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Loading... Human Voicesby Penelope Fitzgerald
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will love Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. This is a really unusual little book. Takes a chapter or two to get into the groove of the gentle and clever humour. Whilst its wildly different in themes to another of her books (Blue Flower); there is a similar approach to the treatment of characters ... you don't really get to know them, beyond their contribution at specific events. (  ) tandah | Mar 1, 2009 |  An economical style and gentle humour tell us tales of some of the staff at the BBC during the blitz. The stories are personal and human and told affectionately. A pleasant read. (  ) Tifi | Feb 25, 2009 | The word Fitzgerald can be used to split the reading public. There are those who think F. Scott was the best Fitzgerald and those who know Penelope was. It's all just opinion I suppose; but I will say if you don't prefer Penelope you are clearly in the wrong. It is almost pointless to review Human Voices. The prose is as close to perfect as is possible. It is in parts genuinely, that most over-used of cliches, 'laugh out loud funny'. What really makes it special is that it is not just what is said that is funny but how it is said. The conversation about filing cabinets being a case in point. I don't need to review this...buy it...read it... benjaminjudge | Jan 28, 2009 | Human Voices is yet another exceptional component in Penelope Fitzgerald's body of work. She writes novels that are perfect gems, clear, bright, and sparkling with inner truth and beauty. For this novel, she draws on her experiences working for the BBC during World War II. In it, she focuses on a strange group of BBC broadcasters and their struggles to make sense of it all while trying to eke out a bit of personal happiness behind the scenes. She is the master at telling these small, humourous, and expertly well-crafted vignettes. TurboBookSnob | Jan 17, 2008 | Human Voices tells a story of the going-ons in BBC during World War II. The war is tragic, yes, but Fitzgerald takes on a comic narration. What else is there left when we can only laugh at our pain? There are many beautiful lines in this book like "Annie fell in love with RPD absolutely and hers must have been the last generation to fall in love without hope in such an unproductive way" (96) and "The BBC is doing gits bit. We put out the truth, but only contingent truth, Annie! The opposite could also be true! We are told that German pilots have been brought down in Croydon and turned out to know the way to the post-office, that Hitler has declared that he only needs three fine days to defeat Great Britain, and that there is an excellent blackberry crop and therefore it is our patriotic duty to make jam. But all this need not have been true, Annie! If the summer had not been fine, there might have been no blackberries" (102). Despite the beautiful prose like poetry, most people dislike the book because they don't get her but even if you do, I have to admit Fitzgerald's brilliance shines through but not always. (  ) hansel714 | Dec 7, 2007 |  no reviews | add a review
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| Book description |
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For a start, the Department of Recorded Programmes (DRP) is in for a shakeup. Sam Brooks, its director (RPD), has long ruffled the Controllers' feathers owing to his need for several nubile assistants--no wonder his unit is sometimes labeled the Seraglio. This time, however, his penchant for young women isn't the issue. Instead, it's the fact that RPD takes his calling too seriously. For instance, in response to a directive that England's heritage not be lost, he and a crack team once spent two weeks recording a creaky church door in Heather Lickington. At this point, only Jeff Haggard, the Director of Programme Planning (DPP), can save Sam; but having done that for the past 10 years, DPP is suffering from severe BBC battle fatigue.
As Penelope Fitzgerald follows this pair--and several other employees--her novel melds tragedy, surrealism, and satire into one endlessly surprising whole. As ever, she captures the momentous in the smallest moment--the joys of an orange in wartime, the pleasures of piano tuning, and the painful twists of love. When the newest member of the Seraglio makes the mistake (or is it?) of falling for RPD, she does so
absolutely, and hers must have been the last generation to fall in love without hope in such an unproductive way. After the war the species no longer found it biologically useful, and indeed it was not useful to Annie. Love without hope grows in its own atmosphere, and should encourage the imagination, but Annie's grew narrower.As is evident in this acute passage, and in virtually every other in Human Voices, Fitzgerald can pivot from sorrow to humor by way of pessimism and desire and then back again. If you so much as blink you'll miss one of the book's key turns or unexpected pleasures. No matter. Penelope Fitzgerald's human comedy always rewards rereading. --Kerry Fried
(retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:57:58 -0400)
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