According To Mark

ACCORDING TO MARK

by Penelope Lively

 

Nomination: Booker Finalist 1984

 

Date Read: January 30, 2021

 

Mark is a biographer, researching a biography about Gilbert Strong, an essayist, novelist and fellow biographer. Through Mark’s research and efforts to piece together this complex man, we can see the challenges biographers face in examining the lives of the departed. Foresight can be a blessing and a curse. Each of the subjects interviewed can only provide one glimpse of a man and when joined together can seem to describe five different people all rolled into one.

 

Mark is also in the throes of a mid-life crisis. Upon meeting Strong’s granddaughter, Mark becomes smitten with her unusual lifestyle, beguiling looks and aloofness. I was shocked when he actually came out and told her that he had fallen in love with her. I found this direct approach refreshing. Carrie, however, does not share Mark’s sentiment.

 

During a drive across France to meet Hermione, Carrie’s mother and Strong’s daughter, Mark and Carrie consummate their relationship. For Carrie, it seemed to me more like a mercy fuck; for Mark, a gradual squelching of his desire. By the time they reach Hermione, their relationship is already waning. Mark seems at sea in his relationships and his work, growing distracted and a sense of ennui arises towards his subject matter.

 

Diana, Mark’s wife encapsulates the stoicism of the British in the matter-of-fact way she tackles Mark’s infidelity. She calmly confronts Carrie, confirming her suspicions but she is never rash, violent or outraged. Rather, she is calm, cool and collected. She “manages” both Mark and Carrie to ensure history does not repeat.

 

Throughout, I somewhat hoped that Mark would shed Diana, a somewhat cold character if you asked me, and run to Carrie but by actually having what he thought he wanted, he no longer seemed to want it. 

 

Looking Forward: Moon Tiger, The Road To Lichfield

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