Possession: A Romance (1990)

I loved this book within a book. The language was also superb. Don't pay attention to those one star reviews, true readers and writers will cherish this book.

Deserves all the prizes it won. ( )

"Think of this-that the writer wrote alone, and the reader read alone, and they were alone with each other."

"Possession" — physical, spiritual and emotional — is the focus of this Booker Prize winning novel.

When Roland Michel, an under-employed academic, stumbles upon a long forgotten letter whilst working in the British Library from renowned Victorian poet Randolf Henry Ash to a mystery woman that hints of a secret extra-marital relationship. Roland suddenly feels the urge to track down the unknown female and soon comes to suspect that the likely recipient was fellow poet Christobel LaMotte. His ongoing research leads him to meet fellow academic and distant relative of Miss LaMotte, Maude Bailey. Together Roland and Maude embark on a quest to discover the truth, piecing the story together from a variety of sources, including letters, journal entries and field trips to Yorkshire and France but soon come to realise that other forces are also keen to find out what they have unearthed.

Ostensibly this is a cross between a literary detective story where the lead characters follow a trail of clues to uncover a secret and a romance adventure tale.

"Literary critics make natural detectives."

Byatt skilfully weaves these two stories together but she also aske whether when a writer dies, should their private lives die with them? Or should they become the possessions of academics and enthusiasts, to be collected, catalogued and analysed like laboratory specimens. A question which seems to resonate even today in the social media age. Should our internet posts die with us or will they live forever in the ether?

Byatt’s employs multiple narrative voices and styles within this book including poems which she wrote herself. Unfortunately I'm no fan of poetry (unless written by Seamus Heaney) as I find them generally tedious and consequently ended up skimming over them. I also found large segments of the letters between the two Victorians really dull and skimmed over these as well. All in all whilst I can admire Byatt's versatility as an writer I cannot in all honesty say that I enjoyed this book but I did at least finish it. ( )

I really enjoyed the way A.S. Byatt's novel "Possession" slowly unfolded the story of two Victorian-era poets -- Christabel LaMotte and Randolph Ash.

Two scholars who have taken a deep look at the poet's work in the 1980's and try to prove a link between the two.

The story was completely up my alley and I always enjoy the way that Byatt's writing and phrasing paints a scene. This a fun read for me, though I can see that it might not appeal to everyone. ( )

3.5 stars. I can see why this was the elitist novel of its day. Personally... I admire the work and the knowledgeability of Byatt. But I'm not a huge fan of the sex. It's kinda everywhere and doesn't need to be. Oh- it's handled very delicately-- but if it doesn't need to be so front page explicit then why does it need to be there at all? But then... I don't think like everyone else does.

Also- I skipped the poetry. But it was admirable nonetheless. ( )

4.5 stars
Going into this book having only watched the 2002 movie adaptation I thought it would be a simple story about two couples from different centuries falling in love and a bunch of letters that were exchanged by the couple in Victorian England (Christabel LaMotte and Randolph Ash) and then discovered by the couple of scholars living in 1980's London (Maud Bailey and Roland Michell). I was, however, pleasantly surprised by the detail that was put into the story and how the author included poetry, letters and several character's points of view, each with a very characteristic voice.
The end was perfect and it was worth the time I invested in this book (I'm a slow reader, though).

Christabel and Randolph

Maud and Roland
( )