a quiet life
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sweeping and exhilarating, alive with passion and betrayal, a quiet life is the first novel from a brilliant new voice in british fiction .
a psychological thriller of unusual depth ,
a quiet life
reps a significant leap forward for sophomore helmer claudio cupellini (
lessons in chocolate
) .
cynthia nixon as emily dickinson in “a quiet passion, ” directed by terence davies .
a quiet passion rated pg - 13 for metaphysical anguish. running time: 2 hours 5 minutes .
it is not selfish to want moments where you can leave the world behind, and recapture the magic. i encourage you today to find one—just one—area in your life that you can make a change. take one small step towards a quiet life .
ain' t easy to change your life and the life of those you have affected before. any way out ever ?
it starts with the decision to live more intentionally, and to make quiet time a priority. each day is just as important as the next in creating the life we imagine .
all in all, the book is a nice read and i will, therefore, rate it three and a half out of five stars. i will especially recommend “a quiet life in the country” to those who have a thing for period settings .
“too many people live their lives without intentionality or thought. they rarely find a quiet moment to sit in meditation or solitude and examine their life—who they are and who they are becoming. ”
it' s not easy to do justice to such a beloved, enigmatic artist, but
a quiet passion
was well worth the wait .
the body of a young woman is found in a small and quiet town in north italy. a detective from the nearby main city is called to solve the mystery .
the problem is that we typically compare our “worst” to their “best”, which really paints a bleak picture. joshua becker, of becoming minimalist, shares how comparison is the thief of joy, and of a quiet life :
a quiet passion would have benefited from a subtler lightening of the shadows, if only to better appreciate the darkness which was to engulf the reclusive poet .
it' s brilliantly directed with a quiet passion of its own by arguably great britain' s most artistic indie director, terence davies .
the key to removing busyness is simple—live intentionally, and identify areas in our life we can replace with quiet time. after all, the white space is where the magic happens. and who isn’t down for a little magic ?
an introverted man' s life changes completely when he finds himself attracted to a young bar - maid .
director davies doesn' t speed things up. the film is a calm and quiet affair, which is good because dickinson' s life itself was calm and quiet. some scenes are beautiful just because they are unhurried: in one scene, the camera moves extremely slowly around dickinson' s living room, lingering on walls and doors as well as on the people present .
a psychological thriller of unusual depth, “a quiet life” reps a significant leap forward for sophomore helmer claudio cupellini (“lessons in chocolate”), revealing a level of stylistic control and narrative force that should catapult him onto the list of italo directors to watch. a rare international co - production that feels organically right, the pic boasts the [ … ]
‘a tour de force. walter has taken us inside a life in hiding, in a novel about love, about political ideals and about the entrapment both create’ linda grant
‘a superb, sophisticated and radical book that refreshes the parts other spy novels cannot reach … meticulously researched and disarmingly told, a quiet life is historical fiction at its best, finding vast uncharted territories within a period we might have thought we knew. ’ chris cleave, author of the other hand and everyone brave is forgiven
i don’t know about you, but that sounds really appealing to me. isn’t this the kind of life you want to live? it’s definitely the kind of life i want to live .
do yourself a favor and reclaim margin in your life. it might make a world of difference and bring you happiness. because you are worthy of it .
melodrama about the life of a mentally handicapped young man and his devoted sister after their famous novelist father and housewife mother go to australia on a business trip .
“sometimes you need to sit lonely on the floor in a quiet room in order to hear your own voice and not let it drown in the noise of others. ” — charlotte eriksson
offers a finely detailed portrait of a life whose placid passage may not have been inherently cinematic, but is made more affecting by cynthia nixon' s strong performance .
rome - - claudio cupellini changes register after his 2007 debut comedy “chocolate lessons” with “a quiet life, ” a polished story about a seemingly peaceful man whose violent past comes back to haunt him. the film’s great, gnawing tension hits its peak too soon, unfortunately, giving way to a weak third act. nonetheless, it proves cupellini to be a versatile, assured director, who could only get better with time .
a double life is no life at all. since the disappearance of her husband in 1951, laura leverett has been living in limbo with her daughter in geneva. all others see is her conventional, charming exterior; nobody guesses the secret she is carrying. her double life began years ago, when she stepped on to the boat which carried her across the atlantic in 1939. eager to learn, a
the story of “a quiet life in the country” revolves around a lady and maid duo who together have been through a lot of adventures and misadventures. lady hardcastle is a widow who enjoys a very special and different kind of bond with her maid florence armstrong. the past couple of years had been quite busy and hectic for both of them and thus to move away from the hustle and bustle of london, the two have decided to move to the countryside .
i was surprised and intrigued to see that the feminist and humanitarian natasha walter who previously only wrote nonfiction has published her first novel. the blurb for “a quiet life” explains how it' s about a female spy during wwii and i wasn’t sure how a thrilling plot like this would work alongside the author’s compelling ideas about feminism. as it turns out, the main character laura is not a feminist or especially an intellectual. she doesn’t become a political subversive and spy delivering
the story of a good family gone wrong. a man escapes to germany and starts a new family thinking he will finally enjoy a quiet life. instead, it becomes chaotic when his long lost son comes back into the fold. mafia ties are revealed, personalities change—this italian drama has it all. toni servillo won best actor at the international rome film festival for his role and the film won the cineuropa award at the brussels film festival. this is a must see !
the author has written a detailed historical story about double lives and spying. clearly a lot of meticulous research has gone into it and it draws on a number of real life cases. in 1939, laura moves to england from the united states. over time, she acquires a secretive life and she has the perfect character to do so. she is a buttoned down personality who easily takes on the layers of secrecy required. it is a well plotted novel that has exquisite descriptions. you get a real feel of the fear that real life spies must have felt. a great and suspenseful read. many thanks to the borough press for an arc .
the rich imagery and controlled composition seem alternately to highlight dickinson' s unfettered art and to mock her sadly fettered life .
we know life happens, so if something comes up, you can return or exchange your tickets up until the posted showtime .
the author has written a detailed historical story about double lives and spying. clearly a lot of meticulous research has gone into it and it draws on a number of real life cases. in 1939, laura moves to england from the united states. over time, she acquires a secretive life and she has the perfect character to do so. she is a buttoned down personality who easily takes on the layers of secrecy required. it is a well plotted novel that has exquisite descriptions. you get a real feel of the fear
natasha walter is the author of two non - fiction books, the new feminism and living dolls: the return of sexism. she has worked as a journalist, columnist and reviewer for the guardian, the observer and the independent, and is the founder of the charity women for refugee women. she lives in london with her partner and their two children. a quiet life is her first novel .
an admirer can be forgiven for approaching “a quiet passion, ” terence davies’s new movie about dickinson’s life, with trepidation. the literalness of film and the creaky conventions of the biopic threaten to dissolve that strangeness, to domesticate genius into likable quirkiness. but mr. davies, whose work often blends public history and private memory, possesses a poetic sensibility perfectly suited to his subject and a deep, idiosyncratic intuition about what might have made her tick .
it is true parlor intrigue - a room where perhaps a quarter of the film takes place - in which the wickedest things are the barbed epigrams, and the dramas are life' s familiar woes ...
well written and thought provoking - a good one for a book group discussion .
but a quiet life is not what fate has in store for the lady and her maid. just when they are about to settle into their new routine and surroundings, a murder happens and somehow the lady is aware that the police does not have the right man. before long, and with the help of her maid, the lady decides to take the matters into her own hands and begins her own series of inquisitions. but nothing is as easy as it seems, for, in the process of solving the murder, she unravels something ever more sinister and gruesome. so what will lady hardcastle do? will she be able to uncover everything that is wrong in this countryside? or will fate take a turn against her? well, this is for you to know when you read “a quiet life in the country” .
this is an utterly fascinating novel which gives an entirely new perspective of the wwii time period. it' s a wholly immersive and wonderful read about a compelling character inspired by the real life of a woman named melinda maclean who was suspected (but never proven) to be a soviet spy .
part of the pic’s success lies in the way cupellini balances contrasting concepts: family offers both security and betrayal, and a sylvan setting can’t supply the kind of shelter needed by those attempting to escape the past. until the unfortunate last quarter - hour, when character consistency is pushed to an unsatisfactory degree, “a quiet life” is full of subtle modulations and terrific little character details; only rosario’s relationship with renate feels underwritten .
you can design a life of less—and more. more of what you love, less of what you don’t. it’s a process, and we’re all in it together. we have created a 30 - day email course that will inspire + encourage you on your journey .
for once, put yourself first. love yourself, and make yourself a priority. even for just one day, you deserve everything. every part of the life you are after .
british director terence davies shows dickinson as a person who refused to stick to the strict rules of life in the victorian era. she had a mind of her own, and was not afraid to speak out. at the same time, she seemed to have trouble finding happiness. the most tragic element of her life was that her poetry was hardly appreciated. only a few poems were published in the local paper .
there is a rather dismal expectation that when a polemicist – and natasha walter, thoughtful and considered author of the new feminism and living dolls, has not been afraid to nail her colours to that mast – turns to fiction, the result will not be a story but a tract. and when, early in a quiet life, laura’s ambivalence as a mother is followed closely by florence’s paean to a communist utopia of sexual equality, the possibility that the message is going to override the medium does present itself. but as the story gathers pace, the novel’s intelligent and determined examination of sexual politics takes its proper place – subsidiary to character and in the background of a robust and well - plotted narrative .
i did not know that the first novel by natasha walter, was seminal non - fiction the new feminism and living dolls. a quiet life is natasha walter' s first novel that is a beautiful work of fiction. the story is about laura leverett since the disappearance of her husband in 1951, laura has been living in limbo with her daughter in geneva. people see her as a very charming young lady, but nobody guesses that secret she is carrying. laura is a wife, mother and spy. i find it fascinating to read what
a chronicle of the 1969 bombing at a major national bank in milan and its aftermath .
when we compare ourselves to others, we set ourselves up to add “more” into our life. more money, more cars, more houses, and more stuff. we fall victim to the old adage of “keeping up with the joneses” which prevents us from living the life we really want to live .
you' d expect this kind of witty dialogue in a woody allen film about condescending new york intellectuals. but' a quiet passion', about 19th century american poet emily dickinson, is also full of it. clearly, she used her talent not only to write poetry, but also to engage in spirited conversation .
we live in a world where busyness is king. we’re so busy glorifying how busy we are, we miss out on experiencing the moments that matter. and while we’re so busy making a living, we forget to make life—which is quite tragic .
if you are acquainted with emily dickinson' s work, this film gives an interesting insight into her life and her poetry. if you' re not, this film is a great introduction to it .
a fantastic book - a spy story from the point of view of the significant other in a relationship full of secrets and silences. compelling .
under surveillance by the authorities and living in exile, she is reduced to squabbling with her mother over childcare and waiting for cocktail hour, and appears to be the emblem of female submissiveness. but before walter’s tense prologue draws to a close, we become uneasily aware that laura has led a life of concealment and lies, and that it is far from over. she is in geneva waiting for her old life to die – and for a sign that the new one may begin .
and though “a quiet passion” is small — modest in scope, inward rather than expansive, precise in word and gesture — it contains multitudes. it opens a window into an era whose political and moral legacies are still with us, and illuminates, with a practiced portraitist’s sureness of touch, the mind of someone who lived completely in her time, knowing all the while that she would eventually escape it .
we think there is happiness to be had, joy to be experienced, and moments to be made. yes, there might be some truth to this, but who’s to say the moments of solitude or quiet time won’t measure up—or even exceed those altogether ?
spies, amirite? it' s all poison - tipped umbrellas and silly wigs! er, well... a quiet life is a more subtle portrayal of mid - 20th - century spying, focusing on the psychological toll of secrecy and the everyday social manipulations that, i imagine, were the reality for most soviet spies in the west. it was these social manipulations that i loved most within the novel: the small changes in personality that protagonist and spy laura would use to exert information from people. haven' t we all wondered ho
i believe we all want to incorporate some level of minimalism into our life, and experience the freedom that joshua and ryan talk about. and it’s important for us to know there isn’t a “right” or “wrong” way to do it .
the kind of film davies excels at. he effectively demystifies dickinson' s life (having a truly magnificent cast helps) while incorporating her poetry thematically. also, despite the film' s clear obsession with death the screenplay has a lot more wit and humor than you' d expect .
a man struggling under the crushing weight of debt must work as a tax collector to pay off his creditors .
in the quiet forests near wiesbaden, germany, rosario (servillo) runs a restaurant - hotel with his german wife, renate (juliane koehler). a memorable intro, featuring rosario in closeup as he’s about to shoot a wild boar, sets an unsettling tone whose ambiguity is nicely in keeping with rosario’s character. out of the blue, two young italians show up, edoardo (francesco di leva) and diego (marco d’amore); a troubled rosario offers them lodging without providing renate with much explanation .
but the protestant hymnal was the metrical trellis on which dickinson wreathed blossoms and thorns of musical invention. “a quiet passion” suggests that the mixture of austerity and extravagance in her verse was shaped partly by an environment in which religious severity coexisted with aesthetic and intellectual experimentation. (that aunt may have disapproved of the performance, but she still went. )
melinda maclean who acted as a spy for the soviet union as did her husband donald maclean, a british diplomat .
i won a copy of this book on a goodreads giveaway. this story took us on a journey with laura as her life began to unfold in a way she never expected. it gave us an insight into the turmoil of a woman torn between who she truly is and who she must appear to be for the outside world. it highlights how easy it is for the world to dismiss a woman as insignificant without knowing her true worth. while the spy theme is key it is the interactions between laura and the other characters that caught my at
at first i wasn' t sure about this, but i soon got swept away by the narrative and loved it. i i was doing my usual amazon blitz before going off on hols and picked this up with a dozen others. i read it last, and after a slight hesitation over the florence character, it really gets going and i had to pretend i was working at my desk while reading it on my computer, i was so hooked... such a fabulous idea, and so interesting, the notion of secrets and keeping them, and living as both nobody and somebody else. the subject of people living a double life is just so compelling and after i finished spent ages on wikipedia reading more about the real life character who gave the author the idea for the book. i love a book that makes you feel you' ve lived another life. this certainly did that .
a bit of a slow start and an open ending... . but beautifully written, atmospheric and engrossing at all times .
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inspired by real life events in american melinda marling and her english husband and cambridge spy donald maclean' s life but telling the fictional story of laura leverett, this novel adds another fascinating dimension to the story of wwii and cold war period when the cambridge spies were active. when we first meet laura it' s january 1939 and she appears to be an innocent wide - eyed american on her first passage across the atlantic to stay with her aunt in london. on the boat she meets a communist ,
the story of american poet emily dickinson from her early days as a young schoolgirl to her later years as a reclusive, unrecognized artist .
it is dominated by a single voice: ms. nixon’s, reciting stanzas instead of voice - over narration and cracking impish, sometimes impious jokes with the marvelous ms. ehle. a novel of family life writes itself between the lines, full of memorable characters and dramatic scenes. parents grow old and die. austin marries and then has an affair, a transgression that enrages emily. she and vinnie seem to exist in precise, kinetic counterpoint, like the left and right hands of a piano étude .
i won a copy of this book on a goodreads giveaway. this story took us on a journey with laura as her life began to unfold in a way she never expected. it gave us an insight into the turmoil of a woman torn between who she truly is and who she must appear to be for the outside world. it highlights how easy it is for the world to dismiss a woman as insignificant without knowing her true worth. while the spy theme is key it is the interactions between laura and the other characters that caught my attention the most along with the often somber emotions she showed through out, it seemed realistic without being mundane .
jolly good. all the spy malarkey is a bit of a red herring. yes, it' s a point of plot (and a substantial one) but it' s not the only interesting thing. i loved her unpicking of womany - ness and her ability to write period fiction without being remotely laboured about it. not a jolly air raid warden in sight. a fabulous slice of history. much enjoyed .
this is a story about a woman called laura who moves to england. while living here she finds herself moving in different circles then she is used to and following an unusual path in life. a secret one. laura is a hard character to understand, she does not give away much about how she feels and is almost emotionless, making her perfect in some ways for some of the things she does. her relationships seem more functional then anything else and her mannor is cool. the story is interesting, the di
marino pacileo, known as
gorbaciof
due to the prominent birthmark on his forehead, is an accountant at poggioreale prison in naples. pacileo, silent and shy, has only one passion in life: ... see full summary »
her double life began years ago, when she stepped on to the boat which carried her across the atlantic in 1939. eager to learn, and eager to love, she found herself suddenly inspired by a young communist woman she met on the boat. in london she begins to move between two different worlds – from the urbane society of her cousins and their upper class friends, to the anger of those who want to forge a new society. one night at a party she meets a man who seems to her to combine both worlds, but who is hiding a secret bigger than she could ever imagine .
i received this through goodreads giveaways. a brilliant book! !. i enjoyed this immensely. this is a spy thriller set between the years 1939 - 1953. laura is an american who comes to live in london and is recruited into communism. the book is fiction but is based loosely on the life of melinda marling, the wife of donald maclean and one of the cambridge spies. the plot is very good and engrossing. however, we never really get to understand laura or what makes her commit to communism. very well written and the period details and the way of life at that time are excellently portrayed. highly recommended .
this is an odd book. at first i found it rather flat with a very two - dimensional main protagonist - for example we are not given any insight into why she became attracted to communism in the first place - but as it went on, it developed into a picture of what living a double life does to your soul and to every relationship you make. even though we see the characters from the outside only, we can feel the tension at particularly tricky moments, and feel the edginess of the class barriers. it is a
laura’s muted existence of evasion and dissimulation, in which she is fatally underestimated as a frivolous flirt by her husband’s friends, was inspired by that of donald maclean’s wife melinda marling, “the communist in the schiaparelli coat”. walter’s achievement is to bring espionage brilliantly into service as a metaphor for more routine secrets a woman has historically had to conceal, from menstruation to frustration, rage to alienation from the disfiguring role models we are offered. its indelible image – a woman whose calmly conformist femininity conceals shocking subversion – leaves us wondering about our own mothers and grandmothers, and what went on beneath the surface of their quiet lives. it also confirms walter as a writer who clearly appreciates the joys and purpose of fiction as distinct from polemic, and makes good use of both .
what' s the name o... : solved. adult fiction, spy novel. a young american woman visits relatives in england. on ship across the ocean she becomes friends with a communist. ends up meeting and falling in love with a man she learns is a spy. spoiler ahead. [ s ]
the plot is good but the story sometimes struggles at a slow pace. i personally would have liked a little more action and misadventure. the pace of the book becomes steady in the later part, even slightly picking up in the end. the author’s narrations and descriptions easily bring to life the times of the early 20 th century england. the book does well to start with building the characters and the setting before the murder is introduced. the mystery quotient is maintained throughout though i will refrain myself from calling it a mystery / thriller in the strict sense. the climax too is satisfying and the book leaves the reader with a feeling of content on having read a decent read .
to unravel the journey that has brought her heroine to this crossroads walter replays her life from the moment the young laura leverett leaves new york for london on the eve of the second world war. with her father an american reprobate and her mother of genteel english stock, she is already keenly aware of inhabiting the margins. the ocean liner taking her to her new life among strangers offers her the microcosm of a world in transit in which she may find her place. in prospect are physical desire for a raffish young journalist and its concomitant shame, and her uneasy longing for the glamour of first class, and the certainty of belonging. she also experiences the first stirrings of political awareness when she encounters a young communist, florence blake, on her way to right the world’s wrongs in europe .
‘a writer of game - changing skill and sensitivity. few novelists can combine serious feminism with romance and adventure and make it work … a literary page - turner’ the times
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i found this novel to be a definite page - turner. the characters were interesting, the action engrossing. there were many things i liked about it: one, the author tells the story without judgment or taking sides; two, i found it intriguing that violence and abuse in the protagonist' s history was vaguely hinted at without being explicitly stated or described. it struck me as a look into the life of someone (like spies, undercover operators, et. al .) who has to live a lie and the terrible toll it c
when a politician disappears, his (mad) twin brother is brought to replace him .
the story of a man who murdered thirty - two people, gained power, and then got afraid because too many people wanted to kill him. one august morning, he disappeared. for fifteen years, everyone believed him dead. instead, he was living in a little hotel near frankfurt, with a wife and a young german son. then, when the trains filled with waste departed from naples, the past climbed on board. this is the story of a man who, while trying to kill a chestnut tree with a copper nail, was grabbed from behind by his past. and was forced to settle the score .
in order to avoid the death of the husband (the criminal boss don vincenzo ,
king of the fish
), donna maria sends her henchmen to kill a lookalike (a shoe - seller) and then she sets up a... see full summary »
eighteen - year - old laura leverett arrives from america for a new life in england. at the side - lines of her cousin’s glamorous gatherings, laura hungers for someone with whom she can discuss the new political ideas sweeping through london. edward last is the kindred spirit laura has been waiting for. but the secret he is carrying will test laura’s ideals to their limits and take them across oceans before tearing them apart
this is an odd book. at first i found it rather flat with a very two - dimensional main protagonist - for example we are not given any insight into why she became attracted to communism in the first place - but as it went on, it developed into a picture of what living a double life does to your soul and to every relationship you make. even though we see the characters from the outside only, we can feel the tension at particularly tricky moments, and feel the edginess of the class barriers. it is an interesting feat of imagination, given that there is no evidence that the real - life character on whom laura is based ever engaged in any practical spionage. for those of us who grew up against the background of the cambridge spy circle and the defections of some of its members, this is an interesting fictional addition to the picture - we all know about the men, but what about their wives and families ?
cynthia nixon gives a good, restrained performance. it' s nice to see her in a role that' s the complete opposite from the career lawyer miranda in' sex and the city' .
i received this through goodreads giveaways. a brilliant book! !. i enjoyed this immensely. this is a spy thriller set between the years 1939 - 1953. laura is an american who comes to live in london and is recruited into communism. the book is fiction but is based loosely on the life of melinda marling, the wife of donald maclean and one of the cambridge spies. the plot is very good and engrossing. however, we never really get to understand laura or what makes her commit to communism. very well written
this is a story about a woman called laura who moves to england. while living here she finds herself moving in different circles then she is used to and following an unusual path in life. a secret one. laura is a hard character to understand, she does not give away much about how she feels and is almost emotionless, making her perfect in some ways for some of the things she does. her relationships seem more functional then anything else and her mannor is cool. the story is interesting, the discription of laura at that time in history is believable and the ending was very satisfying. i recommend this to all fans of books about war time told from an unusual perspective. i received this book from review from the lovely people over at urltoken
“no sidebar has such a creative view of minimalism. i highly recommend their 30 - day course. ”
nixon delivers a masterful performance, giving us a heroine who can' t cease digging herself into ever deeper holes. she' s never out of step with the film' s graceful pace and narrative development .
i have not read either of natasha walker' s non - fiction books, but her articles are pertinent, concise and incisive, so it was a disappointment that her debut novel is none of those things. it is the story of a woman caught up in espionage and left - wing politics from 1939 to 1953 and the effect of keeping parts of her life secret. everyone assumes laura is an innocent dupe, unable to understand what is going on; she isn' t. from laura' s first arrival at no identifiable uk port (the closest perhaps
a most riveting story the story is told from the beginning as though one is living the story personally. it contains such insight that it’s almost easy to forget that the story is a work of fiction, especially when the reader is old enough to remember the actual events and times. it moves at a steady and considered pace, and is never a spy / thriller genre story, but the personal journey of the protagonist .
laura moves to england at the start of 1939 to visit relatives, but really she is trying to escape the confines of her suffocating and damaging family life in the states. on the boat across the atlantic she meets two people who will affect the rest of her life in crucial ways. she finds it challenging to learn how to live amongst the privilege, manners and social preoccupations of her affluent english relatives. but this well ordered world is in the midst of being thrown into chaos as time progresses and german bombs fall over london. despite the danger, laura refuses to return to america and embarks on a course of love and political intrigue which radically destabilizes her future. there are certainly gripping moments as questions arise about who laura can really trust and if her surreptitious activities will be caught out, but this is more a novel about the tension between her complicity with the social / political structures around her and her rebellion against them .
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“almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you. ” — anne lamott
as usual, servillo uses a distinctive physicality to get into his role; rosario frequently puts his hand on his back, as if he’s in mild chronic pain. it may not be a clear statement, but it makes the character come alive, helping to add different levels of reality to a complex figure. d’amore, in his film debut, is memorable as the abandoned son mistrustful of his father’s attempts at rapprochement yet yearning for paternal love; di leva, too is a standout in a role that could easily have been just another wiry junior mobster .
love and politics entwine in their relationship, never again to be disentangled. on arrival in england, in reaction against snobbish upper - class relatives who regard her with dismay, laura is drawn to florence’s fierce determination to achieve social justice – for men and women alike. “she told her that in a communist society every man and woman would be able to engage in meaningful work that really did spring from their personality … that she was not part of the life mapped out for her. ”
for a book about spies, communism and romance, this book was really boring and nothing really happened ...
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impelled by desire, she finds herself caught up in his hidden life. love grows, but so do fear and danger. this is the warm - blooded story of the cold war. the story of a wife whose part will take her from london in the blitz, to washington at the height of mccarthyism, to the possible haven of the english countryside. gradually she learns what is at stake for herself, her husband, and her daughter; gradually she realises the dark consequences of her youthful idealism .
minimalism doesn’t have to be about living in a tiny house with only a few shirts in your closet. minimalism is about paring down and focusing on the things that are important—or as marie kondo says, the ones that bring us joy .
a delicate and measured drama that plumbs the depths of the poet' s strange heart and the agony of her intelligence .
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movies and tv shows are certified fresh with a steady tomatometer of 75% or higher after a set amount of reviews (80 for wide - release movies, 40 for limited - release movies, 20 for tv shows), including 5 reviews from top critics .
stick with it, and keep your eyes on nixon; a still, gentle - voiced presence whose eyes glow like blue embers .
i was intrigued right from the start of this book and it continued to keep my interest all the way through - i was a little disappointed in the ending, it was too abrupt and did not give a clue as to what will happen next. this may be good for most people but i' m afraid i like a good solid happy ending - hence the 4 instead of 5 stars .
these days i have become a huge fan of the netgalley platform for that is where i choose a majority of my “to read” titles from. this book too is another one of my netgalley picks and i am more than happy to review it for you guys here .
the story is told from the beginning as though one is living the story personally. it contains such insight that it’s almost easy to forget that the story is a work of fiction, especially when the reader is old enough to remember the actual events and times. it moves at a steady and considered pace, and is never a spy / thriller genre story, but the personal journey of the protagonist .
so far the first 50 pages are disappointing. slow and overly descriptive, a polemical agenda clearly being pushed, not hugely atmospheric of the time nor is there much narrative tension and the characterisation of laura feels a bit weak. i' m beginning to skim read already. lovely cover though. i will keep trying for a while longer mainly because i read a review somewhere that it begins to pick up later on, hope it does soon. i' m up to page 87 and struggling to keep up with so many characters. ok
strangely compelling i recently read ben macintyre' s
a spy among friends
and this was an interesting follow up. the character of laura, initially usympathetic, hampered by her unhappy upbringing and lack of education, illustrates how someone could be swept into the philosophy of communism which for her promises a sort of freedom and glamour removed from her dreary family in america. i think natasha walter is brilliant at understanding how someone of this time and class could become a russian agent and the sort of doublethink they would use. this is a very cleverly written book and i would absolutely love to know what happened to laura and rosa, but i suspect nothing very good. a fascinating novel .
as well as having a gift for cool, elegant phrasing, and a fine sensitivity to psychology reminiscent of elizabeth jane howard, walter proves to be a hardworking and accomplished storyteller. the scene in which laura must steal, photograph and return documents from under the noses of both her husband and cousin is breathtaking, as are the protagonist’s agonisingly clumsy attempts to seduce a suspected double agent. walter is terrific, too, at capturing the tense, bleached - out dreariness of the cold war in london and washington, easily competing with the claims of such experienced novelists as sebastian faulks and william boyd to the territory, and bringing to it a unique perspective that resonates long after the novel is laid down .
i am normally a reader almost exclusively of crime fiction and psychological thrillers, so i was slightly out of my comfort zone with this book .
“envy is ever joined with the comparing of a man’s self; and where there is no comparison, no envy. ” — sir francis bacon
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i enjoyed the storyline, liked the characters & plot, however overall i felt it was a little bit too drawn out. others may not agree
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here’s a sobering truth: busyness crushes our soul, and we should focus more on reducing the number of things on our calendar than adding to it .
all this is subtly shown in the biopic, which follows dickinson from her childhood to her death. the poems are read by a voice - over, which is not the easiest way to appreciate poetry. but at the same time, the poems are a necessary element to understand dickinson as she was .
not everything is harmony. if one of the film’s threads is the existential conundrum that most directly informs dickinson’s poetry — what it is like to live from moment to moment with the knowledge of eternity — another is the dialectic of freedom and authority that defined her life. ms. nixon’s dickinson is a natural feminist, but she also naturally submits, as her siblings do, to their father’s will. when she wants to write late at night, she asks his permission, noting later that no husband would have granted it. she is submissive and rebellious in ways that defy easy summary. like the other great american poet of her century, walt whitman, she contradicts herself .
terence davies read six biographies of emily dickinson prior to making the film and he believes that she is a genius. cynthia nixon also read a lot of biographies of emily dickinson in order to get into the role and she detected contradictions, but she found it interesting because she had the chance to choose her favorite versions .
anticipated this novel but found it dull. i couldn' t connect with any of the characters and thought that what could have been a great read was largely disappointing .
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2. 5 / 5 the attempted integration of a narrative heavy on espionage, wartime romance, and marital strife with the predominant theme, social constraints on women in the mid - 20th century, doesn' t work well here. perhaps walter, author of two quite successful books on feminism, was overly concerned about being too discursive or didactic in addressing her concerns. with the upshot being that she kits out the story in a lot of cliched material, loses sight of character development, and buries her terrific insights in a baggy narrative. frustrating .
a look into the very different world of a female spy during and after the second world war. husband and wife, edward and laura, are both spies so they can’t talk about politics with each other, creating an isolation within their marriage. i liked the strong characterisation, particularly of the main protagonist, laura, and that it managed to be well - researched without being clunky. i found it a well - paced read, initially slow (some might feel too slow) but then building up in a controlled way which kept me reading. the use of tension made me feel involved although i found i needed to read it carefully to avoid missing important plot lines. i won’t share any spoilers but i also really liked the ending.
a quiet life ( italian : una vita tranquilla ) is a 2010 italian neo-noir film directed by claudio cupellini . it entered the competition at the 2010 rome international film festival , in which toni servillo was awarded best actor . 
a quiet life (italian: una vita tranquilla) is a 2010 italian neo-noir film directed by claudio cupellini. it entered the competition at the 2010 rome international film festival, in which toni servillo was awarded best actor.
a quiet life (italian: una vita tranquilla) is a 2010 italian neo-noir film directed by claudio cupellini. it entered the competition at the 2010 rome international film festival, in which toni servillo was awarded best actor.