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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A challenging and powerfully emotive novel, 4 Jan 2010
Adam Foulds writes with a maturity beyond his years to produce this stunning masterpiece. Historically accurate, Foulds conveys the contrasting fortunes of two poets; John Clare and Alfred Tennyson as their parallel lives become deeply rooted within the "Abyss of contorted humanity, a circle of hell' that is High Beach Private Asylum in the midst of Epping Forest. The beauty and liberty of nature is what drives the novel as the reader empathetically embraces Clare's life. As he spirals further towards insanity, he desperately holds onto any hope of reality through his childhood affinity with the outside, natural world; "The coloured world had rushed howling in, into the vacuum of his starved senses...He wondered if he was dreaming it all: he'd wanted the world back so much that maybe his crazed mind had made it for him."
The novel eloquently moves through the natural seasons so as to reflect the growing and intense journeys of its gripping characters which gracefully intertwine. Tennyson is drawn into Dr. Matthew Allen's deceptive and sinister conspiracy while Allen's daughter Hannah becomes infatuated with Tennyson.
The Quickening Maze is a powerfully emotive novel that is challenging yet written with great fluency as Foulds competently intertwines Clare's radical delusions with the insanity of the asylums most severe patient; religion extremist Margaret who believes God has rechristened her as Mary. Foulds further demonstrates his great ability as a writer to show great compassion and sadness even when `Mary' is brutally violated by the asylum staff; "Her eyes were dark and open and still. They fluttered slightly in the breath of the shoving man, but their gaze was so deep Byron felt himself almost falling towards them.`
The intricate storyline is difficult to grasp at first read as the novel embraces the multiple personas of John Clare. A second read would be thoroughly recommended to fully appreciate the novels poetic beauty and subtle detail.
An superb, thought-provoking read.
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9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Poetical style of writing suits this novel about John Clare. Shortlisted for the Booker Prize 2009, 14 Dec 2009
This fictionalised story of the Northamptonshire poet John Clare is beautifully written in a lyrical prose form, which suits the maze of insanity which is John Clare's mind from the time of his voluntary incarceration at High Beach Private Asylum in Epping Forest (1837).
John Clare is not the most well known of nineteenth century poets but if you have heard of him you may know him as the Northamptonshire peasant poet, best-known for his down-to-earth poems of the natural world, influenced by folk songs, folklore and ballads. He undoubtedly had a physically hard life, labouring at various times in an inn, as a gardener, a lime burner, and in the militia. Poetry however was his passion and at the age of twenty-seven his first book of poems was published, `Poems Descriptive of Rural Life and Scenery'. Poetry alone, however, was not enough for he and his family to live on and Clare's state of mind suffered from the conflict between his need to write poetry and his need to feed and clothe his growing family (he and his wife Patty had seven children).
Although the story is fictionalised and the time spans are imaginatively played with, The Quickening Maze is historically accurate about John Clare, High Beach Asylum, Tennyson and so on. Where the novel lets itself down a little is in the assumption of a prior level of knowledge by the reader. For the book to have had a broader appeal a touch of editing and perhaps some notes on the historical background, either as a Prologue, an Epilogue or as notes would have been a useful background. Without the background knowledge I can see how, pretty poetical writing aside, this could potentially fall quite flat on the reader. Hence my 4 stars.
I personally enjoyed the novel very much and can recommend it, but to gain the most from this novel I suggest reading some background about John Clare first, and some of his poetry - one of my favourites is `Little Trotty Wagtail' but there are many more delightful poems to choose from.
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51 of 68 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An insightful recreation, beautifully written, 26 Jun 2009
From 1837 to 1841, John Clare, the peasant poet, was a patient in a private asylum in the Epping Forest. Clare and his wife Patty had six children and life was proving increasingly burdensome to Clare, who began to suffer bouts of severe depression, leading to alarmingly erratic behaviour and serious delusions. In The Quickening Maze, Adam Foulds has written an imaginative recreation of Clare's years in the High Beech Asylum, and while the result is firmly fictional, the picture presented is realistic and consistent with the known history.
The book is sparsely written. Foulds does not write lengthy descriptive or scene-setting passages, but each small vignette contributes to a rich picture of the cloistered life of a 19th century private asylum. This is no mad-house. The asylum is run on orderly lines by Dr Matthew Allen, a thoughtful man who likes to get to know his patients. However, the finances of the asylum are precarious and Foulds describes Allen's attempts to mix the cure of souls with mechanical invention and patents. Poor Allen finds his time increasingly spent trying to "diversify his business", but without success.
In the meantime, the patients are allowed a relative freedom, and for a while John Clare is allowed a day-pass from his confinement, a privilege he abuses by staying overnight with gypsies and returning much the worse for wear. I found the section where Clare is with his gypsy friends particularly well-written, showing the considerable research Foulds has put into this book. The detailed description of how to prepare a hedgehog for the pot is particularly enlightening.
Alas, despite his occasional forays beyond the asylum, John Clare's mind is far from peace. When not inhabiting his real persona as the gentle poet of hedgerow and field, he becomes a belligerent prize-fighter, Jack Randall, who picks fights wherever he goes (and the injuries to go with them - perhaps not surprising in view of Clare's five-foot stature and his poor physical health). At other times he becomes Lord Byron and in his more lucid moments actually re-writes some of Byron's poems.
Adam Foulds has cleverly inter-leaved the appearance of another poet into his narrative: Alfred Tennyson, who accompanies his mentally-ill brother during his stay at High Beech. Tennyson lives in a nearby cottage and becomes the focus of attention of the Matthew Allen's 17 year-old daughter Hannah who manages to inveigle Tennyson into conversations as at attempt at forcing his interest in her as a potential fiancée. The two poets, Clare and Tennyson, do not really meet up in the novel other than "in passing", and of course, Tennyson would not have been particularly impressed by Clare's rustic verse, for it took many years after his death before Clare's heritage was fully appreciated.
This is a fine book. Adam Foulds captures atmosphere well and we also get a fine sense of the depths of 19th century Epping Forest - a place holding many secrets and where it was easy to become lost. Readers will gain a strong sense of the secluded little community on the edge of the forest. Foulds has researched the 19th century treatment of mental illness and we gain insight into how one of the more humane asylums operated. Rather than the horrors of the Victorian Bedlam, we get glimpses of a far more compassionate and humane institution built around a domestic world created by a real family and their friends.
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