LAURENCE & JACKIE LLEWELYN-BOWEN
Laurence and Jackie had very mixed views on The Laments. Initially Jackie was incredibly enthusiastic about it and Laurence said he was enjoying it, but then they did a U turn on this because of the sad nature of the ending of the book.
Laurence does not normally read fiction and that, for him, fiction has to be extremely engaging to compete with non-fiction. Therefore, to begin with, he was reserved about reading ‘The Laments’ however he pleased to find that he was enjoying it.
He said he was pleased to have been given this opportunity to be forced to read something that he wouldn't normally read. He reads a lot of 19th century literature and biographies. He said he thought it was an abstract piece of writing - incredibly evocative, but that things also just kept getting worse and worse and, to him, there didn't seem to be any ray of light - like you would get with Dickens for example. He joked that he likes books like biographies where you know what is going to happen! He said The Laments maybe should come with a warning. But he is well aware of the need to balance his negative thoughts with positive ones and he does think the book is extremely well written.
Jackie said that The Laments is beautifully written, very witty with great characterisation. She said that she can relate to the themes within the book of individuals feeling isolated either in their family or in their environment. Jackie’s father was in MI6 (which she can mention now as he has passed away) so she was always moving and having to change friends so this was very familiar to her.
She was taken aback by the fact that the author (George Hagen) is a man. “He writes with such maturity and empathy with women”. She also said of The Laments that, “Anyone can read it and enjoy it. The themes are more demanding than the average summer read, it is a book which provokes a lot of thought”.
She could also relate to parts of the book in the respect that Jackie, Laurence and their children are a family around which everything changes. She said, “We are quite often the focus of attention [because of their celebrity status] therefore it is very important that we are a strong family unit and treat each other with respect, we are always ever so slightly isolated, and we don’t live an ordinary life.”
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