Property and Value

by Hugh Hood

The eighth novel in the New Age series, Property and Value is a further installment in the lives of the Goderich family of Toronto and a reflection on currency— it's price, worth, intrinsic value, and goodness in relation to time.

256 pages, Paperback

First published September 10, 1990

Reviews

[David]

Perhaps the best in the sequence so far. A couple of savage plot punches in the final pages. 2nd reading: definitely the best in the sequence. The remaining four books never quite reach this level. That ending is tough, especially given that Hood chooses to completely ignore its issues in the next volume, returning in time about 80 years and following an entirely different branch of family and narrative. Foreshadowing of "death by water" begins with the use of that very phrase (5) and continues throughout, again much more evident when one reads knowing the ending. Proust plays an enormous foreground role in this one; a reader unfamiliar with Proust might respond differently than I did. 4th reading: Some day I hope to buy a copy! One oddity on which I haven't overtly commented: a 3rd-person omniscient (apparently) narrator. Definitely not done by Powell, Snow or Proust. I don't think it occurs in Richardson either. Twice in 10 volumes by Deighton.