Rating: 
Summary: You can't put down this series!
Review: The Cazalet Chronicles books are escapism at its best. You cannot put down these books, as you become immersed in the lives of this family as you come to love many of them (and sometimes hate some of them). As they cope with growing up, growing old, and enduring the hardships of World War II England, they endear themselves to the reader as few literary characters are able to do. For the sake of the readers, let us hope that Casting Off will NOT be Howard's last installment in this wonderful series.
Rating: 
Summary: very like Waugh
Review: The dust jacket of The Light Years, the first in the Cazalet series, compares the book to the "Upstairs, Downstairs" television series from the BBC. And there is a certain resemblance, of course, as there would be with any upper-class English family of the early 20th century. However, Elizabeth Jane Howard's book is more like Evelyn Waugh's Brideshead Revisited or Jane Austen's Emma -- a leisurely stroll of a novel where the character development is much more important than any plot line. You'll find you really care how each of the major characters changes and grows -- whether adults or children.The Light Years also made me realize for the first time how constrained women's lives were, even as late as 1937. This is a book that will sneak up on you. If it were a movie, it would be disparaged as a "chick flick." However, you won't realize how much you like it until you've finished the last page and feel cheated that it's ended. I immediately ordered the next book, Marking Time.
Rating:
Summary: very like Waugh
Review: The dust jacket of The Light Years, the first in the Cazalet series, compares the book to the "Upstairs, Downstairs" television series from the BBC. And there is a certain resemblance, of course, as there would be with any upper-class English family of the early 20th century. However, Elizabeth Jane Howard's book is more like Evelyn Waugh's Brideshead Revisited or Jane Austen's Emma -- a leisurely stroll of a novel where the character development is much more important than any plot line. You'll find you really care how each of the major characters changes and grows -- whether adults or children. The Light Years also made me realize for the first time how constrained women's lives were, even as late as 1937. This is a book that will sneak up on you. If it were a movie, it would be disparaged as a "chick flick." However, you won't realize how much you like it until you've finished the last page and feel cheated that it's ended. I immediately ordered the next book, Marking Time.
Rating:
Summary: Dwelling in the Past
Review: The Light Years (Cazalet Chronicle, Vol 1) by Elizabeth Jane Howard. Climb aboard as three generations of the Cazalet family (and assorted relatives and servants) prepare to board the WWII Train that is threatening to pull into the station. Many, many characters, some lovable, some not. The children and their irrepressible adventures and clever dialogue are my favorite, followed by Hugh and Sybil, who don't quite meet in the station for trying to please each other. Of course Grandfather, with his inane invitations and muddling but very cunning schemes, is a dear. This series seems a place to dwell, become one of the family, with the reader being able to have the perspective of seeing within each character. No, there isn't a beginning and ending or "plot," but the reader will find humanity and joy and family. Volumes 2,3 and 4 await this reader.
Rating:
Summary: The whole series is a must-read, from start to finish
Review: These books tell an amazing story. I was unable to put them down, and sad when they were finished. I highly recommend these books.
Rating: 
Summary: About as boring as watching cement dry
Review: This has to be one of the dryest and most unengaging books I have ever read. The author merely skims along the surface of the characters and all the events of their mundane lives. I, as the reader, felt neither particularly involved with nor interested by the characters. The "plot" moved nowhere. The book strikes me as just being a still photograph, or portrait, of a family that is about as sterile and unemotional to the reader as they are to each other. If you enjoy books where you feel as one with the characters, where you really get inside their lives, then I don't believe you will like this book. As for more "chronicles" of the Cazalets? It was hard enough making it through this one....
Rating:
Summary: Why Did I Read This Book?
Review: This is one of the worst books I have read in a long time. The characters were undeveloped. The story is painfully slow. Please spend your time reading something else.
Rating:
Summary: Cawalet Chronicles or History 101: WWII
Review: This series of three novels is not only superb summer reading for everyone from 16 years old on, but also the most comprehensive look into family life before, during and after WWII that has been presented on the literary market in a long time. An excellent way for high-school students to learn what the european wars were all about, as the novels follow not only the parents' and grandparents' lives but also those of their children. Historically correct and emotionally gripping.... Don't wait too long to purchase all three...you'll want to know what happens!
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