Customer Reviews

Felicia's Journey

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The most disturbing novels about murderers are the ones where the reader inhabits the killer's mind and comes to know and, in a sense, understand him. Such is the case with `Felicia's Journey', a novel that treads a very fine line between sympathy and disgust for both main characters, Felicia, a young girl looking for the father of her unborn child and Mr. Hilditch, a refined and courteous catering manager, who sets about to befriend her. Her initial innocence and snivelling about her condition, though understandable, is grating, while the friendly and gentle Mr. Hilditch, although we (and Felicia) should know better, is the more interesting and thoughtful character. What's at once troubling and fascinating about the novel is this general lack of sympathy for Felicia and the feeling that Hilditch just `can't be that bad.' I'm sure Trevor has constructed the narrative this way in order to unsettle the reader, and it works. I can't divulge one of the most intriguing aspects of the novel, other than to say, growing self-awareness is not always a good thing. I'm reminded of Hannibal Lecter, another likable bad boy. However, Lecter is great fantasy while Mr. Hilditch is the much more realistic and believable character. You know he's living just around the corner. This novel is beautifully written and unusual in every sense. I can guarantee the next novel you pick up will read like lead. Best to wait a while, and let Mr. Hilditch swirl around in your head like a fine wine gone vinegar.

Here he is again, that commander of luminous prose William Trevor. With this, his 13th novel, the master has some surprises in store as his unparalleled accounting weaves a psychological thriller.

Felicia, whose appearance is deemed "nun like" is the only daughter of an impoverished Irish gardener. She leaves the home where she cooks, cleans and tends to an elderly grandmother to find the boy she loves, Johnny. Knowing only that he works in a lawn mower factory somewhere in the English Midlands, she embarks on her fateful journey.

Unable to locate the factory, let alone Johnny, she is befriended by Mr. Hilditch, a portly catering manager with a penchant for pop tunes from the 50s, a portrait gallery of strangers decorating his walls, and a black past. Mr. Hilditch follows her, assures her dependence upon him by stealing her money, and eventually takes her into his home.

Trevor's brilliant narrative skills are showcased as he weaves the story with flashbacks, revelations of his characters' thoughts, and displays of their dreams. As always, he is articulate and compassionate, bringing his shuddery thriller to the zenith of a conclusion.

This is an intriguing book of psychological suspense for which its author was the recipient of the 1994 Whitbread Award. Written by a master storyteller, it tells the story of two people whose lives interconnect, only to have repercussions for both in the most unexpected ways.

Felicia is a seventeen year old motherless and naive Irish girl, who has become intimate with an Irish boy named Johnny. Of course, the expected ensues, and after Johnny has left Ireland and returned to England where he ostensibly works, Felicia is left holding the bag. Her disapproving father suspects Johnny of actually being in the British Army and, thus, a traitor to his own. He also has a few choice words for his daughter, now that she is in the family way, and none of it is flattering. So, Felicia leaves her rural village and her family and goes off in search of Johnny, having nothing more than the vaguest of ideas where he might be.

She crosses the Irish Sea and arrives in the English Midlands in the industrial city of Birmingham, as she believes Johnny to be working in a lawn mower factory there. In her search for Johnny, she runs into the portly catering manager for one of the local factories. His name is Joseph Ambrose Hilditch, and he is outwardly a jovial and agreeable man, well-liked by his co-workers and meticulous about his culinary repasts. He lives in solitary splendor in the large house in which he grew up. The house is cluttered with collectibles but well- kept, although decorated in the style of a bygone era. Mr. Hilditch is, indeed, a collector, but his collection is initially far beyond Felicia's imaginings. In fact, Mr. Hilditch has a darker side to him, which is not immediately discernible by the unwary.

When Felicia first meets Mr. Hilditch, it is to ask for information, but something about her catches Mr. Hilditch's fancy, and he finds himself keeping Felicia in his crosshairs. When Felicia seemingly unexpectedly runs into Mr. Hilditch again, he directs her to lodgings, and so it begins. As Mr. Hilditch insinuates himself ever so slowly into her life, weaving a fantasy about his own life that is sure to put her mind at ease about him. Felicia begins finding herself ensnared by this ostensibly kind and ever so helpful, avuncular man, and she initially fails to see the darkness that lies at the core of his being.

The author begins the book with Felicia's journey to England in search of her lover. Using flashbacks throughout the story, the author fills in Felicia's background and describes the events that have brought her to the point of making this journey. When Mr. Hilditch is introduced to the reader, the author begins to take the reader into the recesses of his mind, allowing the reader to see what Felicia initially fails to see, the duplicity and cunning that is masked by his overt geniality. Like a spider to the fly, Mr. Hilditch begins laying his trap, and so Felicia's journey thrusts her into the belly of the beast.

With his carefully cadenced prose, the author explores the darker corners of the human psyche, and in the mind of Mr. Hilditch, it is dark, indeed. As his carefully constructed psychological house of cards begins to fall, there are unspeakable revelations as to what lies at the heart of Mr. Hilditch's predilection, and it is not pretty. The author, in taking the reader into the recesses of the mind of each of the two protagonists, tries to explain how it is that each of these two flawed human beings were able initially to achieve a connection with another, only to find ostensible betrayal. What is decidedly different is the way that they each cope with that betrayal.

There is no happily-ever-after ending to this story, which culminates with a conclusion that is quite bleak, robbing the reader of some satisfaction. Fans of Ruth Rendell, however, will very much appreciate the psychological cat and mouse game that is played throughout and will enjoy the author's foray into this genre. As always, the author pens a novel that provides much food for thought on many levels, and the use of the word journey in the title of the book has a much broader meaning within the context of the story. In reading this book, fans will enjoy the elegant, spare prose that they have come to expect from this enormously talented author.

William Trevor's precise, descriptive prose brings to mind other current authors (Pete Dexter, Tom Wolfe) who enable readers to visualize, as if viewing a film, the details of a scene--from beads of sweat trickling down a character's cheek to the colors in the oil paintings decorating a wall. Treveor uses this admirable technique to great employ in this enigmatic story of the relationship between a predator, a seemingly kindly bachelor, and his prey, a frightened pregnant Irish teen come to England to look for the father. The issue of free will as the Creator envisions it is examined here: the predator, Mr. Hilditch, in his manipulative fashion, carves out a destiny for Felicia (and, unwittingly, himdself) that suggests a control one might ascribe to a Deity. The ending is cryptic and odd; one can take the events and their aftermath in any number of ways and Trevor is of no help in steering one in the proper direction. Perhaps that's a good thing--the ending is far more haunting than the rest of the novel.(The unabridged audiobook I listened to was read by Simon Prebble, not Dermot Crowley. Prebble's interpretation, as well as his vocal characterization, is flawless.)

This book starts with a lot of promise and the writing is excellent--for the first few chapters. However, the character of Felicia undergoes very little development, something I find to be Mr. Trevor's biggest writing mistake. Much more depth could (and should) have been added to the story had we been privy to Felicia's inner thoughts. As it is, she is very flat and one-dimensional with no deep emotions and seems to exist only to further characterize the fascinating Mr. Hilditch.

Mr. Hilditch is a very well formed character indeed, almost comical and likable, and does have many thoughts and emotions. This made the book a story about Mr. Hilditch, with Felicia just passing through, really serving no purpose other than to become Mr. Hilditch's current obsession.

Based on the title, I would assume the author wanted this to be a story about Felicia. If that is the case, then Mr. Trevor should have had the climax of Felicia's story closer to the end of the book. Instead, the last ¼ of the book gives us no clear glimpses of Felicia. As for Felicia's fate, I would have preferred a more solid ending. Symbolism is well and good, but only when used in a symbolic book. When used simply to confuse and surprise, I find it rather annoying. Had the book been titled "Mr. Hilditch" perhaps I would have enjoyed it more and rated it higher.

I'll start by admitting that I think William Trevor has few if any equals among contemporary writers -- especially considering his works as a whole. He also appears to just keep getting better and better, and 'Felicia's journey' is a great example of that growth.

Trevor's writing is simply luminous -- I can think of no better word to decribe it. His characters all come alive in ways that are extremely rare in modern fiction -- as the reader gets deeper and deeper into the novel, the characters are almost grown before our eyes. We know them before we realize it -- but only at the pace that Trevor controls. His powers of decription are so well-honed and subtle that reading his work is almost like seeing things with our own eyes.

In 'Felicia's journey', without having any of the characters' emotions or thoughts rammed down our throats, we are intimately aware of their feelings. We can without question feel the uncertainty and trepidation with which Felicia lives her life -- more one step at a time than one day at a time. Her initial reluctance to allow Mr. Hillditch to help her is incredibly real to us. As for Hillditch himself, the evil contained in his character is revealed like peeling the layers of an onion (and I'm not giving anything more away here than the book jacket...no spoilers).

The novel is much more satisfying than the film made of it by Canadian director Atom Egoyan. There are aspects of the story here that the film leaves unexplored, and a richness here that is probably untranslatable to the screen, except in the hands of a master director.

If you enjoy tasting the work of an author who is a master at his craft, William Trevor is your cup of tea -- and his short stories are, if possible, even more amazing than his novels. This book is a modern masterpiece, without pretentions or avant-garde experimentaion -- it's simply increible writing.

I was new to William Trevor's work before I bought this book. I was intrigued by the back-cover synopsis, and was encouraged to buy it by my husband, who had read Trevor before and admired his work. Fans of suspense/mystery/crime novels who like their writing smart and literary will really enjoy this book. In a mere 212 pages, Trevor weaves a chilling psychodrama between two intriguing main characters: a pregnant young Irish woman searching the British midlands for her missing boyfriend and a middle-aged Englishman whose appetite for food is only matched by his unhealthy obsession with young runaway women. Trevor's economic descriptions of the scenery already manage to convey the severe depression of these British industrial towns -- a contrast to Felicia's more pastoral, Irish Catholic upbringing -- but not much. If I do have one complaint about the book, it's title is Felicia's Journey, but in the end it focuses more on the male character, Mr. Hilditch, and leaves Felicia's character less defined than I wanted her to be. But this is a small issue. William Trevor is a very fine writer, and this book is such a great introduction to his work, they're even making it into a movie.

Irish immigration is a topic that has been dealt with to great lengths in contemporary fiction, but by presenting the subject within the detective genre Trevor manages to treat the idea of alienation from a fresh angle. The character of Felicia is on one level a modern extension of the traditional female symbol of Ireland. The story of Ireland in the twentieth century is one of leaving, and Felicia's quest for acceptance, for love away from Ireland is indicative of this history. Yet the character of Mr. Hilditch cannot be simply accepted as representative of Britain with respect to Ireland. Mr. Hilditch is a study in the idea of the facade. His house, his lifestyle, and even the way that he structures his thoughts are not what they originally seem. Similarly, Felicia's own vision of what she expected to happen in England was remarkably different from reality.

Trevor's narrative style is divided between the perspectives of Felicia and Mr. Hilditch. I study Irish history, and specifically Irish nationalism, so while reading this novel I was constantly looking for hidden political messages or references to traditional Irish iconography or depictions of the Anglo-Irish dynamic. I found the task daunting, largely because a reduction of the novel to a 'dependent Ireland - dominant Britain' outline seemed deceptively simple, which is yet another reason why I noted that Trevor's novel looks at the situation from a fresh angle. Ultimately, I think that this novel works best simply as a compelling, well-written mystery novel. To attempt to read too much politics into the narrative is to undermine the elegance of Felicia's innocence or desperation of Mr. Hilditch's pathetic attempts to recreate something that never existed in the first place. This novel should be taken at face value, and as such it functions as a hypnotic and often disturbing mystery.

This book is brilliantly written. And it focuses on the character it's meant to focus on... regardless of the title. What it did for me, (which so few books do) is let me do the work. It let me play psychologist and investigator. It let me analyze the characters. It let me decide who was pitiable, and why, and who was sinister, and why. It let me see the conception, so to speak, of a "lost" soul. Ever wonder.. truly wonder... how the depraved got that way? Or those that reject society and end up rooting through bins for sustenance? What events led to it? It also struck me that how and what one ate, in the book, signified almost how they viewed life and people, whether they were a rejector or a hoarder. Mr. Hilditch, a hoarder, with a house full of objects from his past and other people's pasts, also a hoarder of young girl's souls, kept a stocked cupboard, and ate with great gusto. And Felicia, all her belongings fitting in a couple bags, eats hardly at all, (sp.) and ends up rooting through rubbish bins after "rejecting" her unborn child and basically the whole of society.

What Alfred Hitchcock did for the disturbed individual incinema, William Trevor does in literature. Although thesubject of the book is basically lurid and troubling, it becomes a springboard for a work of true beauty and com passion in the hands of one of the true masters of the English language. Only William Trevor could write about a character so despicable and get us, the reader, to feel compassion for him. The book is a real pageturner in the Stephen King tradition, yet it is a moving, compelling experience. Treat yourself to this gem of a novel.