Jane Gardam ist bekannt für ihr Romane um "Old Filth". Dieser hier, ihr erster Roman von 1971, wurde erst vor einigen Jahren übersetzt. Vermutlich autobiografisch erzählt er von einem 13-jährigen Mädchen im kriegsgebeutelten England, einem unangepassten Kind. Es ist weniger eine Geschichte von Erwachsen-Werden als vom Schriftstellerin-Werden.
Ich mochte das Buch, auch wenn ich mir eine etwas stringentere Handlung gewünscht hätte und Figuren, die etwas mehr ausgearbeitet sind. ( )

A Long Way from Verona was an impulse loan from the library... and what a pleasure it is to be able to wander through the stacks and browse after all these months of Click and Collect!

You'll have to excuse me with this one, I've been mulling over my response to the book for nearly a week now, and I'm still thinking out loud....

What I didn't know when I borrowed it was that the novel is marketed as YA, but I wonder how many young adults today will appreciate its allusions?

The curriculum was different in 1971 when the book was published, and — certainly here in Australia — authors could reasonably expect that young adult readers were familiar with Shakespeare and other classic texts. It had nothing to do with what kind of secondary school one attended or the age at which one left school; there was a common statewide curriculum. I had studied Julius Caesar, Romeo and Juliet and Macbeth before the school leaving age of 15, and then there was Hamlet and A Midsummer's Night Dream after that. (I did King Lear at uni but I'm not sure when Othello cropped up). These plays shaped my ideas about power and its abuse; about loyalty, fidelity and betrayal; about human strength and frailty and its exploitation; and about friendship and love of all kinds: a love of country, the love between parents, children and siblings; romantic love between adults, and the difference between infatuation and the real thing.

Today, however, specific texts aren't mentioned in the National Curriculum, and schools can tailor their choice of texts to suit the perceived needs of their communities. So some students may get the opportunity to study Shakespeare and other classic texts; but equally, they may not.

Part of the pleasure of reading A Long Way from Verona comes from the allusions to Romeo and Juliet signalled by its title and elsewhere. It's ironic, because Jessica's brief infatuation is nothing like Juliet's undying love, Christian is a pale and disappointing shadow of any Romeo, and the privations of wartime Britain are indeed a long way from the decadent luxury of Shakespeare's Verona.

The other factor is that in an era where YA readers expect stories to be 'relatable' and characters to be likeable, perhaps the quirky, intellectually precocious character of the narrator Jessica Vye fails that test. She's just not interested in the same things as the other girls. She tells us that she is not popular, and the reader can certainly see why!

Does it matter? I don't know. I would consider myself diminished had I not had the literary opportunities I've had. I didn't 'relate' to any of Shakespeare's characters or those in Austen or Dickens or Hardy, but I did relate to the themes. There is pressure today, however, for young people 'to see themselves' in the books they read and this means diversity of colour, ethnicity, gender identification and class. That's a good thing, and if it turns young people into readers, they will hopefully come to the books of our rich literary heritage in their own good time. And if they haven't seen any of the film versions of R&J, perhaps with Professor Google they can sort out anything that mystifies them in this book...

To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2021/12/13/a-long-way-from-verona-by-jane-gardam/ ( )

Jessica droomt ervan schrijfster te worden ( )

This was a pick of the Vintage Book Circle and sparked a wonderful discussion at our meeting. I really appreciated the beginning of this book and read parts aloud to my husband. It was delightful and funny and I really related to Jessica. The later half of the book was more complicated, troubling and kind of confusing. It was interesting that the person who suggested the title only remembered the first half. We were surprised that it was considered a children's book. It tackles some difficult topics. We wondered if it was at all autobiographical. It won the Phoenix Award in 1991, an award given to a twenty year old children's book that had not received an award earlier. We found it to be deserving, but maybe more appropriate for an older crowd. ( )

Oh my goodness. I’ve just finished a book that has rocketed to the top of my list, and toppled all the other books nearby. It’s my new Favorite Book of All. And you simply must read it, too. It’s an amazing read, with amazing characters and an amazing little story. It’s very odd, but you’ve probably never heard of it and---even odder---you’ve probably even heard of the author. I just came across it by the unlikeliest of chances. It’s on the 1001 Children’s Books You Must Read list, so somebody else must love it, too. Don’t worry about that; it’s not really a just-for-children book. It’s a great book, about families, and friendships, and growing up, and religion (just a bit) and happiness, and finding your calling. Oh, you really must read it. Now. Hope you can find a copy. And remember to thank me when you finally give it a read.

And I’ll be off now to find some more Jane Gardam. I’m afraid nothing can be as good as this delicious novel, but I must try to find a little more and see for myself. ( )