John Banville admires Andrew O'Hagan's act of canine ventriloquism
Not the least of the surprises awaiting readers of this unexpectedly high-toned novel is its opening: "My story really begins at Charleston, a perfect haunt of light and invention that stands in the English countryside." Charleston, the fragrant East Sussex domicile of Bloomsbury leading lights Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant, is a far cry surely from the succession of foster homes and orphanages through which Norma Jeane Mortenson was dragged in the course of her harsh childhood. At the age of 16, in order to avoid being put into yet another institution, she married a hearty chap called Jim Dougherty, whom she addressed as Daddy – an appellation this fatherless daughter tried out on many of the men in her life, whether her heart belonged to them or not. She started out in care but until the day she died, at the age of 36 and horribly famous,...
Not the least of the surprises awaiting readers of this unexpectedly high-toned novel is its opening: "My story really begins at Charleston, a perfect haunt of light and invention that stands in the English countryside." Charleston, the fragrant East Sussex domicile of Bloomsbury leading lights Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant, is a far cry surely from the succession of foster homes and orphanages through which Norma Jeane Mortenson was dragged in the course of her harsh childhood. At the age of 16, in order to avoid being put into yet another institution, she married a hearty chap called Jim Dougherty, whom she addressed as Daddy – an appellation this fatherless daughter tried out on many of the men in her life, whether her heart belonged to them or not. She started out in care but until the day she died, at the age of 36 and horribly famous,...
- 5/7/2010
- The Guardian - Film News
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