My mother had been recommending the first of the Strangers and Brothers books for sometime. Perhaps it was because if the strongvrevommrndation that I found it a little underwhelming. The story follows Lewis as he grows up, his early childhood, his father's business failure and on as his makes his way on the career ladder. Lewis is someone with whom one feels sympathy, he is poor but ambitious, working hard to rise above his working class origins at a time when this was much harder.

However, Lewis in love is not so engaging. He has the misfortune to love a woman who doesn't return his affections and instead becomes a dead weight, holding him back from a promising career. There are times when reading this when you want to shake him and shout "pull yourself together man", something his friends continually advise but Lewis is deaf.

It's an engaging read for the wonderful characters who are very real, even if it's a bit if a frustrating story. ( )

1 The first of the Strangers and Brothers series, which I've been re-reading in random order! This is probably one of the most accessible of the books, where the lead character and narrator is more emotionally open. He describes complex family dynamics, the focus and drive needed to move from family bankruptcy to chelsea respectability, and the ability of love, obsession and illness to drive precarious gains wildly off course. At the same time, we see the grasp Snow has of organisational and personal politics, ambition and professional careers, in full flow.

לא ייאמן אבל קראתי בנאמנות ואפילו היו לי את כל הכרכים של הסדרה האינסופית הזאת. ייתכן שהיום הייתי מבין יותר, אבל אולי נהנה פחות. ( )

1890 Time of Hope, by C. P. Snow (read 8 Dec 1984) This is the most moving, best book of fiction I have read in a long time. It is Lewis Eliot's story from 1914--when he was nine--to 1933. It tells of his poverty as a boy, his reading law, his success at the exam, his rough time as a fledgling barrister--and most of all of his love for Sheila Knight. The book interacts with Strangers and Brothers (read 2 Dec 1984) particularly near the end. But I found the book moving because the protagonist is not immoral, and does not chase his now unloved, mentally ill wife off. Snow is really an able writer, I think. One wonders if the book is autobiographical. The book has design in it--is it because it was published in 1949, when such was still expected of fiction? Anyway, I have liked this book, and I will read more of the series. ( )