Shirley hazzard transit of venus ebook

Just simply exquisite in tone, observation, and at times beauty. If you liked those two, you might like Transit of Venus. I can't find a couple of references that made me think that - or was it Grace?

I didn't think so but She did not have a child as the story went on. Ann Caro had a miscarriage and was unable to have children afterwards.

There's a short scene of her in the hospital, and later Josie tells her that she di …more Caro had a miscarriage and was unable to have children afterwards. There's a short scene of her in the hospital, and later Josie tells her that she didn't want her father to have other children words to the effect.

See all 3 questions about The Transit of Venus…. Lists with This Book. Community Reviews. Showing Average rating 3. Rating details. More filters. Sort order. Start your review of The Transit of Venus. Aug 21, Violet wells rated it really liked it Shelves: london , faves.

Shirley Hazard is without question a first rate wordsmith; she can write beautiful sentences and string them together into an exhilarating music. She does it consistently. But she seems incapable of writing a truly first rate novel. The central relationship in that novel was a fairy story. Hazard is at her best when her characters are figuratively standing beneath a Shirley Hazard is without question a first rate wordsmith; she can write beautiful sentences and string them together into an exhilarating music.

Hazard is at her best when her characters are figuratively standing beneath a window in the pouring rain. And as such can often come across as something sentimental we still feel affection for but have grown out of. The Transit of Venus is a novel about affairs of the heart. Many of them illicit; or at least, outside matrimony. Characters are only really alive when the heart is engaged and pumping.

Lehman though did a better job of examining the backstage realms of domesticity without belittling it as Hazard often does. View all 20 comments. This is one of the most perfectly constructed novels that I've ever read. Twice in the opening pages, there are simple sentences that foreshadow all that comes after. All is not revealed until much later, and until that time, you will worry those apparent loose ends as you would an irritating pebble in your shoe, but never fear, Hazzard knows precisely what she's about.

And the end, ah, the end. Against all the evidence, even this view spoiler [ "For the last time,Caroline Vail lay in a bed alo This is one of the most perfectly constructed novels that I've ever read. Against all the evidence, even this view spoiler [ "For the last time,Caroline Vail lay in a bed alone" hide spoiler ] , I wanted a more conventional ending to this love story.

I was reminded of Villette, another tale of true love that didn't run smooth, when I read and re-read the last pages of Transit of Venus, wanting to put a different gloss on them As well constructed as this book is on the macro level of plot and structure, it is also a masterpiece on the sentence level. Hazzard's economic, lapidary style is truly breathtaking. As with The Bay of Noon, there were countless sentences and passages I just wanted to stop, and savor, and puzzle over, and treasure.

To give but one example, and one not particularly tied to the plot, a passage succintly describing the upheavals of the sixties begins "In America, a white man had been shot dead in a car, and a black man on a veranda," continues I'm leaving some sentences out , "In Italy, a population abandoned the fields forever, to make cars or cardigans in factories; and economists called this a miracle," and concludes "England was a dotard, repeating the single anecdote.

Or this which is Hazzard's defense of the entire novel, slipped in early, before you can understand why it is there : "Maybe the element of coincidence is played down in literature because it seems like cheating or can't be made believable. Whereas life itself doesn't have to be fair, or convincing. It would take me a lot longer to read them if they were -- this book took me 10 days, about 3 times as long as normal because I didn't want to miss a beat.

As the title suggests, the book is about love -- both transitory love and love as eternal as the planets. While, at the beginning, it may seem to be a more conventional book or BBC miniseries about a bunch of attractive young people of different classes shut up in a country house, Hazzard's characters grow up, and her treatment of the loves of middle age, with all the associated losses, disappointment, compromises, and satisfactions, is truly brilliant.

There were times when I found Hazzard's prose a little too elusive -- some of the sentences were puzzled over and still didn't unfold. And once or twice I felt my attention ebbing, but Hazzard always got me back with another beautifully constructed episode. One of the strengths of this novel is that while the five or so main characters are masterfully realized, the supporting cast is equally well done -- who hasn't known a Dora or a Josie?

View all 24 comments. Mar 16, Katie rated it it was amazing. The story of the amorous lives of two orphaned Australian sisters who arrive in post-war England. Grace is the more conventional and the better suited to domesticity.

Caro is far less easily tamed. She rejects the advances of the nice guy in favour of those of the bad guy. Paul is a successful playwright and about to marry the aristocratic Tertia when he begins his affair with Caro. He's a brilliant character, rotten to the core but compelling in his glamour and intelligence. Ted, Caro's other s The story of the amorous lives of two orphaned Australian sisters who arrive in post-war England. Ted, Caro's other suitor, has to look on, helpless, but continues to carry the torch for her throughout the novel.

A recurring detail in Hazzard's books is that the most dramatic moments happen off-camera so to speak. This is true of both Paul and Ted, both of whom have a secret and in both cases they tell their secret rather than Hazzard showing it. This is even more beautifully written than her The Great Fire. And she is very wise and insightful about romantic love.

I often found her observations exhilarating. Sadly I've now read all her books. I've dithered for weeks over my rating for this one and finally settled on the five star 'it was amazing' category because yes, it was amazing.

But I'm not sure if I actually liked it. It has to be said that I read it under pressure, which is criminal for a Shirley Hazzard. Fine for a plot-led thriller where the only point of interest is how it ends, but a novel by Ms Hazzard should be enjoyed at leisure. You should luxuriate in that exquisitely fine language, linger over the cadence of the sent I've dithered for weeks over my rating for this one and finally settled on the five star 'it was amazing' category because yes, it was amazing.

You should luxuriate in that exquisitely fine language, linger over the cadence of the sentences and glory in the subtlety of relationships. Unfortunately, none of that was possible for me: it was the choice for my f2f book group, one lady mailed me to say she hadn't been able to get hold of a copy and could she borrow mine? And I hadn't even started it at that point.

So I had to get through it in five days. And at the back of my mind I was thinking that my f2f ladies were going to crucify me for suggesting such a book: none of them are native speakers - how on earth would they cope? For it must be said that Ms Hazzard makes you work. Michaela is my lifeline in English class as she's a walking dictionary. When I come up with words like ostensible or plethora yet cannot come up with the German equivalent, Michaela can.

And yet even she protested that she had to read this with the novel in one hand and a dictionary in the other. Oh vey!!

Art is the transfiguration of the commonplace, according to Arthur Danto. I had to keep reminding myself of that as I laboured through, thinking that this was too much commonplace, too much transfiguration. Sometimes it felt as though the language was more of a barrier than a medium, and this impression was reinforced by the feeling that every single character in the book had done a rigorous course in discourse analysis, as each and every one of them had an uncanny ability to instantly recognize the subtext beneath each other's comments.

There were, admittedly some heart stopping, breathtaking moments, but there was also a lot in the middle where I wondered quite why I should still be interested in a couple of sisters from Sydney. But then, but then. There are several slow ticking bombs that Ms Hazzard surreptitiously plants during the course of the novel.

And at the end these explode in a dazzling, heartrending conflagration that throws light backwards on what you have read. Ms Hazzard redeems herself: she writes with authority, while simultaneously allowing you to see how she does it. It ends by being a book about the reading process, a book that reveals to us how we hold those details in mind, ready to combine them together as required and directed by a masterly author.

Yes, five stars. Deeply satisfying. View all 31 comments. May 13, Mary rated it liked it Shelves: australian-author. At times I thought the writing was brilliant and amazing, and other times I thought it was pretentious and overwrought. I got the sense the entire time that she was standing over her perfect sentences and elaborate prose with a self-satisfied smirk.

The thing is, the characters spoke so perfectly and elegantly and with such control, it was as if the whole thing were rehearsed. Her sadness was too subdued for me to connect with. The characters were far, far away and icy cold, and their sorrows felt remote. This book takes patience and perseverance. The first 80 or so pages were rough and overly cryptic.

The whole thing is cryptic, actually, and there are monumental clues scattered throughout that are easy to miss. View all 5 comments. Mar 19, Paul rated it really liked it Shelves: reading-women-challengesbing. It does work on a number of levels and in one sense it is a love story, but there is plenty of unrequited love and unhappy endings. There are flashbacks to Australia where they were brought up by their rather difficult sister.

Meanwhile Ted Tice is a young astronomer who goes to study with a more eminent one 3. Meanwhile Ted Tice is a young astronomer who goes to study with a more eminent one, who happens to be the ward of the two sisters. She finds upcoming playwright Paul Ivory more attractive. Ted stays in love with Caroline. Grace is more conventional. This could have become rather sentimental, but manages not to. Be careful with the ending, although it is true to say that the ending is at the beginning as Hazzard does say what happens to the main characters very early on; but it is easy to forget and be deceived by what seems to be a happy ending.

The whole is complicated and rather gloomy, no one is really happy and everyone finds the grass greener elsewhere. Purple silence petrified the limbs of trees and stood crops upright in the fields like hair on end.

Whatever there was of fresh white paint sprang out from downs or dunes, or lacerated a roadside with a streak of fencing. This occurred shortly after midday on a summer Monday in the south of England.

He was over fifty, white-haired, thin, with a stooping walk that suggested an orthopaedic defect, but in fact derived from beatings received in prison. His appearance was slightly unnatural in other ways—pink, youthful lips and light, light-lashed eyes: an impression, nearly albinic,that his white suit intensified. One suspected he had never courted anything but disaster. The most amoral and unscrupulous character is gay.

The most decent character is terminally unhappy and their end is tragic. Caro might have done anything, but had preferred the common limbo of sexual love. Just as they do with the unassisted eye.

Hazzard writes well and is perceptive, but there is just something that niggled with me, what felt like a rather conventional approach to gender relations, it is always illuminating to look at least likeable characters and see who and what they are.

But I would encourage people to read it, I could be wrong about this. View all 4 comments. An ambitious novel, well-conceived and well-executed. I loved the well-placed foreshadowing especially one in the beginning that haunts the rest of the book and the jolts that occur with the fruition of what you might've thought at first were mere throwaway lines.

There were times I felt disengaged, perhaps from the cleverness that at times took me out of the story -- my fault, more than a fault of the work, I'm sure. If I ever reread this, I think I'd be even more in awe at how the book is constructed, as I'm sure I missed a lot along the way. View all 9 comments.

Apr 09, fourtriplezed rated it really liked it Shelves: my-fiction , australia. My second Shirley Harzzard novel in a short space of time. To say I have been surprised by this book would be an understatement. Both books are chalk and cheese in delivery and concept. Be that as it may The Transit Of Venus is one of the most compelling novels I have read for reasons I am not going to be able to articulate particularly well. The plot itself seems fairly shallow but My second Shirley Harzzard novel in a short space of time.

The plot itself seems fairly shallow but then the plot may itself not be the point. The title is very good as the book is about Love but not in the cloying way I should imagine a Mills and Boons Novel being. This book is about its transient nature and the morality of it as a weapon. The cast of characters are very middle class and speak to each other in a manner that leaves a lot unsaid and would be very alien to the vast majority of working people.

On reaching the end of the book I realised that I had missed subtleties that the more astute than me would have picked up on the way through. With that I can see me rereading this in the future. It remind's me of that record you buy that on the first listen you know you need to immerse yourself more and once immersed grows to stand the test of time. View all 7 comments. May 31, Hugh rated it really liked it Shelves: read , modern-classics , modern-lit.

I have been thinking about how to review this book for three days and still don't really know what to say about it. It is an impressively controlled piece of storytelling - the reader's knowledge is always a little ahead of the characters, but the author keeps a few key revelations up her sleeve. Reading it over 40 years after its publication and many years more after the events early in the story, it does inevitably show its age - much of it is set in a lost world where for most women the only I have been thinking about how to review this book for three days and still don't really know what to say about it.

Reading it over 40 years after its publication and many years more after the events early in the story, it does inevitably show its age - much of it is set in a lost world where for most women the only options were low paid drudgery or marriage, and Caro's journey is both moving and plausible. The narrative is rich and multi-layered, and Hazzard uses language with precision.

Despite the title, astronomy has a very peripheral role in the story. View 1 comment. Sep 19, Jacob Russell rated it it was amazing. Turned back to the first page and read it again. Then a third time. No one can capture a character in passing a phrase like Hazzard My parents, she writes to Higgenson, "address every morning an eclipse they call 'our father.

View all 3 comments. Feb 13, Bronson rated it it was amazing. I was caught by surprise by this book. I heard about it from an interview with Ann Patchet I'd read online. I think it is one of the finest written novels I have ever read. The night I finished the book, I opened it back up and started reading it again.

The second time through I was as engrossed - actually more than the first. It was tough to get started, she doesn't build the characters traditionally. You find out odd things about them that don't seem important until much later in the book. I t I was caught by surprise by this book. I think if you can make it through the first pages you will be hooked and when you finish it you find that you have read one of the finest pieces of literature available.

I think that this was quite a good novel up to about the half way point. I was interested in Caro's character - her intelligence, her suffering etc. And then at the end - which annoyed me intensely, I rallied by realising that it's one of those novels where the author has had an idea - and then lost wind as to following through. All the later "stuff": Christian Thrale's romantic adventure, Grace Thrale's brush with love; even the point at which Adam Vail is brought in finally just seems like a l I think that this was quite a good novel up to about the half way point.

All the later "stuff": Christian Thrale's romantic adventure, Grace Thrale's brush with love; even the point at which Adam Vail is brought in finally just seems like a lot of "padding" - it was necessary for Time To Pass.

Ted Tice and Caro are in their mid-fifties when finally Carol realizes that Ted was, has been, always will be the better man. But too late. We understand the beginning statement about Ted - right at the start of this novel and say yes - not surprising. And this whole set up - the whole story is to prove what - exactly?

That life will always thwart the recognition of true love that lovers once they have reached the perfect pitch of love - are of no further interest - or that perfect love must be doomed. Or that life will thwart what humans aspire to - in the way of romantic love? I don't know. There was a lot on politics, cabinet ministers, government secretaries, women's lack of equality, references to South American atrocities, references to US Government scandals - controlled and washed under the radar by media etc.

A lot of stuff to get through - intermixed with the various love stories. Some really obnoxious characters - Dora and Paul Ivory - all exquisitely defined in the degree and intensity of their rottenness. Caro and Grace - sisters from Australia contrasted beautifully with the UK natives. I feel cheated - a lot of time spent. Interesting also because I enjoyed - The Bay of Noon, and The Evening of the Holiday - both much shorter and both more or less happy but also suprisingly doomed love stories.

View 2 comments. Nov 21, Michael Livingston rated it it was amazing. Read this book — and you should read this book — carefully. There are also passages you will read more than once to be sure you understa Read this book — and you should read this book — carefully. There are also passages you will read more than once to be sure you understand them.

But it is a safe bet that even the most attentive reader, at some point in the last pages, will skim back through the book to find the breadcrumbs Shirley Hazzard left for us and to confirm that what you think happened did indeed happen.

A transit of Venus is a rare but predictable astronomical event that occurs when the planet Venus passes directly between the Earth and the Sun. Both are beautiful — fair and timid Grace who embarks on a conventional marriage, dark and forthright Caro who is loved, betrayed, and the subject of a long unrequited love.

The tragedy is the love that lasts. Its leisurely pace and genteel ambiance belie the depth of Shirley Hazzard's ideas about innocence, power, corruption, injustice, and gender, and the revelation of its secrets, all intricately foreshadowed, leaves us dazzled and shaken.

When you've read the last page and have persuaded yourself that you know what happened, don't be surprised if you find yourself reading the ending again to see if it might come out differently. This is a book that demands — and is worthy of — your full attention. More than once. View all 8 comments. I was torn as to how to rate Shirley Hazzard's Transit of Venus. Hazzard is an enormously gifted writer.

But the novel itself had me asking the question, When does a great writer become a great artist? It's a fine distinction that one doesn't come across often, since such things unfold on their own.

The discerning reader simply knows when they've read a great piece of literature. But Hazzard's own ambition here had me asking that very question. In other words, one gets the sense that Hazzard, in The Transit of Venus , set out to write a great novel. There are certainly numerous stretches of great writing - but as a novel, I felt its Jamesian last phase excesses turned the reading into something of an ordeal by book's end. And stuff actually happens! I will definitely recommend this book to fiction, historical lovers.

Your Rating:. Your Comment:. Read Online Download. Great book, The Transit of Venus pdf is enough to raise the goose bumps alone. Add a review Your Rating: Your Comment:. Shirley by Charlotte Bronte.

Transit by Anna Seghers.