Customer Reviews

Making Things Better: A Novel

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Reading a novel by Anita Brookner is as intense an experience as I've ever had. I buy each one as soon as it comes out and settle in to read it with a sense of adventure. Brookner is a firm narrator and an excellent dramatist. Despite this story of impending doom, there are sections full of lyricism, lightness and delight. There is much talk of Nyon, a small town outside of Geneva and, in fact, I finished this book after riding my bike on the hills above Nyon, looking down over what Brookner describes as the "penumbra" of lac Lèman.

This is the story of an elderly London man, Julius Herz, who is compelled by loneliness and circumstance to reflect on the finality of his remaining days. His body betrays and goads him incessantly: he suffers light but debilitating dizzy spells and loss of breath; he delights in repose on a bench in the park, appreciating the sun and the air as a man might who knows his days are numbered; he is physically attracted to his young female neighbor. Having spent his life taking care of his parents and brother, he is continually disturbed by the memory of having had his youthful proposal of marriage rejected by his cousin: a proposal made many years earlier at the Beau-Rivage Hotel in Nyon where the lady resided - in characteristic Brookner fashion - with her mother in a style so recherché that a dramatic mishap and heartache are inevitable. Now, under the duress of old age and near-infirment, she has reconsidered and contacted him. Julius prepares himself and his cousin for their new life through a series of intense and astounding letters. "The next big thing" takes over. The British edition is entitled THE NEXT BIG THING. I have wondered what the motivation is to change the American edition to MAKING THINGS BETTER.

The writing is, as always, as sharp as a surgical knife. The plot, which spans generations and customs, encompasses a tight realm of parents, siblings, neighbors, ex-wives, and colleagues inhabiting lives influenced by immigration, insanity, wasted talent, and sexual attraction. The narrative is unnerving and exciting.

I am in awe of this writer. I sometimes see her at the supermarket in London, across from me in the checkout line. At these times, I try to forget that she is also a renowned art historian and am amazed that readers have been given so much by someone so obviously human and charming, that even though our worlds are far apart, they can meet in a such a simple and human way.

This book is an immensely insightful character study of seventyish Julius Herz, now living alone in London after outliving his parents and brother, all of whom were forced to leave Germany during the Nazi regime. Julius' life has been one of duty, obedience, and propriety, his happiness and fulfillment secondary to aiding his family. His exile status is really a metaphor for his minimalist life.

Now, Julius' days consist of just staying busy: visiting little shops and museums, walking twice a day, sitting in parks, etc with only the briefest of personal interactions and then returning to his small flat located above a retail store. But a new renter in a downstairs room, a perky young financial advisor, upsets this mundane life. He begins to seriously question the validity of assumptions that he has made his entire life, and ponders whether he can recapture some of what has been lost. In addition, his German cousin Fanny, who has nonchalantly ignored his infatuation throughout the years, has contacted him with entreaties for help. Should he take a chance on trying to restore their unrequited relationship, or is this utter fantasy?

The book is a sobering look at aging and thoughts on paths taken versus what might have been. The author in her usual precise, exemplary language provides an amazingly sensitive examination of matters that undoubtedly go through the minds of many as they grow older. The answers are not simple.

I read the British edition of this novel with a more appropriate title (as other reviewers have noted) and was transfixed. I've read almost all of her novels and rank this with her best, up there with Dolly (Original title in the UK: A Family Romance) and Family and Friends. Hotel du Lac (which won the Booker) is one of her weaker novels.

Brookner's style can take some getting used to -- she often presents her stories with a minimum of dialogue -- and she is certainly not the writer if you're looking for escapist fluff or happy endings. Herz is a memorable character and she delves into his psyche with laser-like precision. I especially enjoyed the depiction of Herz' relationship with his doctor, who pooh-poohs
Herz' outmoded Freudian ideas.

This novel is a good place to start for anyone new to Brookner.

My wife started this novel, and before finishing it, told me that I too must read it. The book deals with German-Jewish refugees who fled to Switzerland and England, and made her feel quite ill, since it features 'weak' men and supremely selfish women, who apparently resemble characters that she knew quite well. Brookner has an awesome ability to picture her unselfish but somewhat indecisive anti-hero, and the horrible women who fill his life.

I reccomend this novel to anyone who feels too cheerful, and requires some depressing. I personally wanted to give up on it half-way, but finished it, having been promised a stunning ending. The ending lived up to its advance acclamation. I won't spoil the reader's suspense by revealing it!

Incidentally, this book would make a wonderful play.

All the stars I give this book are based on the excellent writing, not the riveting plot. There is no plot. Maybe it's the mood I'm in these days. At another time and in another place, I might find Julius interesting. I kept dozing off while reading. Then, when I'd pick the book up again, I couldn't find my place because because every page seemed the same. Julius is forever shrouded in greyness and inaction. I was relieved that two other reviewers (who also like Brookner) felt the same, so I don't have to feel totally shallow.

This was my first expierence reading Ms Brookner. I doubt seriously if it will be my last. I enjoyed this book, depressing as it was. Ms. Brokner's syntax is wonderful. Her insight into her characters is qutie remarkable. I work with the aged, talk with them on a daily basis. I find it remarkable that the author was able to approach her subject with such clarity and authority. I found the authors ability to take the mundane and transform it into the profound, quite surprising and rewarding. I would recommend this work to anyone interest in themselves or simply interested in verg good writing! Be warned though, this is not a "happy book" per se. In may ways, it is reality, and as we all know, reality is not always the nicest thing to ponder.

This was my first expierence reading Ms Brookner. I enjoyed it.
Her syntax is wonderful. Her insight into her characters is quite remarkable. I work with the aged, talk with them on a daily basis. I find it remarkable that the author was able to approach her subject with such clarity. I found the authors abilty to take the mundane and transform it into the profound quite surprising and rewarding. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in themselves or simply interested in simple good writing.

While reading Anita Brookner's "Making Things Better," the notion of T.S. Eliot's poem, "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock," kept vying for attention. Especially the line, "Do I dare to eat a peach?" The main character, Julius Herz, 73 and retired is Prufrock, the man who decides to forgo the peach. The novel's third person point of view narrative deftly portrays Herz, especially his plagued inner life. But often the reader is also privy to Herz's mental state through inner dialog, the occasional conversation with other characters and letters Herz pens.

"Making Things Better" is one long lamentation and how things could have been better say this happened or this did not happen. The pages are slow to turn at times since most of the action takes place within Herz's mental life. His obsessions include a failed marriage with Josie, his declining health, an ill brother, Freddy, and Fanny Bauer, the woman he truly wanted to marry, but got away due to his timidness. Brookner's authentic sentences capture the sadness of a man who realizes he did not truly live life, but skipped around its corners.

But wait, there is hope on the horizon, hence the title of the book, "Making Things Better," a phrase often repeated by Herz. He is seeking redemption; this is the impetus of the book that keeps one reading to see if he finally dares to eat a peach?

Bohdan Kot

This is one of the best Brookner novels I have read. Once again there is a lonely protagonist trying to make the best of a very limited life. Once again it is second - generation Jewish in origin but totally detached from religion and community English major character. Once again there is the story of a life which has not been quite lived, which has been sacrificed for others, in this case for parents and brother. Once again there is the attempted breaking of loneliness through relationship with others. Once again there is the precise description of moods and situation, probing psychological understanding. Once again there is the hesitancy, questioning probing of the major character. But in this case the major character Leo Herz has something especially sympathetic about him. He is clearly a good person who has lived for others.

Brookner is a master of providing fine details about the difficult things of life, sickness, loneliness, breakdown, loss. She is a master too of intelligent perception of life.

This work is highly recommended.

Anita Brookner has penned another masterpiece...This is not just writing, but literature at the highest level. Her ability to pierce the uncertainty of older age along with her perception of life's realities is stunning. To many of her readers, this perception hits home and so does the realization for those of us who have reached this age...we are not alone.