LEWIS PERCY

Brookner is an outstanding novelist whose special power is in precise psychological description of complicated characters uncertain situations. In this work however the major character Perry is so tepid and faltering that it is difficult to feel strong interest in his story. All the detail provides intelligent insight, but does not matter much when the character written about is not one that draws heart and mind.

Set in England in the late 1950's, Lewis Percy is a book one will never forget. When we first meet the protagonist of our story, Lewis Percy is a student of literature in Paris. He enjoys the company of an odd assortment of women in the boarding house in which he stays. Having grown up without the advantages of a father figure, he grew to admire women very much, obviously as a result from his deep attachment to his mother and her loyal, quiet encouragements. When she passes away he is lost in the world and his transformation from careless student to grieving man is a process for which he is not ready and has no tools. He has lived the isolated life of a man deep in study and high moral values. The usual enjoyments of young men his age did not cross his path and if they did he would not have known how to partake of them. He is deep in depression when he comes across an agoraphobic young lady whom he decides he will save from her disablity while she saves him from his loneliness. His marriage to her gets off to a good start but soon lives up to it's innate destiny - he feels more lonely and she is again afraid to leave home. They divorce but she is never quite out of his heart. When he discovers she is about to have a child, he lives for his nightly visits to her, when he is begrudgingly allowed to read a bedtime story to his child. Thus his life goes on with the routine of now working in a library and the one happiness he has of visiting his child. Until a surprising person comes his way and wakes up a passion long dormant in this thoughtful young man.The book examines the internal dialogues of this man who is at once lonely but at the same time sees a potential for joy in the world. His only problem is that he doesn't quite know how to fit in and enjoy life like others seem to be able to do so freely. For this reason, one could admit that there is a little bit of Lewis Percy in all of us. Thus, he becomes such a compelling character and we find ourselves rooting for him up until the end. The book is a bit hard to get into at first, but if one sticks with it one will find it a rewarding experience and this character will remain with you for a long time ever after.