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'Shirley Hazzard. For me the greatest living writer on goodness and love . . . THE TRANSIT OF VENUS, was described to me by a man who knows as "the greatest novel written in the past 100 years". Having read it, I can see his point. Shirley Hazzard, the quiet, playful, lovestruck artist of love, goodness and death in the 20th century. (Bryan Appleyard )
A wonderfully mysterious book ... Both plot and characters are many layered. Unforgettably rich (ANNE TYLER )
A dose of the sublime .. I read it with an almost indescribable pleasure. There were sentences that brought tears of gratification to my eyes (NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW )
An almost perfect novel ... Miss Hazard writes as well as Stendhal (NEW YORK TIMES )
A wonderfully mysterious book ... Both plot and characters are many layered. Unforgettably rich (ANNE TYLER )
A dose of the sublime .. I read it with an almost indescribable pleasure. There were sentences that brought tears of gratification to my eyes (NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW )
An almost perfect novel ... Miss Hazard writes as well as Stendhal (NEW YORK TIMES )
New York Times Book Review
'A dose of the sublime .. I read it with an almost indescribable pleasure...'
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
20 of 22 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I first read this book almost twenty years ago when I was living abroad and found it's depiction of patrician British life unbearably but beautifully nostalgic. Coming back to it, older and wiser, I found in it a heartbreaking tale of missed opportunity and unexpressed, unrealised love.
This a novel for grown-ups who have weathered a few heartaches; it has something of the Japanese concept of 'wabi'- the beauty of the melancholy in transient things.
This a novel for grown-ups who have weathered a few heartaches; it has something of the Japanese concept of 'wabi'- the beauty of the melancholy in transient things.
12 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Hazzard has a unique prose style, often beautiful and lyrical, but it stands like a wall between her readers and her characters. There were sentences -- not necessarily long or complicated ones, either -- which I read half a dozen times without getting any sense from them. And am I the only person who didn't understand the ending at all?
The two sisters at the centre of the story are Australian, or so we are told, because I got no sense of them as outsiders in post-war Britain. Every time their Australian-ness was mentioned, it brought me up short because I'd forgotten all about it. Hazzard seems to have led a nomadic life, living in many continents, and maybe she has lost all notion of what makes individual nations unique, which might explain why British characters use so many American idioms -- surely not common in the 1950s.
When I got to the baffling ending, I realised that, at some point, I was going to have to read it again. I'm afraid my heart sank rather at the prospect. It will not be soon.
The two sisters at the centre of the story are Australian, or so we are told, because I got no sense of them as outsiders in post-war Britain. Every time their Australian-ness was mentioned, it brought me up short because I'd forgotten all about it. Hazzard seems to have led a nomadic life, living in many continents, and maybe she has lost all notion of what makes individual nations unique, which might explain why British characters use so many American idioms -- surely not common in the 1950s.
When I got to the baffling ending, I realised that, at some point, I was going to have to read it again. I'm afraid my heart sank rather at the prospect. It will not be soon.
14 of 18 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I am an avid reader of all sorts of fiction, and rarely give up on a book. But just a few pages into the first chapter of The Transit of Venus, I had to put this one down and take a breather. I picked it up again, full of hope (I had read the glowing tributes, including one by Michael Cunningham, who says Hazzard is "purely and simply, one of the greatest writers working in English today"). But by the third chapter I still didn't care about any of the characters or what was going to happen to them.
In what I did read, Hazzard's brilliant writing was very much in evidence. In fact, there was so much authorial brilliance, it got in the way of the characters and the story. As I turned the pages I found myself hoping for a little private time with the characters before the author elbowed them aside and started gossiping in my ear again. I was also puzzled that Hazzard's editor had allowed several completely incomprehensible paragraphs through to the final publication.
Having said all of that, I would like very much to like Hazzard's writing. The next time I attempt one of her books, I'll aim for her collection of short stories. After that I'll try The Great Fire, but I'll borrow a copy before I buy one to keep.
In what I did read, Hazzard's brilliant writing was very much in evidence. In fact, there was so much authorial brilliance, it got in the way of the characters and the story. As I turned the pages I found myself hoping for a little private time with the characters before the author elbowed them aside and started gossiping in my ear again. I was also puzzled that Hazzard's editor had allowed several completely incomprehensible paragraphs through to the final publication.
Having said all of that, I would like very much to like Hazzard's writing. The next time I attempt one of her books, I'll aim for her collection of short stories. After that I'll try The Great Fire, but I'll borrow a copy before I buy one to keep.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Mixed Experience
This book is a bit of a curate's egg - good in certain parts but confusing and a bit slow in others. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Kate Hopkins
the people all nasty or weak
Shirley Hazzard's novel, The Transit of Venus is beautifully written: the language was wonderful, very descriptive. There were some excellent scenes. Read more
Published 15 months ago by Cloggie Downunder
A venus of a Book
I ordered this book after reading Bryan Appleyard's comment on the greats of this century which says according to one f his advisers, The Transit of Venus is "the most perfect... Read more
Published 21 months ago by Soudi B
Why isn't Shirley Hazzard better known in UK?
One of the finest books I've read in recent years and elder sister, Caro, is one of the most compelling female characters ever; up there in the Bovary class. Read more
Published on 21 April 2010 by B. J. Walsh
A Novel for Crossword Enthusiasts
I also read an article by Michael Cunningham raving about Shirley Hazzard in general and this book in particular. I hated it. Read more
Published on 21 Nov 2008 by Celt
Transit of Venus- an exercise in the arcane
Shirley Hazzard's prose is amazingly, if somehow incoherently ,lucid. She reminds of the poetry by Craig Raine the Martianist( `A Martian Sends a Postcard Home'), who never calls... Read more
Published on 21 Jun 2008 by Veronica
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