book review: The Past by Tessa Hadley
The backstory: Tessa Hadley has been on my 'meaning to read' list for years. The basics: Four adult siblings, along with their children and one new spouse, gather at their country house for a three week vacation. My thoughts: Part of me has a hard time reading novels set at different temperature extremes than the one I'm currently experiencing. It's hard for me to remember how much I dislike the heat of summer in the middle of an Iowa winter (and vice versa), but Hadley made this summer country house come alive. The omniscient narrator is filled with wisdom, and I marveled at Hadley's ability to juggle so many characters in ways that left each one fully formed. It's a challenge to introduce a relatively large cast of characters so quickly, including those not present, but I was never confused about which sibling was which or whose children belonged where. As rich as the descriptions and insights were, Hadley is also a gifted writer of dialogue: "-...