*** LIKE ***
Glows with beautiful language
Sharp edged nostalgia but a nebulous narrative
There was a lot to love. London is a poetic, visual writer. Her prose is sharp. Without waxing lyrical, she sets the scene vividly. I loved her commentary on the Royal Visit (the photographed flowers, the framed letter). I felt I could see and breath in the Perth of the '50's that she pictured so clearly for me. Many memories from my own golden childhood were tickled in the narrative from Argonauts to Choo Choo bars (though shame of Frank for being a little dismissive of Arthur Mee's Children's Encyclopedia - my treasure trove of trivia!).
The backstory was deftly woven : comparing Old World Europe and provincial Perth, setting nostalgia for what was against hope for a new life, showing family as belonging and family as isolation.
But I was disappointed. I am a big fan of Gilgamesh (pushing it on anyone interested in Australian literature). I so wanted to love this one. My husband is a polio survivor, still haunted by his time in hospital as a child, so there is a personal context. Unfortunately there was little substance woven within the beautiful prose.
The story of the emerging "first love" between Frank and Elsa wasn't enough to make the Golden Age anything more than a mellow, nebulous embrace. All the niceties were there, but you were left wanting so much more : something as sharp-edged and unsentimental as the characterisation. We have a series of poignant vignettes without an emotional investment in the characters.
I love this quote from towards the end (and well done to an author who has done her homework)
"Polio is like love, ... years later, when you think you have recovered, it comes back."
A small, almost meaningless point : I wasn't taken by the cover before I even started and, now that I am finished, I see it as questionable and irrelevant. It shows a young man on a train - something that doesn't pertain to the narrative at all. This is meaningless stock photography, a cheap letdown for the author and the reader.
Having just finished reading, I will see how it settles in my memory and may come back and change this to a 4 star review ... so I guess it is a 3-and-a-half review.
