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Tuesday, April 2, 2019

The London Train by Tessa Hadley, for a TBR Challenge

In mid-March I read The London Train by Tessa Hadley for the 2019 TBR Pile Challenge hosted by Alex at Roofbeam Reader . I thoroughly enjoyed this read yet was equally perplexed by it.

Well over half of The London Train is devoted to the story of Paul, a writer and father of two young girls with his second wife. They live in a country setting about 20 miles from Cardiff, Wales. Paul is in his mid-40s, and is definitely restless at this point in his life. His mother died not long ago. He seems rootless, as if he's searching for a purpose or a passion to anchor him. He soon discovers that his oldest daughter Pia, a university student, the only child he had with his first wife, has gone missing. His mission to re-establish a relationship with her, by joining her in London, leads him to try on a some new roles and new ways of being with himself.

I was stunned when the novel abruptly shifted to the story of Cora, a married woman in her mid-30s, who is in a desperate and painfully rootless place herself. In my estimation, the Cora chapters were brilliantly (please let me say that again), brilliantly crafted. I think I nearly held my breath throughout the few chapters that told her story. I was so swept up that I lost all sense of myself. I cried, with the keenest sense of empathy and recognition. The reader enters Cora's world, fast discovering that she recently nursed both of her parents to their deaths, one after the other. (Cora is an only child.) It's obvious that her rootlessness is grief-related. Then two paths cross for a brief time.

Most Goodreads reviewers of this book gave it a "3." Because I like Hadley's work, and because I love what she's able to do with minor characters, not to mention her in-depth characterizations of houses and landscapes, I would have given it a "4." It is not her finest book perhaps, but that makes no difference to me because I really admire her as an artist and I'll end up reading everything she's written.

Sometimes I find myself "playing editor" with a novel, and in the case of The London Train, I wondered if it might have been more powerful, and if it might have "jelled" to a greater extent, if the story had been focused around Cora, with Paul playing the lesser role.  


8 comments:

  1. Sometimes a book with multiple strong characters will depict s particular character in such a way that the character overshadows other characters. Too bad that the better character here had less of a focus on her.

    The characters here do sound we crafted and I think that I would like the book.

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    1. Not often, but occasionally, I'll really wish I could talk to the author or get inside their heads to understand the choices they make in creating a novel. This sure was one of those times!

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  2. Not an author I'm familiar with if I'm honest, I'm always slightly astonished when that happens as I thought I knew a bit about books. It does seem from Goodreads that she has some ardent fans though. Are you actually on Goodreads, Judith? I'm assuming not as you say you 'would' have given the book a 4.

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    1. Hi Cath,
      You know, I'm not really a part of Goodreads. I refer to them, it's true, but it seems I have never got around to becoming part of it, and that is strictly due to time constraints, I think.

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  3. Great review and total bookish serendipity! I only just heard of the author because of her recent novel Late in the Day which I really want to read based on some goodreads reviews. She sounds like the kind of author I will like.

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    1. Hi Ruthiella,
      So sorry to be so late responding to your comment. I don't know what happened!
      I purchased Late in the Day for my Nook while I was so sick with that stupid cold in March. I didn't get to it because I wanted to move forward with the 2019 TBR Challenge. So! I still have Late in the Day to look forward to.
      I really think you will like her books. I liked The Past very much.

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  4. It almost sounds like the author started out writing one book but ended up writing another and never went back and edited it so that it wasn’t disjointed. It does sound interesting, and a great premise. Great review—thanks.

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    1. You know, Jane, I've been scratching my head over these issues. I can imagine her editor "suggesting" that she make Cora the primary viewpoint, and Paul a secondary. I think any fiction editor might have suggested that. But Hadley must have been very firm in her intention to tell the story in this way. This is how I imagine it. It's the sort of book that would have made a rich book group discussion. Oh, if only, because I'd love to hear other's opinions.

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