The Children's Book by AS Byatt

One of my favourite books of all time is AS Byatt's Possession. It is an incredible work of fiction: beautifully written, with wonderful literary references; clever, witty, moving…

So when her latest novel, The Children's Book, was recommended to me I broke my rule of not reading a second book by an author if the first one really impacted me. After all, it was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, it must be worthy. Occasionally, as with Tim Winton, an author can sustain a body of work which continues to impress and delight.

So I have read and read and read this book. Yet… it has not grabbed me by the throat. When should I give up on it? I am on page 149, I feel I have invested a portion of my life in this book.

I love the writing. There are some beautiful descriptions:

Breakfast in the vicarage was bacon and eggs, precisely fried with soft centres, warm toast wrapped in a linen cloth, freshly churned butter, honey, and plentiful strong, newly brewed tea. Dobbin particularly liked eating these things in bad weather, when squalls raced across the reeds, and the sky was pewter, and the sheep huddled grimly. He felt it was a sacramental meal, but had not dared to say so to Frank [the Minister], who presided at real sacraments, however exiguous his congregation.

There are even some interesting comments about God, his presence or absence:

Your God has removed his presence as though it had never been. He sheds no light, he illuminates nothing, all is thick grey cloud, or empty night full of pointless points of brightness whose order is nothing to do with me, but not yet menacing.

The characters are interesting: bohemians, creatives, a poor boy with a second chance, an aimless young man who may yet bear fruit.

It resonates with my life… such as the choosing and keeping of stones or pebbles:

He thought he must take a stone back with him. It is an ancient instinct to take a stone from a stony place, to look at it, to give it a form and a life that connect the human being to the mass of inhuman stones.

However, I cannot go on. I have ground to a halt. The plot is meandering and the characters have connections that I find difficult to track.

However, the most significant issue for me is that I do not feel empathy for the characters. For me, this is one of the critical links between the reader and a book. We may not be able to understand the characters, we may not have been through their experiences, but we have to at least care a little about them to continue to be involved in their story.

I feel deep regret that I have let this book go. I am sure others will read and enjoy it; but I need to move on, and keep reading one book every week which is necessary to satisfy my responsibility to this the viewers of this site. Sometimes releasing a book is as necessary as completing a book.