This novel marked the first of my Cheltenham Shortlist (the books which, had the Man Booker existed 50 years ago, would likely have been shortlisted), other than those I had read at an earlier stage. It is an interesting project to switch from reading the most prized, very-modern literature, to a novel whose style and subject would have been intensely modern in the 1960s. However, through its sheer 60s-ness, it also seems very dated.
The L-Shaped Room deals with the then-controversial subject of an unmarried woman in her late 20s falling pregnant, and the circumstances that occur after her standoffish and conservative father rejects her, and ejects her from the family home. Determined to lead a hermetic life in her new, cheap digs, Jane soon makes connections to new folk, expands her horizons and learns to accept herself, and her baby.
The book traverses some pretty controversial material for the time, but it is unable to completely shake the notion that pre-marital sex is 'wrong', that unmarried motherdom is 'wrong'. Jane may be pregnant, but it was a result of her first sexual experience (and an unenjoyable one, at that). Despite her father's rejection, Jane is constantly supported by other men in her life. Jane is moving towards being a symbol of independence through having a job, and being prepared to 'do it on her own', but this notion is undermined by the fact that the other strong women in the novel are either harridans, prostitutes or doomed to die alone.
While the novel toys with several moments of Jane's ability to choose her path, including abortion and raising a child alone, in the end it ties things up with happy coincidences and twee unions and reunions. The novel is an interesting read, if only for an insight into the mindset of 1960, but in the end felt a bit hollow and unsatisfying.
No comments:
Post a Comment