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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Giving life & self a chance,
This review is from: The World in the Evening (Paperback)
"The World in the Evening" is the story of Stephen Monk in the years before and during World War II. After his second marriage implodes, he retreats to his former home, a Quaker town in Pennsylvania, where he is forced to reflect on the whole of his life: his first marriage, his affairs, his inability to emote truthfully. Years ago, Stephen & his first wife travelled to the Canary Islands, where Stephen had an affair with a young man. After that ended in disaster, his first wife died, leaving Stephen confused and adrift. In the Quaker town, with family, and with friends in the form of a gay couple and a German refugee, Stephen confronts himself and ultimately finds inner peace. Isherwood's magnificent novel is as captivating and moving as it is beatifully written. The way the story ends is so full of hope and beauty that it will leave the reader feeling the same as Stephen.
13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Nowhere to Run,
By
This review is from: The World in the Evening (Paperback)
For a long while I have had an interest in one day reading the works of Christopher Isherwood. While performing in 'Cabaret', which stems from Isherwood's famed 'Berlin Stories', I learned that the author had several works available, and he became one of my 'someday' reads. Someday finally arrived recently, with a wonderful read in the form of 'The World in the Evening'. The book explores the life of a troubled man before and during the WWII years. Stephen Monk, raised by a family friend, his 'Aunt' Sarah, runs from his life in California after discovering the infidelity of his second wife, Jane. Finding little to no 'solace' there he prepares to leave, when an accident of sorts leaves him housebound for several weeks. Stephen is then forced to confront his past, and present, and contemplate his future, when he is figuratively and literally left unable to run from them any longer. Examining the events that led to his marriage to his first wife, the novelist Elizabeth Rydal, Stephen relives, through a series of her letters to her friend Mary Scriven, their meeting, falling in love, and Elizabeth's ultimate demise. This unveiling of their life together encompasses much of the rest of the book. But along the way, many surprises await in the form of revelations about Stephen himself. Was his 'accident' really that? What leads people to question the 'validity' of his marriage to Elizabeth? And how long can a person run from the truth before it eventually overtakes them? The novel is peppered with many lively and entertaining characters; Aunt Sarah, the sage, benevolent voice of reason; Gerda, grieving wife of a missing soldier; Bob Wood and Charles Kennedy; a 1950's style gay couple; the two wives of Stephen Monk; and all the folks they meet along the way. Jumping back and forth from past to present, the book is an excellent study of a man faced with finding himself, of the intricacies of making a marriage work, and of attitudes and actions regarding the treatment of homosexuals in the 1950's. An excellent starting point for any newcomer to Isherwood, this novel at once charms and endears.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Isherwood Maturing,
By
This review is from: The World in the Evening (Paperback)
In The World in the Evening Christopher Isherwood rejects the flip amused superficiality of his early years. The values of his earlier protagonists, with their detached amusement and urbane decadence are nowhere to be seen. In particular, the story involves a young man who leaves the excesses of a Hollywood marriage to rejoin the Quaker community of his youth. The Quaker relatives are seen, despite their apparent corniness, as more humane and spiritually connected. Additionally, he resurrects suppressed memories of past relationships, including that of his late wife, a sort of wholesome version of Virginia Woolf, whose recollected words and guidance nourish him as he heals from the breakup. The book is very nicely written, though perhaps derivative: this sort of spiritual transformation is similar to that other English writers living in California during that time, such as Aldous Huxley, who was making a similar transition in his career, giving up an amused or satirical view of the world for more serious minded work. Hence, Isherwoods book ultimately is one of values and maturation--from that of talented but rather amoral cynicism to a more substantial connection with other people, a sort of mystical connectivity that became more popularly associated with California in the 60s. Apart from its connection to the historical movements occurring at that time, what I liked best about the novel was how nicely Isherwood describes the internal workings of his relationships with others, the changing shades of his feelings, and the way he at times allows himself to almost approach corniness in describing his newfound insights. He sems like a trustworthy guide as we are invited along as travel companions as he gains in understanding and wisdom.
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