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5.0 out of 5 stars
The True Woman, 22 Sep 2003
The Victorian novelist Charles Reade used to keep a notebook labelled Foemina Vera (“The True Woman”), in which he collected various tidbits of information he believed related to the essence of womanhood. As a documentary novelist he used to consult this (and other notebooks) when he engaged in the creative activity. No doubt his methodical documentary approach might explain why some of his female characters were rather wooden creations who uttered what Reade regarded as typical female statements! Whatever research or creative process Diana Button used, it has certainly resulted in a portrayal of the true woman—truer than any woman Reade ever created, and, indeed, in her female protagonist Sabina she has created a woman who is as real and convincing as Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway. And like Virginia Woolf, she has conveyed her character through a carefully controlled, unobtrusive stream-of-consciousness technique, the narrative dipping occasionally into the minds of the other characters on which Sabina impinges in her quest for self-fulfilment. As Sabina approaches her fortieth birthday party she needs to re-invent herself—or, at least, come to terms with this traumatic passage or transition from youth to middle age. The novel becomes more and more absorbing as one reads. Indeed, the author really seems to be well established in the Bloomsbury group, since I can't help thinking of Mrs Dalloway who journey’s through a day in London—but this is Mrs. Dalloway in Luxembourg, and the Luxembourg landscape is as important to the progress of the story as are the London landmarks for Mrs. Dalloway. The trivial, prosaic details and phobias certainly loom large in Sabina's hectic world. This, after all, constitutes the real everyday fabric of life for a woman approaching forty! Sabina has real substance, and no doubt many women readers will relate to it—and not just women readers! I like the thinking—the philosophy—behind the novel, and the shafts of light it casts through Sabina's revitalized discovery of herself, and of life itself. This is a voyage of discovery. James Joyce used Ullyses, or the Odyssey, to foreground his protagonist's journey, whereas Diana Button has used Pandora's Box! Joyce set his anti-hero's journey of discovery in Dublin, Virginia Woolf set hers in London, and Diana Button has set hers in the affluent, perhaps decadent environment of Luxembourg. Well done, Diana! This is a real tour de force that has given us a genuine insight into the heart of the true woman!
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