Customer Reviews

The Fountain Overflows

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I had heard of author Rebecca West, mainly as the young woman who had a long term affair with a much older H.G. Wells and produced a child out of wedlock, back when things like this were considered shocking. I stumbled across a copy of this book and decided it might make an interesting read.
I never imagined that I had found a true classic, a book that uses the English language to a degree unsurpassed by any other author I have ever read. The story of is simple, that of a down on their luck family, living in London during the early 1900's. Their trials and tribulations are faithfully described, as are the multitude of characters they befriend. Actually to describe the plot, one might assume that not much really happens and to be honest, the plot is not the main attribute of this novel. But the language! I have often thought that I would some day like to write a novel but after reading this book, I would not even attempt it! This is how language should be used...clear and concise but also able to convey atmosphere and emotions. Page after page of luscious words, all combining together to create an unforgettable reading experience. If, like me, you wanted to read more, please note that the sequel, This Real Night is almost as good. A third book, Cousin Rosamund is much weaker since it was not completed at the time of the author's death.
Please do yourself a favor and read this book. I think this ranks with Pride and Prejudice and Wuthering Heights as books which define the best that the English language can offer.

I have been reading, reading, reading for fifty plus years. Oddly I don't dream about books, but this one was an exception. The character Cordelia came to haunt my sleep, lively and unforgettable. A vidid, surprising, unpredictable, eccentric, and thoroughly original work. Seek it out.

This is my very favorite book in the world, and Rebecca West never did quite so well again. An astonishing cast of characters, seen with a child's sensitivity and belief in the magical in everyday life. The only thing better than the family members are the minor characters: Mr. Morpurgo, Nancy and her aunt, Cordelia's violin teacher.This book acknowledges the complexities of all human beings.A father who makes his children elaborate individual dollhouses and tells them stories about them, but gambles away all their money and abandons them, a mother who appears half-cracked to casual acquaintances but is a gifted pianist and the one who holds her family together and provides a haven for the huge cast of fascinating strangers who cross her path, battered by life. An enormously likable child narrator, but the mother is the true heroine of this story, and how often does that happen?

The header says it all. If pressed, I will have to admit that this is my absolute favorite novel of all time. There is something so haunting and so human and so memorable about this book, I can't stay away from it--I must have read it 20 times, and I never grow tired of it.

This first volume of West's semi-autobiographical trilogy, "Cousin Rosamond," is a beautifully detailed picture of turn-of-the-century London life as seen through the eyes of Rose, a gifted young pianist in an artistically talented but impoverished family. A wonderful read; you'll even want to explore the books that the family reads and loves, and hear the compositions that they play. It's funny and tragic, sensuous and magical.

This was my first encounter with Dame Rebecca West's writing, but it won't be my last. Nearly every paragraph stood alone, as a description to savor or an emotion remarkably described. The characters linger long after the book is closed. I believe that someone has suggested that they are somewhat Dickensian, with which I would agree. The plot conveys to the reader a deep understanding of the frustrations encountered by women whose lives are held in thrall by men who are indifferent to their wellbeing.

The only thing that keeps this book from being 5-stars in my mind are occasional spots where you want it to move more quickly. Its subtlety and richness make it a book well worth revisiting.

A general comment about the Classics series of the New York Review of Books. I am particularly pleased to have discovered this series for two reasons. First, because of the beauty of the books themselves; the cover art is of a very high quality and the paper, printing and binding is as well. The books themselves are pleasurable to experience. Second, the series is introducing me to literature that I would otherwise have never read. I just finished "A High Wind in Jamaica," have begun "Indian Summer" by William Dean Howells (and my middle-school introduction to "The Rise of Silas Lapham" would have predicted that I would never have picked up a book by Howells again, which would have been my loss - I might even tackle Silas Lapham again), and have ordered a few more. I recommend that readers explore some of these treasures.

How can these reviewers be saying all these wonderful things about a novel that few people have even heard about, and is about a troubled family living over 100 years ago in England? Because it is all true.
There is no way I can write a review that adequately expresses my admiration for this novel. It is like a finely crafted gemstone, in which every facet stands on its own and contributes to the beauty of the whole. (I should note that I am not easy when it comes to criticizing literature or art.) I finished reading "The Fountain Overflows" about a week ago and keep picking it up to open it a random and read a paragraph or two. Each time I do, it brings back the story, the particular situation, the characters and especially the wonderful quality of each sentence and paragraph. While every paragraph or sentence stands on its own, they are also integral parts of the whole, illuminating the characters and the story.
The story of an Edwardian family is told from a young girl's (Rose) point of view. It is told in the present, but also as the author looks back fifty years later. Every family, even happy ones, are full of contradictions. I am not sure you could call this a happy family, but in an interesting way it is. It is a family struggling with poverty, and ambition, especially thwarted ambition. It is Rebecca West's great ability to capture those constant contradictions in individual sentences and paragraphs with such immediacy that is so striking. Often within a single paragraph the whole story and its characters seems to be illuminated. This is the story of a family that has a strong sense of itself and one another. It is about the destructive nature of family loyalty. It is also about the healing and empowering nature of family loyalty.
Another compelling aspect of this novel is West's bringing into this family's story many of the main intellectual and social issues of the day: the role of women, spiritualism, and even judicial reform. These issues are embedded within the narrative and never forced upon the reader in an extraneous manner.
The characters are vividly presented and the reader understands the inner struggle that each one of them is going through. So, even if we do not admire every character we have some sympathy for personal dilemmas and how they deal with their own situation. Even minor characters are fully realized.
The Fountain Overflows stands with the great novels of the 20th century. I am certain I will read it again and again.

to be savored - a real treasure.

This book is hard to classify because it is both densely written, and yet, it is like cotten candy. If you like to be transported to another place and time, and enjoy writers who know how to use the English language, this is a book for you!

I had some difficulty getting into this book. Although not strictly autobiographical, West has based the characters on her family. The story revolves around the fortunes of the Aubrey family. The narrator is Rose, one of the four children of Piers, a small time newspaper editor and pamphleteer, and Clare, formerly a concert pianist who gave up her career upon marriage. Rose struck me at first as another example of the peculiarly British fictional character, the very precocious child who patronizes and condescends to the adults around her. But as I continued, I began to realize that West had created Rose with an adult eye so that she could describe their failings and weaknesses of the others while at the same time loving them with a child's unquestioning love. She describes her father with the words "sneering" and "swaggering", while expressing her adoration. The mother is so sensitive that hearing music performed by one who is not gifted makes her physically ill and yet she is the strength in the family, holding them together through poverty and disappointment. I gradually became fond of them all and fascinated by their lives. My biggest disappointment was the ending, which ends abruptly, almost as if the narrator suddenly put her pen down and had no chance to continue.

I was introduced to West through her book The Thinking Reed. I liked her obeservations of rich Europeans, as seen through the eyes of an American, in the era before the first world war. The Fountain Overflows takes place in Edwardian England and tells the story of an educated but impoverished family, told through the eyes of one of the young daughters. Whereas The Thinking Reed was a pleasurable, almost fluffy read for me, The Fountain Overflows raised issues that I feel it didn't answer. The father is a gambler and not emotionally dependable, and the effects on the children are alluded to at the end of the story, but then dropped. I would have liked West to stay more superficial, describing the fascinating details of family life, and leave the emotional analysis out of the story, since she didn't follow the emotional analysis through. This is a quibble, however. I thoroughly enjoyed reading The Fountain Overflows, and will be moving on to Black Lamb and Gray Falcon soon.