me I didn't love the main character and so in my opinion this book was good not great.

This is a novel, a story that carries the reader from page to page with the brilliance of an electric lightbulb. The author plays with the image of electricity from the interest of the main character in the new phenomenon to her infatuation with the engineer who comes to stay in her home and their ensuing marriage, to her affair with his boss and the historical fascination with spiritism at the time. The characters are so well drawn that you can feel the power between them - the electricity. I loved this book. Great for a day at the beach!

This book is powerful, intelligent and ultimately leaves you hanging. It would be great for a book club.

Those appreciating Victoriana and those with an engineering background (an eclectic group!) should find something to like in Electricity. I was fascinated with the descriptions of rooms and objects and other minutiae and the historically correct technical details about engineering the new power plant. The emotional build was enough to keep me reading page after page to see how things turned out. Prepare for a real feeling of unsatisfied need at the ending. Lots of questions to guess about. All in all, a very enjoyable read.

A victorian novel with a surprising end (some may see it as unfullfilled). The novel starts out ordinary but suddenly builds into a series of events that trapped this reader. It was refreshing to see a woman evolve into personal freedom. You can't help but sympathize with the heroine and understand her better. This is one character you wouldn't mind being friends with.

The best things about this book are also the worst things about this book. For starters, Glendinning uses a truly 19th century voice in the telling of this 19th century story, but relies on 20th century sensibilities at the same time.

The author wants us to empathize with Charlotte's dilemma of having to choose between conforming to the everyday, accepted practices and norms of 19th century womanhood (as best embodied in the depiction of Charlotte's mother) and rejecting the old world for a new world where women can be more than wives and mothers (as exemplified by Miss Pauline). The problem is that Charlotte is not nearly independent enough to make this choice on her own. She must rely on the men in her life to help her with this decision.

Unfortunately for Charlotte, the men in this novel and throughout her life never seem to be able to sway her in any one direction. Each of them is obsessed with his own endeavors, whether it be electricity, wealth or apples and is never much of a catalyst or inhibitor for Charlotte, leaving her aimless and with no direction.

Which brings me to the inherent flaw in this novel. While Glendinning wants us to think that she's written a coming of age tale about this 19th century heroine, what she's really done is given us a portrait of a dependent, weak and frail female who is solely motivated by the men who pass in and out of her life, like an electric current slithering through cables, at the yank of a chain.

This book is powerful, intelligent and ultimately leaves you hanging. It would be great for a book club.