"...She writes with deceptive simplicity, but every word is exact, and when tackling traditional novelistic subjects, such as why we marry the person we do, shafted with quiet wit".

Relesed in postal trde to indygo88 in Indiana.

Received today via trade. Thank you, Oldbroad!!!

This may sound silly, but the cover of this book intrigued me originally, and then the book's description suckered me in as well. I've read mixed reviews about this book, but overall I think I was a little disappointed. It wasn't what I expected, and it left me feeling sad and depressed. It's a somewhat haunting book. I also really couldn't make myself like any of the characters very much.

I organized a bookring before finishing this, so I hope my review doesn't scare anyone away. I think (hope!) some will really enjoy this. I'm anxious to read other's thoughts, at any rate!

Making into an international bookring!

Just a couple of "rules":

*Please journal the book once you receive it, and again when you are shipping to the next person (as well as your comments about the book!).

*It's not a race of course, but try to get the book moving again within a month or so. I realize things can happen, and if that's the case, please PM me to let me know what's going on. Or PM me if you need to be moved farther down the list.

Order is as follows:

mysteryfan03 (Missouri)
fizzfred (California)
babykittysmama (California)
rern (New York) (not responding to PM's)
buffra (West Virginia)
Lauraloo29 (Canada) (asked to be removed)
vibrant-art (Canada)
geishabird (Canada)
anna1000 (Switzerland) (not responding to PM's)

Sending out tomorrow to mysteryfan03. Enjoy!

Got this yesterday! I have a couple of rings in front and then will get right on it:+) Thanks

Yikes! I didn't realize that I had this book so long! Sorry!

I was not impressed with any of the characters, but the book was an ok read. Overall, I just thought that it was kind of sad, all the people who obsessed over the photograph and what it implied. Not sad that they obsessed, but sad that it happened at all. How horrible to find this out about someone and never have any closure! Anyway, I will pass this book on in the next couple of weeks. thanks for sharing the book, indygo88!!

Sorry, I have had this book for a few days now but have not been able to journal it due to weird computer problems. I've already started it and should finish very soon.

Turns out my whole Book Group read this. Unfortunately, no one really enjoyed it. I felt like all the characters were very self absorbed and unsympathetic. I did like Kath a little but I felt so sorry for her. Why didn't anyone help the poor girl?! The only sensible person in this book was that artist friend of Kath's. I have to agree, this book sounds better than it actually is. Thanks indygo88 for doing this ring. I am relieved I didn't have to buy this book to read with my Book Group. :)

I'll send this to babykittysmama tomorrow.

I am so sorry for the delay. I've been sick, my daughter has been sick, my son has been sick, I'm sure my husband will soon be sick. :) I did finally get this in the mail to babykittysmama yesterday (1/26/06). I hope you enjoy it more than I did.

Received and already broke rule #1 of the ring - I didn't journal this as soon as I received it! Yikes. Am beginning to read this now as I had another ring book in front of it.

I've had this almost a month - picked it up several times and couldn't get into it. Sorry. Will send to rern as soon as I've an address.

Still haven't heard from rern, so will email buffra to get the book moving.

Caught it! Thanks!

The Photograph is the story of Kath – beautiful, bright, full of life Kath, who is now dead – and the lives she touched. Her widowed husband is looking through old papers and finds a photograph that intimates that Kath had an affair with her sister’s husband. He becomes obsessed with finding out the truth of what happened and who his wife really was.

Throughout his search, he constructs a picture that causes him to reformulate his memories of his wife...and maybe his understanding of himself.

Kath is a tragic character in the book. None of the others (with the possible exception of Oliver and the certain exception of her best friend Mary) see her completely. All are a bit too dazzled by her beauty to notice *her.*

Despite the attack on such shallowness that seems to be implied, I found that most of the characters were fairly shallow. They were largely interested only in themselves and their own appearances. None of them were bothered to make many changes or to reflect upon their actions. None of them was even willing to be inconvenienced. In short, none of them were particularly likeable. Perhaps it was because these were supposed to be people who did not see Kath and love her, but it seems odd that so many people would be so shallow – I think instead that it was because Lively did not attempt to create more depth and feeling within them.

Though there is little self-reflection or depth, each character learns the secrets and truths about Kath and perhaps also a bit about themselves.

I thought this book was only OK. I found myself skimming, frustrated as I was by the very superficial lives all the characters were living. Additionally, the voices, as they switched perspective, were not always clearly differentiated. I agree with many of the reviews preceding mine -- it was a promising idea, but only an OK book.
***

Oh, I've PMd vibrant-art (several days ago now) and am just waiting for an address to send it on. Thanks!

This just arrived....I'll read it next and then journal and send it along....Thanks for including me in this ring!

I've just PMed geishabird and am ready to send this book on its way.

I don't have many new thoughts to add to the discussion--I was also disappointed but stuck with the novel to the end....I think the author did a good job of showing the tragic side of Kath's life and succeeded in making a point about how we don't know anyone as well as we think we might....though this seems to be the main thing (maybe the only thing) that I take away from the book...

I also had a hard time sympathizing with (and caring what happened to) the characters....it felt like this was a very planned book....and as a reader I felt like this might have been dry going during the writing phase, making for only an OK adventure during the reading....

Anyhow--thanks very much for including me in this bookring!

The book will be on its way soon...

Sorry for the delay....the book has been waiting to be sent on its way--I'll get it in the mail by the end of the week! Happy reading to the next folks in line...

Received...thank you! Hmmm...the response so far has been less than enthusiastic for this book! Well, I'm a big Penelope Lively fan, as it happens, so perhaps I'll like it better!

I have to say I enjoyed this book far more than the rest of you seem to have! I am, as I mentioned earlier, a big fan of Penelope Lively, and I found that this book is similar in tone and purpose to the other books of hers that I've read - she writes a great deal about our inner obsessions, our images of ourselves as compared to the people in our lives, and about how little we sometimes know about these people. I thought this was a lovely, sad, touching book. Kath becomes a central figure in the lives of Glyn, Nick, Elaine and even Oliver, as they struggle to re-evaluate what they thought they knew about their own lives. This is an extremely difficult thing to do and I admired the way Lively illustrates how this process gnawed away at each character in different ways - Glyn's obsession with Kath's imagined infidelities, for example, or Elaine's loss of the steely control she *thought* she had over her life...Kath, in this way, becomes almost an afterthought, as she appears to have been to the people who "knew" her best. This is just another of the many tragedies that occur during this book and make it into a sobering wake-up call for those of us who take our relationships for granted.

Those who thought the book was well-written but disliked the story itself might want to try According To Mark, another Lively novel which deals with the ever-shifting concept of "truth" and the conceit that we ever really know what makes another person tick. I particularly liked that one...

UPDATED: Neither indygo88 nor I have been able to contact anna1000, so we've decided that the book will remain with me for now...

RELEASE NOTES:

Bringing it to the Meetup!

I picked it up from the pub to release elsewhere, as they don't want our books.

RELEASE NOTES:

I released the books at the STC Toronto meeting; any leftovers should be in the lobby of Memorial Community Hall, which is on the concourse level of North York Centre, under the library.