Customer Reviews

The Wheel of Fortune

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If I had to name a favourite author, it would have to be Susan Howatch; her novels never fail to delight me and nourish my need for stories that do more than entertain. And if I had to choose a favourite Susan Howatch novel, it would have to be the Wheel of Fortune. This sumptuous novel drew me in from the very first page and soon I was lost in richness, following the drama of the Godwin family and living their lives with them in their fabulous Welsh estate, Oxmoon.
As in all of the Howatch family sagas which precede it, The Wheel of Fortune is written through a multiple third-person perspective, a structure which Howatch has mastered to perfection. Thus she leads us through the story by allowing us to identify first with one character and then with another, each time forcing us to rectify the opinions we have already formed on each indivual in turn. It's as if we move around each character, seeing him or her from a multitude of aspects, from the inside and the outside, and thus gain insight into the whole personality.

While reading Howatch I often felt that this is perhaps her way of showing her readers the necessity for compassion and understanding in our lives, for she whips away our prejudices and preconceptions about her characters simply by switching perspectives. For me this happened in the Wheel of Fortune with the character of Kester, who first appears as a thoroughly unlikeable, spoiled child, a misfit who never failed to exasperate those around him - and of course the reader. The moment Kester himself was allowed to speak, however, and I saw the situation through his viewpoint, he became my favourite character and I could identify with him completely, and appreciate him as the creative genius he is.

Then there is Robert Godwin, the personification of male chauvinism, an uptight London barrister who takes leave of all his senses when he falls for his cousin Ginevra. Ginevra herself is at first rather silly and self-absorbed, but as she grows in depth and self-esteem she develops into a warm, strong, well-rounded personality and a driving force in the novel. John Godwin is the epitome of good upbringing: his motto is "Here I have my standards, and here I draw the line!"; but then he meets Bronwen, a lower class Welshwoman who embodies the passion and mysticism that is simmering just beneath the surface of John's own consciousness, and John throws caution to the wind. Finally there is Harry, Kester's nemesis and greatest rival, the perfect public school boy . It's the rivalry between Kester and Harry, both of whom seem to mirror each other, each one having what the other most desires, rising and sinking on opposite sides of the Wheel of Fortune, which provides the foundation for this wonderful story.

Last but not least there is Oxmoon itself, their home; fabulous, haunting, living, Oxmoon: the orchestra playing the Blue Danube in its grand hall while the dancers dance beneath the glittering chandeliers. The magical atmosphere which pervades this wonderful story and draws us into the wonderful world teeming with rounded, living, breathing, characters we feel we have known all our lives.

I love English history and I love historical novels, so I adore Susan Howatch's books, and The Wheel of Fortune is my favorite. The only thing to add to the overwhelmingly positive reviews written before me is to answer the question in the first review: the book is a continuation of the story told in Cashelmara, recast with a different family. Cashelmara is based on the story of Edward I, Edward II, and Edward III, ending as Edward III overthrows his mother's lover and claims the throne as his own. The Wheel of Fortune picks up the same story about half way through Edward III's life (he is now Bobby Godwin), and follows the story through the life of his sons Edward The Black Prince (Robert), John (John of Gaunt) and Thomas (Thomas of Woodstock), his grandsons Kester (Richard II) and Harry (Henry IV), and his great grandson Henry V (Hal).

I've just finished Wheel of Fortune by Susan Howatch. (1171 pages in 5 days it was so good!) What a fascinating book. The book starts with one person's point of view and then the story picks up at the end of that section with someone else's point of view. When they reflect back on something you already know about it gives you another perspective. I don't think I've ever read a book written like this one. What is so interesting about it is that it shows that what is seen by others is not the reality in the mind of the person being looked at. What we perceive to be an ideal situation is really not so ideal at all if we knew the truth of the matter. Behavior that seems dreadful from the outside makes perfect sense when we can look inside and see why someone behaved the way they did. If we knew what others really think of us we would probably be shocked at how far off the mark they are from what we think of ourselves. It's remarkable how things from past generations that we may not even know about effect us in ways that we are not even aware of.

Another interesting thing is the idea of time. That time is not a straight line leading forward and behind us. But instead it is a circle and we can hear echos of the past and the future across the circle of time. I like books that make me sit back and say, "Hmmm" after I have read them and this one had that effect on me. The whole time I was reading the book I thought it a work of fiction. I was somewhat surprised to get to the end and read the author's note that it is a re-creation in a modern dimension of a true story involving King Richard II, King Henry IV, and King Henry V. Amazing. Wish I had read the author's note first. Oh well, I think my mind will be chewing on some of the concepts of this book for at least a few days. How well do we really ever know someone else that we think we know? Fascinating question.

Susan Howatch is probably the closest approximation we have to a modern day Anthony Trollope in her character driven style of writing, and plot development. Howatch, like Trollope, is fascinated by the moral choices people make, and the reasons for making them (eg. religious belief, guilt, envy, etc.). However, where Trollope tends to use more wry sarcasm, Howatch relies on (often deceptively) romantic scenes, and generational bonds.

"Wheel of Fortune," 1171 pages long, revolves around the idea that people are tied to the mis-deeds committed by past generations, and, unless great effort is applied to break the destructive cycle, are usually condemned to repeat history. Most of the story takes place at an historic mansion known as Oxmoon in early twentieth century Wales on the Gower Peninsula. The main characters are frequently obsessed with "doing the done thing," "drawing the line," and generally keeping up appearances, often with tragic results.

The book is divided up into six parts, each of which is told from the perspective of a different character, and which, in total, spans over 60 years. Robert Godwin, the narrator of Part One, is the oldest son and heir to Oxmoon. Outwardly, he's a hard man, completely rational and highly intelligent. His obsession is his slightly older cousin Genevra, and the greatest moment of his life was waltzing with her, as a teenager, under the Oxmoon crystal chandeliers to the "Blue Danube," though Ginervra loves another. Howatch repeats this romantic scene over and over again, usually as a metaphor that things aren't as grand as they appear to be (anyone who reads "Wheel of Fortune" as a romantic novel needs to read it again). Through Ginevra's section (Part Two), we learn how vulnerable Robert really is, in more ways than one.

Parts One and Two of "Wheel of Fortune" are mere preludes to the heart of the book. In Part Three, Robert's younger brother John, who becomes the head of the family, narrates. John excels at drawing everyone's "line" except his own. The love of his life, Bronwen, is several stations below John, but John finds he can love no one else. John acts as sort of the family referee, especially between the greatest rivals of the story, Harry and Kester.

Parts Four and Five (repectively Robert's son, Kester [who in adulthood, bears some unsettling resemblance to Michael Jackson], and John's son, Harry) turn the book into a page turner, and make "Wheel of Fortune," into a terrific read. The relationship between Kester and Harry (and their rivalry with respect to Oxmoon) is always intriguing, and takes some unexpected twists and turns, to say the least. Their destinies intertwine, usually in a destructive manner, and both ultimately pay for their hatred of the other.

Howatch could have ended the book with a final struggle between Kester and Harry, but chose to look into the future with Hal, Harry's son, (but emotionally closer to his uncle, Kester) in a spell-binding part Six, where Hal attempts to unravel the last great family mystery. There is always hope and redemption, the author seems to say, and we are not necessarily condemned to repeat the past.

All-in-all, I found "Wheel of Fortune" to be engrossing and memorable. I didn't give it 5 stars, because I think Howatch can be heavy-handed and repetitious with romantic metaphor and pithy speeches. How many times do we need to hear about that waltz under the chandeliers to the "Blue Danube?" Do the characters necessarily have to say that they are "drawing the line" or "doing the done thing" on every other page?

Another quibble has to do with the character Bronwen (John's true love). Although many of the Welsh names and towns sound like they come from "Lord of the Rings" (perhaps the British Tolkien was influenced by this), does Bronwen really have to talk like the immortal queen of the Elves, or Yoda from Star Wars? Every time Bronwen would open her mouth and spout some celtic mysticism, I would almost groan out loud.

I also cannot accept how young children get over the death of a parent so quickly, and visa versa. I think I understand the stiff-upper-lip attitude of this culture, but the death of a mother to a young child surely would affect him more than, for example, a rivalry with a cousin over a piece of property.

Even so, I highly enjoyed "Wheel of Fortune," and recommend it, even given its length. If you like Susan Howatch, may I also recommend Gail Godwin, and Stuart O'Nan's "Wish You Were Here." And, of course, the master himself, Anthony Trollope.

I have just finished reading "Wheel of Fortune" and frankly I am exhausted. I literally couldn't put it down and by the time I was finished I felt emotionally drained. The best book I've read in many a moon.

Anyway, I read Wheel of Fortune in hardcover, two volumes. On the last inside page, S. H. says in Author's notes "The Wheel of Fortune is a re-creation in a modern dimension in which the following people play leading parts:

Edward of Woodstock, 1330-1376, The Black Prince

His wife and cousin, Joan of Kent

John of Gaunt, his brother

His younger son, later King Richard 11

John of Gaunt's legitimate son Henry of Bolingbroke, later King Henry 1V who restored England to her former military glory and completed the full circle of the Plantagenet family's wheel of fortune.

I didn't know all this when I was reading--- I just read it as a family saga that kept me engrossed from start to finish.

This is the BEST book I have ever read. I know that many people place Gone With The Wind at the top of the list (and rightly so) but I consider this book the "English Version" of Gone with the Wind.

Instead of Scarlett and the Tara Plantation, you get to meet the Goodwins and their magical home Oxmoon. This book is divided into six chapters with each chapter being told by a different character. By doing this, the author gives the readers a chance to see other characters from different points of view. She also ends each chapter with a bang and the next character picks it up where the last character left off.

If you are looking for a book filled with love, hate, envy, greed, murder and so forth, you don't need to look any further. The book is over a 1000 pages long but it moves right along. I found myself wishing that it had been 2000 pages long. I did not want the book to end. Lucky for me, this author has other great novels.

PLEASE GET THIS BOOK AND READ THE FIRST CHAPTER, YOU WILL BE HOOKED!!!!!

I would go on but I don't want to bore any readers and anyways I am starting on another Susan Howatch book.

If anyone has read this book and knows of another great author such as Susan Howatch (I doubt it), please email me at mitzibilly@yahoo.com.

This novel has it all---a grand old family, the Godwins, with many more than their fair share of eccentricities; the beauty and poetry of early 20th century Wales; the glitter of the same-period London political arena; unrequited love; family jealousies and secrets galore; and finely-drawn characters whom you'll come to love and actually miss once you're finished with the book---what a read! Oh, and don't forget the brilliant use of that most romantic of all romantic waltzes, "The Blue Danube", as a literary device which instantly transports you into the characters' frame of reference. "Take me back to Oxmoon---the Oxmoon of my childhood!" is another recurring refrain, and the reader can almost reach out and touch the weathered stone of the old Godwin family mansion every time this line is spoken (and spoken it most definitely is, by many characters over a span of many years). There is Robert Godwin, the epitome of male chauvinism and veddy proper London barrister who turns into an insanely passionate and romantic-bordering-on-crazed lover when he falls for his cousin Ginevra. There is Ginevra herself---a silly, self-absorbed twit who develops into a woman of steel and substance and boundless compassion. There is John, whose deeply ingrained morality ("Here I have my standards, and HERE I DRAW THE LINE!") is challenged and vanquished when he meets Bronwen, the lower class Welsh mystic who taps into John's own mystical Welsh heritage and creates havoc in his orderly, moral world. Kester is perhaps the most enigmatic and surprising character, growing from a spoiled little boy into a creative genius with a propensity for intrigue; his nemesis, Harry, grows from a public school boy who seems to have it all---money, the "right" education, and later, a gorgeous, seductive wife--- into a frightened, paranoid, confused and very unhappy adult. Hal is the final generation of the Godwins, and it is his character who brings this huge, elaborately-plotted story full circle to its satisfying conclusion. There is plenty of romance ("Grand passion, darling!") in Ginevra's words, dual murder mysteries (one from the distant past, one in the current time frame), tragic illnesses and unexpected deaths, and wonderfully-drawn characters whose problems become ours and whose rides on the Wheel of Fortune we cheer and curse as if they were our own

Why oh why aren't more sagas like this written. Only once in too great a while do I come across a book that consumes me. It is interesting, well-written and has all the ingredients a novel of this size needs to keep the attention of an avid reader.

I was astonished to find myself reading this book for a second time. There's only one other book of this length that has merited a second reading for me (James Clavell's "Shogun".) Very few authors can sustain a story for 1,171 pages without running out of steam or becoming repetitious. Susan Howatch doesn't quite manage it, but she comes very close.

Recently I read a few reviews here and realized that, although I originally read this in 1984, I still remembered the opening pages, and the plot of the first two sections. I picked it up second-hand to glance at it and to my surprise, not only read it all but enjoyed it much more the second time around.

I also remembered being bored by the final segment, and had rapidly skimmed through the last 200 pages. I read more closely this time, but it was still hard to keep from skimming. Part Five ends with a cliffhanger mystery, and Part Six features a character from the next generation who returns to resolve the mystery. There is little suspense as Hal interviews one surviving witness after another, repeating information that is mostly known to the reader. I kept wanting to shout, "OK! OK! Can't you just tell me what happens?" The last 200 pages seem much longer than the first 1,000 pages.

Still, those first 1,000 pages are gripping, if soap-operatic. The characters are brilliantly drawn, the writing is very fine, and Howatch maintains a crisp, snappy pace that only flags when we enter the dire Part VI. Perhaps if she'd trimmed the final section a bit it might have been more effective for me; but the bottom line is that I actually read this book twice, and more attentively the second time. This is a great addition to your summer reading list, or anytime you want a long, engrossing, dishy novel that's genuinely well written and intelligent.

This book had so much depth. Susan Howatch kept you spinning. Each chapter, you would get a different viewpoint of a different character that was completely believable. It gave you the impression that you weren't reading a book but you were living in a three dimensional world. Each of them, as well, had a moral dilemma, and each of them was strong in their own way. They were solid, real people, and more than that, they were people that you could like. Anyways, my favorite character was Harry.