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Book Review of How It All Began

How It All Began
How It All Began
Author: Penelope Lively
Genre: Literature & Fiction
Book Type: Paperback


Penelope Lively is a terrific story teller! I'm so happy to have found her books. This story of how one incident ripples through the lives of so many other people is enlightening. Lively's writing style keeps you reading, as you look forward to the next effect this incident as caused. She's descriptive without making you keep a dictionary at your elbow.
A few great quotes from this book: (Charlotte broke her hip as a result of a mugging. She describes her pain.) "Tomorrow all may be otherwise; hip may snarl, back may be in remission--pain's agenda is unpredictable, perverse, defiant."
(Charlotte observing the aging process, some calling it The Twilight Years.) "Twilight my foot--roaring dawn of a new life, more like, the one you didn't know about. We all avert our eyes, and then--wham! you're in there too, wondering how the hell this can have happened, and maybe it is an early circle of hell and here comes the gleeful devils with their pitchforks, stabbing and prodding."
Enjoying this book sent me looking for others. Highly recommend The Photograph also.