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A Stairway to Paradise
From the Booker short-listed author of The Essence of theThing. Madeleine St John's new novel is a poignant, perceptive and deliciously funny portrait of modern life and an elegant anatomy of love. Her most beguiling novel to date.
192 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1999
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 37 reviews
February 14, 2020
My old art history professor struggled in vain to make me see the area around a sculpture.
"Look at that negative space," she'd demand. I would peer with futile concentration, hoping to get a glimpse of the fourth dimension she seemed able to discern all around us.
From the witty novels of English writer Madeleine St. John, I'm beginning to get a sense of what "negative space" might be.
St. John is a writer of deceptively simple domestic scenes. She's interested in the way ordinary men and woman talk, in what they say and, remarkably, in what they don't say.
Indeed, the most painful, comic, forlorn feelings her characters convey hover in that "negative space" between the ordinary pleasantries they express instead.
Her last novel, "The Essence of the Thing" (1998), was composed almost exclusively of dialogue. In her latest, a short novel called "A Stairway to Paradise," the narrator provides more commentary, but the characters are still largely on their own, struggling with what St. John calls "the tyranny of language." Even the construction of the book, with its frequent blank pages and staccato scenes, emphasizes the moments of silence.
The story revolves around Barbara, a young woman who works as a waitress, a nanny, and a housesitter. She's pleasant, aimless, and captivating to every man she meets.
One of the men swept away by her is Alex, a finance journalist trapped in a comically chilly marriage to Claire. Alex and Claire can't stand each other, but they stay together to protect their assets, while whispering to friends that "it's for the children." St. John has a pathologist's precision for describing a dead relationship:
"A marriage such as his and Claire's had become was perfectly negotiable: perfectly: as long as one had all this space. All this rare and valuable north London space. And just look at those mouldings, and try those doors: yes, those are the original handles. And the skirting - it made up for a lot, an awful lot, that skirting. It made up for vacancy, and ironical courtesy, and alienation, almost."
In fact, good moulding isn't enough to make either of them happy. Claire speaks to her husband in the "very cool, very polite, utterly reasonable" voice of someone trying to get along with an incompetent colleague. Alex retaliates by pleasantly ignoring everything she says.
For Alex, the moribund state of his marriage is enough to excuse his affair with their babysitter, Barbara, but she won't accept that logic. The ecstasy of their adultery is, for her, like falling "into an abyss." She understands immediately that they won't, as Alex claims, "live happily ever after."
" 'But we won't be together,' she said. 'I thought we'd be together.' 'But we are,' he said. 'We won't be,' she said. 'Very soon, we won't be. You'll be at home and I shall be here. And then - how often shall we be able to meet after that? No, don't tell me. I know. But even that is not really the point. We'll be sneaking around behind Claire's back, deceiving her and the children, behaving as if this were something disgraceful, secret - it just won't do. I can't do it. Don't you see?' "
Alex argues that their relationship "has nothing to do with anything else in the world or in our lives, it's ours alone," but Barbara rejects that sort of moral compartmentalization. Unfortunately, she never seems to find the satisfaction she deserves.
There's nothing prudish about St. John's outlook. This isn't "Just Say No!" for adulterers. These characters say no, and then have to deal with the insatiable anguish of their loneliness. That's a bold plot to float at the end of a century of moral relativism. But St. John has the witty, if steely, gaze to carry it off.
First published in The Christian Science Monitor, Aug. 19, 1999.
https://www.csmonitor.com/1999/0819/p...
"Look at that negative space," she'd demand. I would peer with futile concentration, hoping to get a glimpse of the fourth dimension she seemed able to discern all around us.
From the witty novels of English writer Madeleine St. John, I'm beginning to get a sense of what "negative space" might be.
St. John is a writer of deceptively simple domestic scenes. She's interested in the way ordinary men and woman talk, in what they say and, remarkably, in what they don't say.
Indeed, the most painful, comic, forlorn feelings her characters convey hover in that "negative space" between the ordinary pleasantries they express instead.
Her last novel, "The Essence of the Thing" (1998), was composed almost exclusively of dialogue. In her latest, a short novel called "A Stairway to Paradise," the narrator provides more commentary, but the characters are still largely on their own, struggling with what St. John calls "the tyranny of language." Even the construction of the book, with its frequent blank pages and staccato scenes, emphasizes the moments of silence.
The story revolves around Barbara, a young woman who works as a waitress, a nanny, and a housesitter. She's pleasant, aimless, and captivating to every man she meets.
One of the men swept away by her is Alex, a finance journalist trapped in a comically chilly marriage to Claire. Alex and Claire can't stand each other, but they stay together to protect their assets, while whispering to friends that "it's for the children." St. John has a pathologist's precision for describing a dead relationship:
"A marriage such as his and Claire's had become was perfectly negotiable: perfectly: as long as one had all this space. All this rare and valuable north London space. And just look at those mouldings, and try those doors: yes, those are the original handles. And the skirting - it made up for a lot, an awful lot, that skirting. It made up for vacancy, and ironical courtesy, and alienation, almost."
In fact, good moulding isn't enough to make either of them happy. Claire speaks to her husband in the "very cool, very polite, utterly reasonable" voice of someone trying to get along with an incompetent colleague. Alex retaliates by pleasantly ignoring everything she says.
For Alex, the moribund state of his marriage is enough to excuse his affair with their babysitter, Barbara, but she won't accept that logic. The ecstasy of their adultery is, for her, like falling "into an abyss." She understands immediately that they won't, as Alex claims, "live happily ever after."
" 'But we won't be together,' she said. 'I thought we'd be together.' 'But we are,' he said. 'We won't be,' she said. 'Very soon, we won't be. You'll be at home and I shall be here. And then - how often shall we be able to meet after that? No, don't tell me. I know. But even that is not really the point. We'll be sneaking around behind Claire's back, deceiving her and the children, behaving as if this were something disgraceful, secret - it just won't do. I can't do it. Don't you see?' "
Alex argues that their relationship "has nothing to do with anything else in the world or in our lives, it's ours alone," but Barbara rejects that sort of moral compartmentalization. Unfortunately, she never seems to find the satisfaction she deserves.
There's nothing prudish about St. John's outlook. This isn't "Just Say No!" for adulterers. These characters say no, and then have to deal with the insatiable anguish of their loneliness. That's a bold plot to float at the end of a century of moral relativism. But St. John has the witty, if steely, gaze to carry it off.
First published in The Christian Science Monitor, Aug. 19, 1999.
https://www.csmonitor.com/1999/0819/p...
August 10, 2021
I reviewed THE WOMEN IN BLACK by this author earlier, and gave it a very high rating. That was the author’s first novel; this is her fourth, and last. Which may explain some of my feelings about it.
It’s hard to review a book that I didn’t much care for, especially after I was so impressed by the author’s earlier work. This is very much a disappointment: insular, and filled with uninteresting people being uncommunicative and boring. Twenty or so years ago some book reviewers decried the types of books that were then being nominated for the Booker Prize in the UK. These were books that seemed to deal solely with the upper middle classes of Hampstead or Chelsea going about their tedious lives with little or no regard for the world around them. I’m sorry to have to say that I believe they may well have been thinking of books just like this. This novel wasn’t on the Booker shortlist, it’s just an example of a type that might have been.
Alex and Andrew are old friends, both of whom are infatuated by Barbara, a beautiful young woman who flits across their lives, interacting with them, and their families. Both become emotionally involved with her. They find this all very disturbing, in a self-absorbed way, and agonise about what they will do about it all. Barbara joins a group of friends and travels overland from London to India, and then continues on to Sydney. And that’s about all there is.
The author was off to a bad start by giving the two main male characters such similar names. Maybe she was attempting to make the point that men of this age and class are nearly all the same. Fair enough but it’s a rather obtuse and confusing way of going about it.
I’m fully aware that all parts of the human experience are fair game for writers, though why you would want to concentrate on the boring and inconsequential parts of it escape me. I would have much preferred to read a novel with Barbara as the sole main character; a caustic satirical novel about the childish infatuations of middle-aged men with pretty young women and the impact that has on the women concerned. There are glimpses of that book here. Just not enough of them.
R: 2.8/5.0
It’s hard to review a book that I didn’t much care for, especially after I was so impressed by the author’s earlier work. This is very much a disappointment: insular, and filled with uninteresting people being uncommunicative and boring. Twenty or so years ago some book reviewers decried the types of books that were then being nominated for the Booker Prize in the UK. These were books that seemed to deal solely with the upper middle classes of Hampstead or Chelsea going about their tedious lives with little or no regard for the world around them. I’m sorry to have to say that I believe they may well have been thinking of books just like this. This novel wasn’t on the Booker shortlist, it’s just an example of a type that might have been.
Alex and Andrew are old friends, both of whom are infatuated by Barbara, a beautiful young woman who flits across their lives, interacting with them, and their families. Both become emotionally involved with her. They find this all very disturbing, in a self-absorbed way, and agonise about what they will do about it all. Barbara joins a group of friends and travels overland from London to India, and then continues on to Sydney. And that’s about all there is.
The author was off to a bad start by giving the two main male characters such similar names. Maybe she was attempting to make the point that men of this age and class are nearly all the same. Fair enough but it’s a rather obtuse and confusing way of going about it.
I’m fully aware that all parts of the human experience are fair game for writers, though why you would want to concentrate on the boring and inconsequential parts of it escape me. I would have much preferred to read a novel with Barbara as the sole main character; a caustic satirical novel about the childish infatuations of middle-aged men with pretty young women and the impact that has on the women concerned. There are glimpses of that book here. Just not enough of them.
R: 2.8/5.0
November 14, 2015
From my 1999 notebook:
Pressed on me by a colleague. Should Alex leave his wife for Barbara? He stays for the kids. I tired a bit of the London dinner party/TV producer scene but some of the dialogue was like Henry Green in those upper class novels - Nothing, Doting etc., quizzical, swift, half revealing, neatly done. And you do feel for the chap and chappesses' (that's the way of it here, I'm afraid) pain and bewilderment.
Pressed on me by a colleague. Should Alex leave his wife for Barbara? He stays for the kids. I tired a bit of the London dinner party/TV producer scene but some of the dialogue was like Henry Green in those upper class novels - Nothing, Doting etc., quizzical, swift, half revealing, neatly done. And you do feel for the chap and chappesses' (that's the way of it here, I'm afraid) pain and bewilderment.
January 29, 2021
3⭐️⭐️⭐️ only for me. Not putting into bookclub. Absolutely loved The Women in Black and The Essence of the Thing but I’m scratching my head as to how this book got through St John’s editor, it feels like an idea whose time never arrived.
The promised tension of a love triangle of Barbara, Alex and Andrew never arrives as Andrew is barely in the book.
How Barbara falls for Alex is inexplicable, he is a whiney, self absorbed self pitying coward/predator chasing a young woman barely out of uni.
Barbara herself seems like a beautiful picture rather than a fully explored character, lacking agency and drive, she just pings from house to house, cook, nanny, companion to various well heeled families as they see fit and need her.
The great love affair never happens, rejected on the grounds of decency, moral high grounded ness and largely I think because Barbara is too listless to commit to any path at all. God came into it a few times too.
The upper crusty language sounds put on and stilted in 2021 and no one in Australia says fair dinkum.
Nothing much happens but there’s a lot of talking and some really cool kids at the end.
Just one to go.
The promised tension of a love triangle of Barbara, Alex and Andrew never arrives as Andrew is barely in the book.
How Barbara falls for Alex is inexplicable, he is a whiney, self absorbed self pitying coward/predator chasing a young woman barely out of uni.
Barbara herself seems like a beautiful picture rather than a fully explored character, lacking agency and drive, she just pings from house to house, cook, nanny, companion to various well heeled families as they see fit and need her.
The great love affair never happens, rejected on the grounds of decency, moral high grounded ness and largely I think because Barbara is too listless to commit to any path at all. God came into it a few times too.
The upper crusty language sounds put on and stilted in 2021 and no one in Australia says fair dinkum.
Nothing much happens but there’s a lot of talking and some really cool kids at the end.
Just one to go.
September 7, 2014
A Stairway to Paradise (1999) was the fourth and final novel of Madeleine St John (1941-2006), the first Australian woman to be shortlisted for the Booker Prize (with The Essence of the Thing, see my review). At 192 pages, it’s only a short novel and I romped through it in an evening, enjoying St John’s wit and perception as she depicts the interior lives of characters caught in the ‘eternal triangle’.
But in the cold hard light of morning, it seems a slight piece of work, of interest more for the poignancy of its autobiographical elements than for anything important it might have to say about the human condition. Two very nice blokes, one beautiful woman adopting a lofty moral position rather than break up a marriage – having read Helen Trinca’s biography of St John I found it hard to avoid the conclusion that this is the fantasy version of St John’s failed relationships.
To read the rest of my review pleased visit http://anzlitlovers.com/2014/09/07/a-...
But in the cold hard light of morning, it seems a slight piece of work, of interest more for the poignancy of its autobiographical elements than for anything important it might have to say about the human condition. Two very nice blokes, one beautiful woman adopting a lofty moral position rather than break up a marriage – having read Helen Trinca’s biography of St John I found it hard to avoid the conclusion that this is the fantasy version of St John’s failed relationships.
To read the rest of my review pleased visit http://anzlitlovers.com/2014/09/07/a-...
April 23, 2014
Very difficult to enjoy a story revolving around a character as pompous, dull as dishwater, self-absorbed and overly privileged as this (Alex), let alone to feel anything but irritated by his passive and absolutely unwarranted & over-the-top misery. Barbara a much more interesting character but her 'passion' for Alex totally inexplicable, the only accounting for which, that I can see, is the powerful pull of the unattainable but, really, that can only go so far in explaining all of this agonising. So tedious. And all of that 'oh I say, jolly good, splendid, ra ra' talk and reference to 'chaps' and 'chapesses' and to 'oneself' in the third person ... You would think this book was written sometime in the 1950s rather than the late 1990s. Glad to see the requisite 'fair dinkum' thrown in though, the badge of Australian-ness apparently.
There is no doubt St John writes well & in a way that draws you in as a reader but, oh my ....
There is no doubt St John writes well & in a way that draws you in as a reader but, oh my ....
Read
August 8, 20234.5 stars.
This was an absolutely terrific book. When I saw the title and author's name on the bookstore shelf I assumed it was a bodice-ripper or Regency romance and that Madeleine St. John must be a pen name. It is anything but. St. John was shortlisted for the Booker Prize for an earlier book ("The Essence of the Thing"), and this book could well have been nominated also.
A contemporary upper-middle class comedy of manners, "A Stairway to Paradise" is sharp and witty. The writing is at once precise and sharp-angled, as if fashioned by a gem cutter, yet suggestive of less sharply defined emotions and open ended. It was a joy to read, and I intend to read this author's other works. (Dust jacket notes variously call St. John a younger Iris Murdoch, Penelope Fitzgerald, and Barbara Pym. Perhaps there are some suggestions of those writers present in this work, but St. John is quite distinctive on her own.)
This was an absolutely terrific book. When I saw the title and author's name on the bookstore shelf I assumed it was a bodice-ripper or Regency romance and that Madeleine St. John must be a pen name. It is anything but. St. John was shortlisted for the Booker Prize for an earlier book ("The Essence of the Thing"), and this book could well have been nominated also.
A contemporary upper-middle class comedy of manners, "A Stairway to Paradise" is sharp and witty. The writing is at once precise and sharp-angled, as if fashioned by a gem cutter, yet suggestive of less sharply defined emotions and open ended. It was a joy to read, and I intend to read this author's other works. (Dust jacket notes variously call St. John a younger Iris Murdoch, Penelope Fitzgerald, and Barbara Pym. Perhaps there are some suggestions of those writers present in this work, but St. John is quite distinctive on her own.)
January 11, 2019
There's an easy-breezy style to Madeline St John without being breathy or glib. While this one paled next to The Women In BlackThe Women In Black styled almost entirely by dialogue (not my favourite), it still casts a nice ripple on the surface of relationships with a number of plot pebbles thrown out on the pond.
A lot of very precise language helps portray characters quickly and vividly. And what comes across from what is not said gets the reader thinking, smiling and nodding. A lovely little engagement with a slim novella that satisfies.
A lot of very precise language helps portray characters quickly and vividly. And what comes across from what is not said gets the reader thinking, smiling and nodding. A lovely little engagement with a slim novella that satisfies.
July 16, 2013
the down-side is that after reading this one, I only had one left! i've devoured all 4 of Madeleine's gorgeous addictive novels which have all been reprinted by Text over the last couple of years. I don't really have a favourite, the 3 London novels are wonderful, but The Women in black is so Australian, a love letter to her own 50s Sydney and to her young self as well. fabulous stuff
August 14, 2022
4 e 1/2
March 26, 2017
Recently I saw a reference to Madeleine St John's Women in Black - an Australian classic. I believe I've read one other novel by this writer, who became an expat, living out her life in London. But not Stairway to Paradise - so off to the library I went to find another one.
This story about a fraught love affair was written 20 years ago and the attitudes shown by the characters are very much of their time. The moral imperatives, particularly towards the breakup of a marriage, no longer have the same weight. Even allowing for this shift though, I felt that Barbara and Alex's decisions and actions didn't always convince me.
That said, St John writes beautifully. The way she describes falling in love and the sex scenes are poetic and compelling. I loved her open-ended conclusion too.
This was a quick read and an interesting and enjoyable one, even though the story won't stay with me, I suspect. (Unlike Women in Black which I still remember well.)
This story about a fraught love affair was written 20 years ago and the attitudes shown by the characters are very much of their time. The moral imperatives, particularly towards the breakup of a marriage, no longer have the same weight. Even allowing for this shift though, I felt that Barbara and Alex's decisions and actions didn't always convince me.
That said, St John writes beautifully. The way she describes falling in love and the sex scenes are poetic and compelling. I loved her open-ended conclusion too.
This was a quick read and an interesting and enjoyable one, even though the story won't stay with me, I suspect. (Unlike Women in Black which I still remember well.)
December 15, 2023
Mi aspettavo tutt'altro da questo libro... ma mi è piaciuto.
Barbara, la nostra protagonista, si mantiene con lavori occasionali e casuali, non dice mai di no, ma vive con la sensazione di "aver perso il treno". Si lascia trasportare dagli avvenimenti portandola a intraprendere avventure e a prendere scelte arrivando anche, alle cosiddette, sliding doors.
“Non so cosa dirti. Non ci sono parole per descrivere ciò che provo, oltre a quelle dell’ecclesiastico Tudor, che non sono esaustive. Non posso prometterti niente e non ho niente da offrirti, a parte me stesso, per quanto possa valere.”
Barbara, la nostra protagonista, si mantiene con lavori occasionali e casuali, non dice mai di no, ma vive con la sensazione di "aver perso il treno". Si lascia trasportare dagli avvenimenti portandola a intraprendere avventure e a prendere scelte arrivando anche, alle cosiddette, sliding doors.
“Non so cosa dirti. Non ci sono parole per descrivere ciò che provo, oltre a quelle dell’ecclesiastico Tudor, che non sono esaustive. Non posso prometterti niente e non ho niente da offrirti, a parte me stesso, per quanto possa valere.”
September 6, 2018
This is a beautifully written book, but the last two chapters spoiled all that came before for me. It seemed a lot of good writing gone to spoil on a very small idea at the end of the day.
December 11, 2022
Sono arrivata alla fine di questo libro solo perché è corto e ci sono intere pagine che sono inutili dal punto di vista della trama e non hanno alcun valore letterario. Le recensioni entusiaste riportare sulla copertina mi hanno fuorviata. Non ho trovato traccia di quelle puntigliose indagini sull' "animo umano" che venivano decantate, e nemmeno "l'acume" nella descrizione delle relazioni umane di chi si ama. La trama è scadente. Uomo sposato si innamora pazzamente della babysitter dei figli, lei non si sa perché ricambia (cos'hanno che li avvicina a parte i ferormoni?). Ma non possono stare insieme, lui ha i bambini piccoli... Salti temporali, personaggi secondari a cui viene dato spazio per non si capisce quale motivo. Cosa voleva dirci l'autrice con questi romanzo? Che funzione avevano i personaggi? A cosa serviva raccontarci della visita dall'America della figlioletta di Andrew (amico divorziato dell'uomo sposato che si scopa anche lui la stessa donna e anche lui si innamora pazzamente), del desiderio del padre di farle vedere la vita inglese? 3 pagine. Poi si ritorna all'amore disperato dell'uomo sposato. Si passa da un personaggio inutile all'altro, una cosa che in 150 pagine di romanzo è abbastanza fastidiosa. Sappiamo di più di questi personaggi che di quello che vivono i protagonisti, quasi. Il titolo poi non ha alcun significato, né in italiano né in inglese ("A stairway to paradise"). Ok, l'ultima pagina ci lascia intuire che i due amanti alla fine si ritrovano. Ma dov'è questo paradise? Che forma prende? In cosa consiste questa stairway? Boh.
Quindi, morale della favola: non fidarsi delle recensioni delle riviste.
PS. Ho letto la descrizione della storia che è riportata qui. Ma che libro hanno letto?!? Quale segreto di Alex? Quale farsi strada tra gli intellettuali londinesi? Questa li ha conosciuti perché gli teneva i bambini o le case. Non mi sembra vengano descritte le sue doti intellettuali... Ah, no, ma la sera leggeva un libro, ecco!
Quindi, morale della favola: non fidarsi delle recensioni delle riviste.
PS. Ho letto la descrizione della storia che è riportata qui. Ma che libro hanno letto?!? Quale segreto di Alex? Quale farsi strada tra gli intellettuali londinesi? Questa li ha conosciuti perché gli teneva i bambini o le case. Non mi sembra vengano descritte le sue doti intellettuali... Ah, no, ma la sera leggeva un libro, ecco!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 21, 2022
recensione completa qui: https://www.lunaticamente.com/recensi...
Non c'è cosa più bella che arrivare in libreria e trovare, sullo scaffale di fronte a te, la nuova uscita di Madeleine St John.
Devo ammettere che ho uno strano rapporto con questa scrittrice, ho tutti i suoi libri- pochi purtroppo - e di ognuno di essi riservo un ricordo particolare. Ogni storia mi ha lasciato qualcosa ma se devo consigliarla a qualcuno sto bene attenta a farlo solo con chi so che potrebbe capirla.
La St John, nonostante la sua estrema bravura, la scorrevolezza delle parole, la sua immensa capacità di narrare uno spaccato di vita, risulta il più delle volte amara, malinconica e inconclusiva.
Ogni volta che parlo di lei la paragono a una finestra che si apre per mostrarci una porzione di vita di alcune persone che per caso, in quell'esatto momento, so trovavano lì a vivere.
Ci indica cosa guardare e chi ascoltare, non nasconde la malinconia delle persone nascosta dietro a falsi sorrisi e speranze e quando sembra sul punto di dirci di più, ecco che chiude la finestra su quel piccolo mondo e così com'è arrivata, se ne va.
Ogni libro della St John è così, proprio com'è la vita.
Non è inconcludente, non manca mai nulla nelle sue storie, semplicemente chiede di osservare e farsi trasportare dalla storia senza apportare il nostro giudizio, senza voler essere perfezionisti cercando sempre la storia che deve essere come ci aspettiamo noi.
Ne "l'amica sfuggente" è così, come in tutti i suoi libri. Non c'è molto da approfondire in questa storia, non posso entrare nei dettagli perché rischierei di svelare troppo ma l'unica cosa che vi consiglio è di leggerla, di lasciare il giudizio da parte e assaporare la grande penna di Madeleine St John.
Non c'è cosa più bella che arrivare in libreria e trovare, sullo scaffale di fronte a te, la nuova uscita di Madeleine St John.
Devo ammettere che ho uno strano rapporto con questa scrittrice, ho tutti i suoi libri- pochi purtroppo - e di ognuno di essi riservo un ricordo particolare. Ogni storia mi ha lasciato qualcosa ma se devo consigliarla a qualcuno sto bene attenta a farlo solo con chi so che potrebbe capirla.
La St John, nonostante la sua estrema bravura, la scorrevolezza delle parole, la sua immensa capacità di narrare uno spaccato di vita, risulta il più delle volte amara, malinconica e inconclusiva.
Ogni volta che parlo di lei la paragono a una finestra che si apre per mostrarci una porzione di vita di alcune persone che per caso, in quell'esatto momento, so trovavano lì a vivere.
Ci indica cosa guardare e chi ascoltare, non nasconde la malinconia delle persone nascosta dietro a falsi sorrisi e speranze e quando sembra sul punto di dirci di più, ecco che chiude la finestra su quel piccolo mondo e così com'è arrivata, se ne va.
Ogni libro della St John è così, proprio com'è la vita.
Non è inconcludente, non manca mai nulla nelle sue storie, semplicemente chiede di osservare e farsi trasportare dalla storia senza apportare il nostro giudizio, senza voler essere perfezionisti cercando sempre la storia che deve essere come ci aspettiamo noi.
Ne "l'amica sfuggente" è così, come in tutti i suoi libri. Non c'è molto da approfondire in questa storia, non posso entrare nei dettagli perché rischierei di svelare troppo ma l'unica cosa che vi consiglio è di leggerla, di lasciare il giudizio da parte e assaporare la grande penna di Madeleine St John.
April 12, 2019
I really enjoyed the book. 3 people and really, a lot more, caught in an affair. Barbara who loves Alex and Alex who loves Barbara. Alex who has a wife and 2 children. A modus operandi between him and his wife, for the sake of the children. Divorce is damaging they know but they don't realize the effect of 2 people who aren't in love, just staying together, tolerant of each other.
It's a battle between what they want and what is right. Or what looks like the right thing. The premise is very common but Madeleine St. John is a skillful writer and that's what makes the book really enjoyable. Characters who otherwise would just be annoying are transformed into people with emotions, in her skillful hands.
If you want to read more of Madeleine St. John, I'd say, yes go ahead. Otherwise, you wouldn't lose anything by skipping this.
It's a battle between what they want and what is right. Or what looks like the right thing. The premise is very common but Madeleine St. John is a skillful writer and that's what makes the book really enjoyable. Characters who otherwise would just be annoying are transformed into people with emotions, in her skillful hands.
If you want to read more of Madeleine St. John, I'd say, yes go ahead. Otherwise, you wouldn't lose anything by skipping this.
March 26, 2023
Lo stile di St. John colpisce per la ricercata semplicità. Si direbbe molto inglese: pragmatico ma estremamente elegante.
L'eleganza della semplicità e della concretezza che non concede nulla all'estetica a finisce per realizzarla.
La storia, d'altro canto, è meno interessante ruotando intorno alle difficoltà del matrimonio e alla gestione della sua fine rispetto ai figli e al proprio desiderio di altre relazioni e di realizzazione affettiva.
Si potrebbe concludere che l'approccio al tema risenta del periodo in cui il libro è stato scritto mentre lo stile è più classico e non teme il confronto col tempo regalandoci delle descrizioni poetiche e rivelatrici delle relazioni affettive e delle inevitabili gabbie mentali e non che costruiscono.
L'eleganza della semplicità e della concretezza che non concede nulla all'estetica a finisce per realizzarla.
La storia, d'altro canto, è meno interessante ruotando intorno alle difficoltà del matrimonio e alla gestione della sua fine rispetto ai figli e al proprio desiderio di altre relazioni e di realizzazione affettiva.
Si potrebbe concludere che l'approccio al tema risenta del periodo in cui il libro è stato scritto mentre lo stile è più classico e non teme il confronto col tempo regalandoci delle descrizioni poetiche e rivelatrici delle relazioni affettive e delle inevitabili gabbie mentali e non che costruiscono.
October 17, 2022
Like many people, I came to Madeleine St John from The Women in Black, which I really loved.
This isn't quite as good. There are some interesting and well-written parts - dialogue - in relationships and I think it picked up a bit towards the end but a lot in the middle meandered and just didn't feel that compelling. The characters weren't nearly that interesting or ones you could become invested in. Still, when it ended and I liked the ending more than I expected to, based on some of the midddle material I started to think that much much later it could be the kind of book that might benefit from a re-read. I might get more out of it.
This isn't quite as good. There are some interesting and well-written parts - dialogue - in relationships and I think it picked up a bit towards the end but a lot in the middle meandered and just didn't feel that compelling. The characters weren't nearly that interesting or ones you could become invested in. Still, when it ended and I liked the ending more than I expected to, based on some of the midddle material I started to think that much much later it could be the kind of book that might benefit from a re-read. I might get more out of it.
May 17, 2019
I have thoroughly enjoyed all of the novels by St John that I have read and this is no exception. Her characters are delightful, she avoids too much time on physical details, focussing instead on dialogue and internal reflections (which I love). Even, so the essence of the locations (London/Sydney) permeates the story. I particularly enjoyed how she wrestles with big relational issues without moralising. St John uses a refreshingly simple voice, sharp chapters and much poignant wit - I feel so sad to have come to the end!
July 3, 2017
Hmmm I much preferred Women in Black. Although Stairway to Paradise was published in 1999, the dialogue seems of an earlier time and it was all a bit passive. Confusing at times trying to distinguish between Alex and Andrew. Here's a tip authors, give your 2 main characters names that differ alphabetically (and also different number of syllables) ...make it easy for your tired readers who fall asleep every night with a book crashing to the floor
March 1, 2023
St John's version of an "eternal triangle" - two men who are friends, in love with the same woman. One man is in a less than happy marriage but staying in it for the sake of the children; the other is divorced, with a daughter who has stayed with her mother in the US and visits him in the summer school holidays.
I enjoyed it well enough, but my favourite book by St John remains "The Women in Black" which is set in her native Sydney and is a delight.
I enjoyed it well enough, but my favourite book by St John remains "The Women in Black" which is set in her native Sydney and is a delight.
June 21, 2022
ben scritto, ben raccontata l'ambientazione londinese, ma forse, per chi non ci è mai stato, difficile da comprendere appieno. La storia non mi ha particolarmente affascinata, anche se lo stile è scorrevole, e di tipica impostazione anglosassone. Non so se leggerei un altro romanzo della stessa autrice.
December 16, 2018
Lighthearted and amusing read, definitely poking fun at an element of British society .
April 1, 2020
Having once been "the other woman" I read some of my own feelings and conversations in this work. Must find her other titles
June 7, 2020
Wonderful fun with an excellent ending. Right up my alley and just my cup of tea.
June 21, 2022
Leggero, si legge in un pomeriggio. Mi sono rivista molto in Barbara, la scrittura è molto scorrevole.
February 25, 2023
Just delightful, observant prose - the tragedy & humour of everyday middle-class humanity… and such a gift for writing child characters. Read in an afternoon as such succinct style.
September 10, 2022
First published in 1999 and re-release in 2010, Madeleine St John’s final novel is the tale of three friends locked in a love triangle with no easy way out.
Although born in Sydney, St John spent much of her adult life in London, in particularly Notting Hill, and it is here amongst the upper-middle class that this novel is based.
A Stairway to Paradise is loosely part of a trilogy formed by her previous novels A Pure Clear Light (1996) and The Essence of the Thing (1997) that are all set in north London.
Characters in A Stairway to Paradise
Andrew has just returned from ten years teaching in the United States. He has left behind a broken marriage and a child he can only see once a year for a month in the summer.
Alex is an old friend from Oxford days who is locked in a loveless marriage with Claire, but stays with his wife out of a sense of duty to his young children.
Both men are in love with Barbara but she is in love with the man that she cannot have. Barbara is portrayed as a beautiful free spirit who loves to travel and has never had a “real job”. She works as a nanny and a cook for the rich set in north London. It is in this role in Alex’s house that the two fall in love.
Themes in A Stairway to Paradise
St John covers a number of themes in A Stairway to Paradise, namely how hard it is for many people to articulate what they really feel about the person they love.
Andrew is too much the nice guy with wonderful social manners and is unable to articulate his real feelings for Barbara so his desires go unfulfilled and his role in the triangle is minor.
It is through Alex and Barbara that the real story plays out. The themes of what we are prepared or not prepared to give up for love are throughout the novel.
Alex, the somewhat dislikeable character of the three, is desperately in love with Barbara and happy to have an affair with her but he will not leave his family and puts the stability of his children first. “I have a wife and two children and a household to maintain: those are the givens.”
For all her free spirit, playing the mistress is not enough for Barbara and so she leaves both Alex and the country to travel across the world broken hearted and disillusioned.
A Stairway to Paradise is a simple story that places emotions under the microscope. The book is dense with dialogue but it is clear and clean, which makes this an easy read.
Although born in Sydney, St John spent much of her adult life in London, in particularly Notting Hill, and it is here amongst the upper-middle class that this novel is based.
A Stairway to Paradise is loosely part of a trilogy formed by her previous novels A Pure Clear Light (1996) and The Essence of the Thing (1997) that are all set in north London.
Characters in A Stairway to Paradise
Andrew has just returned from ten years teaching in the United States. He has left behind a broken marriage and a child he can only see once a year for a month in the summer.
Alex is an old friend from Oxford days who is locked in a loveless marriage with Claire, but stays with his wife out of a sense of duty to his young children.
Both men are in love with Barbara but she is in love with the man that she cannot have. Barbara is portrayed as a beautiful free spirit who loves to travel and has never had a “real job”. She works as a nanny and a cook for the rich set in north London. It is in this role in Alex’s house that the two fall in love.
Themes in A Stairway to Paradise
St John covers a number of themes in A Stairway to Paradise, namely how hard it is for many people to articulate what they really feel about the person they love.
Andrew is too much the nice guy with wonderful social manners and is unable to articulate his real feelings for Barbara so his desires go unfulfilled and his role in the triangle is minor.
It is through Alex and Barbara that the real story plays out. The themes of what we are prepared or not prepared to give up for love are throughout the novel.
Alex, the somewhat dislikeable character of the three, is desperately in love with Barbara and happy to have an affair with her but he will not leave his family and puts the stability of his children first. “I have a wife and two children and a household to maintain: those are the givens.”
For all her free spirit, playing the mistress is not enough for Barbara and so she leaves both Alex and the country to travel across the world broken hearted and disillusioned.
A Stairway to Paradise is a simple story that places emotions under the microscope. The book is dense with dialogue but it is clear and clean, which makes this an easy read.
June 11, 2014
A Stairway to Paradise… made me unpleasantly sick. I've never been particularly into love triangles. I can't say it inspired me either into a time, that I think was definitely before I was born.
Love is love right? in all it's different evolutionary terms of the word.
On that note. I really enjoy Madeleine St. Jon's writing. I enjoy the the simple and direct nature of her style of writing. Yet for some reason, maybe it's because I was brought up in Australia… I get it, and it's for that reason I really enjoy it.
Strange subtle nuances. The reason why a girl would fall for a man so depressed and miserable with himself, he thinks he can fix everything with a new wife. In comparison his friend who is recently divorced and keenly interested, the trade up could be considered beneficial.
For what ever reasons. you never really find out what Barbara wants. Because everything she did desire, isn't what she longs for anymore.
It's good writing, some of the events seem unexplained. But they are hinted out through out the entire novel. I think what is poignant about the book, is it's not filled with lust or desire. More of the memoirs of that time period in their lives and the desire to go back in time.
December 31, 2015
Madeleine St John is a brilliant writer - her works are engaging, her characters incredibly real and the human predicaments she creates are tantalising. I love that you get an insight into the working of the minds of the lovers. Because this is St John's forte - saucy adulterous love/lust. And the angst that follows. I guess the thing that I liked and disliked about this book was as a kind of 'slice of life' story, it just finished - like life sometimes does- without tying up any loose ends. We are left to assume or wonder what the characters will do after the final pages. I guess the good part of this is it does tend to mean the book stays with you more - leaves you thinking - but personally I would like a bit more resolution.
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