Possession

by Louis Bromfield

1925. Louis Bromfield attained worldwide acclaim in the 1920s as the author of Early Autumn, his third novel and winner of the 1926 Pulitzer Prize for fiction. At age 29, Bromfield was regarded as one of America's most promising young novelists, compared to the likes of F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway. His novels were among the first adapted for feature-length sound films. Possession, as the author describes it, is not a sequel to his The Green Bay Tree, but what might be called panel novels in a screen, which when complete, will consist of at least a half-dozen panels all interrelated and each giving a certain phase of the ungainly, swarming, glittering spectacle of American Life. The novel In the fading October twilight Grandpa Tolliver sat eating an apple and reading The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. The ponderous book (volume III) lay spread open upon his bony knees, for it was too heavy to be supported in any other way, and he read by leaning far over and peering at the pages through steel rimmed spectacles which were not quite clear, as they never were. See other titles by this author available from Kessinger Publishing.

Genres: Fiction

504 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1925

About the author

Louis Bromfield was an American author and conservationist who gained international recognition winning the Pulitzer Prize and pioneering innovative scientific farming concepts.

Bromfield studied agriculture at Cornell University from 1914 to 1916,[1] but transferred to Columbia University to study journalism. While at Columbia University, Louis Bromfield was initiated into the fraternal organization Phi Delta Theta. His time at Columbia would be short lived and he left after less than a year to go to war. After serving with the American Field Service in World War I and being awarded the Croix de Guerre and the Legion of Honor, he returned to New York City and found work as a reporter. In 1924, his first novel, The Green Bay Tree, won instant acclaim. He won the 1927 Pulitzer Prize for best novel for Early Autumn. All of his 30 books were best-sellers, and many, such as The Rains Came and Mrs. Parkington, were made into successful motion pictures.

photograph by: Carl Van Vechten

Reviews

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh my goodness, yes five stars, all the stars, all of them.

This is one of those kinda deceptively simple, sneaks up on you novels. Like a Virginia Woolf Night and Day kind, and from that same era. It's not famous, and this Possession isn't even in print. It's just good, because it's totally well written (like, actually well written) and it has so much to say about the human condition but you better be careful because a character you didn't think had lessons for you is going to sneak up on you and make you grapple with your life, so...

And how, how I say, did this man - man! - author actually understand this woman, this artist, Ellen Tolliver and all that she faced in her society and in her mind???
But he knows what it is to be an artist, and a human; that's how, I think.

I won't spoil the ending. But I like the ending.

This book is so obscure! Who's ever going to read it! Bromfield wrote a loosely connected trilogy (overlapping settings and characters but not sequels) and the third one won the Pulitzer in 1927 so of course I had to read the first and now this, the second. This one was so freaking great. Will the third one even measure up?

Also I am 100% and remain forever #TeamGrandpaTolliver. The Everlasting.

Somebody, read this book and love it with me.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some books we do regret when it reaches its final, this is one of them!

[Cbg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exceptional page-turner. The story of Ellen Tolliver aka Lilli Barr the concert pianist. But, more than that, the story of the possessors and the possessed. Who is possessed by whom in what way and who does the possessing.

[Guusje · Rating 3 out of 5]

Possession is the 2nd of a trilogy. I enjoyed the first book (Green Bay Tree) but this one is a 500+ page slog. I enjoyed revisiting some of the characters from Green Bay Tree and the book also introduces some characters who are featured in the 3rd book, Autumn Leaves but the book desperately needed an editors red pencil. Pages of description are devoted to minor characters who aren't all that important to the story. I realize the book was written 100 years ago, and writing styles change - books aren't nearly as wordy these days but still.......

If you are reading the trilogy you can skip this one and just enjoy the 1st and 3rd books!

[John · Rating 1 out of 5]

I very much enjoyed the first 200 pages and the next 100 were ok also but then it just seemed to go on and on , all mush, all feely feely emotional soft marshmallow mush. Went on and on about the feeling of everyone, I was so sick of it all by the end, I did not care what happened to the characters or the story.. The author knows how to write but too gushy for me. My own word, gushy.

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyed this best of Bromfield's Town novels - interesting and emotionally rich (if lengthy...).