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One of Elizabeth Bowen's most artful and psychologically acute novels, The House in Paris is a timeless masterpiece of nuance and atmosphere, and represents the very best of Bowen's celebrated oeuvre. When eleven-year-old Henrietta arrives at the Fishers' well-appointed house in Paris, she is prepared to spend her day between trains looked after by an old friend of her grandmother's. Henrietta longs to see a few sights in the foreign city; little does she know what fascinating secrets the Fisher house itself contains. For Henrietta finds that her visit coincides with that of Leopold, an intense child who has come to Paris to be introduced to the mother he has never known. In the course of a single day, the relations between Leopold, Henrietta's agitated hostess Naomi Fisher, Leopold's mysterious mother, his dead father, and the dying matriarch in bed upstairs, come to light slowly and tantalizingly. And when Henrietta leaves the house that evening, it is in possession of the kind of grave knowledge usually reserved only for adults.… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member LaraJane
Bowen's amazingly controlled novel, very sad, of two children lost in the complexities of adults' lives. Secrets and lies... The time shift works very well, and both layers of the story are intrigued me equally.
LibraryThing member richardderus
Rating: 2.75* of five
The Book Report: Henrietta and Leopold, two young people in transit, come together at the Paris house of Miss Fisher, a mousy spinster, and her formidable mother Madame Fisher. Henrietta is the granddaughter of an old frenemy of Madame's; Leopold has a less well-explained, more
My Review: Oh dear, oh dear, it's just no use. I can't like this book. It's sentimental, it's melodramatic, and I just didn't get off to a good start with it, since I detested Harriet the prim, smug little dumpling and abhorred wet, sniveling, spineless Miss Fisher.
The subtext of Harriet's grandmother's Sapphic affair with the invalid Madame Fisher, and the Big Reveal of Leopold's true connection to the Fishers, were not enough to make me change my low opinion of the book. Perhaps if I'd read it in 1935 I'd've been more enrapt. Here in 2011, not so much. I don't think Bowen was all that as a prose stylist, frankly, but I don't think the novel is her form. Her short fiction is far more limpidly written, and lucidly plotted. But still and all, the book isn't the worst I've ever read. I just wish it had been either shorter or longer. The middle section set in the past is awkwardly placed in the narrative, and the present-day bits don't really need it to make sense, so it should either be snipped out like an appendix or expanded to be a full narrative of its own.
Not recommended, but no travelers' advisories posted about it either. (Male readers take note, if while reading this book you feel an uncomfortable fullness in your abdomen, that's a uterus growing in response to your new, higher estrogen levels.)
The Book Report: Henrietta and Leopold, two young people in transit, come together at the Paris house of Miss Fisher, a mousy spinster, and her formidable mother Madame Fisher. Henrietta is the granddaughter of an old frenemy of Madame's; Leopold has a less well-explained, more
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painful connection to the Fishers. He is there in the Fisher house to meet, for the first time, his mother. She gave him up for adoption because he was the product of a fling, a casual passion indulged with serious consequences. Many of them, in fact, and they continue to reverberate through the house in Paris...the lives of each person in the house start out the day without any portentous signs that, by the end of the day, there will be no one left standing unchanged.My Review: Oh dear, oh dear, it's just no use. I can't like this book. It's sentimental, it's melodramatic, and I just didn't get off to a good start with it, since I detested Harriet the prim, smug little dumpling and abhorred wet, sniveling, spineless Miss Fisher.
The subtext of Harriet's grandmother's Sapphic affair with the invalid Madame Fisher, and the Big Reveal of Leopold's true connection to the Fishers, were not enough to make me change my low opinion of the book. Perhaps if I'd read it in 1935 I'd've been more enrapt. Here in 2011, not so much. I don't think Bowen was all that as a prose stylist, frankly, but I don't think the novel is her form. Her short fiction is far more limpidly written, and lucidly plotted. But still and all, the book isn't the worst I've ever read. I just wish it had been either shorter or longer. The middle section set in the past is awkwardly placed in the narrative, and the present-day bits don't really need it to make sense, so it should either be snipped out like an appendix or expanded to be a full narrative of its own.
Not recommended, but no travelers' advisories posted about it either. (Male readers take note, if while reading this book you feel an uncomfortable fullness in your abdomen, that's a uterus growing in response to your new, higher estrogen levels.)
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LibraryThing member lauralkeet
Henrietta (age 11) and Leopold (age 9) meet in the Paris home of Naomi Fisher. Henrietta is passing through on the way to her grandmother's in the south of France, and Naomi is providing a place for her to spend the time between trains. Leopold has arrived in Paris to meet his mother for the first
Hmm ... what's that? This premise pulled me in right away. And if that weren't enough, there's something a bit mysterious about Naomi and her elderly, bedridden mother. Suddenly the narrative shifts from the present to the past and the back story takes shape. To say more might spoil this novel for other readers, so let's just say that after about 150 pages the narrative jumps back to the present, providing a fresh point of view on all of the characters. But the central conflict still remains, and Bowen guides us to a conclusion that is very satisfying despite ending on somewhat of a cliffhanger.
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time.Hmm ... what's that? This premise pulled me in right away. And if that weren't enough, there's something a bit mysterious about Naomi and her elderly, bedridden mother. Suddenly the narrative shifts from the present to the past and the back story takes shape. To say more might spoil this novel for other readers, so let's just say that after about 150 pages the narrative jumps back to the present, providing a fresh point of view on all of the characters. But the central conflict still remains, and Bowen guides us to a conclusion that is very satisfying despite ending on somewhat of a cliffhanger.
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LibraryThing member ffortsa
Two children, unrelated and unknown to each other, arrive at a house in Paris for the day. One is merely on a journey to see her grandmother. The other is there to meet the mother he has never met.
The children's eye view of life, people, and each other is wonderful, although the younger child
The central story, of how the younger child came to be, is hypnotic, with protagonists of startling passivity and denial, but with passion and acute powers of observation. These qualities sound like contradictions, but are not - these people are helpless in their passions even as they observe their actions.
Beautiful writing, with strikingly creative use of language without any confusion of meaning.
Note: my book circle was quite divided about this book, some feeling the writing was awful and the book soppy and sentimental, some feeling more as I do. Although one of the members called this 'a woman's book', there were women who hated it and men who loved it.
The children's eye view of life, people, and each other is wonderful, although the younger child
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ultimately strikes me as more precocious in thought and language than I can quite believe.The central story, of how the younger child came to be, is hypnotic, with protagonists of startling passivity and denial, but with passion and acute powers of observation. These qualities sound like contradictions, but are not - these people are helpless in their passions even as they observe their actions.
Beautiful writing, with strikingly creative use of language without any confusion of meaning.
Note: my book circle was quite divided about this book, some feeling the writing was awful and the book soppy and sentimental, some feeling more as I do. Although one of the members called this 'a woman's book', there were women who hated it and men who loved it.
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LibraryThing member streamsong
Eleven year old Henrietta, quite precocious for her age, has recently lost her mother. She's being escorted by various acquaintances of her family to the south of France to live with her grandmother. It's been arranged for her to stay with a friend of her mother's in Paris for a day while waiting
Instead, she finds an elderly autocratic dying woman, her devoted spinster daughter and a boy named Leopold who is also spending the day at the house waiting.
Leopold has never met his mother. He knows only that the circumstances of his birth are mysterious and that he has been adopted by a couple in Italy. His birth mother has summoned him to Paris to meet her, and to Leopold this is a dream come true.
Events unfold with a long middle section flashback where we discover the story of Leopold and then to a final section where Leopold's story continues.
The writing is lush. The characters are intricately drawn and well realized. I thought the ending was superb. It's one of those that leaves you wondering: Is this a happy ending? What happened next?
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for the next leg of the journey. She hope to see a few sights during her layover.Instead, she finds an elderly autocratic dying woman, her devoted spinster daughter and a boy named Leopold who is also spending the day at the house waiting.
Leopold has never met his mother. He knows only that the circumstances of his birth are mysterious and that he has been adopted by a couple in Italy. His birth mother has summoned him to Paris to meet her, and to Leopold this is a dream come true.
Events unfold with a long middle section flashback where we discover the story of Leopold and then to a final section where Leopold's story continues.
The writing is lush. The characters are intricately drawn and well realized. I thought the ending was superb. It's one of those that leaves you wondering: Is this a happy ending? What happened next?
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LibraryThing member AustereAdam
Summary
Elizabeth Bowen’s The House in Paris is an intriguing novel of love, secrets, betrayal, youth, family, and friendship. There’s a whole lot wrapped up in this novel of fewer than 300 pages, but the separation into three distinct segments allows for much ground to be covered in such
The Good
Bowen’s House in Paris reminds me of a classic Romantic novel – beautiful language, powerful emotion, heroic relationships, and even a bit of gothic terror/mystery. What makes the novel even more enjoyable, in some ways, is that Bowen manages to include all of these elements, but incorporate contemporary prose, so the reader need not wade through 19th century language. Also, Bowen, while descriptive, does not saturate the novel with lengthy imagery. This too proves to benefit the novel overall, because a reader does not get distracted by pages and pages of description about a tree or a meadow (though, admittedly, sometimes this can be fun) and, instead, gets to focus on the touching story, the interpersonal relationships, and the intense friendships. The novel was also filled with short, meaningful moments, such as the tête-à-têtes between Leopold and Henrietta in Miss Fisher’s sitting room. The narrator aptly describes their almost flippant abuses of one another (typically Leopold toward Henrietta) as such: “There is no end to the violations committed by children on children, quietly talking alone.”
The Bad
While, on the whole, I found the novel interesting and enjoyable - a fast, relaxing but meaningful read – I was still underwhelmed. I found the subject matter and characters so very interesting, but something was lacking in the final execution. When the novel concluded, I couldn’t help but feel just a bit gypped. Leopold’s future – even immediate future – is only hinted at, but is impossible to tell what will really happen. Miss Fisher and Madame Fisher are left unresolved. The poor Italian family, Leopold’s guardians, are completely thrown overboard. We never see Leopold’s mother, Karen, during “The Present” which, while in some ways masterful, is also extremely frustrating – where’s the momentous meeting between mother and child? How does the family move on? And, in “The Past” we witness Max’s fatal decision, but we’re expected to believe that the friendship between Naomi Fisher and Karen would surmount this – even strenuously? While so much is said by so little – I fear too much is left out. I had a generally good experience with the novel, and could certainly recommend it to interested readers – but not emphatically.
The Final Verdict 3.5/5.0
Overall, I did enjoy this novel and I was intrigued by the Romantic elements being delivered through contemporary prose. I found the characters incredibly intriguing, if not always believable.
Elizabeth Bowen’s The House in Paris is an intriguing novel of love, secrets, betrayal, youth, family, and friendship. There’s a whole lot wrapped up in this novel of fewer than 300 pages, but the separation into three distinct segments allows for much ground to be covered in such
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limited time. The main characters (in the “Present”) are Leopold and Henrietta. Leopold’s strange personality and his relationship to the adults in the novel is the crux of the story, and what becomes revealed as the story progresses. Henrietta has a chance meeting with the boy during a brief delay at Mme. Fisher’s house in Paris (surprise!). Though the novel is told in the third-person, it seems that the story would not have come to be had Henrietta not met Leopold – as this is the window through which we begin to look in on the other characters, both past and present. The middle portion of the novel is “The Past,” in which the story of Leopold’s “coming to be” is told, and the other characters – Leopold’s mysterious mother, Mme and Miss Fisher, and Leopold’s absent father – are all identified and explained. The Good
Bowen’s House in Paris reminds me of a classic Romantic novel – beautiful language, powerful emotion, heroic relationships, and even a bit of gothic terror/mystery. What makes the novel even more enjoyable, in some ways, is that Bowen manages to include all of these elements, but incorporate contemporary prose, so the reader need not wade through 19th century language. Also, Bowen, while descriptive, does not saturate the novel with lengthy imagery. This too proves to benefit the novel overall, because a reader does not get distracted by pages and pages of description about a tree or a meadow (though, admittedly, sometimes this can be fun) and, instead, gets to focus on the touching story, the interpersonal relationships, and the intense friendships. The novel was also filled with short, meaningful moments, such as the tête-à-têtes between Leopold and Henrietta in Miss Fisher’s sitting room. The narrator aptly describes their almost flippant abuses of one another (typically Leopold toward Henrietta) as such: “There is no end to the violations committed by children on children, quietly talking alone.”
The Bad
While, on the whole, I found the novel interesting and enjoyable - a fast, relaxing but meaningful read – I was still underwhelmed. I found the subject matter and characters so very interesting, but something was lacking in the final execution. When the novel concluded, I couldn’t help but feel just a bit gypped. Leopold’s future – even immediate future – is only hinted at, but is impossible to tell what will really happen. Miss Fisher and Madame Fisher are left unresolved. The poor Italian family, Leopold’s guardians, are completely thrown overboard. We never see Leopold’s mother, Karen, during “The Present” which, while in some ways masterful, is also extremely frustrating – where’s the momentous meeting between mother and child? How does the family move on? And, in “The Past” we witness Max’s fatal decision, but we’re expected to believe that the friendship between Naomi Fisher and Karen would surmount this – even strenuously? While so much is said by so little – I fear too much is left out. I had a generally good experience with the novel, and could certainly recommend it to interested readers – but not emphatically.
The Final Verdict 3.5/5.0
Overall, I did enjoy this novel and I was intrigued by the Romantic elements being delivered through contemporary prose. I found the characters incredibly intriguing, if not always believable.
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LibraryThing member Marliesd
Some critics compare Bowen to Virginia Woolf--I can see that a bit. Interesting book.
LibraryThing member ccayne
This is quite a complex, psychological book. The first section in the voices of Henriette and Leopold was my favorite. The adolescent acts which drive the plot take up the middle and are difficult to read. Bowen's sentences and control are in such contrast to today's writing it can make for
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difficult but rewarding reading. Show Less
LibraryThing member stillatim
I found this very uneven while I was reading it. Bowen is great with character, psychology and dialogue, but her 'descriptive' passages (of the "the golden sun shone brightly through the purple clouds on the ashy gulls, bleating from their magenta bills as the azure sky opened above their fluffy
In short: the good bits of James and Austen combined with the bad bits of Arundhati Roy and whichever 'existentialist' novelist you hate most.
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heads" variety) are just awful. The same goes for the 'metaphysical' passages, which are almost impossible to understand - not because the ideas are difficult, but because the presentation is **so** tortured. All that said, I really want to read 'Death of the Heart' and 'Heat of the Day'. The good parts of this book just stick in my memory. In short: the good bits of James and Austen combined with the bad bits of Arundhati Roy and whichever 'existentialist' novelist you hate most.
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LibraryThing member soylentgreen23
I was warned that Bowen would be too starchy for my taste, but this story, which takes place in two time periods linked by the titular house in Paris, is surprisingly gripping.
LibraryThing member Kristelh
Reason read: Special event/Reading 1001
Elizabeth Bowen born in Dublin, Ireland is an Anglo/Irish author. This was her fifth novel.
Plot/Setting: the setting is one day in the house in Paris, two children meet. Henrietta who is on her way to meet her grandmother and Leopold who is supposed to meet
Structure: the book is divided in to three; first and third part are titled present. The middle part is the past which explores the background of Leopold's mother through the imaginary (fictitious memory) or Leopold. In the middle section we visit London and Naomi and Karen and Max. A triangle. Max and Karen scene in the back garden, Naomi serving tea. The blades of grass standing back up. The sunlight through the tree. A lot of interesting stuff in this middle section.
The third section opens back with "Your mother is not coming". Ms Fisher tells Leopold the truth. Leopold meets Ray.
This is a five star book, highly recommended and deserving to be owned and annotated.
Elizabeth Bowen born in Dublin, Ireland is an Anglo/Irish author. This was her fifth novel.
Plot/Setting: the setting is one day in the house in Paris, two children meet. Henrietta who is on her way to meet her grandmother and Leopold who is supposed to meet
Show More
his birth mother for the first time. Structure: the book is divided in to three; first and third part are titled present. The middle part is the past which explores the background of Leopold's mother through the imaginary (fictitious memory) or Leopold. In the middle section we visit London and Naomi and Karen and Max. A triangle. Max and Karen scene in the back garden, Naomi serving tea. The blades of grass standing back up. The sunlight through the tree. A lot of interesting stuff in this middle section.
The third section opens back with "Your mother is not coming". Ms Fisher tells Leopold the truth. Leopold meets Ray.
This is a five star book, highly recommended and deserving to be owned and annotated.
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LibraryThing member therebelprince
"Meetings that do not come off keep a character of their own."
The first word people have used to describe for me Elizabeth Bowen's writing is often "difficult". I now see they are wrong. Where some minds find difficulty, those of us with clearer vision see rare intelligence. Bowen was a younger
The House in Paris takes place over one day, as 11-year-old Henrietta and 9-year-old Leopold pass through the home of Miss Naomi Fisher and her ailing mother. The children do not know each other; the orphaned Henrietta is en route to visit her grandmother, and needs a place to stop, while Leopold is to meet his mother for the first time today, after having been raised by family friends in Italy. Both children's unusual circumstances are joined by their respective mothers' friendships with Miss Fisher. In the repressive atmosphere of the house, secrets unfold amongst these four unnerved characters and their ultimate guest.
Bowen's style is perhaps best described as "detached", somewhere on that mid-20th century spectrum of writers whom I adore so, whose characters are financially "comfortable" but often on a downward trajectory, and whose speech - clipped yet romantic - invites the reader to fill in the silences. If you have tasted the sweet delights of Murdoch and Durrell, of Penelope Fitzgerald and Barbara Pym, seek comfort here. If your preferences lean in the other direction, Bowen may not be for you! Says one of the characters: "I cannot live in a love affair, I am busy and grasping. I am not English; you know I am nervous the whole time. I could not endure being conscious of anyone. Naomi is like furniture or the dark. I should pity myself if I did not marry her."
"The Present" takes up about half of this short novel, but the meat of Bowen's story is in the central section, "The Past". The true details of Naomi Fisher's youth, of Leopold's provenance, of Madame Fisher in her prime, are interspersed in the details of a love affair as delicate as a hothouse flower. Bowen tears at the fragile stitches of these characters, revealing flesh that is bruised and sore. The content of the book - and, in truth, sometimes its individual moments - could be found in a lesser soft romance novel of the period. But Bowen's prose refuses to be cowed. She slips between tenses, surprises us with changes in narrative voice and tone, and generally keeps the atmosphere on the thinnest ice.
Unsettling, but beautiful.
The first word people have used to describe for me Elizabeth Bowen's writing is often "difficult". I now see they are wrong. Where some minds find difficulty, those of us with clearer vision see rare intelligence. Bowen was a younger
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member of the Bloomsbury Group, often defined as a generational link between Virginia Woolf and Muriel Spark. She toys with the fragmented modernism of the former, while sinking her teeth into the detached British realism of the latter. It is the frisson of this combination that gives her work its unique voice.The House in Paris takes place over one day, as 11-year-old Henrietta and 9-year-old Leopold pass through the home of Miss Naomi Fisher and her ailing mother. The children do not know each other; the orphaned Henrietta is en route to visit her grandmother, and needs a place to stop, while Leopold is to meet his mother for the first time today, after having been raised by family friends in Italy. Both children's unusual circumstances are joined by their respective mothers' friendships with Miss Fisher. In the repressive atmosphere of the house, secrets unfold amongst these four unnerved characters and their ultimate guest.
Bowen's style is perhaps best described as "detached", somewhere on that mid-20th century spectrum of writers whom I adore so, whose characters are financially "comfortable" but often on a downward trajectory, and whose speech - clipped yet romantic - invites the reader to fill in the silences. If you have tasted the sweet delights of Murdoch and Durrell, of Penelope Fitzgerald and Barbara Pym, seek comfort here. If your preferences lean in the other direction, Bowen may not be for you! Says one of the characters: "I cannot live in a love affair, I am busy and grasping. I am not English; you know I am nervous the whole time. I could not endure being conscious of anyone. Naomi is like furniture or the dark. I should pity myself if I did not marry her."
"The Present" takes up about half of this short novel, but the meat of Bowen's story is in the central section, "The Past". The true details of Naomi Fisher's youth, of Leopold's provenance, of Madame Fisher in her prime, are interspersed in the details of a love affair as delicate as a hothouse flower. Bowen tears at the fragile stitches of these characters, revealing flesh that is bruised and sore. The content of the book - and, in truth, sometimes its individual moments - could be found in a lesser soft romance novel of the period. But Bowen's prose refuses to be cowed. She slips between tenses, surprises us with changes in narrative voice and tone, and generally keeps the atmosphere on the thinnest ice.
Unsettling, but beautiful.
Show Less