Comments on: Trespass, by Rose Tremain

By: Anne-Nicole

Anne-Nicole — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 22:31:23 +0000

Hi Kevin,

This comment is completely un-related to your most recent post, but I see you are going to write a review on Emma Donoghue’s Room soon-I absolutely loved this book, and I can’t wait to see your comments on it!

A-N

By: Max Cairnduff

Max Cairnduff — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 11:12:12 +0000

As a list, the Booker this year seems long on readability and short on challenge. Perhaps that’s not a bad thing.

This sounds ok, but I have to much to read for ok to really cut it. Still, I look forward to your reaching C Kevin.

By: KevinfromCanada

KevinfromCanada — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 21:18:59 +0000

Isabel: Not only that but the people who have been reading them for several decades (that would be me) are also approaching this milestone (and probably have the money to spend on the books). I don’t think we have seen the last “oh my, I’m in my 60s” novel.

And I’ll probably buy them all. Thankfully, there are a lot of younger authors out there writing as well.

By: Isabel

Isabel — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 21:04:30 +0000

Re: Senior Citizen Books -
You might have detected the new trend. Many authors born in the 1940s wrote about things that they did when they were younger. But as the audience grows older, the authors are writing about things in their current lives. Spending too much time in the past can depress the audience.

By: Guy Savage

Guy Savage — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 14:59:47 +0000

Mary: I think in one of the books, a character gets all nostalgic for marmite. Sanders seems to have written quite a few but I’ve only been able to find three in English:

An Ignoble Profession, The Englishman’s Wife and Death in the Dordogne.

In one book, a British man buys a house in France and stumbles into a decades-long feud between his neighbours. In another, a British couple move to France for the infamous ‘fresh start’ and in the third, the British ex-pats panic when a blackmailer starts sending notes.

By: Mary Gilbert

Mary Gilbert — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 09:19:20 +0000

I must try and track down Louis Sanders. Guy’s quotation and description of ex- pats `mingling with others they wouldn’t have been seen dead with back in the UK ‘ made me laugh it was so true and apt. On the other hand having lived here in France for six years I will say that it’s been an interesting experience not to mix only with Guardian reading teachers (my habitual circle in the UK – being one myself. ) If you want to get the flavour of ex-pat life and have the time to browse take a look at the Anglo-Info Brittany web site. Here you can find numerous examples of some of the ex-pat viewpoints. One recent thread was whether it is a good idea to have mail order deliveries of Tesco food – quite a few people here find the lack of Fray Bentos steak pies and salad cream a distinct deprivation!

By: Lisa Hill

Lisa Hill — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 05:56:50 +0000

I have to disagree about The Road Home. I thought it a fine book, tackling a topic that none of us like to think about much. See http://anzlitlovers.wordpress.com/2010/03/05/the-road-home-by-rose-tremain/
But (a-hem) maybe that’s my demographic LOL!

By: Guy Savage

Guy Savage — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 21:42:48 +0000

I’ve read 3 Louis Sanders (English versions). All three take a look at the British ex-pat experience from different angles. The idea underlying all 3 novels is that the characters are ill-prepared for the huge changes they have made. The British community clings together and people find themselves mingling with others they wouldn’t have been seen dead with back in Britain as they really have little in common (except the fact they’re British).

Another point the novels make is that far away from home, some people have a tendency to ‘recreate’ themselves and their pasts.

I just read Loving Roger by Tim Parks and loved it so much I bought a couple of other titles.

By: KevinfromCanada

KevinfromCanada — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 21:05:04 +0000

Guy: I haven’t read Louis Sanders but will research him. I am more familiar with British writers exploring the same subject in Italy (Barry Unsworth and Tim Parks come to mind). When recounted with the proper sense of humor, it is a very entertaining genre. Tremain in this book is after something quite different, but there are elements in this book which do speak to that same experience.

By: Guy Savage

Guy Savage — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 20:57:02 +0000

I join the queue of those who haven’t read Tremain, but this one sounds interesting for the decision made by one character to pack up and move to France. It smacks of trouble to come, so I will read this one in the future.

Has anyone read the novels of Louis Sanders? (They focus on British ex-pats living in France).