The Evening of the Holiday

Ahh, haven't we all had thoughts of a holiday romance. This tells of just such a romance, where the ending is predetermined by the time we start. Sophie is half Italian, half English and is in a small town in Italy, visiting her mother's half sister for a period. It's an extended visit, this doesn't take place on a 2 week package holiday. She meets Tancredi who is separated from his wife and not living with her or their children. As this is set in the 1960s in Italy, separated comes with baggage of its own that is probably not viewed in quite the same light now. At first she dislikes him, but they rapidly fall into a relationship. They don't follow the same trajectory in their emotional feelings towards each other, at times he is more show more engaged than her, the ending seems to come of more as a surprise to him than to her. She sets the terms of the ending.
This is as much about the description of the emotional state of the two lovers as it is about telling their story.
The coda at the end begs the question as to if she regrets the romance or not. show less

Discovering a book or an author is one of the treats more likely to happen to you in foreign climes: you take your chances, pick something up that one wouldn't if inundated with a choice.

The plain fact is I'm not sure about this book. I don't understand the characters at all, especially the girl. And yet it was still an engaging - moving - read, this against a backdrop of Italy described as only a person who had a most intimate acquaintance with it could provide.

Maybe my uncertainty is the sign of a good book. I hope so, it is what the fourth star is for.

Elegant, sophisticated writing,
By sally tarbox on 22 Oct. 2012
Format: Paperback
Beautiful, evocative descriptions abound in this work set in Tuscany.
A romance gradually kindles between middle aged, married Tancredi and young Sophia, to a backdrop of 1950s (?) Italy. I was particularly struck by the chapter where Sophia has arranged to meet him outside a town where a fiesta is taking place and where the vividly rendered procession means she is hemmed in and fears she will miss him.
Classy style, but like another reviewer, I must agree that it doesn't leave any lasting impression.

From the cover - Sophie, half English, half Italian, meets Tancredi, an Italian who is separated from his wife and family. In telling the story of their love affair, Shirley Hazzard punctures the placid surface of polite Italian society to reveal the intense yearnings and surprising responses in sophisticated people caught up in emotions they do not always understand.
I found this an undemanding read during a busy week, but enjoyed how the author's use of language created credible, flawed characters and how they dealt with the conflicting emotions they experienced.

Bland story. Beautiful descriptions but the story didn't really open up for me.

This author makes me a better reader.

Utterly perfect.