Un libro che ho fatto un po' di fatica a leggere e che ho temuto mi tenesse bloccata a lungo, d'altronde così era andata anche per la saga degli Aubrey della stessa autrice: i personaggi hanno un che di irritante, sono stravaganti, anticonvenzionali sia per il tempo in cui sono descritti sia rispetto a un ipotetico "manuale del buon personaggio che sappia farsi amare"
In realtà è impossibile non amare Harriet così come è impossibile non detestare quasi da subito Arnold, il suo amante.
La storia inizia nei primi anni '20 con la coppia di giovani innamorati, appassionati e determinati a farsi strada, ciascuno nel proprio campo, pur se poveri, senza mezzi e senza appoggi familiari. Harriet è una pianista e Arnold un aspirante politico. L'inizio del libro descrive una loro giornata perfetta: c'è talmente tanto amore tra loro che arrivano a poter leggere uno i pensieri dell'altro; in Harriet però questa facoltà raggiunge il parossismo (forse perché Arnold è da subito eccessivamente concentrato su se stesso) al punto tale sa separarli e uccidere la loro storia: lei legge i piani di lui, determinato a sgomitare per farsi strada nell'ambiente che ha scelto ma che sente ostile, in cui si sente inferiore ed è talmente determinato che sa che farà solo un matrimonio di interesse che lo possa portare a introdursi in quel mondo e Harriet sarà trattata come uno straccio vecchio
Si separano quindi e la storia diventa quella dell'ascesa di Arnold, si incontrano però casualmente ogni cinque anni, in concomitanza di eventi cruciali negli intrallazzi di Arnold e ogni volta Harriet metterà a nudo i suoi pensieri e ne trarrà fosche previsioni. Immancabilmente ogni volta lui ne è attratto, ma la disprezza e la respinge perché lei non si lascia scalfire dalla sua posizione di arricchito e arrivato e finisce per odiarla.
Il capitolo finale è una vera pena: potrebbe persino essere romantico da morire, ma decisamente non è nelle corde della West dare un simile taglio alle sue storie.
È un libro scomodo, che non fa sconti, non consente di rilassarsi o sognare ma obbliga in qualche modo a parteggiare.
È un libro di contrasti: io ci ho visto (e ho patito) essenzialmente quello tra i sessi, ma c'è anche altro.

What a weird book!

I have so many questions. Is Harriet real? Is she a person, angel, ghost, or figment of Arnold's imagination?

Is Arnold the person we read about--up and coming statesman yada yada--or is he an unreliable narrator? Is this all a dream or some such? Can Harriet really read his mind or does she just use context clues? Doe she guess and understands his personality?

This book was not a fun read, the writing is very much dated and felt slow. But it would be a great book to discuss with a book club.

SPOILER BELOW
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It SEEMS like Arnold commits suicide with his gun near the end of the book, due to his being caught in the Mondh scheme and his growing debts as a man of no significant background. Are the weird 30 or so pages of him running through the streets his dying thoughts while sitting at his desk? Is the Harriet he is going to spend eternity with the same Harriet we meet in the book, or is he just imagining his eternity as how he wished he had spent his life in the first place? ( )

In my ongoing quest to read good books from the 1001 Books to Read Before You Die list I sometimes find one that does not live up to my expectations. This is one such book. I was interested in it because of the author. Rebecca West lived and wrote in the early 20th century and was an exceptional woman for that time as she had an affair with H. G. Wells and bore him a son. It seemed to me that a woman who was that outside the bounds of convention would have something interesting to say. Maybe I wasn’t in the right frame of mind when I was reading it (I was on vacation in Florida) but this book just didn’t grab me.
The subtitle for this book is “A London Fantasy” and perhaps that is part of the problem because I am still wrestling with whether I like fantasy. Harriet Hume is a pianist who has an affair with a bright young man of aspirations, Arnold Condorex. As a result of their connection Harriet is able to read Arnold’s mind. In the first chapter she learns that Arnold is looking for a wife who will further his political aspirations. This leads to a quarrel and they do not meet again for six years. At that time Arnold is not married but is considering a young woman of means and prestige. Harriet reads this in his mind and predicts that they will have a splendid wedding but that his bride will be dull-witted. Their third meeting takes place some more years later when Arnold has achieved political success and is considering taking part in a revolt to overturn the leadership of his party (presumably the Tories). Harriet, of course, discerns his “guilt and shame, and treachery” and her comments lead Arnold to hate her. In their fourth meeting Harriet comes to Arnold’s house late at night to warn him against an investment scheme he is considering. Arnold desperately needs funds to satisfy his debtors and he goes ahead with the result that he is ruined politically as well as financially. The final chapter is the most fantastical of the lot as it takes place after death.
I imagine at the time this was written (1929) it would have seemed more relevant, especially to readers in London. I must confess that I kept seeing Senator Duffy in my mind as I read the descriptions of Arnold and his downfall so it is still relevant in those terms. Also, people more familiar with London than I am would, no doubt, enjoy the descriptions of the streets, buildings and parks. ( )

I really enjoyed "Harriet Hume: A London fantasy." As this isn't considered one of Rebecca West's best novels, I look forward to reading more from her in the future.

Harriet is a young woman with a strange connection with her lover Arnold Condorex -- she can see into his mind and knows what he is thinking and hiding from even himself. She pops up into his life at critical moments and shakes his world.

I really liked the build up of the story and West's use of language and the landscape. This was a fun read. ( )

A rather odd, G.K. Chesterton-ish fable about an ambitious politician who is in love with a concert pianist who lives in an idyllic fairy-tale garden in Kensington. She loves him as well, but they can't live together because she has the inconvenient gift of reading his thoughts. His rise and fall are charted, with more than a hint of satire, through their encounters at crucial moments. As you would expect, it's elegant and beautifully economical in style, and often very funny, but it's a bit puzzling to work out what it's for. West's idea seems to be to develop (it's hard to tell whether seriously or flippantly) a theory that people are most attracted by their opposites in life, and to show that this can only work out in a kind of fairy reality, but not in the real world. Arnold and Harriet seem to be expressing stereotypically male and female characteristics as well — Arnold is driven by the need for worldly success and recognition; Harriet is restricted by physical limitations (her hands are too small, her eyesight is weak) and seems to care more about music than about her own career as a performer. So maybe it's also meant as a fable about relations between men and women. ( )