Moon Tiger

I did get involved in the characters and liked the take on history but I’m glad it was a quick read. Maybe it’s just not my style of book.

Claudia looks back on her life as she lies dying in a hospital bed. Hardly an original concept, and in fact this would be an ordinary book, except for the writing, which is terrific. Lively proves equally fine in describing a trip behind British front lines in the North African desert, and a walk in the woods by a mother and her young child. The novel is rather unusual in that while it is almost entirely written in Claudia's voice, it occasionally, and briefly, employs the voice of her daughter and others - very effectively. Claudia is a very successful historian, yet her own daughter's inner life is as obscure to her as the inner lives of the figures she writes about. I enjoyed the romantic aspect of Claudia's tale, the lover who is killed in battle and whom "she mourns for the rest of her life" as one reviewer put it, but I do not believe this is what made the novel worthy of the Booker prize.

An exotic novel about a love that haunts us from the grave to our own. Claudia's rendition of her affair in Egypt during a war, resulting in the loss of her great love and their unborn child, is depicted with an Englishwoman's genius of grammar, prose, and Latin-based mastery of the English language. Told through Claudia's story on her death bed between periods of consciousness, Penelope Lively distinguishes herself with the usage of narrative to describe a lifetime of mourning. Claudia mourns Tom throughout her adult and senior years as she lives a journalist's life in London, England. Lively's Claudia is a stubborn woman whose account of things, people, and relationships are rooted in her own view of the world. This is more than a romance, it is a look into the elements and pervasive condition of heartbreak over a lifetime. Tragic, humorous, and compelling. No wonder it was a Booker Prize - the most prestigious literary prize in the world for English language fiction.

"I'm writing a history of the world. The whole triumphant murderous unstoppable chute-from the mud to the stars, universal and particular, your story and mine", so says Claudia Hampton, in her 76th year, as she lies dying. We all have books we can't put down, this is mine. This is the glorious book that I did not want to end, that I read in one sitting. I could not, absolutely could not put this book down. A ten star book if there ever was one! Claudia is a character so rich, you feel her in your bones. You want to know her as your own. Claudia Hampton and her brother Gordon born of a comfortable family. Father died in his war, and mysteriously not much is known of him. Mother lived her life, she withdrew from the world. She lived for her roses, tapestry and unchangeable weather. Gordon and Claudia, sister and brother, wild, untamed as children, brilliant and wild and untamed as adults. They were self-involved and never needed an other person when they were together. The important people in Claudia's life are so well defined and characterized- they become the story. Claudia became a write of books, history, and met her off and on lover, Jasper and father of her child, Lisa, when she was writing a book about Tito. Not one of Claudia's acquaintances or family approved of or liked Jasper, but that made him much more interesting, and, anyway, theirs was a sexual love-sex kept them together. And the fact that Claudia was beautiful and intelligent and such an asset. Men loved her and women approved of her. They never married, but they saw each other many times throughout their lives. Tom Southern, the love of Claudia's life. She met him while she was a correspondent during the War in Egypt. Theirs was a love like no other. A sweet, short love, and one of the most memorable affairs. Sylvia, Gordon's wife. A woman to be put up with. A stable wife who said not much and did little else, but she kept their life together. A woman who mattered not to Claudia- someone to be tolerated. Lisa, the child of Claudia and Jasper. Like neither her mother nor father and treated as such- like a neither. Shunted off to be brought up by her grandmothers a child who so wanted to be loved by her mother, and was, but the love was not spoken. Laszlo, the child of a Hungarian, who was left homeless and family less after the Hungarian uprising. Claudia took him in and treated him almost as a son. These the important people in Claudia's life. This strong, independent woman who had such contentious relations with family and friends. Penelope Lively, won the Booker Prize for this novel. And well she should! What a powerful, moving and beautifully wrought book she has written. Claudia Hampton, a literary figure not to be forgotten. Well done, Penelope Lively !prisrob

I taught this book to 15-16 year old girls for 6 years, and it was an unforgettable experience. They constantly referred to Claudia's character, the character of poor Sylvia (her sister-in-law) and the mother-daughter relationship between Claudia and her daughter, Lisa, for a year or two after they had studied the book. The philosophy in this book, though difficult to understand at first reading, is so profound as to challenge the reader constantly. We dealt with relationships, death, characters, how we influence people and they influence us: Claudia's concept of being a part of everything, and everything being a part of her. It was wonderful. I think that this book should be read and re-read until it forms part of one's own character, and congratulations to Penelope Lively for the best book she has ever written.

A kadeidiscopic history of a totally fascinating Britishwomen and how war can destroy our lives. Also a wonderfulaccount of how history rests so firmly in the eye of the beholder. Everyone is shaped by their life's experiences, and Ms. Lively so elegantly exposes how we prejudice others when we judge them without knowing of the reasons for their behavior. A beautifully written, intellectually captivating and totally involving work of literature. A truly worthy recipient of the Booker prize in England.