The Needle's Eye

I have just read this again after several years, and realised why I had kept it. Many of her novels have characters I can never relate to, but there is something appealing both about Rose's apparent haplessness, and her deliberate choice of a poorer neighbourhood where she can build up a life from unpromising surroundings. I love the outing in the middle where they all trek off with the kids to visit the hens nesting in the old armchair on the bomb site.
Published in 1972, it evokes a past world of corner shops and neighbourliness, which contrasts with the sterile, empty life of the chattering classes at their meaningless dinner parties. Yet by the end, the scruffy neighbourhood is becoming gentrified and respectable.
I wish the ending show more were different for Rose though. As in many 20th C novels, violence against women is accepted as a form of love. If we have learned nothing else, if we are even going backwards, we surely have learned that this is not so; violence is control, control is not love. I wanted Rose to keep going it alone with her children, and a little help from her friends; she was doing a grand job. show less

As implied by the biblical illusion in the title, this is about people uncomfortable with wealth and the practical and emotional hurdles they go through to try to find happiness.

The main character, Rose, is an heiress trying to dispose of her money and also fighting a custody battle against her ex-husband. Simon, the lawyer who befriends her (not her actual lawyer for the case) has a similar distaste for money, but for very different reasons. There is plenty of thoughtful pondering by both, and the complex dynamics between Rose, her ex, Simon and his wife is intriguing and often unexpected.

When I first read this, maybe 15 years ago, I was struck by the similarities between Rose and someone I know. Rereading it, but with a more mature show more eye, that still holds true and gives it an extra edge for me, but I'd still recommend it to those that don't know anyone so like Rose. show less

This book has a rather old-fashioned feel to it and apart from the odd topical reference it could pass for earlier than early 70s. It reminded me a little of Iris Murdoch - middle class eccentrics behaving strangely.

The book has two unhappy marriages at its heart.
For much of it events of greater significance seem to be about to happen but Drabble seems to like her characters too much to allow anything really nasty to happen to them. For all that I found this one enjoyable to read.

This is only the third Margaret Drabble novel I have read, and first published in 1972 it is also the earliest. At the centre of the story of The Needle's Eye is Rose Vassiliou a complex woman who has spent much of her adult life splashed across the pages of the country's newspapers. Renowned as an heiress who gave away her money and married a man against her parent's wishes, we meet Rose in her thirties, divorced, with 3 children and living in a run down house behind Alexandra Palace from where it is impossible to get a taxi. At a dinner party held by mutual friends while his wife is away, Simon Camish an unhappily married lawyer meets Rose and is asked to give her a lift home. It is during this journey that Simon becomes drawn into show more Rose's complicated world, when he agrees to look over some papers for her concerning the custody case brought by her ex husband. What Simon soon comes to realise is that Rose's relationship with her former husband is far from simple, and many of the decisions Rose makes in the course of the novel are rooted in her peculiar relationship with him. Ultimately many of the relationships are altered by Simon's involvement in Rose's life.

1970's London is one of the stars of this book, I felt I got a real sense of it - and I don't mean the smart trendy London, but the ordinary streets, the corner shops and the harrassed working class mothers. Margaret Drabble's sense of place is brilliant, as are her characters. Rose is often enormously frustrating and I never could decide whether I liked her or not, but I probably liked her more than I didn't. show less

2671 The Needle's Eye A Novel by Margaret Drabble (read 29 Oct 1994) This is a well-written book and spends a lot of time showing the character of the characters--a la Henry James--and so it is slow-moving. This book was worth reading and I would consider reading another of her books.

I used to gobble these paperback Margaret Drabble books up - I'd see them in the grocery store - really! - and they all looked alike, always her picture in b&w on the cover, and I devoured them. How I wish I'd kept all the originals -- now I hunt for them everywhere I go and buy them in any edition that I don't already own. I guess I'm hooked on this dense, wordy, and insightful writer. She's spoken to me and struck me with her brilliance since I was a young woman reading!

Post WWII London, a woman is embarrased by her wealth, and tries to atone for it. Not always successfully, but with good intentions.
Erica Kline, 5/1/2003