Auteur's library

Elizabeth Bowen

The Death of the Heart

1938

Poetic without beauty, this narrative moves as the seasons; it feels only natural given the emphasis on ambiance, and the cozy, snuggled, but lonely, London and seaside atmospheres. 
It's a fairly depressing book. Bowen doesn't mind making her characters suffer as their hearts awaken before us. Her writing is discreet, even explanations are abstract, so subtle we're sometimes lost on what Bowen is trying to say. That is, she may not be saying as much as she's making us feel; yet, at some point, we'd want fully articulate explanations of all these feelings. Bowen goes for realism and her characters are fully rounded, but it feels as if her prose would have had a stronger impact with characters more likeable_ which is not her primary concern. You'd think that with such a title, you've been warned; still, there’s a little too much neurosis for too little a cause. You read at a distance, empathising with the characters, but not falling for them_ not yet. As you'll soon discover, you never really do; worse, you circle round them, left without any other alternative than slowly witnessing the death of their heart.

Tags: a tale of two cities, 1930s, a tale of two families, the awakening and downfall of Portia, Portia's discovery of the heart's fakeness, portrayal of the pre-war London mood, feelings feelings, Portia's diary