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5.0 out of 5 stars
Giving Versus Taking, Mar 13 2002
I often wonder why the brilliant Ms. Trollope gives such deceptively fluffy titles to all her books, when every book she writes contains such richness. Is that why, in a recent review, I saw her described as "cozy"? I almost fainted!Therefore, let me say it here and now: If you are looking for cozy and comforting romance (and there's nothing wrong with that!), Joanna Trollope is not your author. If, on the other hand, you enjoy reading about likeable, oh-so-human characters who try, in their own muddled way, to slog through the complexities of everyday life, you will love "The Men and the Girls," another Trollope masterpiece. The "men," in this case, are James and Hugh, both successful, urbane friends who are now in their 60s, and who have known each other over 40 years. Theirs is a friendship made indescructible by time and understanding, even if there are times when each grates horribly on the other. Each man, as it happens, has chosen a companion very much younger than himself. James, an academic, has been living with Kate, a lovely and artless woman in her 30s who prefers menial jobs (such as waitressing) so she can pursue her true passions, such as helping out at a home for battered women. She has an impossible teenaged daughter, Joss, the product of a brief and hurtful romance gone wrong. Kate and James are very happy; their household is completed by James' elderly uncle, Leonard, whose cantankerous bellowing belies a tender heart. The heart of the house is Kate, who keeps everything going and who manages her horrible teenager and the equally horrible Leonard with love and aplomb. Hugh, a minor TV personality, lives with the prim and proper Julia, also in her 30s, a lovely woman who has given birth to Hugh's only children, impeccable twin boys. Their picturebook life is lived in a beautifully decorated and spotless house with a gorgeous garden, all the work of Julia, who keeps her six-year-old twins equally clean and perfect. Julia also works in television, but devotes the majority of her time to Hugh, her boys, and her house and garden. In both relationships, James' and Hughs', the men take wholeheartedly of their women's love and nurturing, and age seems to be no problem whatsoever. Enter a totally unlikely catalyst: a plain and elderly spinster names Beatrice, whom James has accidentally knocked off her bicycle on a dark and rainy night. Beatrice is unhurt, but James, understandably upset, becomes involved in her life, first out of guilt, and then out of real interest. It is at this point that Kate suddenly and cruelly decides that she cannot live with James another minute, and uproots herself and her daughter with no thought to the consquences other than the need to escape. A similar situation occurs with Julia and Hugh (too complicated to describe in a review), and they, too, separate. And suddenly, our preconceived ideas about who are the givers and who are the takers are completely reversed, as the four protagonists must shift their lives and their expectations in completely unforeseen ways. In the end, all of our suppositions about James, Kate, Hugh and Julia are radically different, as we realize that none is truly a whole adult. And that Joss, the nasty, self-centered teen, is the most truly well-rounded of them all. Interesting reading, fascinating to think about. Happy ending? Not exactly. A REAL ending is more to the point, as lives sort themselves out, not always for the better, but as they inevitably must. "The Men and the Girls" is another Trollope triumph, well worth reading and keeping on one's shelf of well-loved books.
--Calyndula
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