The Photograph by Penelope Lively

The wonderful women in my neighborhood book club wanted to read a book by an exceptional writer. So this month, we chose Penelope Lively's 2004 novel, The Photograph. Lively, a Booker Prize winner and prolific author, did not disappoint. Upon learning more about her impressive writing career, I would summarize her thematic interests:

1)The past never vanishes, but rather is present and shapes our futures.

2)An entire life is shaped by small decisions that seem inconsequential at the time.

3)People are a collection of their multiple selves.

4)It is impossible to completely know another person.

Her novel The Photograph addresses this last theme. Can we ever really know another person? The story opens as Glyn, a landscape history professor, looks for a specific photograph for his academic research. Instead, he finds an envelope with the words written, DON'T OPEN--DESTROY. He unseals the container and discovers a family photograph of his deceased wife Kath intimately holding hands with her sister Elaine's husband, Nick. Consumed with anger and curiosity, Glyn begins a research project to determine if his wife had an affair with their brother-in-law.

Glyn asks his in-laws in the photograph for their thoughts about Kath. They describe her as elusive, glamorous and aloof because of her stunning beauty. Dull and vapid perceptions. I saw a character who was left parentless at 16 and feels alone in the world. She wanted to feel loved, known and understood. Instead, her husband Glyn marries her because of her beauty, her older sister Elaine is distant and cold, her sister's husband Nick is lost and lecherous, and Nick's friend Oliver is feckless. The story traces each of their thoughts about Kath and the veracity of Glyn's conjecture of infidelity. Vague and vivid memories of Kath return to their consciousnesses as they are forced to reflect on their relationship with Kath. It turns out Kath had taken her life.

Yet, there seems to be little remorse and even less reflection.

These characters seem incapable of loving, listening, or taking any constructive action to have helped Kath. With no parents and education, of course, she was damaged. Her family seemed to bask in the charisma of her beauty, but no one seems to have helped her. Her husband, sister, brother-in-law and friend have a limited view of love. They don't assume that duty, responsibility and acceptance are part of family life. Lively has created vivid characters who seem almost hyperbolic in their solipsism. The emotional fall out from Kath's suicide is not addressed. No mention of mourning, sadness, or guilt. The implication is that there wasn't much. Maybe if Lively had provided more context about the other characters, I would fell empathetic toward them.

Penelope Lively is an exceptional writer. The novel's structure is taut and tight. The settings are lush with descriptions of place and time. Her characters are described in great detail. And Lively's agility with metaphors, similes and symbols creates depth and layers of meaning. And yet the novel's portrayal of clueless, distant, self-absorbed people left me depressed. I wanted to call out, why couldn't any of you get out of your selfish selves and help her out? My God people, it isn't that hard. Yes, Lively is interested in whether we can fully know another person, but my goodness, these people were so narcissistic. This book isn't about delving into the unconscious or intimate feelings of another. It is about the inability of a group of people to pay attention to a family member's basic needs.

I am hoping that Lively isn't making a statement about the human condition. But I fear she is.