Despite her always beautiful writing style the same old Brookner themes are getting old: the loneliness, the failed marriage, the parents dying, the flat (always there’s a flat) that is bought, never rented. The money that is inherited (this time not from the parents), the love of art.

But above all: her view on women. It is unbelievable how old fashioned Brookner was in this regard. “He could appreciate that marriage, even a defunct marriage, conferred a certain dignity on a woman.” It’s what she says about women and marriage over and over again in her books.

In detailed inner dialogues, Julius Herz examines memories of his 73 years and gains insights into how he ended up alone at the end of an unfulfilled life. He has spent his life observing the rules and attempting always to do what was expected of him from the people in his life. His loneliness is palpable as he now attempts to connect with people and somehow alleviate his anxieties about how to spend the rest of his life. The prose is exquisite in this typical Brookner novel. ( )

The back page promised a 'clever and funny' novel. Anita Brookner is certainly a very clever writer and her writing is excellent and well crafted. However, the humour passed me by and I found this a very sad novel.
She does portray the realities of old age accurately. Herz is 73 years of age in the novel, although he looks back over his life to give us a flavour. This looking back concentrates on certain key points, as is often the way of older people and this has the effect of concertinaing his 73 years and I kept feeling there were years missing. He told us a little of his childhood and his cousin Fanny in German. We also hear something of the first years in England, adjusting to life in a new country after escaping Germany and working in the record shop with his Father and how difficult that was. He would send his father for a nap n the afternoon for some respite. At some point, and I am not clear on the chronology, Herz marries Josie but this lasts a short time due to his family circumstances. However, they remain friends and meet up every few months. Herz also met up with Fanny in Switzerland one more time (in his 40s?): again the chronology was vague but this was after the death of his parents and the ending of his marriage to Josie. There is then nothing of note for him to remember at all until he receives a bequest and is able to retire from the record shop in his 60s. And so we meet a lonely man, who has dinner with his solicitor and ex-wife occasionally, goes out to buy the newspaper every morning and is on nodding acquaintance with local shopkeepers. Anita Brookner tells how it is in a brutally honest way and the lesson to be learnt is to make sure you have some friends in your old age. Instead, Herz lives his life introspectively and makes rash decisions, flitting from one thing to another and looking for the next big thing that will make his life more exciting. The ending was way too obvious and disappointing for me and I found it all very sad, if accurate. ( )

This is not going to reassure you about your later years, but it may help give some of us some sort of understanding. A beautiful study of a man who realizes that most of his life has slipped past him and he doesn’t know what to do with the rest of it.

This is not an action book; it’s very wordy, nothing much happens. The references to Henry James on the back cover let you know what you’re in for. ( )

The best book Anita Brookner has ever written.The plot as well as the style reminds us of Proust. We plunge into the inner world of the hero with curiosity and affection, if I may say so. Loneliness is many people's lot nowadays and it's high time writers wrote about it. ( )