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Available
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Publication
NYRB Classics (2004), Paperback, 312 pages
Description
A SELECTION OF THE LOST BOOKS CLUB An exhilarating, fiercely honest, ultimately devastating book, The Furies confronts the claims of family and the lure of desire, the difficulties of independence, and the approach of death. Janet Hobhouse's final testament is beautifully written, deeply felt, and above all utterly alive.
Media reviews
New York Times
[A] sad, beautiful—and profoundly affecting—meditation on love and death and family.
User reviews
LibraryThing member lauralkeet
Janet Hobhouse was still writing The Furies when she died of ovarian cancer in 1991, at the age of 42. The book is simultaneously a memoir and a novel, with the protagonist Helen drawn very directly from Hobhouse’s life. She and her mother (Bett in the novel) were products of a strong matrilineal
But that success was tempered by dysfunctional relationships. Helen is continually restless, moving from one place to another in the blink of an eye. She has a tendency towards on again, off again relationships with men. She never quite achieves independence from Bett; they were very close, and Bett was also very needy. And yet the evolution of their relationship drew me in, especially in the latter part of the novel. I also found the last chapter -- in which Hobhouse/Helen announces her cancer diagnosis and contemplates her inevitable death -- very moving.
While The Furies is not an easy read, it’s one of those books that stays with you long after you’ve turned the last page.
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line, devoid of supportive men, and their relationship was unusual and intense. Bett and Helen lived in reduced financial circumstances, causing Helen no end of social difficulties during her school years. And yet she made her way from New York to Oxford, and then into a successful writing career. But that success was tempered by dysfunctional relationships. Helen is continually restless, moving from one place to another in the blink of an eye. She has a tendency towards on again, off again relationships with men. She never quite achieves independence from Bett; they were very close, and Bett was also very needy. And yet the evolution of their relationship drew me in, especially in the latter part of the novel. I also found the last chapter -- in which Hobhouse/Helen announces her cancer diagnosis and contemplates her inevitable death -- very moving.
While The Furies is not an easy read, it’s one of those books that stays with you long after you’ve turned the last page.
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Subjects
Language
Original language
English
Physical description
312 p.; 7.9 inches
ISBN
1590170857 / 9781590170854