Reviews have called this work "over written" and "deeply flawed," but I thoroughly enjoyed it. Perhaps, more note worthy is the fact that I want to discuss it with someone.
For example, why did the author decide not to mention Philip in Maggie's life once he leaves her care? Did Charles really leave her that house? Did Lucy ever talk to her again? Again, what about Philip??
And her analysis of the state of happiness is intriguing. Is it merely chemical like Janet; is it an emotional state; it is something that comes to you rather than something to be pursued? Here is an excerpt, basically the end of Maggie as narrator, as she describes her happiness:
Happiness is more ephemeral than thought. It can't be observed without changing its nature. Its ingredients are subtle, and there is no guarantee that a formula or recipe for joy can be written out or passed on or repeated even once again. Happiness evades capture, dissolving like a melody into the air, eluding even the most delicate, careful grasp. It frustrates any systemic search, responding better to random fossicking and oblique approaches and its rewards are infuriatingly arbitrary, stingy or abundant by purest chance...
...We work it out, how to be happy, but sooner or later comes a change -- sometimes something small, sometimes everything at once -- and we have to start over again, feeling our way back to a provisional state of contentment.
I used to float along in all of this, like a leaf on a coursing stream, but I am heavier now, less easily moved, more resolute and steadfast. I am no longer in pursuit of happiness. As I stand here at my front door, key in hand, I think it is just possible that happiness, at least for now, today, this hour may be in pursuit of me.
For example, why did the author decide not to mention Philip in Maggie's life once he leaves her care? Did Charles really leave her that house? Did Lucy ever talk to her again? Again, what about Philip??
And her analysis of the state of happiness is intriguing. Is it merely chemical like Janet; is it an emotional state; it is something that comes to you rather than something to be pursued? Here is an excerpt, basically the end of Maggie as narrator, as she describes her happiness:
Happiness is more ephemeral than thought. It can't be observed without changing its nature. Its ingredients are subtle, and there is no guarantee that a formula or recipe for joy can be written out or passed on or repeated even once again. Happiness evades capture, dissolving like a melody into the air, eluding even the most delicate, careful grasp. It frustrates any systemic search, responding better to random fossicking and oblique approaches and its rewards are infuriatingly arbitrary, stingy or abundant by purest chance...
...We work it out, how to be happy, but sooner or later comes a change -- sometimes something small, sometimes everything at once -- and we have to start over again, feeling our way back to a provisional state of contentment.
I used to float along in all of this, like a leaf on a coursing stream, but I am heavier now, less easily moved, more resolute and steadfast. I am no longer in pursuit of happiness. As I stand here at my front door, key in hand, I think it is just possible that happiness, at least for now, today, this hour may be in pursuit of me.
Another aspect that I loved about this book is Maggie's reference to other authors. Like my own degree, mostly male authors were studied. Maggie gets a "second degree" by reading the following (the authors in italics are those who I haven't read): Mary Shelley, the Brontes, Virginia Woolf, Margaret Drabble, Margaret Atwood, Alice Munro, Doris Lessing, Joyce Carol Oates, Edna O'Brien, Nadine Gordimer, Jane Smiley, Amy Clampitt, Carol Shields, Barbara Kingsolver, A.S. Byatt, Annie Proulx, Muriel Spark. I have a new reading list!
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