I just read House on Fortune Street by Margot Livesey. I always wonder if she's related to Roger Livesey (red headed Scottish star of my two all time favorite old movies (Emeric-Pressburger of course), Do You Know Where You're Going? and Colonel Blimp.) She is Scottish but I have never heard Roger mentioned in any review. Maybe Livesey is the Scottish equivalent of the Vietnamese Nguyen?
Anyway the book is quite good, four different characters retelling the same relationships through different eyes. In comparison to last weeks Post Birthday World, it's not as torturous or self involved, and the character's voices are from people you might possibly care about. My only hesitation is that Livesey might have meant the two different central women had different attitudes to the men in their lives because of their fathers. More pyschological work than I cared to do...so I let that possible subtext wash over me.
One of female characters is quite shy and very insecure with men, when she's going out to meet yet another loser, her office mate tells her 'Remember Pavorotti': apparently when someone asked Pavorotti if a particular audience would like him, he replied" the question is--- will I like them?" A nice way to put it.
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