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The Last Night at the Ritz
Brazen, candid, and always willing to take chances, the unnamed and not entirely trustworthy narrator of The Last Night at the Ritz celebrates her birthday with three old and dear friends. Two of them, Gay and Len, are a long-married couple and her best friends from college. The third, Wes, was once her lover.
Organizing a luncheon at Boston’s esteemed Ritz Carlton—an old favorite of the group’s—the narrator expects the occasion will be an excellent chance to catch up with her friends and enjoy each other’s company. But almost immediately upon arriving at the hotel, she senses things are different, though she can’t quite put her finger on what’s wrong. Even the Ritz has changed, no longer displaying the lion—its trademark symbol of hospitality—on its ashtrays.
As the afternoon gives way to evening and as the drinks flow, the past and present intrude upon the festivities and the atmosphere turns somber. Before the night is through, truths and secrets slip out that will change their relationships forever.
Back in print for the first time in a generation, The Last Night at the Ritz, a masterfully written novel of friendship and love and the ways we deceive each other and ourselves, is quite simply unforgettable.
212 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1973
53 people are currently reading
514 people want to read
About the author
Elizabeth Savage
42 books6 followersElizabeth Savage (née Fitzgerald; February 15, 1918 – July 15, 1989) was an American novelist and short-story writer. In nine novels, she explored the turbulent decades between 1930 and 1980 in the Western United States and along the Atlantic Coast. Her work focuses on men and women dealing with the Great Depression, World War II, the birth of the women’s movement, the Sixties counterculture and the Vietnam War. Among her best-known books are The Last Night at the Ritz, the semi-autobiographical The Girls from the Five Great Valleys, Summer of Pride, But Not for Love, A Fall of Angels, and Happy Ending.
Savage was married for 50 years to the equally celebrated novelist Thomas Savage with whom she had three children. In novels such as But Not For Love, she captures the stresses caused by class distinctions, economic differences and male/female relationships within groups of friends or extended families, whether the combatants live in Maine beach colonies, remote Idaho ranches or Montana college towns. She also focuses on complex female friendships, stretching over many years. A strong sense of place permeates all her work. Three of Savage's novels illuminate the American West, where she spent much of her childhood. Others are set in Maine, where she lived most of her adulthood.
Savage was married for 50 years to the equally celebrated novelist Thomas Savage with whom she had three children. In novels such as But Not For Love, she captures the stresses caused by class distinctions, economic differences and male/female relationships within groups of friends or extended families, whether the combatants live in Maine beach colonies, remote Idaho ranches or Montana college towns. She also focuses on complex female friendships, stretching over many years. A strong sense of place permeates all her work. Three of Savage's novels illuminate the American West, where she spent much of her childhood. Others are set in Maine, where she lived most of her adulthood.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 111 reviews
February 20, 2013
I really loved this. It practically zings with great lines and sly, perfectly formed observations about women's inner lives. It concerns two young women who met in college in the 60s and where life and love takes them. It delves into subjects like affairs and abortion in a pre-Roe v. Wade world. And it captures a truly interesting friendship between two women who love each other but hold their cards close to the chest.
May 4, 2015
Thank you Nancy Pearl for rediscovering this gem and thank you Lisa for sharing it in our postal book group. What fun to keep company with this witty narrator and see the world through her very unconventional eyes.
I carefully recorded many of the quotable lines into an app that has since gone to unsupported app heaven (hell?) with my notes. So I am going to reread it and capture them again. It's worth that.
What fun to visit "The Ritz" (no longer called that, but we can pretend) in Boston with my friends just last week. They had also read and loved the book.
I carefully recorded many of the quotable lines into an app that has since gone to unsupported app heaven (hell?) with my notes. So I am going to reread it and capture them again. It's worth that.
What fun to visit "The Ritz" (no longer called that, but we can pretend) in Boston with my friends just last week. They had also read and loved the book.
August 9, 2014
I was in the mood for a classic type of literary fiction & so I finally got to this on my Kindle. I'm very glad that I did. Our narrator is unnamed & not wholly reliable but she has a wit & way about her that really makes the story. She & her married friends Gay & Len are boozing it up one "last" time & as the drinks flow, so do some not so pretty truths & long held secrets about each of them. At just over the midpoint I was getting a little bored of her tangents & the Boston references but I was all in for the reveals about Charley (this was the heart of the story for me), Len and the rest. It's what I would consider a period piece (set in the late 60s & heavily references a 20-25 year span) but not quite historical fiction. I definitely had a bit of a curve to understand some of the references to the time but it was worth sticking with it & calling my mother to ask some questions about the 60s & 70s. The story's conclusion is open-ended but I took it as hopeful (no matter which way it goes for our narrator) & I really enjoyed it. I was just glad she had finally decided to call Sam. ;)
February 23, 2017
I loved this book. I loved the narrator's voice, her wise cracking attitude, and the setting of Boston and the Ritz hotel. There is a lot going on in this little book that kept me thinking for days after. So many great lines. "She would rather be home with an adequate book - and if she didn't have an adequate one, an inadequate one would do."
November 29, 2014
I ran across "The Last Night at the Ritz" by accident when it was on sale on Amazon's Kindle Daily Deals page. I had never heard of the book or its author, Elizabeth Savage, before, but something about the description hooked me. I kept thinking about it and actually went back and bought it a few days later. That's the only time that's ever happened.
The story, which is told in flashbacks, is about two women, Gay and the unnamed narrator, who have been best friends since they were freshmen in college. They come from different backgrounds and have very different personalities, but they have a very close bond that has survived for close to 30 years. Gay is beautiful, well mannered, and rather prim and proper. The narrator is something of a free spirit and has a strong sense of humor. Gay has been married to the same man, Len, since she graduated from college and they have two sons. The narrator is childless, though she is very attached to Gay's older son, Charley. She has been married twice (divorced once), and had a relationship with a married man, Wes. It's not apparent whether her husband, Sam, knows about it or not. Regardless, she says she and Wes are not sleeping together, though they are still close friends.
The narrator is an orphan who lived with her aunt (single, childless, and also unnamed), but Gay has a large extended family. Though her mother is dead, her father is alive and they live with his parents and his seven younger brothers:
"All in all, there were eight of them; Gay’s father had been the firstborn. Gay was the only female in the family. Myself, I would have loved it, but she felt engulfed, as if she had to struggle to maintain a small island of order in a high sea of masculinity."
Gay's family lives in a delightfully ramshackle house full of books:
"There were too many books for the bookcases, too many coats for the coatrack, too many dishes for the black soapstone sink. Too many uncles."
However, you get the idea that the narrator would have changed places with Gay in a heartbeat. Though her aunt is a nice woman, that house comes across as very lonely.
The narrator and Gay support each other throughout the years, Gay acting almost like a mother or at the very least an older sister, much to her friend's endless amusement:
"One of the nice things about Gay is that she doesn’t get testy if you don’t live up to what she feels is right. She wishes that I would live up, but that’s because she loves me. She thinks I’d be happier if I were pure at heart. But I think I am pure at heart: there are all sorts of ways of being pure."
Just when you find yourself smiling or even chuckling at the storyline, things will get serious. One example of this is when the narrator is in her aunt's home after her aunt has passed away. The narrator is divorced from her first husband, who left her, but has not yet married Sam. The description of her late aunt and her aunt's house is heartbreaking. You can actually taste the loneliness:
"She’d always wanted to be the life of the party, but she was only asked to the party just that once."
"The terrible clues that people leave behind them. On the mantel was a conch shell that I had sent her from Antigua. And on the walls in little ten-cent-store frames hung what must have been every snapshot I ever sent her. I wish I had sent more. And the laughing picture of herself in the middy blouse. She had a rather good Hi-Fi and there was still a record on the turntable. I looked at it idly. My merry aunt who liked “Red Sails in the Sunset” and “The Music Goes Round and Round” and “Roll Out the Barrel” had been playing “Sunday Morning Coming Down,” which is not a jolly song.
There is something about Sunday makes a fellow feel alone…"
The narrator starts thinking about all she could have done to alleviate her aunt's loneliness, but instead she was too wrapped up in herself. I think she also realizes that she could very easily end up like her aunt. The chapter ends:
"I stood there by the table that held the telephone and with one finger made idle circles in the dust. Or maybe they were zeros.
Then I called Sam."
This happens over and over throughout the book - a chapter starts out humorous and lighthearted, and then turns serious. There is always a twist, always something unexpected (such as the ending, which I wasn't expecting at all). When I had to put the book down to go back to work, I found myself thinking about it, which is unusual. I normally don't think about a book until I return to it. However, "Last Night" has a way of sticking in your mind even after you've finished it. I found myself highlighting quite a lot of quotations:
"Lately I have been trying to remember all my good aunt’s advice, although it doesn’t really seem to help. Live, she said, so that you can meet your God. She also said, never go out without your underpants in case you should have an accident. Believe me, that was sound advice. And she told me that I had a good angel and a bad one, which used to scare the hell out of me at night."
"'Habits are at first cobwebs,' Gay sort of quoted, 'and at last cables.'"
"There is no knowledge like the bitter knowledge of old lovers."
"My poor friend: she is so good and so grave.
And so vulnerable. She really thought she knew just how it’s done. First you work hard and thoughtfully and win all the prizes. Then you marry your true love and live passionately forever after. And your children call you blessed because simplicity and discipline and truth gird you in triple brass.
It isn’t all that simple."
I could go on, but you get the idea. Sometimes I delete Kindle books after I read them because, even though I may have enjoyed them, I don't want to reread them. This is not such a book. This is one that I plan to buy a paper copy of as well.
Very recommended.
The story, which is told in flashbacks, is about two women, Gay and the unnamed narrator, who have been best friends since they were freshmen in college. They come from different backgrounds and have very different personalities, but they have a very close bond that has survived for close to 30 years. Gay is beautiful, well mannered, and rather prim and proper. The narrator is something of a free spirit and has a strong sense of humor. Gay has been married to the same man, Len, since she graduated from college and they have two sons. The narrator is childless, though she is very attached to Gay's older son, Charley. She has been married twice (divorced once), and had a relationship with a married man, Wes. It's not apparent whether her husband, Sam, knows about it or not. Regardless, she says she and Wes are not sleeping together, though they are still close friends.
The narrator is an orphan who lived with her aunt (single, childless, and also unnamed), but Gay has a large extended family. Though her mother is dead, her father is alive and they live with his parents and his seven younger brothers:
"All in all, there were eight of them; Gay’s father had been the firstborn. Gay was the only female in the family. Myself, I would have loved it, but she felt engulfed, as if she had to struggle to maintain a small island of order in a high sea of masculinity."
Gay's family lives in a delightfully ramshackle house full of books:
"There were too many books for the bookcases, too many coats for the coatrack, too many dishes for the black soapstone sink. Too many uncles."
However, you get the idea that the narrator would have changed places with Gay in a heartbeat. Though her aunt is a nice woman, that house comes across as very lonely.
The narrator and Gay support each other throughout the years, Gay acting almost like a mother or at the very least an older sister, much to her friend's endless amusement:
"One of the nice things about Gay is that she doesn’t get testy if you don’t live up to what she feels is right. She wishes that I would live up, but that’s because she loves me. She thinks I’d be happier if I were pure at heart. But I think I am pure at heart: there are all sorts of ways of being pure."
Just when you find yourself smiling or even chuckling at the storyline, things will get serious. One example of this is when the narrator is in her aunt's home after her aunt has passed away. The narrator is divorced from her first husband, who left her, but has not yet married Sam. The description of her late aunt and her aunt's house is heartbreaking. You can actually taste the loneliness:
"She’d always wanted to be the life of the party, but she was only asked to the party just that once."
"The terrible clues that people leave behind them. On the mantel was a conch shell that I had sent her from Antigua. And on the walls in little ten-cent-store frames hung what must have been every snapshot I ever sent her. I wish I had sent more. And the laughing picture of herself in the middy blouse. She had a rather good Hi-Fi and there was still a record on the turntable. I looked at it idly. My merry aunt who liked “Red Sails in the Sunset” and “The Music Goes Round and Round” and “Roll Out the Barrel” had been playing “Sunday Morning Coming Down,” which is not a jolly song.
There is something about Sunday makes a fellow feel alone…"
The narrator starts thinking about all she could have done to alleviate her aunt's loneliness, but instead she was too wrapped up in herself. I think she also realizes that she could very easily end up like her aunt. The chapter ends:
"I stood there by the table that held the telephone and with one finger made idle circles in the dust. Or maybe they were zeros.
Then I called Sam."
This happens over and over throughout the book - a chapter starts out humorous and lighthearted, and then turns serious. There is always a twist, always something unexpected (such as the ending, which I wasn't expecting at all). When I had to put the book down to go back to work, I found myself thinking about it, which is unusual. I normally don't think about a book until I return to it. However, "Last Night" has a way of sticking in your mind even after you've finished it. I found myself highlighting quite a lot of quotations:
"Lately I have been trying to remember all my good aunt’s advice, although it doesn’t really seem to help. Live, she said, so that you can meet your God. She also said, never go out without your underpants in case you should have an accident. Believe me, that was sound advice. And she told me that I had a good angel and a bad one, which used to scare the hell out of me at night."
"'Habits are at first cobwebs,' Gay sort of quoted, 'and at last cables.'"
"There is no knowledge like the bitter knowledge of old lovers."
"My poor friend: she is so good and so grave.
And so vulnerable. She really thought she knew just how it’s done. First you work hard and thoughtfully and win all the prizes. Then you marry your true love and live passionately forever after. And your children call you blessed because simplicity and discipline and truth gird you in triple brass.
It isn’t all that simple."
I could go on, but you get the idea. Sometimes I delete Kindle books after I read them because, even though I may have enjoyed them, I don't want to reread them. This is not such a book. This is one that I plan to buy a paper copy of as well.
Very recommended.
December 30, 2017
I really enjoyed this novel. She has an economy of prose that reminds me of Salinger.
People comment about how many memorable quotes there are in this novel, and I wish I had written them down while reading through. She made nearly every page in this novel count.
A very fast read. . .
People comment about how many memorable quotes there are in this novel, and I wish I had written them down while reading through. She made nearly every page in this novel count.
A very fast read. . .
June 27, 2013
Initially, I wasn't captivated by this book. I found the narrator annoying and judgmental, always condescending about her friend Gay's good qualities. But as the story continued I became attached to all the characters and missed them when I wasn't reading.
I loved the organization of the story. Plot wise, we're tagging along on a progressive party with some friends who are meeting up in Boston while they're all in town. They have drinks at one place, move on to dinner at another and wrap up elsewhere. At times the book reads almost like a travelogue and the narrator describes the place around her and reflects on its change over time. Then as she muses, something will trigger a thought and we flow through her memories and past experiences. This gives a much deeper appreciation for her character as well as the ones around her. Before the story can get too bogged down, though, we return to the present moment and the meal, drink, appetizer and conversation in front of her.
The themes in this book really resonated with me. There are lots of reflections on aging, relationships (female friends, male friends, lovers, spouses, children) and growing up that continues through adult hood. Instead of making the myriad of adjustments and compromises that life requires of us into a tragedy, Savage portrays this journey as a difficult, but rewarding part of forging lasting, meaningful relationships. The balance between a youthful desire to tell everything and an adult appreciation for discretion is an admirable quest that we pursue for life. Our reasons for reticence aren't self serving and protective, but sometimes an act of profound love.
I guess what I loved about this book that it brought my own thoughts into focus and gave me a new way to look at them. At the same time, the plot was interesting in and of itself and the characters, just like real people, took time to get to know and care about. It doesn't hurt that I've always loved Boston and I find that generation of women (graduated from college in the 1940s/50s) fascinating.
I loved the organization of the story. Plot wise, we're tagging along on a progressive party with some friends who are meeting up in Boston while they're all in town. They have drinks at one place, move on to dinner at another and wrap up elsewhere. At times the book reads almost like a travelogue and the narrator describes the place around her and reflects on its change over time. Then as she muses, something will trigger a thought and we flow through her memories and past experiences. This gives a much deeper appreciation for her character as well as the ones around her. Before the story can get too bogged down, though, we return to the present moment and the meal, drink, appetizer and conversation in front of her.
The themes in this book really resonated with me. There are lots of reflections on aging, relationships (female friends, male friends, lovers, spouses, children) and growing up that continues through adult hood. Instead of making the myriad of adjustments and compromises that life requires of us into a tragedy, Savage portrays this journey as a difficult, but rewarding part of forging lasting, meaningful relationships. The balance between a youthful desire to tell everything and an adult appreciation for discretion is an admirable quest that we pursue for life. Our reasons for reticence aren't self serving and protective, but sometimes an act of profound love.
I guess what I loved about this book that it brought my own thoughts into focus and gave me a new way to look at them. At the same time, the plot was interesting in and of itself and the characters, just like real people, took time to get to know and care about. It doesn't hurt that I've always loved Boston and I find that generation of women (graduated from college in the 1940s/50s) fascinating.
September 20, 2012
"There is no knowledge like the bitter knowledge of old loves." This sentence, appearing early in the novel, pretty much sums it up. The unnamed narrator has had a complicated relationship with her "best friend" Gay since they first met in college 30 years before. Their story is told in interior monologue formed of reminisces and flashbacks over the course of a day in which the two women meet at the Ritz in Boston, but this is a tricky novel and all is not as it first appears. As revelations develop, we realize our narrator is not being entirely truthful with either us or herself. Thanks to Nancy Pearl for resuscitating this fine book which is far from dated, reads more like a time capsule. Two eras are beautifully rendered, that of the college days of the two leading ladies, and their world 30 years following that and their take on the encroachment of a younger, freer generation with bare feet and peace symbols embroidered on their butts. This is a wonderful novel of manners of that transitional time, beautifully written with memorable lines including my favorite: "It is very dangerous to get caught without something to read."
March 10, 2013
I have no idea how to explain this book. It’s about everything and nothing. A woman and her friends go out for drinks and dinner and through flashbacks we learn about her life.
Sounds boring put that way, but it wasn’t! I liked this woman very much and “enjoyed her company” so to speak. I also enjoyed the fact that it was set in Boston – I went for the first time last December and really enjoyed it; since it’s still fresh in my mind it was easy to picture the story… never mind that it’s set in the 60s.
I feel like going to the Ritz now for a drink!
Sounds boring put that way, but it wasn’t! I liked this woman very much and “enjoyed her company” so to speak. I also enjoyed the fact that it was set in Boston – I went for the first time last December and really enjoyed it; since it’s still fresh in my mind it was easy to picture the story… never mind that it’s set in the 60s.
I feel like going to the Ritz now for a drink!
June 15, 2013
“It is very dangerous to get caught without something to read.” So says our very gin soaked narrator who you can either trust or not, she won't care. She is beyond caring. By the time you have decided in this slim novel that maybe you don't really like her, a slow revelation hits and then you don't want to say good bye. I'd love to have been her friend, even with her faults. I'd love to have been her friends' friend about whom she has much to tell.
March 20, 2013
I think I'd like to read this again. It's very cleverly written and I imagine I've missed things and it'd stand up to multiple readings.
April 19, 2022
I’m so glad this was reissued because I missed it when it was first out. The narrator’s voice is good and strong, and Savage shows all her complexities. I found the descriptions exceedingly well-done, but perhaps I’m biased because I am so very familiar with the area she writes about. It would be interesting to hear from some one in this not from that city/ culture. Love, friendship, children, cultural gaps all come under the microscope here.
April 14, 2017
Okay, so I'm giving this 3.5★ because I don't think I'm competent enough to be judging the quality of a work like this. When I was halfway through the book, I read the reviews on goodreads to see if I'll get any insight into what I'm actually trudging through. There was only praise about the book but no real information. People gave their opinions about the need of the introduction of the narrator. But I found it to be the least of my worries. The narrator was pretty likeable because she came off as quite honest. But the book is from 1930- 1960 Boston, while I'm a 21st century Indian, so the references to many things, especially the ones with subtle sexual connotations and the sentences about Len's affair and Gay's reaction to it felt very unfamiliar and I was unable to fully understand them, I feel. The unfolding of Charley's fate was pretty unexpected but not really a major blow. I loved Sam throughout the book even though he was almost non- existent. Also, people thought the narrator was unreliable as she was deceiving herself as well as the readers. I felt that only once when Gay revealed that she had told her about her affair with Len early on while the narrator maintained till the end that Gay knew nothing about her relationship with Len. Overall I liked the book quite a bit, but I think I need to come back to it again after I get some more experience of reading such kind of literature.
April 4, 2015
This was a wonderful read. How can you resist a book with this quote: "It is very dangerous to be caught without something to read." The story is about a unnamed narrator and her college friends that meet in Boston at the Ritz many years later. The story is told in one day, starting with drinks at lunch, and ending at Midnight after a night of drinking. It's a small book with a lot of thought, and an interesting look how women's lives in particular and people in general have changed since the 40s.
January 3, 2016
I almost stopped reading around page 50. I couldn't "get" the narrator. But I kept going and I began to be intrigued by her observations. By the final 100 pages I couldn't put the book down. The ending stunned me. I almost want to start reading it all over again.
The writing is amazing. This book is not an easy read, but it is definitely worthwhile.
The writing is amazing. This book is not an easy read, but it is definitely worthwhile.
September 28, 2017
A real gem. I've just finished it, I need a break to think it over, and for sure I need to read it again, this book should to be sliced idea by idea, I feel I've rushed through it and I must go back to be able to put the right feelings and thoughts in the right drawers.
July 7, 2014
I am stingy with the fifth star, and this book is why. I loved the characters and how they are revealed and I loved the story and how it is revealed. I am glad I stumbled onto Nancy Pearl's list, Book Lust Rediscoveries. I'll be working my way through that list.
February 9, 2016
Beautifully constructed and written...the unnamed narrator is complex yet caring. In "one night" I learned so much about the lives of these
people. It was a living breathing tour of Boston like no other.
people. It was a living breathing tour of Boston like no other.
February 7, 2013
This is a book about friendship and relationships, and it's a wonderful read. Maria will love it, I think!
February 22, 2017
I very much enjoyed listening to this wonderful book brought back into print by Nancy Pearl.
Read
March 10, 2013Great writing, great character development, in a completely convincing voice. A book and author I never heard of, but I was completely sold.
September 22, 2019
“The Last Night at the Ritz” is a treasure trove of great quotes. Some of them were very reminiscent of Dorothy Parker – straight to the heart of the matter with sarcasm and wit.
“Or take this, which concerns whiskey, a topic in which many of us are interested. Those undesirables which contaminate the product are known in America as the heads and tails. In England they are called feints, which give one pause. Among these is fusel oil, “from which it is very desirable that the spirit be freed as much as possible.” Any way you want to take it, that statement is correct.”
Or, “We buy our liquor by the case so that we won’t get nervous about running out, and we buy the big half-gallon bottles so we won’t have to go back and forth to the pantry. The other night after a normal cocktail session, a rather good dinner and a pleasant sleep, I pointed out that we had done away with a half of a half gallon. Since there had been no blows and no sobbing in the night I don’t suppose it was important, but if you figure it up, I suppose we spend on liquor in a month what a semester’s tuition used to be. There is some moral issue here which I should like to think about, if I have the time.”
Some passages sneak up on the reader. Mocking at first…but finishing with a sentimentality and time softened wisdom. (These passages become all the more delicate once the reader reaches the end of the book.)
Like, “At seventeen, Charley didn’t believe in means and averages. I don’t say he didn’t approve of them – he didn’t believe in them. He believed in Olympian heights and Stygian depths. He didn’t know how delicately it is all balanced; that even in grief a shaft of sun can rest upon your shoulder like a hand, or that even true love can harbor true discontent.”
And, “On the whole, I prefer being married; it is neater and eliminates all the cat-and-mouse busy-ness that is fun to think about but not much fun to act out. I got tired of the stolen hour, the stolen night, the disguised telephone message, the accommodation address. I wanted to wake up with someone warm beside me who would kiss me before my teeth were brushed.”
Although I did not experience the era(s) in which this story takes place, I felt like I was there along with the nameless narrator…at once experiencing these events and observing them. Her clarity of vision when trained on her and those people who had the greatest impacts on her life create a rich, textured story.
“What we had admired about Len from the beginning was his self-possession. He had that quality that in those days we would not have called cool. Force that he didn’t have to raise his voice to exert. Humor, but never had to laugh too loud. In fact, he had in what our salad days we used to see in heroes – strength with the capacity for tenderness.”
This clear eyed examination of one present day and several key moments from the past are carefully brought together to provide a fascinating look at this one woman’s life – the details of the journey that led to this last night with her closest friends.
“Or take this, which concerns whiskey, a topic in which many of us are interested. Those undesirables which contaminate the product are known in America as the heads and tails. In England they are called feints, which give one pause. Among these is fusel oil, “from which it is very desirable that the spirit be freed as much as possible.” Any way you want to take it, that statement is correct.”
Or, “We buy our liquor by the case so that we won’t get nervous about running out, and we buy the big half-gallon bottles so we won’t have to go back and forth to the pantry. The other night after a normal cocktail session, a rather good dinner and a pleasant sleep, I pointed out that we had done away with a half of a half gallon. Since there had been no blows and no sobbing in the night I don’t suppose it was important, but if you figure it up, I suppose we spend on liquor in a month what a semester’s tuition used to be. There is some moral issue here which I should like to think about, if I have the time.”
Some passages sneak up on the reader. Mocking at first…but finishing with a sentimentality and time softened wisdom. (These passages become all the more delicate once the reader reaches the end of the book.)
Like, “At seventeen, Charley didn’t believe in means and averages. I don’t say he didn’t approve of them – he didn’t believe in them. He believed in Olympian heights and Stygian depths. He didn’t know how delicately it is all balanced; that even in grief a shaft of sun can rest upon your shoulder like a hand, or that even true love can harbor true discontent.”
And, “On the whole, I prefer being married; it is neater and eliminates all the cat-and-mouse busy-ness that is fun to think about but not much fun to act out. I got tired of the stolen hour, the stolen night, the disguised telephone message, the accommodation address. I wanted to wake up with someone warm beside me who would kiss me before my teeth were brushed.”
Although I did not experience the era(s) in which this story takes place, I felt like I was there along with the nameless narrator…at once experiencing these events and observing them. Her clarity of vision when trained on her and those people who had the greatest impacts on her life create a rich, textured story.
“What we had admired about Len from the beginning was his self-possession. He had that quality that in those days we would not have called cool. Force that he didn’t have to raise his voice to exert. Humor, but never had to laugh too loud. In fact, he had in what our salad days we used to see in heroes – strength with the capacity for tenderness.”
This clear eyed examination of one present day and several key moments from the past are carefully brought together to provide a fascinating look at this one woman’s life – the details of the journey that led to this last night with her closest friends.
December 12, 2022
If only I could give 10 stars! I cannot express how much I loved this book! The tone of the narrator is perfect - this is a woman who fully embraces her darkness even though she cannot at all see her good qualities. She is flippant, rude, neglectful and yet full of love and protective good will to those she cares for. She has lived her life determined to squeeze out every moment of pleasure and yet she is torn due to her missteps that have harmed others. The story toggles back and forth through her memories of her and her friend's lives but I never felt lost in the story.
I want to add I only found this book because it's author, Elizabeth Savage was married to the author Thomas Savage (The Power of the Dog) and I was curious. Thank you, powerful spirit of literature, for the written word that does not get lost.
I want to end with a poem by Edna St. Vincent Millay, of whom Savage quotes:
I.
I had forgotten how the frogs must sound
After a year of silence, else I think
I should not so have ventured forth alone
At dusk upon this unfrequented road.
II.
I am waylaid by Beauty. Who will walk
Between me and the crying of the frogs?
Oh, savage Beauty, suffer me to pass,
That am a timid woman, on her way
From one house to another!
Assault by Edna St. Vincent Millay
I want to add I only found this book because it's author, Elizabeth Savage was married to the author Thomas Savage (The Power of the Dog) and I was curious. Thank you, powerful spirit of literature, for the written word that does not get lost.
I want to end with a poem by Edna St. Vincent Millay, of whom Savage quotes:
I.
I had forgotten how the frogs must sound
After a year of silence, else I think
I should not so have ventured forth alone
At dusk upon this unfrequented road.
II.
I am waylaid by Beauty. Who will walk
Between me and the crying of the frogs?
Oh, savage Beauty, suffer me to pass,
That am a timid woman, on her way
From one house to another!
Assault by Edna St. Vincent Millay
October 16, 2018
A reunion in Boston of four college friends, secrets revealed and discovered, all told through the voice of the narrator. Much of the backstory resonated with me because of the college experiences the two roommates, gay and the narrator, shared. The author's method was somewhat confusing, but, oh, the language she utilized to tell the story was exquisite. You cannot read this book quickly! It is to be savored. The narrator tell the story in glances back to the past in such a way that you keep re-reading sections to get more of the story straight. Don't miss this gem!
September 16, 2022
I have mixed feelings about this book. On the one hand it is beautifully written with tons of memorable lines. On the other hand, it drags far too much and so parts of it are just boring. That makes it difficult to retain the literary line. I also got bogged down by the drinking. The ending was a surprise.
November 16, 2022
A character study
A revealing book about relationship
with self and others. Multilayered in that the narrator's observances of place and time, a whimsical view that gradually introduces grit, becomes a testimony to the protagonists own secret and jumping off point. Leaves me strangely resolved as a good read ought.
A revealing book about relationship
with self and others. Multilayered in that the narrator's observances of place and time, a whimsical view that gradually introduces grit, becomes a testimony to the protagonists own secret and jumping off point. Leaves me strangely resolved as a good read ought.
February 22, 2019
If it has one star I liked it a lot
If it has two stars I liked it a lot and would recommend it
If it has three stars I really really liked it a lot If it has four stars I insist you read it
If it has five stars it was life changing
If it has two stars I liked it a lot and would recommend it
If it has three stars I really really liked it a lot If it has four stars I insist you read it
If it has five stars it was life changing
July 18, 2017
Set in the heart of Boston and Cambridge; I know every street and landmark in the book. A tragic tale told in a breezy style, which annoyed me a bit, but the story and its unfolding is brilliant.
February 6, 2019
so so good
October 3, 2022
A beautifully written gem. I couldn’t put it down. Read it.
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