Admittedly, I am not a huge fan of crictics’ darlings, or even “English Lit” books. I keep trying, though, to broaden my horizons, guilting myself into checking out and reading various classics or critically acclaimed books. And every once in a while, I surprise myself by actually liking the book.
This was one of those times. I hadn’t even ever heard of A.S. Byatt (male or female?) or the book (hey, wasn’t that a movie with Gwyneth Paltrow?) until Laura recommended this one to me. It was slow going at first — I mean, really how much do I want to know about English PhDs in the late 1980s — but as the story progressed, I found myself more and more intrigued and involved in the story. I admit that I skipped most of the poetry (and probably missed out on some plot points, but I survived), but I read and enjoyed the letters, and honestly loved the feeling of discovery and chase. (Look: it’s a thriller for English Lit geeks! My husband commented one night, “Didn’t she kind of make English PhDs look cool?” Well, um, yeah.) Maybe it’s the journalist in me; maybe it’s a buried family historian. I don’t know. But I loved that Roland and Maud were discovering hidden secrets and stories. And I didn’t even mind the twist ending, or the three flashback chapters, though perhaps I would have preferred it all be discovered through the letters.
Granted, it’s not a perfect book in my opinion: too long, too many poems, too many minor characters (that really didn’t DO anything in the end). But, I’d say it was worth the time spent reading it.
The Book Nut 
Thanks for this review. I’ve considered reading this book for a long time.
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Yeah, I agree. Too much, but in the midst of the much, it was pretty good. It left me feeling fascinated by “literature” again, the way I often felt in college classes. I just skimmed the poetry too. Sometimes it was just sort of an academic exercise, but I did like the idea of the clues. I wouldn’t recommend the movie at all, unless you’d like to see how much they can reduce the plotline.
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Aw, but it’s got Jeremy Northam in period costume. 🙂 Actually, I rented the movie (couldn’t resist) and wasn’t terribly disappointed. My biggest complaints were not with the adaptation, but with the lack of chemistry between Gwyneth Paltro and Aaron Ekhart. And the lack of passion in the movie as a whole. If you’re going to make a movie called Possession, then you ought to have some passion in it. In fact, it has the opposite problem that the book has: there’s not enough.Wasn’t disappointed with Jeremy Northam in period costume, though. 🙂
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I didn’t really like Possession. I thought it was completely cold and academic. She has written some short stories, Melissa, that you would LOVE. Fairy tales for grownups — <>The Djinn in the Nightingale’s Eye.<>
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I liked Possession. Any time literature teachers get to be swashbuckling, I’m all for it. (I did sort of skim past some of the poetry, too, though).
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