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Title: Possession by Antonia S. Byatt, Jean-Louis Chevalier ISBN: 2-08-068291-1 Publisher: Flammarion Pub. Date: 31 August, 2002 Format: Paperback

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Average Customer Rating: 4.08 (170 reviews)

Rating: 5
Summary: Stunning. Superb. Passionate. Engaging.
Comment: Possession is not only the incredibly apt title but also the way I feel about this book. While reading it I hesitated to tell my friends about the wonderful new book that had me so enthralled. I felt as though I was with Maud and Roland while they tromped over Europe. I became as possessive about the letters as the fictitious characters themselves. The book became my three day obsession.

I have read every other review about it and I won't lie and say that the prose wasn't stilted at times. It was. The story is certainly easily transparent and I had guessed the ending of the book 175 pages before it happened.

But all of that is superfluous. I have not read a book comparable to this one in regards to pure creativity for quite some time. I admired the ingenuity of Ms. Byatt with every turn of the page. She not only created believable characters, but she created a literary history that spanned nearly two hundred years. From nothing Ms. Byatt created distinctively different poetry in the voice of two, fictitious, Victorian poets. She also created love letters between the two. She created fictitious literary analyses of the fictitious poetry. For that feat alone, I admire her and this book.

And I would read it all over again, twenty times, for the simple post script which, I feel, summed up the book better than anything I could've ever imagined.

Rating: 5
Summary: A Must-Read for Every Lover of Good Fiction/Literature!
Comment: I put off buying this book for a long time after reading some of the unfavourable reviews it received on Amazon.com. (e.g. that the book is difficult to read, boring, overly long, dense, etc). But in January, I watched the 2002 movie adaptation (starring Gwyneth Paltrow) and immediately fell in love with the story. I knew then that I just HAD to read the novel to experience fully the beauty of the story and its characters. I'm so glad I finally did, and would recommend this title if you're looking for a unique and engaging reading experience.

"Possession" is not exactly a light read, but once you get past the first 30 pages or so, you'll get the hang of Byatt's writing style and be fully drawn into the story. The novel opens with the introduction of the character Roland Mitchell, a young Brit graduate in mid-1980s London who works part-time at the British Museum assisting in research work on the famous (but fictional) Victorian poet, Randolph Henry Ash. Roland's a "penniless" bloke, but he's nice looking, hardworking and kind. One day as he's researching his work at the library, he discovers between the leaves of a reference book (which had once belonged to Ash), 2 letters in Ash's handwriting. They appear to be draft correspondence to an unnamed woman. Excited and intrigued, Roland pockets the letters and decides to investigate this secret life of Ash's (this is because based on the biographies written on him, Ash was supposed to be a happily married man). The significance is that if it's discovered now that he had led a "second life", the discovery would change the modern literary world's interpretation of Ash's poems.

Roland soon finds a vague link between Ash's letters and a 19th century reclusive poetess named Christabel La Motte. To find out more about La Motte, he enlists the help of Dr Maud Bailey (a La Motte scholar). Initially, Maud is reluctant to get involved in Roland's investigation as she doesn't believe there was any romantic connection between the 2 poets (what's more, La Motte was widely believed to be a lesbian). Roland finds it difficult to communicate with Maud because of her cold and distant behaviour towards him (like an "ice queen"). Maud is young, rich and beautiful with long blonde hair (which she hides under a scarf at all times - find out "why" from the book).

Their investigation takes them to various parts of England including La Motte's ancestral home (now home to the cranky Sir George Bailey). I like the scene in La Motte's bedroom (in Sir George's house), where everything in her room is left "preserved" and undisturbed after her death, including a series of dolls propped against a pillow. In this room, Maud and Roland ingeniously discover a bundle of love letters written by Ash and La Motte to each other. I think that the letters and excerpts from diaries should be read in full as they are important to the story. I also think it's alright to skip reading the longer and complex poems as it won't affect one's understanding of the story.

While intensely trailing the love affair of the 2 poets, Roland and Maud become "intoxicated" and infected by the "air of romance" in their investigation and start to draw close to each other. You must read how Roland finally melts and conquers the heart of the "ice queen". It's very romantic.

So this novel gives us two romances (from 2 different centuries) and a gripping "detective" story. What a treat! The Victorian love story is beautiful, passionate and has a compelling and unexpected ending. The contemporary romance is believable, moving and honest. I would opine that roughly, the former takes up 40% of the book, the latter 30% and the remaining 30% consists of Victorian poems and excerpts from diaries.

I love this book. I don't find it a dull read at all! It sure deserves the Booker Prize it won in 1990. And oh, watch the movie too! Both are highly recommended!

Rating: 5
Summary: Fearless, witty and rewarding
Comment: Talk about entering into a writer's world...even the faux poetry frequently rises to brilliant heights. Utterly convincing and captivating throughout.

Spend the time to fall in love with this very literary romance; you won't regret it.