Thinking About The Victorian Chaise-Longue
Posted 26th February 2011
Category: Further Thoughts Genres: N/A
3 Comments
This post is in addition to the review that I will be writing later [now written]. You may want to bypass this post and just read the review if you haven’t read the book.
The book was brilliant, it went down so many routes only to stop and head straight back out again, and the possible conclusions as to what happened are numerous. I can’t say I know why exactly what happened happened (it would be interesting to hear your thoughts on that) but to me it seemed that it was to do with sinning, and having the woman who wasn’t affected by what she did see how it could have affected her if she’d lived before. I find the fact that we don’t find out the whys, to be very creepy, even if the rest of the book was not horrific, that surely was.
I’m unsure as to whether Melanie got back to the future in the end, because although the last word is “life”, many people call death a new life. I’d like to think she got back to Guy, yet for the story her death, and thus Milly’s death, seems more appropriate.
I’m still trying to get my head around the part where the doctor from the 1950’s says Guy didn’t look like he’d been missing his fancies while Melanie had been ill. I took it to be infidelity, and if so, was Gilbert similar?
I can see my review either being very short, for ease, or very long because there is so much to talk about…
Persephone Round-Up #3 | Paperback Reader
February 27, 2011, 1:56 am
[…] Charlie pre-reviews The Victorian Chaise-Longue, writing down her instant thoughts before gathering her thoughts and reviewing it. […]
February 27, 2011, 4:11 pm
I read this about a year and a half ago, and enjoyed it–much more than I thought i would. But it’s also very depressing. Can’t wait for your review!
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Claire (Paperback Reader)
February 26, 2011, 9:33 pm
This was my second Persephone book way back in 2008; I’d like to refresh my memory with a reread. I liked that it was open-ended.
Have you read The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman?
Charlie: No I haven’t, but I just looked it up and it’s one I’d definitely be interested in reading. Though why I say I like to read books that mess with your mind is beyond me! I think the open-endedness in VC-L added a bit of real horror to it, and the impact of all that happened would’ve been lost otherwise.