The Children's Book by A.S. Byatt

This is one of the most frustrating books I have ever read--I wanted to lose it and never find it again at one moment and to read it far into the night the next moment. It is too long (almost 900 pages in paperback); contains too many characters, themes, and story threads; and has pages and pages of historical information and accounts of plays and puppet shows which seem to have no connection to anything. And yet the plot is fascinating, and when I finished I realized all the seemingly extraneous material really does have pertinence. It turns out to be one of the best books I have read in a good while, despite all my expectations.

The Children's Book tells the story of the children of several families from 1895 through the end of World War I in 1917:
*Tom, Dorothy, Phyllis, Hedda, Florian, Robin, and Harry--the (supposed) children of Humphrey and Olive Wellwood. He is a political writer and she is the writer of fantasy tales for children. Her unmarried sister Violet actually does most of the mothering of the children. Free spirits.
*Charles and Griselda--the children of Basil and Katharina Wellwood. He is a banker and Humphrey's brother, and she is German. Very conservative.
*Julian and Florence--the children of Prosper Cain, who is an Army man and the curator of a museum. Their mother is dead. Conventional.
*Geraint, Imogen, and Pomona--the children of Benedict Fludd, a mad-genius potter and his laudanum-addled wife Seraphita.
Philip and Elsie Warren--the ambitious and creative lower-class children of a pottery painter.
Wolfgang and Leon--the children of the German master puppeteer Anselm Stern and his wife Angela. (SPOILER ALERT)Anselm also happens to be the father of one of Olive Wellwood's children.

This, then, is basically the story of how all these children with various inheritances and upbringings turn out. All the historical information pertains to the influences of the culture and the political climate at the time on their outcomes. The plays and puppet shows seem to be symbolic representations of the journeys the children take to adulthood.

Few of the children turn out as the reader would anticipate, much as real-life children so often defy expectations. Free spirit parents sometimes produce responsible and conventional children. Conventional parents sometimes produce children who ignore social expectations. And sometimes parents produce children who seem like carbon copies.

This novel contains so many aspects that it becomes overwhelming. I admire the British, who put it one the short list for the Booker Prize, and I believe the judges, who awarded the prize to Wolf Hall for that year, were mistaken. This one should have won.

I love this book, but I would hesitate to recommend it to anyone. Some would love it, but most would want to throw it across the room, as I often did. Most people have lives to live and things to do and would not have the time it takes to appreciate the book. I'm glad I had the time.