“We loved each other greatly, yet so exclusive was that love that it was experienced more like anguish. That feeling has has remained with me and will no doubt survive all the rest.”
Just as the title says, Leaving Home by Anita Brookner deals with the rite of passage of growing up and leaving home. Two young women, one British and one French, struggle with becoming independent but it is no easy thing for either one as they are both only daughters. Can you eschew responsibility and duty without feeling guilt? Is it not important to be true to yourself and your dreams as well?
I’m very glad I chose this as a read for my Women Unbound Challenge because I think it deals with what a lot of women feel when they are trying to balance their need and desires with their responsibilities.
Our main character, Emma, seems to be watching life pass her by just as it passes by her mother. The two women live in London and Emma watches her widowed mother live a life of solitude with books and few friends and hardly any relatives. Emma decides that if she’s to live a different sort of life, one where she has real friends and a real purpose then she must leave home and so decides to pursue a study internship in France.
In Paris she meets Françoise, a young woman who appears to be everything that Emma is not. Françoise has affairs, she is worldly and confident but still the two strike a friendship. As Emma gets to know Françoise more and meets Françoise’s mother she realizes that maybe they aren’t so different after all. Françoise’s mother is not like Emma’s mother either but in her own way she has a hold over her daughter’s life.
While Emma tries to ignore her uncle’s pointed remarks that she should be at home, she also finds that her plans of pursuing of a love affair and having her own flat are not exactly panning out as she expected. Similarly she sees Françoise trying to pursue an independent life and her plans not going exactly as she hoped.
There is one scene towards the end of the novel that I cannot tell you about because it would ruin the book but I felt so much suspense over it because I thought the book could go in any direction at that time and I was just waiting to see what Brookner would do with these characters. I love moments like that.
Perhaps this novel felt a bit more personal to me because I am an only child as well and with a widowed mother so in this case I felt like I was reading to connect. I love how Brookner explores a woman’s personal character, the good and the less than nicer points and makes them feel just geniune and with no judgement. There is no right or wrong just a process of learning and becoming.
If you are looking for high drama or fast action this probably isn’t the book for you but if you want a book that will make you feel a connection with a character then check this one out. A very good read.
What a fabulous story and one I think that any woman tends to go through. I have my brother around but I still feel as though I need to take responsibility for my parents. I moved away not long after my girls were born and felt guilty about it for years. They now live closer to me and I feel better about being there to help them now.
I like the sound of this story. I did enjoy Brookners newest book Strangers.
vivienne – I totally agree. I think we as women probably just have this sense of responsibility that we have to take care of everyone and everything. Or at least almost every girlfriend and female relative I have feels that way.
diane – I need to check out Strangers. I just really like how Brookner writes and have feel some sort of connection to all of her women characters. Really like her.
I feel like the only daughter sometimes, because my sister lives far away and has her own family to worry about. Plus, I want to live somewhere else and my parents rufuse to budge.
When I started the novel, it felt like it was set in the 1950s or 1960s. It wasn’t until Emma mentioned taking the Chunnel train that I realized it’s set in the present day.
This sounds like a book with great characterisations, Iliana! I’ll have to check out the book. Thanks for the lovely review! 🙂
Isabel – I know what you mean. I wish our parents were a little bit more flexible don’t you? 🙂 And, yes, I totally thought the book was set further back in time. I wonder why? It must be something in her writing because all of her books have made me feel that way and then I realize they are pretty much in the present day. Next time I read another Brookner I’ll have to pay more attention!
Melody – thank you! And, yes, I do hope you get a chance to read it or another Brookner one day. She’s so good.
I love Anita Brookner and read quite a few of her books when I was younger–I really should pick up one of her later books (I think I have this one)–this one sounds really good. I like that her books are quieter and more contemplative!
Your review has reminded me just how much I’ve enjoyed reading Brookner’s novels in the past. I have a little trouble distinguishing between them but in the same way that I have trouble distinguishing between Barbara Pym and Elizabeth Taylor novels: a pleasant blur of books.
I’m an only child as well, so I think I’d find it easy to relate here too. You may already know this one: Deborah Siegel’s Only Child: Writers on the Singular Joys and Solitary Sorrows of Growing Up Solo…I enjoyed it far more than expected!
This novel sounds incredibly interesting. Thanks for the review.
wow, that first line is really great. this sounds like a worthwhile read.
wonderful review!
I really loved this book. It was my second Brookner, and I’m planning on reading many more!