The Seven Sisters

This is a spectacular book--but it may fool you, because it is quietly spectacular. It's basically about death and rebirth--spiritual death and rebirth--but you only find this out gradually. At first it just seems the (brilliant) musings of Candida Wilton, a fiftyish woman who has been dumped by her husband (who is the head of a pricy private school) for a younger model. She uproots herself for London--penniless (or almost), friendless, jobless, childless, skill-less, and, it would seem, futureless. Almost by accident, she takes a course on Virgil, then, thanks to an unexpected windfall, retraces part of Aeneas's journey from Carthage to the Sybil at Cumae. She takes with her five other women, some new, some old, and meets the astonishing Valeria; and these become the Seven Sisters of the title. But the Seven Sisters are also a part of London she can see from her shabby apartment; and also a constellation she can see through her slightly flawed living room window. And that's the way this novel works--by connecting. Connecting the past and the present, and building the future. By connecting unlikely people and building not only friendship but character. Connecting the present day with the ancient past and forming a huge perspective on civilization. Drabble's character is a triumph. Candida writes a diary that, unwittingly, turns into a kind of poetry. Surprisingly, poetry is not so much a matter of expression as of observation. And the book is full of unexpected twists and jolts--always moving into new thematic material, just when you thought it had finished. The last (very short) part is called "A Dying Fall." This seems apt and almost anticlimactic, except that it perfectly ties off and rounds out the main theme, which is: even the most mundane things are miracles; it is only a question of jumping the fences and noticing them.

I read all but eight pages of this book in an afternoon - and only stopped when I did because our dinner guests were at the front door. A fascinating analysis of an ordinary woman of a certain age (my age) who starts the unfamiliar process of recording her thoughts in an unfamiliar medium (her new laptop). Surely most of us are ordinary, but Margaret Drabble shows us that with some perseverence and introspection we can also be interesting. Candida, the protagonist, slowly tests herself in her new life alone, with small victories helping her develop her independence. Discovering how to buy a lottery ticket, or understanding that the homeless man is not an ogre are part of her journey through a difficult period in her life. Perhaps Candida is a boring person to some, but this book certainly isn't boring - it's one of the marks of a fine writer to make the ordinary and humdrum appealing, amusing and occasionally even exciting.

Anyone who criticizes this novel as slow should go back to comic books. "The Seven Sisters" is a literary novel, meant to be savored.The cleverly-named Candida reveals herself in surprising ways. Though not as ambitious a work as Joyce's "Ulysses", Drabble's references to the "Aeneid" guide us as we follow Candida on her travels.This is a complex novel, exploring the metamorphosis of a seemingly ordinary woman.

I am also a woman in my 50's, but I am not bitter and alone, so I loved this book. I think it's one of Drabble's best. The character of Candida is almost Fay Weldon-ish in her sarcastic observation of the world around her, and she's generally dead right. It's amusing, touching and entertaining. Highly recommended.

This was my first Margaret Drabble novel although I have heard of her, and had a feeling I would enjoy her work. The Seven Sisters is such clever fiction. The story is told in four parts. The first part is in the main character's words - Candida keeps a diary after her divorce and her move to a London flat. I enjoyed this part very much, and was totally surprised with one particular part to come later on in the story. The book is serious, I suppose, but there were many laugh-out-loud moments in it. I highly recommend The Seven Sisters. Her style reminds me of Carol Shields, especially her novel Larry's Party.