Consequences by Penelope Lively

Consequences by Penelope Lively

Synopsis (from goodreads): 

Consequences is a love-story-times-three that opens on the eve of the Second World War, with a chance meeting in St. James's Park, London. Told in Lively's incomparable prose, it is a powerful story of growth, death, and rebirth, and a study of the previous century---its major and minor events, its shaping of public consciousness, and its changing of lives.

Quotation: 

"Wake up, Lucas. Here---the village shop's best mousetrap, and the pick of last year's apple harvest." 

Lucas opened his eyes. "I wasn't asleep. Just relishing happenstance. That I happened to get chatting to Matt that evening at the Grosvenor. That you two happened upon each other." He took a bite of sandwich. "Very decent mousetrap, if I may say so. You know, you've stepped out of a game of Consequences: you two. Matt met Lorna---on a bench in St. James's Park. He said to her: 'Let me rescue you from your ivory tower.' She said to him: 'There's a ladder in the basement, and my parents are out this evening'---The World said: 'They'll never get away with it'---and the consequences was. . . . Well, we shall have to wait till August to find out what the consequences was."

My Thoughts:

On the recommendation of a friend, I picked this book up from the library. On the whole the book was alright. It follows the story of three women--all connected. It follows Lorna who begins our story; Molly who carries the middle; and Ruth the one who finishes our story and brings us closer to Lorna.

I loved Lorna. I loved her story, her strength, her love. I felt compassion for her character, I wanted her to get a happily ever after. She and Matt deserved it. Unfortunately, life is not always as neat and organized as a novel, and this book definitely tries to portray reality. 

Molly didn't thrill me as a character. Perhaps it was her lack of upbringing, but her feminist ideas frustrated me. She complained about not being in love, but she was willing to sleep with a man and get pregnant and move into an apartment he purchased. She wasn't willing to marry him, even though he asked her before she knew she was pregnant. Molly just frustrated me with her need to be self-sufficient. It seemed to show she didn't have any room in her life for anyone else. Until Sam came along. I loved Sam. Sam was such a down-to-earth guy. I just didn't see him with Molly very well. 

Ruth was my second favorite. I felt horrible that her life wasn't as simple as she thought it would be. 

All in all, I thought Lively did a nice job trying to tell three different stories and to show the "consequences" of one choice over 3 generations. It was the characters that failed to keep me really loving the book. 

Recommendation: If you're interested in family drama and World War II, check it out from the library

Rating: 3/5 stars