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Quartet
Quartet | Jean Rhys
23 posts | 16 read | 25 to read
The story of a woman on the edge caught in the stranglehold between her lover and his wife. When her husband is released from prison, the situation explodes.
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review
Centique
Quartet | Jean Rhys
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Pickpick

In 1924 a young Jean Rhys (then Ella Williams) was in Paris, in some need of rescuing as her husband was in jail. Ford Madox Ford (the famous novelist) and his partner (and mother of his child) Stella Bowen took her in. Quartet is the fictionalised retelling of what happened next.
Rhys wrote this just a few years after and it is remarkable to feel her helplessness and then her rage. Memorable for its imagery and sheer emotion ⬇️

Centique Last year I read a biography of Stella Bowen and became fascinated by both women. I really wanted to know Jean‘s feelings and that is exactly what we get here. Quite brilliant in parts and it makes me keen to read 2y
Centique And by the way if you want to feel feminist rage, these two women‘s stories will get you there. What a 💩 was FMF! 2y
Liz_M I read this and had no idea one character was based on FMF. Fascinating. 2y
Centique @Liz_M isn‘t it? And he had quite the history of leaving wives after affairs with younger lovers even before this! 2y
ClairesReads I love Jean Rhys! This is a great book 2y
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review
Liz_M
Quartet | Jean Rhys
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Pickpick

Marya was content in Paris even with her husband‘s uncertain income. When he is jailed, she is thrown upon her own resources – there is no help from family in England. Marya is taken in by the Heidlers, a prominent couple in the ex-pat community and her life becomes one of quiet desperation; she is coerced to pretend respectability while being seduced by Mr. Heidler. When Stephen is released from prison, an untenable situation becomes even worse.

Liz_M Is it still #SpinsterLit if the protagonist is married?

#1001Books, #Reading1001
3y
28 likes2 stack adds1 comment
quote
Liz_M
Quartet | Jean Rhys
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Not that she objected to solitude. Quite the contrary. She had books, thank Heaven, quantities of books. All sorts of books.

#LakeReading

Cathythoughts Amen 💫 3y
BarbaraBB Gorgeous! Enjoy 🤍🤍 3y
batsy That is perfect! 😍 3y
25 likes3 comments
quote
Bertha_Mason
Quartet | Jean Rhys

"The days were hot and very lovely. Loveliest in the morning, because then there were grey and silver in the blue dream and cool shadows on the water that was so hot and sticky at midday. Rather like bathing in warmish oil. But sticky or not, it was a caressing sea. If you had any guts; if you were anything else but a tired-out coward, you‘d swim out into the blue and never come back. A good way to finish if you‘d made a mess of your life."

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Bertha_Mason
Quartet | Jean Rhys
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Jean Rhys is absolutely brutal.

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Bertha_Mason
Quartet | Jean Rhys

"Marya turned to watch Heidler go down on one knee and cross himself as he passed the altar. He glanced quickly sideways at her as he did it, and she thought: 'I'll never be able to pray again now that I‘ve seen him do that. Never! However sad I am.'"

quote
Bertha_Mason
Quartet | Jean Rhys

"People went ludicrously wrong. You told the truth, the stark truth--or perhaps you gave it a fig-leaf so as not to harrow too much--and everybody said: 'Come, come,' and 'Don‘t tell me,' and: 'Do you think I was born yesterday?' You told lies and they said: 'Ah, the cri du coeur!'"

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Bertha_Mason
Quartet | Jean Rhys

"The grey-blue room seemed to be growing larger, the walls had receded, the bulbs of the electric lights had expanded mysteriously. Now they looked like small moons."

quote
Bertha_Mason
Quartet | Jean Rhys

"Madame Hautchamp was formidable. One heard the wheels of society clanking as she spoke."

blurb
Leftcoastzen
Quartet | Jean Rhys
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📖Quartet Jean Rhys
✍️Ellery Queen
📽The Quiet Man
🍽Quiche Lorraine
#manicmonday #letterQ

TheSpineView Oh... I forgot about Ellery Queen 6y
JoScho Thanks for playing 🖤 6y
26 likes2 comments
review
andrew61
Quartet | Jean Rhys
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Pickpick

#LitsyClassics Q
Jean Rhys's life is itself worthy of a novel, born of a dominican mthr and welsh fthr, she became a chorus girl moved 2 paris and had an affair with ford maddox ford living with him +his wife. In this bk the heroine marya works in the chorus, marries a pole who is imprisoned in paris, and has a sexual relationship with heidler encouraged by the wife lois.
A bk well worth reading, a fascinating life + works, lost until the 1960's.

Cathythoughts I‘m in ! It sounds challenging, but with this review, I have to try it. Stacking. 6y
andrew61 @Cathythoughts its very short but worth trying as good morning midnight. Have you read wide sargasso sea? 6y
Cathythoughts I havnt read any by this author! Where would you say to start ? 6y
See All 8 Comments
andrew61 @Cathythoughts I've only read 3- wide sargasso sea is her most famous being the prequel to jane eyre and the story or bertha the woman in the attic, good morning midnight is completely different and the story of a young woman having a breakdown in 1920s Paris - both very good. 6y
Cathythoughts Thankyou ... I will enjoy deciding which to read first 👍🏻 6y
andrew61 @Cathythoughts ok hope you enjoy whichever you choose ☺ 6y
batsy Great review. I look forward to reading more of her. I've only read Wide Sargasso Sea and loved it 💜 @Cathythoughts 6y
saresmoore This sounds great! 6y
32 likes4 stack adds8 comments
blurb
andrew61
Quartet | Jean Rhys
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My next #LitsyClassics read was waiting for me when we got home last night. Letter Q and a story as with good night midnight about a young engish woman in a difficult situation in 1920's Paris. Her prose captures emotions so well and follows her own life story which is as interesting as her novels. Anyway a quote everyone on litsy will understand.

DivineDiana Indeed! 📚📚📚 6y
33 likes1 comment
blurb
Sarah83
Quartet | Jean Rhys
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blurb
andrew61
Quartet | Jean Rhys
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#startswithQ #maybookflowers
I loved good morning, midnight and wide sargasso sea and therefore hopefully will get to this soonish. Also what an amazing life. Id actually been just about to give up today on this but then put my book down and looked on my read list on gr for inspiration. Litsy is becoming a bit obsessional 😀

blurb
Loreen
Quartet | Jean Rhys
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I found more books that #StartswithQ than I thought. And I threw in Anna Quindlen just for fun. 😬 ( I need to figure out how to link titles here in the comments. Anyone know how? ) #maybookshowers

Zelma When you open the comments, right under the space you type are two buttons - a flag and a skull and crossbones. The flag will bring you to a search page for titles to tag. The skull will cover your comment as a spoiler. 7y
Loreen @Zelma, thank you! 7y
30 likes1 stack add2 comments
blurb
Gina
Quartet | Jean Rhys
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"The room was full of men in caps who bawled intimacies at each other; a gramophone played without ceasing; a beautiful white dog under the counter, which everybody call Zaza and thew bones to, barked madly."

review
Graciouswarriorprincess
Quartet | Jean Rhys
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Pickpick

A charming semi-sweet love story.💕

blurb
Graciouswarriorprincess
Quartet | Jean Rhys
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What I am starting today for my "Q". #LitsyAtoZ

50 likes1 stack add2 comments
review
Marchpane
Quartet | Jean Rhys
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Pickpick

A fascinating, strange and unsettling read, based on events in Rhys's own life. The writing style is sparse and sometimes bewildering, full of allusions, imagery and subtext to decode in order to work out what is going on. Ultimately I found the book to be worth the extra effort, and the reading experience all the richer for it.

#192019challenge : published in 1928

quirkyreader I think this one is on my TBR mountain. 8y
80 likes8 stack adds1 comment
blurb
Marchpane
Quartet | Jean Rhys
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Hello subtext my old friend...

This 1928 novella is only 140-odd pages, but it takes a little longer to read as you frequently have to stop to work out what ISN'T being said. Like that pause up there 👆after 'Please will you draw the curtains?'. Yeah. You know what they're doing during that pause.

#192019challenge

katedensen In old movies, women saying they were "slipping into something more comfortable" was code for "putting in my diaphragm." 8y
Marchpane @katedfisher that's super interesting, I did not know that! 8y
ErickaS_Flyleafunfurled I remember one of Daphne du Maurier's books the sex scene was summed up with "he unscrewed her ruby earrings". Ha! 8y
Marchpane @ErickaS_Flyleafunfurled.com haha! So racy! 8y
katedensen @Marchpane Right?!?!? 8y
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quote
Marchpane
Quartet | Jean Rhys
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Stephan writes from a Paris jail cell: "My dear, I have such a cafard."

In English, cafard = melancholy, depression.
In French, cafard = cockroach.

#192019challenge

ClairesReads Jean Rhys is life ❤️💯 8y
Marchpane @ClairesReads I've only read Wide Sargasso Sea. This is very different from that book, but I'm enjoying a lot! 8y
mllemay The other meaning of cafard in French is also feeling depressed :) 8y
Marchpane @mllemay good to know! Is it in common usage? I'd never heard it used in English before. 8y
mllemay @Marchpane it's more common in "France french". I'm French-Canadian and rarely use it but I encounter it in books and movies from France and the French-speaking European countries. I didn't know it was an expression in English either. 8y
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quote
Marchpane
Quartet | Jean Rhys
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'Everybody pretends... only about different things'

#192019challenge

vivastory Rhys' "Good Morning, Midnight" is really high on my TBR. I haven't read her; quotes like this make me anticipate her work even more 8y
badnorthern @vivastory I read Good Morning, Midnight and I really liked it. Confusingly there is a new book out now with the same name and I keep thinking people are talking about Rhys 8y
vivastory @badnorthern That is such a unique title. It seems bad form to steal it 8y
Marchpane @badnorthern @vivastory There's also a 2004 detective novel with the same name. It's the name of an Emily Dickinson poem, so that's where they took it from. 8y
vivastory @Marchpane thanks for the info I adore Emily Dickinson. I was unaware of the source. Sounds almost as prevalent as "Notes from the Underground." 8y
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