Customer Reviews

On Green Dolphin Street

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

 

 

A not entirely successful new novel by the bestselling author of such highly respected works as Birdsong and Charlotte Grey. While Faulks's attention to period detail is, as ever, right on the money - New York's Greenwich Village during the Beat era is evocatively rendered - and his writing at times utterly gorgeous, the story, about a British diplomat's wife and her affair with a New York newspaper journalist, only takes off in sporadic bursts. The character of Mary is sympathetic, but the reader feels more an observer of the events unfolding than an actual participant in them, despite heavy use of interior monologue and flashback. Her husband Charles,again, is sympathetic but not particularly developed. Faulks's most successful character here is Frank, the American journalist with whom Mary falls in love. He just feels right, completely representative of New York City in that place and time.

With all that said, however, I did find the final third of the novel quite moving when Mary must make the inevitable choice between her husband and her lover.

Recommended reading ... just with some reservations.

Even though I've read and enjoyed all of Faulk's other books I took a pass on "On Green Dolphin Street" when it first came out because of the mediocre reviews. Fortunately I happened to pick it up in the library and was so enchanted by the first two pages that I dropped everything else I was reading to finish it. Of all Faulks books I think it is best, if only for the fact it doesn't have all those distracting sub-plots like the grand-daughter in Birdsong and Charlotte's relationship with her father in Charlotte Gray. Mary van der Linden finds herself at age 40 with an alcoholic husband, two children who must be packed off to boarding school, a terminally ill mother and the attentions of an interesting newspaper reporter. How does she take care of everyone else and still be able to save herself? Faulk's writing is beautiful picking out wonderful details of life in the balance between the Eisenhower and Kennedy administrations. Frank and Mary make love with their words as much with their bodies. The scenes in which Mary and Frank try to keep their hands off one another are so filled with sexual tension you don't know whether to laugh or cry for them. Other scenes throughout the book are brilliant facets of a perfect gem. To be sure Faulks hasn't let go completely of his war stories. Both Frank and Mary's husband Charlie are scarred by their wartime experiences and still find themselves to soldiers of a sort in the Cold War. But it's Mary's battle to decide between the two men she loves that kept me turning the pages right up until the end.

Mary and Charlie, the British diplomatic couple with the Dutch surname, are an unlikely pair. Charlie's slide into alcoholic oblivion does not receive much explanation other then war trauma when Frank, Mary's lover, seems to have shared many of the same war experiences as Charlie and is none the worse for wear.

This book is more literate than passionate. Faulks engages in poetic descriptions of feelings, cities, and settings, but leaves the reader without a good reason to like any of the three protagonists. Faulks also tempts the reader with a promising story line involving the Kennedy-Nixon campaign and Cold War tensions, but he leaves it all in the background. History is wasted. There is even a curious chronological slight, as Faulks places Frank fighting in Guadacanal in 1942 and then being shipped to France in 1945.

The ending is excessively melodramatic and any well-traveled news reporter would have allowed for a possible delay in an overseas flight, instead of giving up so easily and taking it out on the roof of a taxi. If a taxi roof had been nearby when I finished reading, I think I'd have taken out a few frustrations myself. Faulks offered enough to keep me rading but not enough to satisfy me in the end, to recommend this to another reader, or to pick up another of his books.

Looking at a highly significant part of American history, Sebastian Faulks, the best-selling author of Charlotte Grey and Birdsong, chose to set his new novel in America. Unlike his previous novels, which focus on British history, On Green Dolphin Street focuses primarily on American politics and life in the 60's.

It is 1960, the end of the comfortable Eisenhower years and the beginning of the ruthlessly competitive Nixon/Kennedy presidential campaign. Mary van der Linden has recently moved from London to Washington D.C with her two children and her husband Charlie, who is posted to the British embassy. In her forties, Mary is a loving mother, wife and friend who has loyally devoted her entire life to other people. But when Frank Renzo suddenly appears- a handsome down to earth journalist- she seems to forget this and is drawn into the Bohemian world of Greenwich Village. Mary is drawn to the rawness of New York City; after all it is the swinging sixties and what is better than jazz clubs, Miles Davis records and gritty bookstores? Mary finds excuses to be with her lover in New York while back in Washington her alcoholic husband drinks to forget his paranoia with the interfering Russians, his absent wife and his state of depression.

Faulks breaks new grounds with this novel. Unlike his previous works, this is not a war story and is not set in Europe. Faulks has an easy, approachable writing style and explores the themes of the 60's beautifully. Although not as enthralling as Birdsong or Charlotte Grey, this is great novel and will easily entertain all readers. Just be warned: the political jargon is rather heavy so if you're looking for a love story this is probably not it.

This is the first book by Sebastian Faulks I've read but from what I'm told his others are better. I am relieved to hear that because I wasn't enchanted by this uneven tale. The story is moving but the style occasionally limps along.

In summary, Charlie is a British diplomat living in the USA with his wife Mary and their two children. They enjoy a rather high life in Washington characterized by parties and an envious lifestyle. Charlie is an alcoholic plagued by internal demons. It seems we are meant to believe that Charlie's drinking is justified because of his intelligent perceptions but most readers will see that he suffers from "terminal uniqueness" and uses his intelligence as a means of talking himself out of staying sober. Mary meets Frank, a bohemian reporter, and engages in a love affair. The affair runs its course. Mary's family needs her and so it ends.

One of the biggest obstacles to finding this an original reading experience is the exploitation of common 60s, Eisenhower and Kennedy mythology. Both amusingly and dully, these characters do little else but drink and smoke. I doubt there is one exchange between the principal characters which isn't fueled by alcohol, or during the aftermath of a rampant drunken spree. Between the lines, it's the story of how alcohol can affect the life of anyone within the radius of an alcoholic.

Nevertheless, certain passages and descriptions are deeply moving and original. Mary's emotional dilemma is tangible and upsetting and the final separation between the two lovers is excruciating. The family ties between Mary and her parents and children are beautifully drawn. It's certainly worth reading if you're trapped inside with nothing to do on a rainy Sunday evening.

I must admit I am only halfway through this book, but it is such a chore after the moving experience of Birdsong. The characters remind me of the paper dolls I played with as a child. They belonged to an older cousin, and all came with 1955 era paper clothes. I know exactly what the characters in this novel are wearing: Mary's dresses and sweaters, Franks hats and shoes. But as with the paper dolls, if I am to get through this book, I am going to have to flesh them out myself, as Faulks does not seem to be able to do it for me. This is an overresearched, underwritten book, and yes, Sebastian, you've learned just what New York was like in 1959. Now give us a plot and some characters to go with it. That said, the character of Charlie has some heart, but even in Birdsong, Faulks's female characters were two-dimensional. I haven't given up on it, though. I pray for a twist ending.

Whatever the setting, whatever the personalities involved, whatever the class/background/idiosyncrasies of those involved, what this book does is confront sensitively and passionately the theme of 'Is This It??' The theme which happily-married-with-children couples are wont to consider when they achieve their social, familial and professional ambitions.
What Faulks does supremely well is make Mary a sympathetic character, despite 'having it all' and wanting more.She invents passion for someone she hardly knows because she can't bear to accept that her life is settled and comfortable and she will never again know the excitement of discovery. All 40+ women who read this will love it!

Although I was not even alive in 1960, this book does much to evoke the flavor of that year in my imagination. This was my parents' generation and every page of this book was redolent of their habits and mannerisms. I found myself engrossed in the setting, avidly lapping up the sensitive details of music, dress, politics and culture.

That aside, the novel did not entirely work for me. Despite the sheer beauty of the final chapters, this is not Faulks' best work. While he tried to five the reader insight into the lives of the three main characters, their emotional portraiture was a little thin. This is especially true for the first three-fourths of the book which features some rather puzzling and possibly unnecessary flashback scenes. In all honesty, I found it difficult to sympathize with Frank and Mary until the final chapters of the novel.

Yet, that all changes by the end. The final chapters are thoughtful, luminous, and extremely moving. I will not give away the ending, but I will simply say that I found myself in tears and running to hug my boyfriend. It is not an ending that one can easily forget.

Although I was not even alive in 1960, this book does much to evoke the flavor of that year in my imagination. This was my parents' generation and every page of this book was redolent of their habits and mannerisms. I found myself engrossed in the setting, avidly lapping up the sensitive details of music, dress, politics and culture.

That aside, the novel did not entirely work for me. Despite the sheer beauty of the final chapters, this is not Faulks' best work. While he tried to five the reader insight into the lives of the three main characters, their emotional portraiture was a little thin. This is especially true for the first three-fourths of the book which features some rather puzzling and possibly unnecessary flashback scenes. In all honesty, I found it difficult to sympathize with Frank and Mary until the final chapters of the novel.

Yet, that all changes by the end. The final chapters are thoughtful, luminous, and extremely moving. I will not give away the ending, but I will simply say that I found myself in tears and running to hug my boyfriend. It is not an ending that one can easily forget.

This book is about its characters and the decisions they are faced with. If you like action books you may be disappointed, but I wasn't, I was captivated by Mary's plight.

This book captures the essence and madness of a consuming and elicit passion. But its much more than that, its about making choices and sticking to them, the madness of the MaCarthy era and alcoholism. I have read Birdsong and Charlotte Gray and loved them both, Sebastian Faulks has mass market appeal but writes with such eloquence and style that the critics leave him alone!! I will be recommending this book to friends.