Jill Book

Not having studied Larkin at school in the 1950s and early 1960s, it was only through reading his letters and Andrew Motion's biography that I discovered he'd had a novel published (two, in fact). I began to read with anticipation (having really appreciated the literary style shown in the letters and in some of his poems) and was rather disappointed on first reading it. To be honest I found it rather slow and ponderous and depressing, which is perhaps what the author intended. It perhaps sounds patronising to say "Ah, but he was only 21 when he wrote it" but...

Larkin himself wrote, in 1963 when making a few minor amendments to the book that was first published in 1946, "It will, I hope, still qualify for the indulgence traditionally extended to juvenilia". Perhaps I'll appreciate it more if I read it again.

Jill : Paperback : Faber & Faber : 9780571225828 : 0571225829 : 03 Mar 2005 : But when he invents an imaginary sister to win the attention of a rich but unreliable 'friend', and then falls in love for real, undergraduate life becomes its own strange world . 'Absolutely contemporary - perhaps even prophetic.' Joyce Carol Oates 'Remarkable .