Jane Gardam (1928–2025)

Bücher liest man ja mit den unterschiedlichsten Erwartungen. Sie sollen einem Gefühle vermitteln, Spannung, Lehrreiches und/oder schlicht die Zeit vertreiben. Dieses Buch entspricht wohl mehr dem Letzteren, wobei es jedoch unfair wäre, es als 'bloße' Unterhaltungsliteratur abzutun, denn dafür ist es viel zu schön geschrieben. Vielleicht ist es eher ein Jugendbuch, denn eine 13jährige erzählt hier von ihrem Leben in England während des II. Weltkrieges. Und das so unglaublich show more schnodderig und altklug, wie 13jährige halt mal so sind - offenbar nicht allzu viel anders als heutzutage.
Die 13jährige Jessica lebt mit ihren eher unkonventionellen Eltern in einem kleinen Ort an der Küste, wo sie ein Leben führt wie vermutlich viele andere 13jährige auch. Doch sie ist anders als die meisten ihrer gleichaltrigen Schulkameradinnen. Zum einen weiß sie stets, wann jemand lügt, zum andern muss sie immer die Wahrheit sagen - nicht unbedingt zur Freude aller Anwesenden. Doch das stört Jessica nicht, denn sie hat eine unglaubliche Abneigung gegen jede Form der Anpassung. Eine ungemein sympathische 'Heldin' - unerschrocken und neugierig, die selbst in den brenzligsten Situationen (wie beispielsweise einem Bombenangriff) nicht den Kopf verliert.
Jane Gardam trifft den Ton dieses jungen Mädchens so überzeugend, dass ich keine Minute daran zweifelte, ihr persönlich zuzuhören. Wunderbar zu lesen, auch wenn es keine großartigen Höhepunkte gibt, wie Manche bemängeln. Einfach eine schöne Geschichte! show less

The Man in the Wooden Hat is Jane Gardam's second novel involving the upright and seemingly stodgy Sir Edward Feathers. He is a lawyer and then judge known as Filth, the nickname derived from "Failed In London, Try Hong Kong". In the first novel, Old Filth, he was introduced as a lonely widower residing in western England, looking back on his days of wealth and fame in Hong Kong. This one tells the story from the perspective of his beloved wife Betty, starting with her saying yes to his show more proposal in a Hong Kong hotel.

Gardam is particularly good at letting us see the inner workings of outwardly convention-observing characters, as they struggle with inner yearnings versus the desire to be moral and respectable, and successful in the eyes of others. When, shortly after Filth's proposal, Betty runs into Terry Veneering, Filth's rival, she wishes the proposal had come an hour later. That attraction will have have long lasting effects for all of them.

The steamy Hong Kong and austere English countryside atmospheres are vividly portrayed, and there are revelations around every corner, including a corker at the end. Betty evolves from a clever but unworldly youngster with "unpainted, sandy toenails" to a decisive ruler of her realm. What a feat for Gardam to so engagingly tell the story from two different perspectives in two different novels. A third novel, Last Friends, will tell the story from the POV of Filth's rival Veneering. Reading high quality writing always feels good, and like the first novel, this one is cleverly conceived and affecting, as you find out more about all three protagonists. Four stars, and it may well deserve more. show less

I would have read this in one go but I had to repeatedly stop because I was laughing so hard. Right from the start, that bit about the teacher who cannot face forward, and later the bit where Bilge finds she's walked right through the house… these things will never leave me. Gardam has a way of making me know what something must look like without actually describing it.

I also loved the Cinderella set-up. I grew up watching Star Wars (my name's Luke, so you can see what my parents had just show more seen, back in 1978. Could have been worse. They could have been Tolkien fans), so love finding this myth reused, and reused so well here with the twisted Fairy Godmother / Merlin character in Grace and the unexpected farce of the ending.

Amazingly, I had never heard of Gardam. I'm relatively well informed about writers, but never a whisper. Who's in charge here? Why isn't her name being bellowed from rooftops? Why didn't they make me read this at school? I googled her halfway through, only to find that she's one of the most respected writers working today. This may be my fault… I notice from the stats on this site that most of the people I read are European men. Of the women, the vast majority I had discovered because some kind Bookcrosser had set her book free, as is the case here. I think I have been subconsciously choosing books by people who are like me. Thank God for Bookcrossing! show less

Polly Flint, an orphan at age six, lives with two elderly aunts in a big yellow house on the coast of the Irish Sea in England. Isolated from the world and deprived of formal schooling and any other avenues for contact with other children, she develops a love for literature and a particular affinity for Robinson Crusoe. As she gradually encounters others in the world, strange others indeed!, she clings to her island, the yellow house and the safety within. Even as her two aunts leave her, show more each of them meeting an unusual and sudden death, she digs in at the yellow house, holding fast to the only home she has known. Still, she loves in her own way and experiences the thrill of feeling love/lust though she has no developed sense of empathy. Polly's life passes and she misses opportunities to break free of the island on which she has found both solace and adventure. I kept silently rooting for her to break free, to leave the house and build a life with someone, but I knew both that this wouldn't happen and that it wouldn't really bring her happiness. As Polly notes near the end of her narrative:
"For years of our lives, the days pass waywardly, featureless, without meaning, without particular happiness or unhappiness. Then, like turning over a tapestry when you have only known the back of it, there is spread the pattern."

This is an odd sort of novel but I wanted to applaud when I finished it. "Brava!" I say. show less