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Classic Literature. Fiction. Literature. HTML:A seductive and hugely suspenseful novel by Booker Prize winning author Penelope Lively, about what can happen when you look too closely into the past Man Booker Prize�??winning novelist Penelope Lively�??s masterpiece opens with a snapshot: Kath, before her death, at an unknown gathering, holding hands with a man who is not her husband. The photograph is in an envelope marked �??DON�??T OPEN�??DESTROY.�?� But Kath�??s husband does not heed the warning, embarking on a journey of discovery that reveals a tight web of secrets�??within marriages, between sisters, and at the heart of an affair. Kath, with her mesmerizing looks and casual ways, moves like a ghost through the memories of everyone who knew her�??and a portrait emerges of a woman whose life cannot be understood without plumbing the emotional depths of the people she touched. Propelled by the author�??s signature mastery of narrative and psychology, The Photograph… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member lauralkeet
Glyn, a historian, is rummaging through a cupboard looking for some old papers when he comes across a photograph of his wife Kath, taken about 20 years earlier. In the photo she is holding hands with another man. Glyn is shaken to the core, but unable to confront Kath because she recently passed
Penelope Lively is a master at telling a story by showing how the tiniest of details can have a profound effect (for another example of this talent, I recommend How it All Began). No one’s life is as simple as it first appears, least of all Kath’s. I was fascinated by the way Lively gradually revealed connections and entanglements, and the possibility for different outcomes, had other choices been made at various points in time.
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away. Seeking the truth, he reaches out to Kath’s sister Elaine, who is also in the photo. Glyn’s discovery ultimately sends shock waves through the family and surfaces long-buried issues. The happy-go-lucky and stunningly attractive Kath’s presence is still very much present; grief is still fresh. As details of Kath’s life are revealed, everyone who loved her is forced to re-examine often seemingly trivial events now infused with new meaning.Penelope Lively is a master at telling a story by showing how the tiniest of details can have a profound effect (for another example of this talent, I recommend How it All Began). No one’s life is as simple as it first appears, least of all Kath’s. I was fascinated by the way Lively gradually revealed connections and entanglements, and the possibility for different outcomes, had other choices been made at various points in time.
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LibraryThing member riofriotex
More character-driven than plot-driven, this is the sad story of a widower (Glyn) who finds a photograph of his late wife (Kath) surreptitiously holding hands with her sister's (Elaine) husband (Nick), taken by the latter's former business partner (Oliver). Kath's friend Mary is also in the photo,
The story is set in England, with British vocabulary, so it's only fitting that the audiobook narrators be British. Actor Daniel Gerroll is, but his wife, actress Patricia Kalember (of Thirtysomething and Sisters TV fame), is American. Both do a fine job creating distinct personalities for the various narrators.
The book's title intrigued me, although the audiobook cover art is misleading (an attempt to portray the photo that's so central to the story seems like the better choice to me). All in all, though, I was disappointed. Very little happens in the story, and the characters are so self-absorbed, it's hard to empathize with any of them. It's no wonder they knew so little about Kath.
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and Glyn proceeds to interrogate all of them to find out if there had been other affairs. The story is told from all these multiple viewpoints, including that of Nick and Elaine's daughter Polly, a favorite of Kath's. We learn a lot about all the narrators (including some of the minutiae of their daily lives - Glyn is a landscape archaeologist and Elaine is a garden designer), but Kath remains an enigma. How she died isn't revealed until near the end, but there are indications all along. The story is set in England, with British vocabulary, so it's only fitting that the audiobook narrators be British. Actor Daniel Gerroll is, but his wife, actress Patricia Kalember (of Thirtysomething and Sisters TV fame), is American. Both do a fine job creating distinct personalities for the various narrators.
The book's title intrigued me, although the audiobook cover art is misleading (an attempt to portray the photo that's so central to the story seems like the better choice to me). All in all, though, I was disappointed. Very little happens in the story, and the characters are so self-absorbed, it's hard to empathize with any of them. It's no wonder they knew so little about Kath.
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LibraryThing member bookforage
She has become like some mythical figure, trawled up at will to fit other people's narratives. Everyone has their way with her, everyone decides what she was, how things were. It seems unjust that in the midst of this to-do she is denied a voice.
Oliver Watson's feelings regarding his deceased
The story opens when Glyn, a landscape historian, finds an envelope with a note in his dead wife's handwriting saying, "Do not open! Destroy." Of course, he opens it, and gets a shock that causes him to question his whole perception of Kath and their marriage. So he sets out to find out what really happened, and who she really was. But the story centers around Kath herself. We get vignettes of her from many different characters. The plot feels very small and contained, with just a handful of characters and their memories. And even though Kath is dead, you don't know what happened to her, which adds to a growing feeling that she is going to pop in at any minute (a habit of hers that everyone remembers) and explain everything. This feeling is strengthened by the memories of the living characters - instead of a simple flashback, they actually see her in their surroundings and hear her voice speaking to them, causing their memories to sort of merge with the present. It is as if she is actually there and is indeed trying to explain.
But as Glyn picks the brains of every person he can think of that Kath may have come into contact with, and as she herself inserts herself more and more into everyone's daily lives, the picture of Kath begins to expand. We start to get this sneaky suspicion that there was much more to her than those who were supposedly closest to her remember. And by the end, when most of the questions have finally been revealed, we realize along with the characters that it is the things we don't know about a person, the things that they, in retrospect, seemed to be trying to tell us, that make all the difference.
Oliver Watson's feelings regarding his deceased
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friend Kath sum up the theme of Penelope Lively's beautifully written novel, The Photograph. It is a novel about relationships - relationships between spouses, siblings, friends, and even acquaintances. It is also about the perceptions of each other that go along with those relationships. Do we ever see the complete picture of those we love, or do we only see them in snapshots, little snippets instead of the whole person?The story opens when Glyn, a landscape historian, finds an envelope with a note in his dead wife's handwriting saying, "Do not open! Destroy." Of course, he opens it, and gets a shock that causes him to question his whole perception of Kath and their marriage. So he sets out to find out what really happened, and who she really was. But the story centers around Kath herself. We get vignettes of her from many different characters. The plot feels very small and contained, with just a handful of characters and their memories. And even though Kath is dead, you don't know what happened to her, which adds to a growing feeling that she is going to pop in at any minute (a habit of hers that everyone remembers) and explain everything. This feeling is strengthened by the memories of the living characters - instead of a simple flashback, they actually see her in their surroundings and hear her voice speaking to them, causing their memories to sort of merge with the present. It is as if she is actually there and is indeed trying to explain.
But as Glyn picks the brains of every person he can think of that Kath may have come into contact with, and as she herself inserts herself more and more into everyone's daily lives, the picture of Kath begins to expand. We start to get this sneaky suspicion that there was much more to her than those who were supposedly closest to her remember. And by the end, when most of the questions have finally been revealed, we realize along with the characters that it is the things we don't know about a person, the things that they, in retrospect, seemed to be trying to tell us, that make all the difference.
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LibraryThing member Ameise1
This was a very fascinating reading. The whole story is about memories from different persons about a woman called Kath who died a few years ago. The widower founds a compromising photo of his deceased wife and his BIL. He is obsessed to find out if there were other men in her life. Therefore he
I was impressed with how Lively so impressively describes each character. I had always the feeling I was sitting in each person's head and was able to follow their mind. I saw Kath from different points of view sometimes fun-loving or melancholic but mostly as a person who is very lonely.
It's a book I can strongly recommend.
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starts asking questions and confronts his counterparts to look into their memories and past. During his investigatings all memories are turned upside down and in the end everybody has to learn to live with a new Kath.I was impressed with how Lively so impressively describes each character. I had always the feeling I was sitting in each person's head and was able to follow their mind. I saw Kath from different points of view sometimes fun-loving or melancholic but mostly as a person who is very lonely.
It's a book I can strongly recommend.
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LibraryThing member OneMorePage
Widowed for many years, an academic historian looks through a jumble of papers in a drawer and discovers a picture of his wife looking into the eyes of her sister's husband. With it is a "remember this day?" note from the man. Both are in an envelope with the note "throw away" written on it in his
Wanting to understand this new information, he begins to contact people from his wife's past, discovering a woman he didn't know. Thinking he would find many affairs, he discovered only this one, of very short duration. Instead, he found a woman who led a very full life in the arts while he worked, traveled, researched, did not notice her. A lonely woman who touched many but befriended few. A beautiful woman, worthy of being painted, her portrait commending a high price and revered by a man who never spoke to her.
She was beautiful. Everyone thought so. Her parents, long dead. Her sister, brother-in-law, husband, niece, artist friends, strangers. How could anyone so beautiful be lacking for anything? But she was. She lacked love. She lacked talent. She lacked children. She was lonely, unbearably so. And finally, at the end of his investigation into that photograph, he understood, at long last, who she was and why she killed herself.
A wonderful, but sad, tale that examines what it can be like to be beautiful, but unloved.
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wife's hand.Wanting to understand this new information, he begins to contact people from his wife's past, discovering a woman he didn't know. Thinking he would find many affairs, he discovered only this one, of very short duration. Instead, he found a woman who led a very full life in the arts while he worked, traveled, researched, did not notice her. A lonely woman who touched many but befriended few. A beautiful woman, worthy of being painted, her portrait commending a high price and revered by a man who never spoke to her.
She was beautiful. Everyone thought so. Her parents, long dead. Her sister, brother-in-law, husband, niece, artist friends, strangers. How could anyone so beautiful be lacking for anything? But she was. She lacked love. She lacked talent. She lacked children. She was lonely, unbearably so. And finally, at the end of his investigation into that photograph, he understood, at long last, who she was and why she killed herself.
A wonderful, but sad, tale that examines what it can be like to be beautiful, but unloved.
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LibraryThing member PetiteProf
Intriguing, but predictable. I picked it up thinking it would be a quick read, but found it to seem much longer than its thickness would suggest.
LibraryThing member TanyaTomato
I'm not much for novels about marriage and domestic issues, but Lively creates interesting characters that kept me reading. An old photograph is found and so starts an investigation from alternating points of view. First person narrative changes so you get everyone's perspective, and that is how
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the full breadth of the story comes together in the end. Show Less
LibraryThing member RoseCityReader
A widower finds an old photograph of his dead wife on a picnic with friends and becomes obsessively interested in her in a way he never was when she was alive. Through his search to learn about his wife, we learn about the two of them, as well as her family and circle of friends.
As with every
In contrast, the dead woman at the center of the tale is indistinct, defined neither by occupation nor personality. Cath is most remembered for being pretty in a purely decorative way -- more than one character describes her as being like a vase of flowers.
Cath's vague character is a useful literary device for developing the other characters and their stories. She is a foil for the others. But this leads (for me anyway) to an unsatisfactorily pat ending, as one by one the characters learn Cath's secret and begin to cope with her death. Looking back from the end, it just didn't seem likely that no one in her life understood her enough to realize the one thing that was the most important to her.
As with every
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Penelope Lively book I've read, I was really wrapped up in this story. The characters were fully formed, with interesting lives and complicated relationships. In contrast, the dead woman at the center of the tale is indistinct, defined neither by occupation nor personality. Cath is most remembered for being pretty in a purely decorative way -- more than one character describes her as being like a vase of flowers.
Cath's vague character is a useful literary device for developing the other characters and their stories. She is a foil for the others. But this leads (for me anyway) to an unsatisfactorily pat ending, as one by one the characters learn Cath's secret and begin to cope with her death. Looking back from the end, it just didn't seem likely that no one in her life understood her enough to realize the one thing that was the most important to her.
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LibraryThing member Brianna_H
Penelope Lively's books should be read for their prose alone. Her writing is elegant and the story flows. This is a quick read but a satisfying one.
LibraryThing member oldblack
I liked this book very much. I found it to be a very readable story with interesting characters living believable lives and dealing with issues to which I could relate. Yet at the same time there was a deeper level. The book also explored, in a realistic way, the question of what people look for in
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a "marriage" type relationship and whether such a relationship enhances your life or not. I guess there is more of a focus on female lives than male, but the men were by no means neglected. It suited me, but I'm not a deep thinker, and maybe the more intelligent reader might find it a little too light?? Show Less
LibraryThing member debnance
Glyn finds a photograph of his dead wife and it changes everything for him. As he slowly investigates the implications of the photo, a picture of his wife gradually develops and grows. A thoughtful book about relationships, death, and more. Recommended.
LibraryThing member CynthiaBelgum
A long stored, but never before viewed photograph sets a man in search for the possible other loves of his suicided wife's past, including his former brother in law. He stirs the pot by telling his wife's sister about the affair, looks up old acquiantances and buisiness associates, only to find
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that her tragedy was a series of miscarriages. It's a tale of lives lived in parallel. At the end, a perceptive friend of his wife fills in the blanks for all the characters involved. Everyone "settles". I read this for book club. Show Less
LibraryThing member ltimmel
Penelope Lively's The Photograph strikes me as not up to her usual standard. For one thing, the style and pacing are uneven-- at the beginning, the style is inappropriately brittle, as if this were a Fay Weldon social satire. (The first third of the book does not match the the second and last
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thirds.) But in fact it's not a satire, but rather a sad story about how the people closest to a woman who has committed suicide never knew her (because they could not be bothered to get past the static images of her filtering their perceptions of her, in ways that suited their own lives. Although I began to suspect that Kath, the dead woman, had been a suicide, this point is needlessly withheld from the reader until nearly the end of the book. Granted, the author probably wanted to convey the fact that Kath's surviving sister & husband had repressed the fact of the suicide, but since they are not the only viewpoint characters, delaying the revelation really was not necessary-- & in fact would have enriched the read. Show Less
LibraryThing member TigsW
Well played out story of alienation within close relationships, particularly of the main character who was somehow unable to ever establish a meaningful relationship with anyone, her sibling, her many admirers, and even her husband. There's an underlying theme throughout the book of self-absorption.
LibraryThing member nocto
The tale of what happens when scatty academic Glyn finds a photo of his late wife Kath holding hands with another man. I really enjoyed it and thought the way the book was structured was brilliant. Penelope Lively hides things in shadowy corners of the narrative and only brings them out at the end.
LibraryThing member AnneliM
The very British language, so well liked by so many, got in the way of enjoying this book. All the people in it appear less than likable, especially the husband of the main--long dead--character, who feels like he never loved his wife during her lifetime and does not hesitate to destroy her memory
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in everyone else, until--one surmises--he gets his comeuppance in the end. Show Less
LibraryThing member eachurch
In this quiet book, Lively explores how we remember people, how our memories are influenced by our assumptions about others and the stories that we create for them, and what happens when doubts about the past arise. Although one of the main characters is dead, throughout the book we see her change
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and transform in a rather remarkable way. Show Less
LibraryThing member pdebolt
Glyn is a widower who unexpectedly finds a photograph of his deceased wife, Kath, with a group of people. This leads to alterations in relationships, recriminations and adjustments in values. Each chapter is told from the perspective of those thought to be closest to Kath, which gives us a
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gradually evolving view. Penelope Lively is at her best in revealing the essence of her characters in a thoughtful, subtle way. As with all of her books, this one leads to thought-provoking questions. Show Less
LibraryThing member Alirob
Excellent book, I really enjoyed it.
LibraryThing member lauralkeet
Glyn, a historian, is rummaging through a cupboard looking for some old papers when he comes across a photograph of his wife Kath, taken about 20 years earlier. In the photo she is holding hands with another man. Glyn is shaken to the core, but unable to confront Kath because she recently passed
Penelope Lively is a master at telling a story by showing how the tiniest of details can have a profound effect (for another example of this talent, I recommend How it All Began). No one’s life is as simple as it first appears, least of all Kath’s. I was fascinated by the way Lively gradually revealed connections and entanglements, and the possibility for different outcomes, had other choices been made at various points in time.
Show More
away. Seeking the truth, he reaches out to Kath’s sister Elaine, who is also in the photo. Glyn’s discovery ultimately sends shock waves through the family and surfaces long-buried issues. The happy-go-lucky and stunningly attractive Kath’s presence is still very much present; grief is still fresh. As details of Kath’s life are revealed, everyone who loved her is forced to re-examine often seemingly trivial events now infused with new meaning.Penelope Lively is a master at telling a story by showing how the tiniest of details can have a profound effect (for another example of this talent, I recommend How it All Began). No one’s life is as simple as it first appears, least of all Kath’s. I was fascinated by the way Lively gradually revealed connections and entanglements, and the possibility for different outcomes, had other choices been made at various points in time.
Show Less
LibraryThing member sidiki
the concept is what attracted me to read the novel that is dealt with expertly no wonder its Penelope Lively! Did not much care for or found interest in the seven or so people dealt with in detail, their lives explained just because they were connected in some way to the protagonist. three stars
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for the pleasure of the style and caliber of the author and her use of language. will read her other works Show Less
LibraryThing member CarmenMilligan
This book was based on a promising premise, but it was very narrowly developed. It could have been sweeping, full and rich, but was a shallow characterization of the main players instead. While each character felt real, none were developed beyond the initial and cursory dimension necessary for the
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plot. The writer used a point-of-view perspective from each character which could have been more developed and expanded beyond the short chapters. In all, I was left flat. Show Less
LibraryThing member bodachliath
Penelope Lively's books are always a pleasure to read, and this is a beautifully constructed and moving novel. The emotional centre of the book is Kath, who is now dead. Her husband finds a photograph of her which reveals an affair with her brother-in-law, and the story follows the upheavals of the
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various protagonists as they are forced to adjust their memories and feelings, discovering that none of them really knew he Show Less
LibraryThing member nx74defiant
Glynn discovers a photograph of his beloved late wife in a cupboard. It is marked -destroy do not open. But open it he does and discovers he may not have known her heart at all.
This does a good job of showing each person's point of view.
But I didn't like any of the main characters. They were all to
The only glimmer I saw was Elaine recognizing how a kinder sister would of reacted to a childhood incident and letting that effect her judging of a gardening contest.
This does a good job of showing each person's point of view.
But I didn't like any of the main characters. They were all to
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self involved. Glynn was to involved in his work. Polly cared more about how this inconvenienced her than anything else. Polly had no sympathy for her mother. The only glimmer I saw was Elaine recognizing how a kinder sister would of reacted to a childhood incident and letting that effect her judging of a gardening contest.
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LibraryThing member SandyAMcPherson
Amazing book, because none of the characters are particularly likeable and the entire story is based on the dead woman's photo in an envelope directing someone to destroy it without opening it. That alone compels one to read through wondering who on earth is such an idiot. Burn it if it's such a
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big secret. Excellent writerly craft, to prompt the reader despite the unlovely characters. Show Less