A Book for All and None

by Clare Morgan

One crisp, clear day, across a cobbled Oxford street, Raymond Greatorex catches sight of Beatrice Kopus. Raymond, a brilliant but ageing don whose specialty is Nietzsche, has withdrawn into a lonely world of scholarship. Beatrice is in Oxford researching Virginia Woolf, and distancing herself from her husband, Walter. When Beatrice reappears in Raymond's life, they embark on a love affair. Beatrice becomes convinced of a link between Friedrich Nietzsche, Louise von Salome - the young Russian emigre who bewitched him - and Virginia Woolf. As Walter faces ruin in his glittering career, Beatrice and Raymond seek refuge in the past. Stories of Nietzsche's madness and his obsession with von Salome become intertwined with those of Raymond's ancestors, and their beautiful, crumbling home on the Welsh borders. But there are even greater mysteries linking the past to the present, and in their quest to find one set of answers, Beatrice and Raymond stand to uncover a secret that will profoundly change their understanding of who they really are.

Genres: Fiction, Literary Fiction

368 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2011

Reviews

[Kirstie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Unfortunately not my cup of tea.
Just not my style - found the lack of speech marks annoying and in all honestly it was too academic for me. I felt like a thicko reading it as it all went over my head!
DNF - gave up after 75 pages which is hugely rare for me to finish

[Yakut Akbay]

The title of Clare Morgan's novel alludes to Nietzsche's famous book Thus Spake Zarathustra: A Book for All and None and the final chapter "To the Lighthouse" refers to Virginia Woolf's eponymous novel. The book is based on Nietzsche's correspondence and Woolf's letters recounted by two university researchers. Raymond is doing research on Nietzsche and Beatrice is studying Woolf.
Throughout the novel, the reader connects with Nietzsche and Woolf on an emotional level transcending time and space.

[Mark Rice · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a frustrating book in many ways. Right from the start, Clare Morgan showed her mastery of descriptive prose. The story, however, failed to stir up my interest. The book falls into the realm of creative nonfiction; Clare Morgan took key facts about Friedrich Nietzsche, Virginia Woolf and Lou de Salomé (who had complicated interdependent relationships), and filled in the blanks from her imagination. While this task demanded admirable academic rigour and creativity, the old-fashioned style of writing comes across as overly wordy and formal, which keeps the reader at a distance rather than drawing him/her into the story. This was the case for 139 pages: style over substance.

Then a change happened. From out of the blue came a chapter of such poignancy that it set all my senses alight. Morgan's description of how Love came to Earth, helped by her cousin Chaos, is steeped in myth and majesty. The writing here is neither old-fashioned nor modern, but timeless. The chapter is nothing short of captivating.

I wish I could say that the rest of the book maintains a similar level of brilliance; it doesn't, although from that point on the story is more consistently engaging. There are flashes of spectacular prose, especially when describing Nietzsche's dark moods and uncompromising beliefs.

The parallels between the modern-day characters (who often act as the story's narrators) and the historical figures are cleverly written. There are, however, too many loose ends for my liking. OK, leave one loose end to let the reader make up his/her mind about the way in which a particular plotline plays out. Leaving a plethora of loose ends flapping in the wind, though, is lazy writing that fails to leave the reader with an enduring sense of satisfaction.

I'm happy to have read the book. I'm better off for having done so. If Clare Morgan had spent more time distilling the story to its essence, weeding out stuffy, unnecessary formalities and sticking to the spellbinding prose of which she is capable, this could have been one of the greatest books ever written. As is, it's a worthwhile read which takes too long to get into its stride and too often veers off on irrelevant tangents.

[Maya Panika · Rating 2 out of 5]

I could hardly wait to read this book, it seemed to hold all the elements I usually love in a literary novel: high writing, ambitious scope, literary references galore. It is certainly ambitious and highly literary, but failed to deliver the much-anticipated excitement. The structure especially, felt very `bitty' - some other reviewers have described a `lack of cohesion', to me, it was simply over-ambitious, trying to do too much; the characters and situations seemed insubstantial, I couldn't believe in or care about them, they felt as if they were only there to hang the writing on.

The writing is often *brilliant*, yet it was this above all that made this book such hard, slow going for me. I haven't read any of Claire Morgan's short stories so I don't know whether this is her usual style, or an attempt - for this book - to make literary nods to the works of the oft-referenced Nietzsche and Woolf, but I found myself increasingly - exponentially - annoyed by the pretentious style.

And I repeat, the writing is, often, quite brilliant; some passages take wings and fly, and I took off with it (thinking my earlier irritations had been churlish and maybe I would give this book a brilliant review after all) but these flights were too few and too soon over, and then I was back in the mire, wading through yet more porridgy prose and just wanting the experience to be over so I could go and do something more entertaining instead.

If you love writing for writing's sake, not caring so much about well-rounded characters or a compelling story, you may get more from this book than I did. I love good writing too, it's just that, in a *novel*, I prefer a more rounded work than this, where interesting characters do interesting things and where the prose, though wonderful, does not shine with such intensity it casts a deep, impenetrable shadow over every other aspect of a well-crafted novel.

[Ann Tonks · Rating 2 out of 5]

Tried to read it but the tone was too "creative writing" for me.

[Allyson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Whilst the prose is reasonable, the storyline was less so. The main characters, particularly Beatrice, were unlikeable and rather stereotypical. You have the strangely disconnected academics and the ruthless, libidinous businessman. There is the clash of the imagined past with the current violent situation, and the academics seem to hide in this past with no interest in the present. Woven into this is the attempt to link Virginia Woolf, Nietzsche and Lou Andreas-Salome. It becomes bitty and it becomes tedious in its remote tone and move between external narrator and the seeming stream of consciousness provided for the characters. Overall it lacked a sense of passion or of vibrancy.

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hmmmmm. Some good bits, but slow and too many loose ends.

[Helen Bookwoods · Rating 2 out of 5]

What do you make of these strands: female academic (40ish) with an interest in Virginia Woolf asks to meet male academic with speciality in Nietzsche view to exploring possibility that Woolf was influenced by the work of Nietzsche; in 19th century, Nietzsche develops romantic interest in Lou von Salome, although she is involved with Paul Ree (ménage a trois?); Walter Cronk CEO of CronkAm is involved in shonky deals in post-invasion Iraq, has affair with obliging middle-class Julie, travels to Kuwait and Iraq where he confronts the violence of the region (Oh, and he is the husband of aforementioned female academic); Virginia Woolf goes to stay at remote sea-side cottage; male and female academic develop romance as they follow up their academic hunches …?

I have read reviews that say Morgan‘s novel is ‘neatly plaited together’ and that it ‘unfolds like a paper-sharp origami’ – I’d say Morgan tries to force together disparate threads that were never going to fit; the result is misshapen and terribly dissatisfying. If ever the truism ‘it is not the sum of its parts’ applied, it applies here.

And what a pity because there is some beautifully insightful writing in this novel but Morgan does not do justice to her material. If you tease out the storylines you see that there is more than one novel’s worth of material. The affair between Raymond (the male academic) and Beatrice (the female) is subtle and sad. Raymond has an interesting family background that has left him damaged and reclusive; Beatrice is a reserved woman, elevated by the rise of her husband into a world she is not interested in. However, the development of this relationship is abbreviated so the really quite nauseating relationship of Walter and Julie can be examined, and so that Walter’s pretty unbelievable exploits in Kuwait and Iraq can be played out. What on earth is torture, multi-national shenanigans, Iraqi politics etc. doing in a book about Virginia Woolf and Frederick Nietzsche? If there is a link, Morgan doesn’t make it clear, or I’m a bit of a dunce.

And that brings me to the next juddering misalignment – of all the interconnections that might have been made, why force a connection of ideas between Nietzsche and Woolf? And the ridiculous thing is, that it isn’t even a literary influence that Morgan finally reveals (I won’t spoil the extremely far-fetched denouement by saying any more).
I can only conclude that these disparate topics are some pet interests that Morgan wanted to explore, so she jammed them all together (the acknowledgements say that Morgan spent a year in a friend’s ‘lovely’ villa in Cyprus to write the book – in her shoes I’d explore my pet interests too).

Quite a lot of the book is spent on portraying Nietzsche mental deterioration as he begins his pursuit of Lou, and the consequences of this, and this was all well done. And the relationship of Raymond and Beatrice had potential but there was too much distraction from other parts of the book to make this really work. The parts on Virginia Woolf were less developed, leaving her a wafting, insubstantial character.

Clare Morgan is a creative writing academic at Oxford and this is her first novel. I know a writing teacher who always asks his students to define ‘whose story is it?’ – I wonder if Morgan can answer that question or if she even thinks it matters.

[C.R. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book - in fact I bought it twice! I was in the middle of reading it when I broke my wrist and launched forth into the uncertain world of kindle. I wouldn't have thought the change in edition would have made so much difference. So I waited until I could hold a book again to finish this book.

This isn't a book you can easily read while you commute, it is a book you steal away for a guilty read, enjoying the prose to the fullest.

The plot is straight forward, on the surface, lovers, the rise and wane of relationships but you gradually realise there is a gossamer web that sits over the whole book, subtly, and yet drawing the whole together in psychological intrigue.

On the face of it the modern characters are entrenched in their research into Woolf and Nietzsche, but this research in having a deep affect on each of them, it is shaping and forming their reactions to the present. It is almost obsessional as the research draws parallels to the present.

A wonderful read, but take your time with this book, it isn't a rom/com it is a wonderful read and as you re-read you realise the layers you missed the first time round. It is a classic and brilliant novel. Morgan's Welsh roots show in brilliant lyrical and rhythmic prose.

[Ellie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit odd and a bit frustrating in places and it drags a bit (before a fairly abrupt and not altogether pleasing ending) but beautifully written.