"Death of the Heart is about a young girl named Portia, who's orphaned and has to go and live with half siblings in London. And they're upper crust and they don't like her very much. And of course they're too polite to say much about it, but they don't help her. They don't navigate her way for her. And so she falls in with dreadful middle class people who are likely to ruin her prospects in upper crust society. And goes to the seaside with them and they're great people and they seem to have great fun unlike the people Bowen's own social circle. But Portia keeps a diary of her goings on and her sister reads it and misunderstands and terrible things happen as a result to Portia.
It's not much of a plot, but it - Bowen really carries you along. Yes, it's kind of like - it's actually I think maybe the original version of Atonement. It's a lot like Atonement. I think it's a much better book. Bowen's perceptions are so acute. When she has her characters on a winter walk through the streets of London, you feel like you're there. You feel like you could take her book to London and walk with it as if it were a guide or a map. And when she goes to the sea, you feel you're there.
She is a master at dialogue and at kind of these pithy observations. I always feel that Bowen has my number. She says in one book that a character liked to have acquisitive travel. And I thought, "Wow, that's me." You know travel is a means of acquisition.
This is a good book club book because there's a lot to talk about and there's a lot to savor and little nuggets to bring to a discussion. And of course anyone who's ever felt a little bit out of place or a loner would find a kindred spirit in Portia. I'd give Death of the Heart five stars."
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