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Late in the Day A Novel Tessa Hadley 9780062476692 Books

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Late in the Day A Novel Tessa Hadley 9780062476692 Books

Tessa Hadley's writing is like a specific taste - think cilantro, marzipan, or liver. You either like it immediately or it doesn't mesh with your tastes. I found myself trying very hard to get into the flow of the narrative but it was like an undertow. No matter how hard I tried to stay afoot, I kept going down.

The novel begins with the death of Zachary, a charismatic man, cultured, strong and assured in every way, a gallery owner and part of the London art scene. Of all the people in his circle, he was the one they never suspected would die, despite all of them getting on in years and having grown children. Despite his friends' beliefs in his near immortality, Zachary keels over in his gallery, hitting his head on his desk.

Christine and Alex, Zachary and Lydia's closest friends, are listening to a piece of classical music when the phone rings. It is Lydia, Zachary's wife, telling them about his death. She sounds as if she's half in shock while being quite histrionic at the same time. Christine wants to leave right away to be with Lydia but her husband, Alex, tells her they must wait for the Mozart piece to finish. This is where I paused - she actually listened to him?

Lydia, Christine, and Alex go way back to college days when they first met. Alex was a married French teacher whose class Lydia was in. Despite his not noticing her, Lydia devises a plot to steal Alex from his wife. Fast forward and now Alex is married to Christine. This is a very enmeshed group of friends. The night after Zachary's death, Christine finds Lydia standing at the foot of the bed she shares with Alex and invites her to join them, to lie between them both for the night. (I have to admit that I made notes on the inside of my book cover as to who was who and who they were with when.)

Their children also play a part in the book. Lydia doesn't want to see Zachary's dead body while her art student daughter Grace wants to make a death mask of him. Grace also has a tremendous crush on Sam, Alex's son from his first marriage. Sam is now a famous musician and Grace's feelings are not reciprocated.

This is all a very posh group, boarding school background and a lot of money, at least for Lydia and Zachary. I saw it as a 'cultured' version of 'The Big Chill' sans the fun and jollity.

If you like the British upper crust, mostly humorless and full of themselves, this book might appeal to you. The characters are very self-absorbed, take their drama with their tea, and find themselves very interesting. Maybe they are an acquired taste and I'm wrong to compare the book to marzipan or cilantro. I have enjoyed some of Ms. Hadley's short stories but I think this novel, as it goes back and forth in time, describing characters I'd never want to know, is way off the mark.


Tags : Late in the Day: A Novel [Tessa Hadley] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. <strong>“With each new book by Tessa Hadley, I grow more convinced that she’s one of the greatest stylists alive.”</strong><strong>—Ron Charles<em>,Tessa Hadley,Late in the Day: A Novel,Harper,0062476696,FICTION Family Life,FICTION Family Life.,FICTION Literary.,FICTION Psychological.,Families,ENGLISH CONTEMPORARY FICTION - INDIVIDUAL AUTHORS+,FICTION Family Life General,FICTION Literary,FICTION Psychological,Fiction,Fiction-Literary,FictionFamily Life - General,FictionPsychological,FictionWomen,GENERAL,General Adult,Great BritainBritish Isles,United States

Late in the Day A Novel Tessa Hadley 9780062476692 Books Reviews

What happens when a dearly beloved dies? What if the dearly beloved was part of a group of four people, two couples, who knew each other for most of their adult lives. That is what we discover in Tessa Hadley’s new book. I have read all of her books, and I love her writing. This novel is no exception, rife with complicated relationships and the author digs into their psychology.

Lydia Smith and Christine Drinkwater were college friends. Lydia had a crush on a French teacher, Alexander Kilmer, a poet, and volunteered to babysit his son, Sandy. She brought Christine along, so that her adoration was not so evident. Lydia, a flirt and one who was apt to scheme, tried to set Christine up with Alex’s best friend Zachrey. Things did not work out that way, and Lydia married Zachrey, and Christine married Alex. Complicated, oh, yes. And, then something occurs to turn their world upside down.

As we follow their lives, we meet their children. Sandy, Alex’s son remains a part of the family. As the years move on Christine and Lydia start to make their own choices. The complex psyche of all of these couples, and their children are really part of all of our families. The generations that separate us, bring us together. The novel brings us from the beginning of the friendships to the presen5, and then back again. The close relationships and history, help each of them as they learn to deal with their wants and needs, and what occurs within the group of four. There are surprises, and sadness, but I could recognize the individuality of them all.

Tessa Hadley has brought us the key, literally and figuratively to doors that open the rooms. This is a book of great loss, and how we recover.

Recommended. prisrob 01-15-19
It opens with a death right in the middle of (possibly) Schubert. We are about to meet all the London characters, and the dead man, Zachary, going back and forth in time to include a quartet of married friends and their three adult children (two are younger adults) and then the shock and grief when he leaves them behind. The death, unlike the music, is certain.

Zachary’s death was sudden and unexpected, his wife, Lydia, broken in pieces. These are friendships that go back thirty-plus years. Hadley has a particular style—delicate and filled with the gentle piquancy of art in the midst of all that is despairing, which anchors the story and also gives it an ethereal quality. You don’t read Hadley for the plot or action—you read it for the characters and story, layers of complex human psychology, the vibrations of life, life itself in somber tones.

“In her mind she understood how sex and death were both part of the mystery of entrances and exits, both opening onto this same strange place where they all belonged now, in the sudden shadow of Zachary’s death.” And that is the locus, or the abyss, of these four lives (and their children, to a degree). The novel is primarily an internal, meditative narrative for the reader, but also how our actions have long-term consequences.

There’s a chapter chunk in Venice, Italy, which is rendered exquisitely by Hadley. It brought me back to my time there, and she captured the light and colors so beautifully that it felt physical, palpable. On the cover, within the title, is likely pieces of the Tiepolo ceiling in the Scuola dei Carmini. In this poignant backdrop, a mirror is held up to the past, both literally and figuratively, which brings the past, present, and future into stark relief for two art lovers and close friends. It’s the scene in the book I have read multiple times, and, like a bouillon cube, it concentrates the narrative to represent the essence of the grand theme. I won’t give anything away, as it is imperative for the readers to alight on their own discoveries.

This is a novel for Hadley fans and literature lovers, so be forewarned that the movement is often inward, but the stakes are high, the cost steep, and the outcome inescapable.
Tessa Hadley's writing is like a specific taste - think cilantro, marzipan, or liver. You either like it immediately or it doesn't mesh with your tastes. I found myself trying very hard to get into the flow of the narrative but it was like an undertow. No matter how hard I tried to stay afoot, I kept going down.

The novel begins with the death of Zachary, a charismatic man, cultured, strong and assured in every way, a gallery owner and part of the London art scene. Of all the people in his circle, he was the one they never suspected would die, despite all of them getting on in years and having grown children. Despite his friends' beliefs in his near immortality, Zachary keels over in his gallery, hitting his head on his desk.

Christine and Alex, Zachary and Lydia's closest friends, are listening to a piece of classical music when the phone rings. It is Lydia, Zachary's wife, telling them about his death. She sounds as if she's half in shock while being quite histrionic at the same time. Christine wants to leave right away to be with Lydia but her husband, Alex, tells her they must wait for the Mozart piece to finish. This is where I paused - she actually listened to him?

Lydia, Christine, and Alex go way back to college days when they first met. Alex was a married French teacher whose class Lydia was in. Despite his not noticing her, Lydia devises a plot to steal Alex from his wife. Fast forward and now Alex is married to Christine. This is a very enmeshed group of friends. The night after Zachary's death, Christine finds Lydia standing at the foot of the bed she shares with Alex and invites her to join them, to lie between them both for the night. (I have to admit that I made notes on the inside of my book cover as to who was who and who they were with when.)

Their children also play a part in the book. Lydia doesn't want to see Zachary's dead body while her art student daughter Grace wants to make a death mask of him. Grace also has a tremendous crush on Sam, Alex's son from his first marriage. Sam is now a famous musician and Grace's feelings are not reciprocated.

This is all a very posh group, boarding school background and a lot of money, at least for Lydia and Zachary. I saw it as a 'cultured' version of 'The Big Chill' sans the fun and jollity.

If you like the British upper crust, mostly humorless and full of themselves, this book might appeal to you. The characters are very self-absorbed, take their drama with their tea, and find themselves very interesting. Maybe they are an acquired taste and I'm wrong to compare the book to marzipan or cilantro. I have enjoyed some of Ms. Hadley's short stories but I think this novel, as it goes back and forth in time, describing characters I'd never want to know, is way off the mark.