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Look at Me (1984) by Anita Brookner

This might be the best book or atleast my favourite book I have read last winter! I feel like even though it wasn't the happiest book I could've read, especially alongside the depressing weather, i still find myself longing for the first time I read it. Since this is a review, i will not be sharing a recap of what happeneded. Instead, my thoughts and feelings shall be known by the internet :) Now that that's out of the way, I think my favourite thing about this book in general is the way Anita Brookner sets the scene. She describes the medical library where the main character Frances works, in such a precise way that is enough to paint a clear picture in the reader's head. Forgive me for not providing quotes alongside, but I do remember that the very first chapter is spent describing the library's contents, i.e. the type of books and images that are found. I can understand how it might appear as a bore but just think of Chapter 11 in Oscar Wilde's "Picture of Dorian Gray"! Although (as much as I love Anita Brookner) these two books are on diffrent levels, one thing they share in common is "that one crazy long chapter". Anyways, other favourite descriptions of mine in this book are all the times Frances walks in the park. There are multiple times where our "heroine" walks in this park to and from the Fraser couple's house. The time period in which this book takes place is from late summer, autumn, and ends in early winter (if you consider Christmas/December to fit in that category). The colours of autumn and the harshness of winter help me somehwhat cope to what was happening outside my window. Now that I have praised her writing, I would like to talk about the story itself. Even though I objectively have a very social life and am myself an outgoing person, Frances Hilton seems like a person similar to myself. We all are totally or slightly different from who we present ourselves as. Our reasons to doing so vary, yet a common denominator is our desire to fit in. Keeping this in mind, I get why Frances Hilton to me is like looking in a mirror. Her life before meeting the Frasers is a lonely and boring one and it flips over when they get involved in her life. I connect parallels to my own life, after moving away from my old place, I got a whole new life. Which can be scary for most, it was for me! Speaking of the Frasers, they are a cartoonishly glamorous married couple who take an immediately liking to Frances. As a child does to a new toy. Alix, the wife, does this thing where she cannot stand not being appreciated or noticed, yet she only talks to Frances when she needs her opinion on something or out of her own boredom. It is a really toxic friendship, one might even say it cannot even be considered as one. Frances, being the people pleaser she is, goes along with it. it frustrates me how alike I find us to be. Another thing I enjoyed about this book, is how it is packed with symbolism. My favourite is how she stops writing her book (which is loosely based of her life) the moment she begins spending time with the couple. She tells us that she is a very observant person and uses her writing as a sort of outlet for those observations (again another similarity!) Therefore, I interpret this action as her finding no need to write since she now has plenty of time to observe the Frasers. It shows us her position as outsider in the friend circle, and how she gets left out easily. The ending seems a bit confusing to me, mainly because of how Frances' character is unreadble. To me, it seems like she has adpated an indiffrence towards everything that has happened and chooses to write instead. The loneliness, the melancholy and the coldness of this books makes me love it as I do now. I would totally recommend this to readers that have experience with reading a lot, as it might be boring or difficult to get through for those who aren't much of a reader. I would especially tell people who would like to read about female loneliness, instead of male loneliness, to read this. We women also experience gut-wrenching lonely lives!

We have always lived in the castle (1962) by Shirley Jackson

WIP

The Handmaid's Tale (1985) by Margaret Atwood

WIP

A Room With a View (1908) by E.M. Foster

WIP