The Long View

by Elizabeth Jane Howard

'The Long View', a revealing portrait of a marriage, is the ingenious construction of a couple's story that offers a remarkable and very real view of the shifting relationship between two people from 1950 to 1926.

(The author, Elizabeth Jane Howard, rose to international stardom with her magnificent Cazalet family saga.)

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, 20th Century, Literary Fiction, British Literature, Book Club, Literature

392 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1956

About the author

Elizabeth Jane Howard, CBE, was an English novelist. She was an actress and a model before becoming a novelist. In 1951, she won the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize for her first novel, The Beautiful Visit. Six further novels followed, before she embarked on her best known work, a four novel family saga (i.e., The Cazalet Chronicles) set in wartime Britain. The Light Years, Marking Time, Confusion, and Casting Off were serialised by Cinema Verity for BBC television as The Cazalets (The Light Years, Marking Time, Confusion and Casting Off). She has also written a book of short stories, Mr Wrong, and edited two anthologies.

Her last novel in The Cazalet Chronicles series, "ALL CHANGE", was published in November 2013.

Reviews

[Claire Fuller · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Long View is the story of Antonia and her marriage to Conrad, structured with a reverse chronology. Starting in 1950 and jumping back five times, it ends in 1926 when Antonia is 19 and has her eyes opened to the truth of her parents' marriage, following her first disasterous love affair. Rather than teaching her anything, it propels her forward into her own unhappy marriage. Don't read it if you're looking for something uplifting but do read it for character, detail, poignancy and superb writing.

[Ellen · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Long View by Elizabeth Jane Howard is a brilliantly written but ultimately depressing story of a marriage. When we meet the Flemings they are ”celebrating” the engagement of their son who is entering a marriage that looks like it will replicate the disaster that is his parents’. After reading this story of Conrad, an interesting but selfish, difficult, and unlikable man, and his wife, Antonia, who searches for his approval over what feels like a lifetime, anyone might pause before getting married.
Howard paints a portrait of life (and marriage) in mid-20th century London. Her depiction of the society in which the Flemings live and the incisive examination of their marriage can be amusing. As written by Howard, it seems to be a time when a man marries under the illusion that he can take the raw material that he perceives as his wife and shape her into something pleasing to him. Antonia’s willingness to accept this situation and her continual striving for Conrad’s love also seems to belong to another time. But the sadness of a world in which love seems impossible and marriage at best a waste of people’s lives and at worst the opportunity for people to destroy someone (or themselves), becomes increasingly painful.
Perhaps it is just that by the second half of the book I could hardly bear to be around Conrad and the damage he wreaks but I found the story weaker and less compelling than the first half. However, Howard is a very strong writer and even at her weakest greatly interesting. I’m just glad to be away from this suffocating world in which relationships are something to be avoided (not that living alone looks good either). Antonia Fleming surely deserves better than what she got.
I want to thank NetGalley, and publishers Open Road Integrated Fiction for the opportunity to read this book.

[Mary Durrant · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautifully written.
Richly perceptive of ones emotions.
Moving backwards in time reveals a portrait of a marriage.
Antonia looks at her life and the choices she has made.
Do we know what love is?
This novel cuts to the heart with an eye for detail.
I loved it!

[Denise · Rating 5 out of 5]

There aren't enough superlatives to describe how good this is. So clever, such a way with language, I've been in awe throughout.
The dissected history of a marriage from 1950 working backwards to 1927. Conrad Fleming is a Svengali-like figure who has moulded his wife; dictating everything about her from what she wears to her opinions. Mrs Fleming — we don't discover her name until halfway through the novel — appears cool, detached, uncaring and the novel traces her development into this creature brilliantly.
In my head James Mason was Conrad and Claire Bloom Antonia. Delicious.

[Splendini · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Ora tutto quell'edificio franava come una massa d'argilla giù da una montagna, e la sua alta opinione mutò in una spaventosa, improvvisa indifferenza. Ci fu il silenzio completo e sinistro che sempre segue una valanga di quelle proporzioni."

Ho letto questo libro allo stesso modo in cui ho guardato La corrispondenza, il film di Giuseppe Tornatore.
Non ci sono paragoni tra i due, ma voglio dire che l'ho letto con una tale partecipazione che non so dire se sia un bel libro davvero.
Partecipazione, non immedesimazione. È sicuramente un romanzo imperfetto, ma mi ha coinvolto sia con la storia sia con la scrittura, davvero elegante, sottile, puntuale.

il personaggio che mi ha affascinato di più è lui, Conrad Fleming. Uno talmente assertivo e sicuro di sé da comportarsi sempre con divina noncuranza, divertito nel mettere in imbarazzo gli altri e nel rendersi impopolare. "Arrivato a un'età che dava ulteriore lustro al suo carisma, si era costruito una personalità complicata, misteriosa e irriverente che faceva di lui un folle del diciannovesimo secolo". Uomo dei contrasti, può avere sentimenti forti, può essere subdolamente crudele o allegramente indifferente. Mi ci sono proprio divertita.

È un libro molto femminile, e non è privo dei cliché su crisi di coppia e relazioni adultere. Però questo "lungo sguardo" mi è sembrato posarsi con intelligenza, e in certe parti l'ho seguito con la stessa tensione e lo stesso pathos che fa provare un thriller.
La parte centrale è quella che dà più dipendenza, incalzante, si dirama, è originale, la comunicazione è suggerita, contenuta, le dinamiche si sviluppano attraverso brevi dialoghi allusivi. E in effetti il libro procede in crescendo. Poi però l'ultima parte è forse la più debole, la tensione cala, le parole aumentano, è tutto troppo descritto, nonostante sia quella che racconta come tutto è iniziato. Il finale, quello proprio delle ultime scene, è buono però.

Ma una cosa la Howard la rappresenta molto bene, una cosa che ho sempre sentito con forza riguardo a certi rapporti finiti male alla distanza. Quella sensazione che il disastro inizi sempre per piccoli movimenti, una scossa leggera, un lieve sgretolarsi che forma una crepa che diventa un crepaccio che diventa una voragine. La prima incomprensione accompagnata dal primo silenzio ostinato, il primo rifiuto di empatia più o meno rancoroso, il primo moto di glaciale indifferenza, e piano piano viene giù tutto, come una slavina che alimenta se stessa e si gonfia man mano.

[Paula Cadle · Rating 1 out of 5]

Made it about halfway thru this confusing rambling story. It could be called The Long Read or The Long Reference List.

The characters are sad, selfish and unlikable at the beginning. There seems to be a good amount of character development as you move back in time thru the story of the family and marriage. But, it is buried in layers of awkward references.

The detail and rambling passages leave me wondering what the initial comment was about. There are many references that mean nothing to me. Since the setting is early to mid 1900's in London, I suppose that makes sense, but the endless lists left me searching for meaning in the run-on sentences. Constant references to cities, people, events, etc. that, had I took the time to look up, would have further impeded my ability to maintain the story flow. It is like reading a bulleted list in every other paragraph. There should have been subscripts to define the endless references. With all of the fluff, the actual purpose or thought to convey was buried in minutia.

Quotation (loc 1240 in Kindle)

"..(he always maintained that living consisted of no fundamentals, outlines, basic truths or principles ... but simply a vast quantity of details, endlessly variable, and utterly unrelated)."

This quotation is the very definition of the writing style in this book. Is this entire book a stream of consciousness from Mr. Fleming?

Whatever it is, I am not going to spend any more of my time digging thru the endless tangential references to decipher it.

[Lucy Somerhalder · Rating 4 out of 5]

'[She had] an expanse of face too large for unhappily delicate features: minutely thin pale eyebrows, small blue eyes, a child's nose, and a tiny mouth; so that her expression was constantly like somebody trying to have a large party in a room with inadequate furniture.' The Long View is heartbreaking, compelling and so human, and also littered with casual GEMS like the one above. I absolutely love ol' EJH.

[Giulia (moonrise.bookdom) · Rating 3 out of 5]

*2.5/5

So many conflicting thoughts about this one!
I think the choice of using reverse chronology to describe the development of the Flemings’ marriage is a really good one: it makes you go back to what you’ve just read and change perspective. Howard’s writing is always on point, even if some descriptions felt too long or unnecessary.

That being said, this book was a claustrophobic read for me. It started out great: the first part includes a lot of different points of view and I liked that, because it reminded me of the Cazalets or After Julius. But then it focuses only on the Flemings, slowly unravelling the story of their marriage. I usually love books with unlikeable characters, but for the whole time I could not understand nor sympathize with both Conrad and Antonia. Conrad is selfish and incredibly misogynist it was hard to read about him. On the other side, Antonia is spineless and totally lacks of character. The last part, where we finally get to know about her family and the circumstances that brought her to Conrad, partially explains her future behaviour, but not enough for me to understand or simply stand her.

As you see, the psychological insight is thorough; it’s just me in the end, it was utterly frustrating to read about these people for 500 pages because of lots of problematic elements.

[Richard Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you think that you might read this book and don’t want to know anything about the plot, then read no further. Although the pleasure of the book is in the prose and acute observations of human relationships, so I don’t think that knowing a little about the book would matter much; and I’ve no idea anyway how much I will give away.

I’m writing this on my birthday. I pay little attention to birthdays, unlike my children, but I’ve felt that because it’s my birthday I can indulge myself. So instead of working and answering emails I’ve copied out all the quotes I clipped on my Kindle. It’s taken me more than an hour, but it meant I relived the book—not the plot but the “feel.” And as I copied the words, I listened to Strauss’s Four Last Songs sung by Jessye Norman. Few things are more exquisite.

I’m going to attach my quotes at the end of this note, They are described by Hilary Mantel as “jaundiced observations – pithily expressed, painfully accurate.” I read the book because Mantel selected Howard as her favourite novelist, and I’ve attached below a long quote from her article and a link to it. I’d never read any Howard before, although I knew her as Kingsley Amis’s wife and Martin Amis’s stepmother. This is shameful but a reflection of how the world regards “women writers.” She is a better writer than either and certainly a better observer of human relationships.

“Life is lived forwards but understood backwards,” said Kierkegaard, and perhaps that’s why The Long View goes backwards. It reminded me of Pinter’s play Betrayal, which also goes backwards. The Long View was published in 1956, Betrayal in 1998. Perhaps Pinter was influenced by Howard.

The first section of the book is set in 1950. Mrs Fleming is married to an impossible man—conceited, rude, selfish, arrogant, and uncaring. The only man in the book who is not in some way a monster is her father, a man who cares not about the present but about 16th century social customs, is mostly reading in his library, and ignores the silly ways of his promiscuous wife. He is loved by Toni, as we later learn Mrs Fleming to be called, primarily because she hates her mother.

Back in 1950, her husband is about to leave her and her two children are launching into relationships that look set to be disastrous. She is a wise, comforting woman who makes people feel good. She’s a mother. Her son is marrying an unhappy, inexperienced woman simply to get the business of marriage out of the way. The wife to be, who also hates her mother, knows she doesn’t love and isn’t loved but lacks the courage to act; at least she’ll get away from her mother. Mrs Fleming’s daughter loves passionately a man who cares little for her and has got pregnant by him, perhaps in an attempt trap him. She is copying her mother, as we discover later, in loving an unsuitable man, and perhaps all women do at some point. Dumped by the man, she turns quickly to a man who loves her pathetically.

As we go backwards in time, we discover that Mr Fleming, Conrad, has had many affairs, including one with a much younger woman, Imogen, who shares an innocence with the young Toni, whom we encounter later in the book. Conrad finds it awkward that he does love Imogen, but that doesn’t stop him discarding her.

Back further, Antonia, as she is now called, is distraught by her husband’s betrayal and falls into the bed of an accomplished womaniser. He is at least, understanding women well, sensitive to her needs. But he’s more sensitive to his own needs, and she feels foolish when she understands that she’s one of dozens. He’s entirely unperturbed when she ends their relationship.

In 1927 we see Antonia launch into marriage. She’s wholly unprepared. We wonder how it happened.

The final section, from 1926, explains why. Toni lives at home in Sussex with her remote father and mother who loves parties and games. Every weekend there’s a house party with tennis, bridge, horse riding, and cocktails. During the week her mother goes to London for a couple of days, and we, the worldly wise readers, recognise that she’s with a lover. Such a thought never crosses Toni’s mind.

Toni is 19 and looks and behaves like a 17 year old. At one of the parties an older, smooth taking Irishman fixes on her. We have doubts about him immediately, but she falls in love with him. At one point he tries to seduce her, and unprepared she pushes him back. He’s angry. Later he succeeds, and we know that he loses interest at that point. She has no such idea. Worse is to come in that we sense that the Irishman has launched into an affair with Toni’s mother, and so he has. Is the mother doing it partly to compete with her daughter? We suspect so.

At the end of the book Toni meets Conrad, and we understand why she marries him—and we know what is to happen.

The book has an autobiographical feel. Toni begins as a complete innocent about male female relationships, as is, 30 years later, the woman that Mrs Fleming’s son is to marry. Her daughter is less innocent in that she has become pregnant, but it’s surely innocence as well as foolishness that leads her to go off with the old, loving boyfriend. Perhaps all women (and all men?) begin in state of innocence still, but I think that the position of women has changed radically—it is perhaps the biggest change of the last century.

Howard, who died at 90 in 2014, became far from innocent, marrying three times and having a string of lovers, including her first husband’s brother, Arthur Koestler, Ken Tynan, Laurie Lee, Cyril Connolly, and Cecil Day-Lewis. Perhaps all those lovers were the result of a sort of innocence.

Some have argued that The Long View should be included in the 100 great English novels of the 20th century. Lucky Jim, written by Howard’s second husband, Kingsley Amis, is in at least one of those lists, but I’d include The Long View before Lucky Jim. I look forward to reading more Howard.

Hilary Mantel on Elizabeth Jane Howard

“There were only two kinds of people, those who live different lives with the same partner, and those who live the same life with different partners … ”

“She had acted in Stratford as a girl, and she would have liked what the day offered: the dark wintry river, the swans gliding by, and behind rain-streaked windows, new dramas in formation: human shadows, shuffling and whispering in the dimness, hoping – by varying and repeating their errors – to edge closer to getting it right. In Jane’s novels, the timid lose their scripts, the bold forget their lines, but a performance, somehow, is scrambled together; heads high, hearts sinking, her characters head out into the dazzle of circumstance. Every phrase is improvised and every breath a risk. The play concerns the pursuit of happiness, the pursuit of love. Standing ovations await the brave.” Hilary Mantel on EJH

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2016...

Elizabeth Jane Howard. A Long Life

June Stoker would soon be introduced to a company which had long ceased to discover anything new about themselves likely to increase either their animation or their intimacy.

To June the essence of romance suggested the right man in the wrong circumstances

Their children…were the consequence of mistaken social exuberance

His daughter was a more subtle disaster. She was undoubtedly attractive, but although not a fool, she was not equipped with enough intellectual ballast for her charms

That collective mystery, the world

She was a nice, ignorant, unimaginative girl, designed perfectly to reproduce herself; and regarding her, Mr Fleming, found it difficult to believe in The Origin of the Species

What a mistake it is to listen to one’s thoughts. But it is a mistake of such infinite variety that making it constitutes a chief pleasure in life.

Men discuss the fundamentals as superficially as women discuss the superficialities fundamentally.

She passionately wanted to be regarded ‘for herself’ as women say, which means for some elusive attraction which they do not feel they possess.

Do you know why it’s easy to make decisions for other people? It is not simply because one is objective. It is because if I make a decision for you, I shall not have to carry it out. If I make a wrong decision, the responsibility will still be yours.

The radio: “hoots of canned laughter—dreadful news—unintelligible plays—sentimental songs—jokes—orchestrated signature tunes—the vicarious excitement of football and racing commentaries—comforting heart-to-heart talks on silage, national health, or chicken incubators.

They [mother and daughter] seemed two women bound together, having in common nothing in particular, and everything in general; who, were they not related, would not willingly have spent five minutes in each other’s company; but who, because of their relationship, had spent nineteen years, irritating, modifying, interfering with, decryring, and depending upon each other.

Living, he always maintained, consisted of no fundamentals, outlines, basic truths, or principles, even for one person, let alone society, but simply a vast quantity of detail, endlessly variable and utterly unrelated.

How very much I dislike the young. Their complacent certainty that their infantile dependence will be met. Their utter lack of self-containment. Their determination to be compensated for the disastrous consequences of their casual curiosity. Their greed for indiscriminate approval—their lack of technique—their senseless demands—they will pick endless watches to pieces and expect others to mend or replace them—their inability to profit by experience of others and their refusal to experience anything for themselves. Their contempt of reserve—their ceaseless searching for somebody before whom they can swagger and be saved—their brash resolve that each time they are burned is the first—their ridiculous belief that they are Adam—the first specimen of their species, magnificently unique, when they are only one more pathetically identical detail turned off the bench. Their faith in their own indispensability—their tiny wisdom and their colossal impatience.

“You spend ninety per cent of your time with children, invalids, fools, and animals. What a mind will yours become.”
“I thought that was the company approved for women by most men.”

There are only two kinds of people—those who live different lives with the same partners, and those who live the same life with different partners.

“No woman would like being told what she was, or would have been. They like the future—the future and the present.”

“We all want something which we cannot have.”
“Yes. That is tolerable. It’s the having something which we cannot want.”

How odd, he thought, listening to her, a poet can see someone in the street, and thereafter intoxicate others with what he saw, but she or I can thoroughly love, or think we love, and immediately after it seems incommunicable, or dies from our poor expression.

The trouble with human relations is that the damned ball is always rolling, or in the air, never peacefully in charge of one person.

People are so painstakingly irrational it is a wonder they survive at all.
If it is impossible to be in two places at once, it ought to be impossible to make two people unhappy at the same time.

People generally get married for extraordinarily few reasons. Legalised sex; economic security; somebody to die with. Children seem to me simply an ingenious reinforcement of these arguments.

Marriage could be the fascinating, difficult experience of living in two bodies instead of one—it matters far less than people think which alternative body they select—it matters far more than they imagine how they inhabit it thereafter.

The most mysterious, intricate point about women is that they require somebody else to teach them to live in their own body. Without that, they are lost, because they never discovered.

The point about two people is that they should change at approximately the same speed in approximately the same direction.

“Never confess your love; never, never come near anyone—the further you venture with them, the longer the way back by yourself.”

She was always expecting something wonderful to happen to her—up to the very day that she died, she believed that.

Women are sharp at discovering each other’s little faults.

People are more beautiful if they are admired, more lovable if they are loved.

So—the point of no return: the last moment before a distant approaching figure is recognisable and can be identified—has seen and been seen; before there is no turning back, and they must be met, suffered, or enjoyed, or a mutual indifference underlined. He had come to see her, and at the instant of their parting in the crowded room, they met.

In the night she woke, and all the time of her life seemed concentrated on the moment of waking, and all the meaning of her existence on her being deeply, irrevocably, in love.

Women nearly always know what is in the wind.

[Roger Pettit · Rating 3 out of 5]

Elizabeth Jane Howard is undoubtedly an intelligent and talented writer. I recently read and enjoyed one of her other novels, 'After Julius'. I like 'The Long View' too. There is much to admire in it. It's a sensitive and insightful account of the breakdown of a marriage. But I don't think it's the classic that professional critics and other novelists, such as Hilary Mantel (who contributes an introduction to the Picador Classics edition that I have just read), seem to think it is. For me, it has one major failing: the author is sometimes unable to convert her clearly highly developed emotional intelligence into authentic, realistic dialogue. There are many occasions when characters - often the principal protagonists, Conrad and Antonia Fleming, but others too - simply think or speak in a way which seems forced and contrived. That is true of 'After Julius' too. But it was less pronounced there, to the extent that I did not feel that it overwhelmed the story. In 'The Long View', however, it's a distinct problem and marred my enjoyment of the book to a considerable extent. Here are some examples from Part Two of the novel.

On one occasion, Conrad says this to Antonia:

* "I will not spend my evenings with you in an atmosphere of Freudian night nursery. I will not play down to that adolescent's Italian comic opera. Give me gout and a little more money, and a few more doors to the kitchen and we should have been complete".

A little later, he says this to her:

* "You should be more discriminating in the flattery you require. Or if that is beyond you, more selective as to time".

On another occasion, Antonia addresses Conrad with these words:

* "You sneer so much, like someone perpetually exhaling. You never absorb a breath of anybody.......". (That is a clever description of a condescending attitude but I simply don't believe that anyone - even these upper middle class characters in early to mid-20th century London - would speak to someone else like that. It's much too theatrical and precise and simply doesn't ring true. Perhaps I am mistaken?)

That said, there is much to applaud in this perceptive, sophisticated, sensitive but ultimately bleak work. Howard's astute turn of phrase works well in descriptive passages, such as this one:

* "He never deprecated his wife, even by implication. He simply added, as it were, another storey to the structure of his personality, and invited the lady in question to put herself temporarily in possession: there she might perch precariously, in what she could be easily persuaded was an isolated castle in a rich and strange air".

The story is beautifully structured. It is told backwards. It begins in 1950, then proceeds (if that is the right word) in reverse to 1942, 1927 and 1926. That works very well. We are presented at the outset with a marriage that is clearly beyond redemption. And we learn gradually how and why it has reached that point. The opening sentence of the novel - "This, then, was the situation." - is simple and memorable. The characterisation is spot on (though few of the principal characters are likeable).

All in all, 'The Long View' is an intelligent dissection of a troubled relationship. But it's let down by a preponderance of mannered dialogue, which greatly reduces its impact. 6/10.

[Troy Alexander · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve got to admit, there were stages in this novel that frustrated and rather bored me. I found it over-written in places, however, the final third utterly captivated me and I’m so glad I persevered. I almost feel guilty about my earlier reservations; it was probably me that was the problem, not the book.

[Jane Gregg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gawd. This is a bleak backwardly constructed view of a marriage, told through the eyes of a woman who has been quite depleted by the various men in her life. The telling is rich, poetic and highly controlled, as one would expect from the genius EJH. Rewarding and revealing.

[Lolly K Dandeneau · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the sort of story that makes marriage (for a woman) seem like something to be avoided. The marriage between Antonia and Conrad is followed between different periods, and it is a cold, loveless one. Conrad is unlikable, distasteful- and easily one could ask is this what was expected back then, for men to 'father' their wife and have high expectations while being absent emotionally and often physically. Is this the recipe for the 'upper classes' in the 50's and before, all control and lack of intimacy?
Antonia takes it, sure- I don't imagine options were wide for a woman in those days. When someone is able to manipulate, there are many reasons why the bullied accept it. The reason I didn't love it was it brought me down and I didn't like the men at all. I am not a man hater, but this book will test you.
Self-centered men, everyone at their worst. There are amazing human interactions, but at times I got lost in the writing. I wanted more fire in Antonia, and had a hard time relating to her. If I didn't feel down about love before....
But I understand the story, this isn't a book about beautiful love. This is more about loving wrongly, and why did Antonia stay with this man anyway? Conrad is a destructive person, unloving, cold, mean- just a wrecking ball of a human being. A story about damaged people.

[Kathleen Hagen]

The Long View, by Elizabeth Jane Howard, narrated by Mary Wimbush, produced by BBC-WW, downloaded from audible.com

The main story is about a couple, Antonia and Conrad. It begins around 1950. This is the contemporary version of their marriage, basically a loveless marriage in which Antonia spent her life trying, and failing, to please Conrad, who married her because he thought he would have the pleasure of shaping her adult life. They have two children, both of whom have unsatisfactory love lives. Both of them have had affairs. The first part of the book leaves us wondering why Antonia puts up with Conrad. The second part of the book deals with when Antonia met Conrad, in the late 1930’s, and how he wanted to shape her every activity. She knew he treated her like a child, but she let him. We see why in the next part of the book which takes us to Antonia as a teenager. This is a book in which Antonia is unfortunate to meet only men who consider women trivial, if they don’t actually hate them and with a devastating mother to boot. It’s an interesting book, and Mary Wimbush, whose narrations I’ve not heard before, did a wonderful job with the different voices.

[JacquiWine · Rating 3 out of 5]

First published in 1956, The Long View offers an insightful view of the different stages of a deeply unhappy marriage, one that ultimately seemed destined for disaster right from the start. The novel has a very interesting structure, beginning in 1950 when the couple in question – Antonia and Conrad Fleming – have been married for twenty-three years, and then winding back in time to 1942, 1937 and 1927, the time of their honeymoon. In this respect, it mirrors the structure of François Ozon’s excellent film, 5×2, which focuses on five key timepoints in the disintegration of a middle-class marriage, presenting them in reverse order. Crucially, Howard’s story finishes in 1926 just before Antonia meets her future husband for the first time. While the story is presented mostly from the perspective of Antonia, there are times when we are given access to Conrad’s thoughts, albeit intermittently.

To read my review, please visit:

https://jacquiwine.wordpress.com/2017...

[Ffiamma · Rating 4 out of 5]

storia di un matrimonio a ritroso nel tempo- e già dalle prime pagine si intuisce il carico immenso di dolore e il terribile fallimento. magistrale sia nelle descrizioni delle atmosfere che nelle caratterizzazioni dei personaggi, ma inesorabile e drammatico, senza nemmeno un filo di speranza (non si sfugge alla condanna all'infelicità).

[Annette · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nearly impossible for me to give Elizabeth Jane Howard anything less than 5 stars because 5 stars means I will re-read and I always want to re-read her.

Her single novels often have interesting structures and this is no exception. She begins her tale at the end of an unhappy marriage and cleverly plots backwards finishing at the beginning of Mr & Mrs Fleming's love affair. Most of the novel is seen through Antonia Fleming's eyes and it is heartbreaking as it's clear she's married a highly unusual and emotionally unavailable man.

It's a heartbreaking read but oh the skill of Howard showing every emotional nuance so that you experience all of it directly yourself.

Why is she so under-appreciated? She has the ability to give you the thought processes of myriad characters. She inhabits them. Her language is complex and at times existential philosophy. Not a read for stupid people looking for upmarket chick lit and I think this is possibly her best and certainly a novel that is right up there alongside Virginia Woolf's Mrs Dalloway.

[Begoña Alonso · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5
Después de leer algún libro de la saga de los Cazalet, volver con Elizabeth Jane Howard me daba mucha pereza. Y el arranque de 'Una larga mirada' me costó mucho; tanto que llegué a pensar en dejarlo. Pero habría sido una mala decisión porque la segunda y sucesivas partes son espléndidas.
Narra hacia atrás, desde que celebran la fiesta de compromiso hasta que se conocen, la historia de un matrimonio de fuerzas desequilibradas: él juega con la poca experiencia de vida de ella y la quiere anular y aplastar; ella pelea por hacerse valer más allá del ámbito doméstico. Desde la infidelidad hasta el valor de la mujer fuera del ámbito casero, este libro pone en valor con increíble modernidad los problemas de las mujeres frente a los hombres en matrimonios desiguales.

[Sonya · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book isn't at all what it seemed from the first chapter, which I thought would be something like a literary, well-written soapy novel. Instead, the chapters go back in time to reveal the main character's life and marriage. It's puzzling at times, but beautifully written and deeply psychological. I liked it a lot.

Inspired to read this on the basis of a printed recommendation by Hilary Mantel: http://www.theguardian.stfi.re/books/...

[Speranza · Rating 4 out of 5]

Narrato come un percorso a ritroso, “Il lungo sguardo della scrittriceElizabeth Jane Howard mostra, attraverso la narrazione della famiglia della Antonia, le costrizioni di un matrimionio subito, una condizione matrimoniale scelta come fuga da una terribile famiglia di origine ma diventata un’altra prigione con un marito silenzioso, disinnamorato ma fedele alle convinzioni sociali, padre pessimo incapace di affetto nei confronti dei figli, perennemente critico nei confronti della moglie cinico e silenzioso con le amanti .
Antonia resiste , resiste fedele alla scelta compiuta, inamovibile nonostante sia intrisa bicchieri di whsky . resiste in un matrimonio che è coperto da cappe di silenzio come coperte a tensioni continue.

Le era stato insegnato a suddividere l’esistenza in fasi … nella prima si reprimeva la giovinezza così da impiegarla nei vent’anni; poi si risparmiava, nella parte centrale della vita, così da vivere tranquilli in vecchiaia.”


Aveva sempre saputo che suo marito non le era fedele, credeva però che i suoi interessi fossero così superficiali da non costituire una seria minaccia alla loro vita insieme. E poi c’erano le reiterate sconfitte; giorno dopo giorno, quando lui entrava in camera, lei sapeva che la situazione era sempre la stessa e che perciò era, a dispetto di ogni logica, peggiore. A volte le sembrava di odiarlo: a volte le sembrava di amarlo tanto da poter avvizzire e morire sotto la sferza silenziosa della sua indifferenza. Si aggrappava sempre a lui o a se stessa, non ce la faceva ad affrontare la somma dei rispettivi sentimenti. Costruiva questi steccati per difendersi dalle umiliazioni.“

L’infelicità pare condizione esistenziale, l’impossibilità di capirsi e di cambiare il corso delle azioni sembra far parte della natura umana. Antonia pare quasi incapace anche di proteggere i figli da errori che le ricordano scelte passate.


A volte le sembrava di odiarlo: a volte le sembrava di amarlo tanto da poter avvizzire e morire sotto la sferza silenziosa della sua indifferenza. Si aggrappava sempre a lui o a se stessa, non ce la faceva ad affrontare la somma dei rispettivi sentimenti.

“Il lungo sguardo” mostra la crisi di un matrimonio , i sentimenti che attraversano i protagonisti ancorati in posizioni distanti, incapaci di incontrarsi e nemmeno di voltarsi.

[Myriam · Rating 4 out of 5]

‘Ze borstelde, kamde en kapte haar haar, terwijl ze zich afvroeg op welke leeftijd mensen het kwetsbaarst waren: wanneer je heel jong was, met een vermetele, mooie veerkracht, verliefd op jezelf en op iedereen die van je hield, of later, wanneer ervaringen konden worden vergeleken en toekomstige kansen waren verkleind; of nog later, midden in het bos, waar de bomen voor je zo afschuwelijk leken op de bomen achter je, en het kreupelhout van je verleden tijdens het passeren aan je bleef haken, je aanklampte en aan je trok. Misschien was je het kwetsbaarst op het allerlaatst, wanneer het eind in elk geval, zelfs voor de bijzienden, onverbiddelijk in zicht was – de kleine open plek waar je kon gaan liggen en stil kon slapen als de doden.’

[Rahul Singh · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have read Howard after a year now. Last year, I went mad and read the entirety of the Cazalet Chronicles in one sweep over three months. Since then, I have only been missing her. I haven't tired at all. That is the nature of her writing. She is compelling enough to draw you in and keep you there; between the pages of her novels. In this 1956-novel, we follow the Flemings. The story begins in the 1950 where we see Antonia Fleming and her disproportionate family. Her son and daughter are in deeply problematic romantic equations. None of them care much for the parents. Her husband, Conrad, is distant and scarcely enjoys the company of his wife, or the sight of his children. Howard takes us down the history of this family, more specifically Antonia and Conrad's marriage to give us a view of an English family in the early 20th century. They are languishing. They have no place to anchor the hurt they wake up to every day. Both Antonia and Conrad are seeking love, searching for love but find themselves more sequestered with every move they make in such a pursuit. I was lost in this for days on end. I did not gulp it down as I prone to when I read Howard. This time, I let the slow, searing nature of this novel, to haunt me. Yes, that was the what it was to be with these characters. The become ghostly with an aching sadness and a loneliness. It creeps up on you. You have no option but to give in to it. I thought of Shirley Jackson's book even though here you have no ghosts, really. Sometimes the characters can really get to you. To the point of making you want to hit them but then I couldn't help but feel only sadder for them. I love EJH. She defines to me what good writing is like. I hope someday to write like her, if I do. Until next time, my dearest Howard. So much love and respect for you.

[Karon Buxton · Rating 3 out of 5]

I debated whether to give this 3 or 4 stars ⭐️ because as ever EJH’s writing is wonderful , but I decided on 3 because I just found it so depressing ! First published in 1956 it’s a story of a break down of a marriage on reverse , it wasn’t This I found depressing even though Conrad Fleming was a complete chauvinistic pig! It was the way older man so readily and easily prayed on young women and how young women weren’t taken seriously by either sexes of the older generation. Now after reading her memoir slipstream I think 🤔 mr & Mrs Fleming were based on her own parents, apart from Mrs Fleming being less Frigid as her real mother as the fling with Thompson in mariselle , France was some of the best writing. Ejh was abused by her own father and some of Conrad’s personality traits are copied from him (in my opinion) apart from ejhs own father loved women and was a serial charmer . Where as Conrad Fleming treats all women and
People in general as mere objects which bore him. This book is classed as her masterpiece but I personally prefer her later works : odd girl out and of course the stunning cazalet chronicles however I’m committed to reading all of her works and will try after julius next .

[Sonia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Impresionante novela que disecciona la muerte de un matrimonio, capa a capa, desde 1950, cuando llega a su fin, y, retrocediendo, 1942, 1937, 1927, para acabar por el principio: 1926.
Es un libro precioso, intimista, con la elegancia narrativa típica de Elizabeth Jane Howard, y muy, muy triste.
Cuando lo escribió, en 1956, hacía diez años que había abandonado a su marido (con quien se casó muy joven, con solo 19 años, casi la misma edad de Antonia, la protagonista de su novela) y 5 desde que por fin se había divorciado de él, por lo que no puedo evitar pensar que algo de sus vivencias personales (propias o de terceros) puebla las páginas de esta novela.
Entiendo que el ritmo sosegado, lento, la minuciosidad en las descripciones, y el tono tan introspectivo e íntimo de la narración puedan cansar, especialmente por ese tono desesperanzado que te invade con esta lectura (a lo que también contribuye la estructura tan original, de ir hacia atrás, desde el final al principio, lo que acrecienta aun más esa sensación) pero es que a mí esta escritora me tiene completamente subyugada, es completamente para mí.
Y, pese a todo, pese a la tristeza, he disfrutado enormemente todas y cada una de las páginas.
Eso sí, no la recomiendo para personas que estén bajas de ánimo, o atravesando una crisis de pareja, ni tampoco a los románticos irredentos.

[Clare O'Beara · Rating 3 out of 5]

From the start where we're told of a wife 'sinking to the occasion' of organising a house party, where people would consume 'glazed dazed little pieces of food', we realise that this is not going to be a story about a story but about the author's writing style. We met several extremely boring, snobby and self obsessed people in a 1950's London suburb. A wife who knows that she is passed over for a succession of mistresses and flings elicits no sympathy for having no backbone. A younger man in Edwardian fashion later announces to her that her daughter, his latest fling, or one of them, is pregnant and he doesn't wish to marry her.

Finding a character's point of view is made more difficult because the author keeps inserting her own external view, as when a character is reminded that she should 'take tea (that horrible unnecessary meal designed to make unsatisfied women more unsatisfactory) with' another woman.
This tale is like a gossip columnist of the day sneering at all the pillars of society. Phrases like 'ghastly sterility' abound.

Then we go back to 1942, when gas masks are a fact of life, and I found this more interesting with descriptive passages telling us of the smell of wartime Euston Station in the dark. The same characters are having a tough time of it but are still self centred and we wonder how their struggle for normality at this time has led to the rigid boredom we saw in the 1950 account. In both time periods everyone drinks astonishing amounts while wives pander to their husbands' whims to the degree of not saying anything they might not like to hear.

Then we return still further, to the 1930s. People still dress for dinner and don't understand one another. Alcohol still lubricates society. A woman stares into her empty glass as she decides that she could never be an artist, the glass symbolising an empty dream. She is told 'anyway, you'll marry and have children' although there were some actual careers open to women at this time. The last part of the story occurs in 1926.

We do not meet anyone who is not middle class, as far as I can tell, though there is vague mention of a splendid housekeeper from time to time or an unhelpful porter at the station. If you think this slow story of a backwards look at a marriage which is destined to fail, but which may never have been very much in the first place, will interest you, be my guest. It's like a Lord Peter Wimsey tale without anything so interesting as a murder. The author was born in 1923 and has just put her memories on paper in her own way. I'm sorry that the characters didn't seem to lead a very lively or useful life.

I downloaded a copy from Net Galley for an unbiased review.

[Annie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Il lungo sguardo, titolo del romanzo, è una scelta direi molto azzeccata perchè tutta la storia è come un lungo sguardo gettato al passato per ricostruire il corso degli eventi, a ritroso. Il libro, infatti, parte da un presente che vede i coniugi Fleming, Antonia e Conrad, alle prese con la festa di fidanzamento del figlio Julian e, per blocchi temporali, ripercorre a ritroso tutte le fasi salienti del vissuto della protagonista. Un romanzo molto intenso e coinvolgente, che racconta la storia di un matrimonio, con le aspettative, le illusioni, l'amarezza della disillusione, l'infelicità,la passione e l'indifferenza , che portano una giovane donna alle soglie della vita, ingenua e fiduciosa, a diventare una moglie di mezz'età, indurita, disillusa e saggia. Dimostrando una capacità narrativa notevole, sia nelle descrizioni che nell'analisi dei personaggi, l'autrice ci accompagna nel tempo, emozionando e regalando continui spunti di riflessione che ci portano, inevitabilmente, a compiere dei parallelismi con il nostro personale vissuto. Un romanzo che lascia il segno e i cui personaggi principali, Antonia, soprattutto, sono destinati a restare con noi e in noi per parecchio tempo.

[Simone Subliminalpop · Rating 3 out of 5]

1950 - una casa a Hampestead - 1926 una tenuta nel Sussex. Tra una data e l’altra, andando a ritroso nel tempo, la storia dei coniugi Fleming, della e delle loro famiglie, passando attraverso gli anni di guerra, una vacanza sulla costa francese, la luna di miele a Parigi e più indietro ancora, fino al primo incontro.
Un rapporto, narrato da una madre-moglie-figlia, da subito complicato e complesso, a tratti, lunghi tratti, più una lotta sfiancante, snervante. Apparenze, bugie, tradimenti, crolli a cementarne l’unione.
La prosa di Elizabeth Jane Howard è sofisticata, riflessiva, capace di indagare a fondo nei rapporti e nella psicologia dei personaggi da lei creati, ma insistendo a volte forse un po’ troppo nel perdersi tra le pieghe di pensieri stratificati, rischiando così di dare la sensazione di ritrovarsi in ambienti asettici, un’ipotetica barriera tra scrittore e lettore.

http://www.subliminalpop.com/?p=9185

[Francesca · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5-5/5

Elizabeth Jane Howard, scrittrice pressoché sconosciuta in Italia (benché qualcosa stia cambiando grazie alla traduzione in corso di una delle sue maggiori opere, The Cazalet Chronicles), è una raffinata narratrice, che sa scrutare con discrezione ma accuratezza l’animo umano e le dinamiche interpersonali.

Quello che forse è considerato il suo capolavoro è Il lungo sguardo.
La storia si apre su una Londra del 1950, a casa del signor e della signora Fleming, Conrad e Antonia, sposati da 23 anni. Hanno due figli: Julian e Deidre, dai caratteri opposti, uno controllato ai limiti dell’impassabile, con le sue rigide idee dello status quo sociale dell’uomo e della donna, l’altra vulcanica, volubile e passionale. Julian sta per sposarsi, mentre Deidre passa da un invaghimento all’altro.

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[Alisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

What a soul-crusher. When the book started, and I met the miserable Mrs. Fleming and the hateful Mr. Fleming and their 2 stupid, selfish children I didn't know how I was going to bear spending enough time with them to finish the book.

But the story moves backward in time, so as you read on, the oppression lessens and some rays of light leak in. By the time I was at the end, there were some actual, enjoyable, light-hearted moments mixed in with the bittersweet.

Except...the story moves backward in time. So by the time you get to the end and you're almost hopeful, you realize it's all already over, you already know what's going to happen, it's going to turn out like it was on the first page, and there's no hope. No. Hope. At. All.

sigh.

[Juliana Graham · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another interesting narrative structure, in fact very similar to The Night Watch. Not one of my favourite EJH books, but still enjoyable and well written. Perhaps not one for reading if you were feeling a bit cynical about love!