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School for Love
Jerusalem in 1945 is a city in flux: refugees from the war in Europe fill its streets and cafés, the British colonial mandate is coming to an end, and tensions are rising between the Arab and Jewish populations. Felix Latimer, a recently orphaned teenager, arrives in Jerusalem from Baghdad, biding time until he can secure passage to England. Adrift and deeply lonely, Felix has no choice but to room in a boardinghouse run by Miss Bohun, a relative he has never met. Miss Bohun is a holy terror, a cheerless miser who proclaims the ideals of a fundamentalist group known as the Ever-Readies—joy, charity, and love—even as she makes life a misery for her boarders. Then Mrs. Ellis, a fascinating young widow, moves into the house and disrupts its dreary routine for good.
Olivia Manning’s great subject is the lives of ordinary people caught up in history. Here, as in her panoramic depiction of World War II, The Balkan Trilogy, she offers a rich and psychologically nuanced story of life on the precipice, and she tells it with equal parts compassion, skepticism, and humor.
Olivia Manning’s great subject is the lives of ordinary people caught up in history. Here, as in her panoramic depiction of World War II, The Balkan Trilogy, she offers a rich and psychologically nuanced story of life on the precipice, and she tells it with equal parts compassion, skepticism, and humor.
232 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1951
About the author
Olivia Manning
70 books148 followersOlivia Manning CBE was a British novelist, poet, writer and reviewer. Her fiction and non-fiction, frequently detailing journeys and personal odysseys, were principally set in England, Ireland, Europe and the Middle East. She often wrote from her personal experience, though her books also demonstrate strengths in imaginative writing. Her books are widely admired for her artistic eye and vivid descriptions of place.
In August 1939 she married R.D. Smith ("Reggie"), a British Council lecturer posted in Bucharest, Romania, and subsequently in Greece, Egypt and Palestine as the Nazis over-ran Eastern Europe. Her experiences formed the basis for her best known work, the six novels making up "The Balkan Trilogy" and "The Levant Trilogy," known collectively as Fortunes of War. As she had feared, real fame only came after her death in 1980, when an adaptation of "Fortunes of War" was televised in 1987.
In August 1939 she married R.D. Smith ("Reggie"), a British Council lecturer posted in Bucharest, Romania, and subsequently in Greece, Egypt and Palestine as the Nazis over-ran Eastern Europe. Her experiences formed the basis for her best known work, the six novels making up "The Balkan Trilogy" and "The Levant Trilogy," known collectively as Fortunes of War. As she had feared, real fame only came after her death in 1980, when an adaptation of "Fortunes of War" was televised in 1987.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 110 reviews
February 17, 2017
Jerusalem. The end of the War. And it's snowing.
The recently orphaned comes. The recently widowed. New settlers, too. Still, it's a time when Jews, Arabs and Poles can sit together in a Cafe. But, as I said, there's something in the air.
Felix Latimer is coming of age. Mrs. Ellis is having a baby. And Miss Bohun is being paid by American evangelicals to save a room in her house for the Judgement Day.
That doesn't tell you anything, really. But then, this book is story but not plot. Character(s), instead, is (are) slowly revealed, built. There is no likable character, except Mr. Jewel; and he is a gem.* However, Miss Bohun is one of the most wonderfully horrid characters I've ever had the pleasure of meeting.
I will be cracking open Olivia Manning's The Balkan Trilogy very soon.
_____ _____ _____ _____ _____
*It is Mr. Jewel who says:
I don't know as love always goes to the most deserving.
and
I don't mind an Arab with a gun, but I can't stand a woman with a tract.
The recently orphaned comes. The recently widowed. New settlers, too. Still, it's a time when Jews, Arabs and Poles can sit together in a Cafe. But, as I said, there's something in the air.
Felix Latimer is coming of age. Mrs. Ellis is having a baby. And Miss Bohun is being paid by American evangelicals to save a room in her house for the Judgement Day.
That doesn't tell you anything, really. But then, this book is story but not plot. Character(s), instead, is (are) slowly revealed, built. There is no likable character, except Mr. Jewel; and he is a gem.* However, Miss Bohun is one of the most wonderfully horrid characters I've ever had the pleasure of meeting.
I will be cracking open Olivia Manning's The Balkan Trilogy very soon.
_____ _____ _____ _____ _____
*It is Mr. Jewel who says:
I don't know as love always goes to the most deserving.
and
I don't mind an Arab with a gun, but I can't stand a woman with a tract.
October 21, 2021
As with most NYRB Classics, there is a good Introduction. But also as with most NYRB Classics, that Introduction if full of spoilers. I have learned to read these as Afterwords, if at all. This one helped to shape my thinking and that was a good thing.
For me, the most important elements in a book are writing style and characterization. This book has both which are very satisfying. The problem is that a novel must also have at least some semblance of plot and here this is almost nothing on which to hang one's hat.
In that Introduction, Jane Smiley refers to so many surprises. I suppose that's true although "surprise" is not the word I would have used. I didn't notice "surprises" as I read and the only surprise was the ending. I did not ask myself how Olivia Manning would end her novel. But I can truly say, that had I asked myself, the one she gave us would not have been on any list. And yet I must say this "surprise" was truly the best resolution for all concerned.
I cannot give this more than 3-stars. I think, however, I should not consider this any where near her best work, but because of those elements I like so much, her two well-known trilogies will remain on my list and looked forward to.
For me, the most important elements in a book are writing style and characterization. This book has both which are very satisfying. The problem is that a novel must also have at least some semblance of plot and here this is almost nothing on which to hang one's hat.
In that Introduction, Jane Smiley refers to so many surprises. I suppose that's true although "surprise" is not the word I would have used. I didn't notice "surprises" as I read and the only surprise was the ending. I did not ask myself how Olivia Manning would end her novel. But I can truly say, that had I asked myself, the one she gave us would not have been on any list. And yet I must say this "surprise" was truly the best resolution for all concerned.
I cannot give this more than 3-stars. I think, however, I should not consider this any where near her best work, but because of those elements I like so much, her two well-known trilogies will remain on my list and looked forward to.
January 5, 2015
Faro.
Miss Bohun had not much to say, but she occasionally and with determination distracted Felix from something that interested him to show him something that did not.
This is a world I've never visited before in books, Jerusalem towards the end of World War 2. An English orphan boy arrives to live in the sort-of boarding house kept by a distant relative. I figure him to be between 13 and 16 years old. His coming-of-age here is so true and honest and still fresh, I loved spending time with him. The characters here are deeply-drawn. And there's Faro.
Also I loved my library copy with its turquoise library binding and its yellowed, delicate pages and old print. I'm tempted to steal it. That's the kind of book I'm proud to read in public. (I wouldn't steal it. I promise.)
Miss Bohun had not much to say, but she occasionally and with determination distracted Felix from something that interested him to show him something that did not.
This is a world I've never visited before in books, Jerusalem towards the end of World War 2. An English orphan boy arrives to live in the sort-of boarding house kept by a distant relative. I figure him to be between 13 and 16 years old. His coming-of-age here is so true and honest and still fresh, I loved spending time with him. The characters here are deeply-drawn. And there's Faro.
Also I loved my library copy with its turquoise library binding and its yellowed, delicate pages and old print. I'm tempted to steal it. That's the kind of book I'm proud to read in public. (I wouldn't steal it. I promise.)
January 27, 2010
A beautiful telling of human adaptability to situations in which primal needs are not being met. What makes this book so compulsively readable is the weaving together of the lives of such developmentally different characters that have been brought together through impoverished circumstances. The teenage protagonist Felix seems to represent loss of a nuclear family, and how he copes with this loss through his constant search for a substitute for his deceased mother’s love. The two main female characters helped him establish independence as he came to realize through self-awareness that though he respected both women on different levels, he was able to acknowledge their foibles. He also learned to balance his allegiances to both, despite the fact that each woman in her own way, failed to be a true source of comfort to him.
June 10, 2020
This is the third time I have read this, and I am going to upgrade it to a five star read.
I don't think I can imrove on my earlier review, though.
This is wonderfully evocative, sad and funny in turns, sometimes all at once. A masterly depiction of an appalling religious hypocrite, who is at the same time absurd. Unsentimentally it depicts the loneliness of poor young Felix, stranded in Jerusalem following World War Two, his desperate sense of loss in his mother, and his infatuation with a young English widow, Jane Ellis. At first longing to believe in the terrible Miss Bohun, he is forced through his loyalty to the clear sighted Jane Ellis to see her actions for what they are.
It is Miss Ellis who quotes Blake's poem (not read much these days, as the language is offensively racist) about life being a 'School for Love'.
I don't think I can imrove on my earlier review, though.
This is wonderfully evocative, sad and funny in turns, sometimes all at once. A masterly depiction of an appalling religious hypocrite, who is at the same time absurd. Unsentimentally it depicts the loneliness of poor young Felix, stranded in Jerusalem following World War Two, his desperate sense of loss in his mother, and his infatuation with a young English widow, Jane Ellis. At first longing to believe in the terrible Miss Bohun, he is forced through his loyalty to the clear sighted Jane Ellis to see her actions for what they are.
It is Miss Ellis who quotes Blake's poem (not read much these days, as the language is offensively racist) about life being a 'School for Love'.
July 13, 2021
4 Stars
Fantastic writing!
Fantastic writing!
May 29, 2017
School for Love is a beautifully written coming of age novel, set in Jerusalem towards the end of World War Two. Felix Latimer is a boy (we’re never told exactly how old; I assumed fifteen or sixteen, although there were moments he seemed younger) who has recently lost his mother. Told in the third person, we see everything through Felix’s eyes. While hostilities continue, he is unable to return to England – where he’s not lived for several years anyway. Felix had been living in Baghdad with his mother, about a year before his mother’s death, Felix’s father was killed by Iraqi forces. Now Felix is alone, his loneliness and total bewilderment is touchingly portrayed by Olivia Manning, a boy who has had the rug pulled out from under him. As a last resort, it was arranged by friends of his mother’s, for Felix to go to a distant relative in Jerusalem. Miss Bohun an older adopted sister of his father and a woman his mother had never wanted Felix to visit. As Felix arrives in Jerusalem, there is snow on the ground, though he is assured it won’t last too long.
Miss Bohun turns out to be quite a character – one beautifully rendered by Manning, complex and endlessly infuriating, she feels like a character who must have been drawn from life. Felix arrives at the house Miss Bohun runs as a kind of inferior boarding house – friendless, grief-stricken, not knowing what to expect.
Full review: https://heavenali.wordpress.com/2017/...
Miss Bohun turns out to be quite a character – one beautifully rendered by Manning, complex and endlessly infuriating, she feels like a character who must have been drawn from life. Felix arrives at the house Miss Bohun runs as a kind of inferior boarding house – friendless, grief-stricken, not knowing what to expect.
Full review: https://heavenali.wordpress.com/2017/...
January 5, 2010
After reading a bit about Manning's career, this book is not one of her better known (like the Balkan Trilogy series, or Fortunes of War). Her choice of a young, coming-of-age boy (Felix) as the main narrator was a great one - he is an open book and free from biases - thus a great person to look at a complex wartime environment through. The depiction of Jerusalem as a city of refugees was fascinating, especially as Arabs, Jews, and Christians lived side-by-side in apparent harmony. It made me want to learn more about the era.
Though the quirky characters Felix observes and develops relationships during the story, we can observe his own learning in the 'school of love' and its many forms.
Though the quirky characters Felix observes and develops relationships during the story, we can observe his own learning in the 'school of love' and its many forms.
August 29, 2009
This is a wonderful book. It is a pleasure to read, the prose is beautiful. The back cover describes is as 'the most satisfying of Manning's books'. I have to admit, it is the only one that I have ever read, but what a way to be introduced to her work. The story is not new: the orphaned boy reduced to rely on the charity of a distant relative that is not the caring person she initially presents. But it is all so wonderfully presented. The insights into the various characters are fascinating. We might not agree with their actions, but they did not seem strange to me, having come to know them as I did through Manning's words. A great read.
April 11, 2017
All this week, Simon and Karen are hosting one of their themed readalongs: the 1951 Club, a celebration of books first published in this notable year. My choice for the event is Olivia Manning’s School for Love, a highly compelling coming-of-age story set in Jerusalem during the closing stages of the Second World War. It’s a brilliant novel, one that features a most distinctive character quite unlike any other I’ve encountered either in literature or in life itself. I hope to find a place for it in my end-of-year highlights.
To read my review, please click here:
https://jacquiwine.wordpress.com/2017...
To read my review, please click here:
https://jacquiwine.wordpress.com/2017...
January 14, 2023
Hilarious, tender, mean, complex, good pace & story. If Charles Dickens and Dorothy Parker had a baby, this would be it. Go, Team Felix and Faro!
August 11, 2022
Not a huge amount happens, but it it happens beautifully. A glimpse of another time and place.
And the boy realises that cats are just the best 😹
And the boy realises that cats are just the best 😹
April 30, 2012
It has been a decade since I read Olivia Manning's Balkan Trilogy. I read that in instalments because it was such a hefty collection. I remember thinking this is brilliant, but can I muster the energy to read and enjoy such a novel again? Well the good thing about 'School for Love' (and don't be put off by the soppy title) is that it is a heck of a lot shorter but still vintage OM. She's really, really good in her characterizations and how she develops them in tandem with the storyline. Razor sharp insights into human personality, she ties it all up so beautifully. Amazing writer.
October 25, 2011
Stunning in its fullness of character, wise in its understanding of the world. Manning so precisely portrays youthful, naive love that is almost despite oneself and the ways we can be incorrect about the world. also, as a bonus, one of the best cats written (tied with fanchette of the claudine novels).
August 20, 2024
3,5/5
Η olivia Manning (1908-1980) υπήρξε συγγραφέας, ποιήτρια και κριτ��κός. Τα έργα της είναι εμπνευσμένα από τα ταξίδια της στην ευρώπη και τη Μέση Ανατολή. Από πολλούς θεωρείται κορυφαία βρετανή συγγραφέας που αναγνωρίστηκε το έργο της κατά βάση με��ά τον θάνατό της. Τα πιο γνωστά έργα της είναι "Η βαλκανική τριλογία" και "Η τριλογία του Λεβάντε". Το σχολείο για την αγάπη διαδραματίζεται στην ιερουσαλήμ του 1945 λίγο πριν λήξει ο Β' παγκόσμιος πόλεμος.Ο ορφανός έφηβος Φίλιξ Λατιμερ καταφεύγει στο σπίτι της Μις Μπουν ,της άγνωστης μέχρι τότε συγγενούς του. Εκεί θα παραμείνει μέχρι να μπορέσει να μεταφερθεί με ασφάλεια στην Αγγλία
.
Η Ιερουσαλήμ εκείνη την εποχή ήταν το κέντρο αλλά και η άκρη ,το παρελθόν αλλά και το παρόν...
Οι συγκρούσεις του αραβικού και του εβραϊκού κόσμου υποβόσκουν.
Η ζωή και ο χρόνος κυλάει στα μαγαζιά, στα παζάρια, στα καφενεία, στις λέσχες και πίσω από τα κλειστά παράθυρα...
Ενώ κρίσιμα ιστορικά γεγονότα λαμβάνουν χώρα η συγγραφέας μας περιγράφει με ένα γαλήνιο ύφος τις ζωές των απλών και συνηθισμένων ανθρώπων.
Μας περιγράφει το μικρό, το λίγο που οδηγεί στο όλον. Διαλέγει να αναλύσει ψυχολογικά ορισμένους από τους χαρακτήρες της με ένα ευλαβικό τρόπο και με καμία διάθεσή αποδόμησης. Είναι σαν μία λεπτή χειρουργική επέμβαση που δεν την αντιλαμβάνεται ούτε ο ασθενής.
Όπως και σε όλο το βιβλίο επικρατεί το ήπιο ύφος της έτσι και στο τελικό κρεσέντο του δεν προβάλλεται παρά μόνο η προθυμία μας να εξαπατηθούμε και να δημιουργήσουμε την δική μας αλήθεια.
Ένα βιβλίο που ενώ το διαβάζεται θα σας αφήσει ένα χαμόγελο θαυμασμού αλλά κ κάποιες ερωτηματικές υπόνοιες.
Η olivia Manning (1908-1980) υπήρξε συγγραφέας, ποιήτρια και κριτ��κός. Τα έργα της είναι εμπνευσμένα από τα ταξίδια της στην ευρώπη και τη Μέση Ανατολή. Από πολλούς θεωρείται κορυφαία βρετανή συγγραφέας που αναγνωρίστηκε το έργο της κατά βάση με��ά τον θάνατό της. Τα πιο γνωστά έργα της είναι "Η βαλκανική τριλογία" και "Η τριλογία του Λεβάντε". Το σχολείο για την αγάπη διαδραματίζεται στην ιερουσαλήμ του 1945 λίγο πριν λήξει ο Β' παγκόσμιος πόλεμος.Ο ορφανός έφηβος Φίλιξ Λατιμερ καταφεύγει στο σπίτι της Μις Μπουν ,της άγνωστης μέχρι τότε συγγενούς του. Εκεί θα παραμείνει μέχρι να μπορέσει να μεταφερθεί με ασφάλεια στην Αγγλία
.
Η Ιερουσαλήμ εκείνη την εποχή ήταν το κέντρο αλλά και η άκρη ,το παρελθόν αλλά και το παρόν...
Οι συγκρούσεις του αραβικού και του εβραϊκού κόσμου υποβόσκουν.
Η ζωή και ο χρόνος κυλάει στα μαγαζιά, στα παζάρια, στα καφενεία, στις λέσχες και πίσω από τα κλειστά παράθυρα...
Ενώ κρίσιμα ιστορικά γεγονότα λαμβάνουν χώρα η συγγραφέας μας περιγράφει με ένα γαλήνιο ύφος τις ζωές των απλών και συνηθισμένων ανθρώπων.
Μας περιγράφει το μικρό, το λίγο που οδηγεί στο όλον. Διαλέγει να αναλύσει ψυχολογικά ορισμένους από τους χαρακτήρες της με ένα ευλαβικό τρόπο και με καμία διάθεσή αποδόμησης. Είναι σαν μία λεπτή χειρουργική επέμβαση που δεν την αντιλαμβάνεται ούτε ο ασθενής.
Όπως και σε όλο το βιβλίο επικρατεί το ήπιο ύφος της έτσι και στο τελικό κρεσέντο του δεν προβάλλεται παρά μόνο η προθυμία μας να εξαπατηθούμε και να δημιουργήσουμε την δική μας αλήθεια.
Ένα βιβλίο που ενώ το διαβάζεται θα σας αφήσει ένα χαμόγελο θαυμασμού αλλά κ κάποιες ερωτηματικές υπόνοιες.
April 17, 2021
I re-read this book after about 30 years and now enjoyed it as much as I did first time, maybe more. Olivia Manning was famous for the excellent The Balkan Trilogy and the Levant Trilogy, the final book of which was published the year of her death. But in 1951 she published The School for Love, the story of young orphan, Felix Latimer, whose mother has died after the loss of his father while living in Bagdahd during WWII. Unable to travel home due to the war, Felix is sent to board with a foster aunt in her pension in Jerusalem in Mandate Palestine. His aunt is Miss Bohun, a woman who strikes him as mean, nasty, malicious, considering herself a good Christian woman, yet showing none of the aspects of one. Felix loves only her cat, Faro, until Mrs Ellis arrives, a young pregnant widow. Felix at first falls for this beauty but she and Miss Bohun do not hit it off well, needless to say, and Felix grows up very quickly watching the two of them battle it out. I loved this novel; Manning's spare style is wonderful.
December 10, 2019
Poverty and childhood are the most vulnerable states, and I almost backed out of this book as soon as I started it. A Siamese cat leapt in and kept me going with the protagonist's gumption, and by the middle I was thrilled and smitten, and by the grand finale, which technically could be called happy, I was deeply disturbed by the triumph of awful forces within the book. This book acknowledges what could be called evil, and it made for interesting discussion with my sweetheart as we discussed our own naïveté with some characters in our lives. Historically, it is such an interesting and vivid niche of lives operating outside the theater of WW2, the bored and broke refugees, the British in Jerusalem, the veritable bystanders of the huge events bobbing on the ripples. A complicated thoughtful book still roiling in my mind.
June 28, 2024
Honestly so fascinating — set in 1945/6 Jersusalem, it follows a group of English characters who are basically trapped in the Middle East during the final years of wwii. Setting aside the story itself, it offers a fascinating look at a very precise moment in history. I enjoyed so much the little glimpses of the world at that time that the rather thin plot didn’t even bother me. Quite a bit funnier than I expected.
July 8, 2024
Αυτό το ανάγνωσμα με οδήγησε στην εξής διαπίστωση : Οι άνθρωποι είναι καρέ. Και τα καρέ (τους) που συνανταμε στη ζωή μας, σε συνδυασμό με τα δικά μας καρέ, δημιουργούν την αίσθηση συμπαθειας, την ανάγκη δικαιολόγησης, την τάση για άφεση, ή για πλήρη κατηγόρια. Με λίγα λόγια επιβεβαίωσε το "ταιριάζουν, ή δεν ταιριάζουν τα χνώτα μας". Ούτε η Μπουν, μα ούτε και η Ελις υπήρξαν σωστές, για το δικό μου σύστημα αξιών. Ο Φίλιξ, χαμένος στην ανάγκη για ανάμνηση, αλλά και την αντίστοιχη που επιτάσσει να χτίζουμε γρήγορα γρήγορα την προσωπικότητά μας, βλεφαρισμα γαρ η ζωή, ήταν ο πιο αγαπητός χαρακτήρας και εκείνος που θα ήθελα να καθίσω δίπλα του και να τον ακούσω προσεκτικά. Χρονοϊστορικα είμαστε σε μια ταραγμένη εποχή, όπου ο πόλεμος στην Ευρώπη υπάρχει ακόμη κι οι προάγγελοι της σημερινής δεινης κατάστασης στην περιοχή των γεγονότων έχουν αρχίσει να εμφανίζονται έντονα.
March 11, 2010
It's 1945 and Felix, a recently orphaned teenager, goes to live with a distant relative in Jerusalem to await passage back to England. Felix arrives at Miss Bohun's boarding house naive and free of biases; he still craves the attention given to him by his coddling mother but is forced to grow up and fend for himself. As Felix meets and interacts with an eclectic mix of characters, he learns that first impressions are not always accurate, personalities are not always genuine, and perhaps his mother sheltered him too much—all in all, his own learning in the "school for love." It's a coming-of-age story for Felix, but perhaps more interesting are the characters he encounters.
While Felix is the voice of the narrative, the story arguably centers around Miss Bohun. She's a miserly middle-aged spinster, devoted to her Christian group the "Ever-Readies" (as in, "ever-ready" for the coming of Christ) with intentions that are never as selfless and genuine as she would have them appear. She allows Christian duty to guide her actions though sometimes exhibits very un-Christian behavior. Initially, Felix champions Miss Bohun's perspective as she deals with other tenants and employees in the house.
The arrival of Mrs. Ellis, a young widow, to the boarding house causes a dramatic shift in Felix's thought processes. With another opinion present, Felix is caught between the incompatible Miss Bohun and Mrs. Ellis and finds himself questioning the thoughts and opinions of which he had felt so certain. As the discordance escalates, Felix matures and gains independence as he recognizes the flaws in those around him.
The story did not really blow me away, but it was enhanced by a fascinating setting. Jerusalem in 1945 was full of war refugees—people essentially just waiting to get somewhere else. You get the feeling that the people there, the way of life is very temporary. Conflict between Israel and Palestine was in the early stages, and, for the most part, Arabs, Christians, and Jews are peacefully coexisting in the same city. Environment and setting ultimately shape the mentality—thoughts and actions—of the characters. Unfortunately, the novel is extremely character-driven to the point that very little attention was paid to the political setting, which would have been interesting. But I guess that wasn't the author's point of focus.
While Felix is the voice of the narrative, the story arguably centers around Miss Bohun. She's a miserly middle-aged spinster, devoted to her Christian group the "Ever-Readies" (as in, "ever-ready" for the coming of Christ) with intentions that are never as selfless and genuine as she would have them appear. She allows Christian duty to guide her actions though sometimes exhibits very un-Christian behavior. Initially, Felix champions Miss Bohun's perspective as she deals with other tenants and employees in the house.
The arrival of Mrs. Ellis, a young widow, to the boarding house causes a dramatic shift in Felix's thought processes. With another opinion present, Felix is caught between the incompatible Miss Bohun and Mrs. Ellis and finds himself questioning the thoughts and opinions of which he had felt so certain. As the discordance escalates, Felix matures and gains independence as he recognizes the flaws in those around him.
The story did not really blow me away, but it was enhanced by a fascinating setting. Jerusalem in 1945 was full of war refugees—people essentially just waiting to get somewhere else. You get the feeling that the people there, the way of life is very temporary. Conflict between Israel and Palestine was in the early stages, and, for the most part, Arabs, Christians, and Jews are peacefully coexisting in the same city. Environment and setting ultimately shape the mentality—thoughts and actions—of the characters. Unfortunately, the novel is extremely character-driven to the point that very little attention was paid to the political setting, which would have been interesting. But I guess that wasn't the author's point of focus.
November 19, 2012
Interesting 'open city' locale intersects with what becomes a microdrama set in a boarding house. Olivia Manning's account of an orphaned boy and his stay in wartime Jerusalem inhabits not so much the times and the setting, but the emotional atmosphere of the characters.
What proceeds as an intricate counterplay of intent and expectations wanders off at times into the realm of soap opera; this is longer than it needs to be, but the characters are convincing enough to carry it. Strangely the author is able to instill the story with a fair amount of tension even when no outcome is in sight; and the precision and drama of the last chapter are enough to save the book from seeming overly long.
For this reader, there is hardly a more dramatic or exotic setting than Jerusalem's foreign quarter in 1945; this was still British Mandate Palestine, after all. Manning could have done with more exposition and still kept up the interest level. That she chose to delve most deeply into character makes for a more direct narrative impact in the end, but for me, period detail could have been more extensive and complex, perhaps more interspersed throughout, to counter the interpersonal onslaught.
What proceeds as an intricate counterplay of intent and expectations wanders off at times into the realm of soap opera; this is longer than it needs to be, but the characters are convincing enough to carry it. Strangely the author is able to instill the story with a fair amount of tension even when no outcome is in sight; and the precision and drama of the last chapter are enough to save the book from seeming overly long.
For this reader, there is hardly a more dramatic or exotic setting than Jerusalem's foreign quarter in 1945; this was still British Mandate Palestine, after all. Manning could have done with more exposition and still kept up the interest level. That she chose to delve most deeply into character makes for a more direct narrative impact in the end, but for me, period detail could have been more extensive and complex, perhaps more interspersed throughout, to counter the interpersonal onslaught.
April 18, 2022
Manning's usual deft characterization is at work, and the sense of suspense that comes from seeing how characters behave and learn (or do not). The importance of learning from life, from interactions with others when one is displaced and more at the mercy of others, seems to be a theme for Manning, a rich source of conflict and growth. Felix in fact learns, and grows. You can't ask much more from a story. I don't anyway. So why not five stars? A friend complained that her characters are not likeable. I really don't care, if they are interesting. Though I felt sympathy for Felix and was probably no more interesting than he at his age, I (like Mrs. Ellis) found him a little tiresome. Faro the cat was wonderfully drawn. Ms. Bohun was loathsome indeed, but I think the psychological insights about her and why she was that way (and others . . .) are apt. Manning is also so honest about the compromises humans make to gain security and contact with others, if not real love, and how sad that is.
February 10, 2010
In 1945, orphaned, naive teen Felix goes to stay at Miss Bohun's boarding house in Jerusalem. During the following months, Felix slowly and awkwardly grows up. His development is fairly interesting but, really, the story centers around the warped, miserly Miss Bohun.
I love this moment from Felix's first real tour of Jerusalem:
"Miss Bohun had not much to say, but she occasionally and with determination distracted Felix from something that interested him to show him something that did not."
When she learns that the newly-widowed Mrs. Ellis is pregnant, she offers these not-so-well-intentioned words:
"And I want to tell you that I, for one, have no doubts at all - I'm sure it is your late husband's baby."
Although I wasn't swept away by the story, Miss Bohun is sure to clatter around my brain for some time.
I love this moment from Felix's first real tour of Jerusalem:
"Miss Bohun had not much to say, but she occasionally and with determination distracted Felix from something that interested him to show him something that did not."
When she learns that the newly-widowed Mrs. Ellis is pregnant, she offers these not-so-well-intentioned words:
"And I want to tell you that I, for one, have no doubts at all - I'm sure it is your late husband's baby."
Although I wasn't swept away by the story, Miss Bohun is sure to clatter around my brain for some time.
July 28, 2020
According to Susan Hill, whose ‘Jacob’s room is full of books’ introduced me to Olivia Manning, OM was very jealous of the greater success of Margaret Drabble and Muriel Spark. But, says Susan, she had no reason to be. I tend to agree.
This is a wonderful story about ‘growing up’. The plot is simple (at first I thought far too simple), but the characters are finely drawn and complex, illustrating (in the case of Miss Bohun and Mrs Ellis) that ‘the human heart is a dark forest’ (the words of Ford Madox Ford). That’s not true of Felix, who is an innocent to start with. His innocence can be irritating as he gradually realises that the truth, while rarely simple, is worth striving for.
This is a wonderful story about ‘growing up’. The plot is simple (at first I thought far too simple), but the characters are finely drawn and complex, illustrating (in the case of Miss Bohun and Mrs Ellis) that ‘the human heart is a dark forest’ (the words of Ford Madox Ford). That’s not true of Felix, who is an innocent to start with. His innocence can be irritating as he gradually realises that the truth, while rarely simple, is worth striving for.
February 2, 2010
Showing WWII Jerusalem from the point of view of a naive teenage boy, this slim volume has some marked highs and lows of emotion, yet, because of the lack of sophistication in our protagonist, the book can sometimes feel more lightweight than its subjects.
Touches of great description of place save the book from being merely a psychological allegory, and a few surprises in plot will keep you entertained and reading.
Touches of great description of place save the book from being merely a psychological allegory, and a few surprises in plot will keep you entertained and reading.
September 30, 2009
"Coming of age" stories aren't usually my favorite, but this one was exceptional because of its psychological insight and its interesting setting, at the end of World War II among English refugees in Jerusalem. The only reason I gave it 3 instead of 4 stars was because it left me feeling somewhat pessimistic about human nature; I might revisit that after I think about it some more.
July 13, 2018
Fascinating book, beautifully written. The bony woman keeping the front bedroom of the house ready for the Second Coming, the boy with only the cat to warm him, the lonely soldier who is not so lonely when offered nothing but beans for dinner, the Polish count in the servant's room....the weird, sad, funny, horrible world Olivia Mannings offers us.
April 5, 2009
Nice easy read, with a killer ending; a slightly exotic setting and a great cast of characters. It's not going to blow your socks off, but there's probably no better way to spend a lazy rainy day.
February 10, 2010
you'll never forget ms. bohun. the rest of the characters in this elegant, precise novel are just as memorable. they don't write them like this anymore. i wish they did.
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