Customer Reviews

A Private View

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Anita Brookner knows how to focus her readers' attention powerfully on the principal characters of her books. In this regard her skills are akin to those of an immense magnifying glass which condense the sun's wide rays into a small hot center of light: after a few chapters, her characters burst into flame under the steady gaze of the reader's scrutiny. George Bland of "A Private View" is one of those. Though he appears to live a dull and uninteresting life, the author's examination of why he does so makes for heartily provocative perusal. This novel is written in the grand tradition of other books which explore the carnival folly of desperate old age willing to immolate itself on the indifferent bonfires of youth. One is reminded of Thomas Mann's "The Death in Venice," for example. Some of the usual Brookner appetizers and entrees are on offer here: the intense internal monologue; the snake oil placebo of tea for what ails; the visits to the shops when boredom constricts; the useless days of people who have nothing to do and no one to do it with. After cavorting for awhile with George Bland and other Brookner pals, one may begin to think of England as a place inhabited solely by elderly people crushed under the weight of gargantuan checkbooks and pointless days. But it is the author's vivisectional analysis of what makes such people tick, persued with rather gleeful abandon, that makes for such riveting reading. This reviewer's advice: spend some time with George Bland and his funky fascination, Katy Gibb. One or the other of them may leave you reaching for the bicarbonate of soda, but their unsettling company is absolutely worth the experience.

Anita Brookner is not for everyone, but I happen to love fiction that brings clever insight into the humanness of us all. Her characters have a fragility and truthfulness that can often be uncomfortably recognizable. I always feel deeply satisfied when I'm finished with one of her books; as if I've just discovered something of quiet importance.

A Private View is just that. George Bland has been quietly progressing through life, following a staid and proper blueprint that insures the least amount of conflict and discomfort. Suddenly, upon retirement, the blueprint is snatched away by an unsettling gust of wind (the death of his best friend), and from then on George is on his own. When self centered Katy Gibb enters his life, George surprises us all with some original moves.

Sound boring? Never! After all, we're never bored with ourselves and Brookner's books are all about us.

George Bland has planned to spend his retirement in leisurely travel and modest entertainment with his friend Michael Putnam. However when Putnam dies George has to try to impose some purpose on his solitary life.
One day a lady of about thirty-five, Katy Gibb, appears as a temporary resident of a neighbouring flat. She claims to be acquainted with the owners' apartment, the Dunlops, although nobody in the house has been notified of Katy's arrival. She is a greedy, selfish, alluring and manipulative person and she immediately exerts a strange influence on George. Because of Katy George is forced to acknowledge that his fastidious and careful life so far has shown the evident lack of passion and daring. As this realization takes hold, George has to decide how much - or how little - he is willing to do to transform the satus quo.
Anita Brookner explores the complications that arise when one solitary man comes up against a woman who seems determined to invade his solitude. The main character is an ageing bachelor whose existence has been virtually a mirror image of his name. But can Katy's presence really change his character or is there an age when one his past changing?

This slim volume focuses on, or rather obsesses about, hapless and neurotic George Bland, who dithers constantly about the worth and meaning of his entire life, until the conniving Katy Gibb reorients his dithering to lust versus longing. If you enjoy that last bit of imititative, wandering prose, you may be able to stick with Brookner's story. But if you wish for her to tighten up the redundant and overly detailed writing about Bland's bland ruminations, it may be best to look elsewhere for entertainment.

Though I find Brookner's writing elegant, the story itself was beyond dull. I'm sorry I took the time to finish this book. 200+ pages of the internal monologue of a grumpy, dull man taking walks. That's the entire book. The only reason I kept reading is the secret hope that George would freak out and kill Katy or something. No such luck.