Meghan Review: Married Love by Tessa Hadley

I've just recently gotten into the world of short stories after years and years of being a novel devotee. Although I still love novels for a plethora of reasons, I feel like the short story is such a diverse and compelling form---and as a college student, I am always grateful to have something I can read quickly! (Reading a short story between classes is a lot easier to accomplish than trying to finish a 400 page tome!)

Married Love by Tessa Hadley is an excellent collection of the short story form. Each story is well-written and narratively strong with unique characters. One of the things that appealed to me most about the book as a whole was Hadley's prose. She excels at being specific, without sacrificing any detail or artistry. This kind of conciseness is something that I struggle with as a writer, so it always impresses me when an author executes it with the kind of style Hadley employs. 

My favorite story in the collection was the final one, "Post Production." It follow the life of Lynne after Albert Arno, her famous filmmaker husband, dies suddenly and unexpectedly. As the studio works to finish his last movie without him, Lynne tries to define exactly who Albert was and what he meant in her life--and uncovers  new definitions of herself, as well. The closing line of the story is bittersweet and powerful and it knocked around in my head for days afterwards: 

"Meanwhile she gave herself over to the ordinary dirty traffic, the laboring stop-start of her bus journey, the smells of wet wool and hair and trainers, and the motley collection of passengers  mostly not talking to one another, only into their mobiles." 

A quick and yet powerful read, Married Love is a great way to finish out your 2012 reading list.

Recommended to: anyone who likes the J.K. Rowling's writing style or Chekov's short stories, tea drinkers, people who don't mind rainy days, anyone with a bus or subway commute that would rather read

Release Date: November 20th 2012  Pages: 240 Format: Paperback  
Also By This Author: The London Train Source: TLC Book Tours  
Publisher: Harper Perennial  Buy It: Book Depository

This is a review by Meghan. You can find her here on Goodreads or on Twitter @meghanc303

The London Train by Tessa Hadley

The London Train by Tessa Hadley is a novel in two parts, subtly connected. The first part tells the story of Paul, a man living in the countryside with his second wife. Soon after his mother dies he learns his daughter from his first marriage has moved out and gone missing. He goes to London in search of her only to find her living in chaos with her lover. At first Paul wants to save her, but then he begins to envy her. In the second portion of The London Train, Cora moves back to Cardiff to escape her marriage, renovating the house she inherited from her parents. While there she gets a telephone call- her husband has gone missing. The two stories are tied together by a chance moment on a London train, a moment that will have grave consequences for both Paul and Cora.

The London Train is a quiet yet eloquent novel, Hadley has a subtle way of describing things that sneaks up on the reader with its beauty. That said, I also found it rather detached and unemotional at times making it difficult to connect with the characters. It is the kind of book who's writing I enjoyed, but I never became fully immersed in the story itself. This may be due to the fact that not a lot actually happens in the novel, The London Train is about the internal changes rather than the external, which means there isn't a lot of plot to get the pages turning quickly. In addition, none of the characters are actually likable, at least not to me, so unless they were going to get a brand new personality (which, I admit, Paul kinda did) I didn't really care about their emotional development. That's not a bad book, it's just a personal preference. Ultimately, Hadley's writing provides a lovely package for the novel The London Train, unfortunately for me, I found myself unsatisfied with what was inside.

Release Date: January 6th,, 2011
Pages: 336
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This review was a part of TLC Book Tours. Click here to read what other tour hosts thought. For the purpose of this review I was provided with a copy of the book which did not require a positive review. The opinions expressed in this post are completely my own.