The Halt During the Chase
Rosemary Tonks
(Author)
Description
Sophie--a clever and charming young woman--is trying to get out from under her mother's thumb. She's in love with her childhood friend Philip (pragmatic, attractive, a bit of a bore), but she often worries that she loves him too much for her own good, and that he might only be another thumb to crawl under.Both a sincere bildungsroman of Sophie's attempt to seize a life for herself and a comic masterpiece with cutting observations and asides, The Halt During the Chase is flutteringly alive as it discusses different forms of love, adulthood ("Isn't buying new lampshades a form of slow death?"), marriage, insecurity, and stifling British snobbery and classism. Sophie's voice, fueled by Tonks's acidic narration, evolves from thrashing about in various traps into a triumphant, croaky-throated liberation song.
Product Details
Price
$17.95
$16.69
Publisher
New Directions Publishing Corporation
Publish Date
October 03, 2023
Pages
160
Dimensions
5.2 X 7.9 X 0.7 inches | 0.55 pounds
Language
English
Type
Paperback
EAN/UPC
9780811237451
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About the Author
Rosemary Tonks (1928-2014) published two poetry collections and six novels, and wrote for The Observer, The Times, The New York Review of Books, The New Statesman, and Encounter, and presented poetry programs for the BBC.
Reviews
For Tonks, love is its own thing, separate from both sex and its inverse, marriage, a dreaded vulnerability that could strike at any moment if one enjoys life a little too much.--Audrey Wollen "The New Yorker"
Writing like this--a bit of Rhys, a bit of Knut Hamsun, a bit of Wyndham Lewis, a bit of Muriel Spark, overlaying the everlasting Shakespeare/Austen/Brontë/ George Eliot marriage drama--is far too beautiful and accomplished to be kept off the shelf. It catches like nothing else the smogs, the rodentine genes, the murky post-War grays, the lurking sexual violence of London, between Hangover Square and Carnaby Street.--Michael Hofmann "Poetry Magazine"
Nobody writes about angsty women like Tonks.--Daniella Fishman "The Millions"
Writing like this--a bit of Rhys, a bit of Knut Hamsun, a bit of Wyndham Lewis, a bit of Muriel Spark, overlaying the everlasting Shakespeare/Austen/Brontë/ George Eliot marriage drama--is far too beautiful and accomplished to be kept off the shelf. It catches like nothing else the smogs, the rodentine genes, the murky post-War grays, the lurking sexual violence of London, between Hangover Square and Carnaby Street.--Michael Hofmann "Poetry Magazine"
Nobody writes about angsty women like Tonks.--Daniella Fishman "The Millions"
