Rating: 
Summary: I was possessed
Review: What a clever book - not only does Byatt create characters, but for her historical characters she creates a complete oeuvre of work for not one but two poets of the Victorian era. What i really liked about this book is that it makes the reader think about the purposes of scholarship and the interpretation of texts. As a student, i seem to come across so many articles where i think the author did not write it to share something important, just to justify their existence (or tenure).I read this novel as saying some of the characters were the same. As for interpretation of texts - i love the fact that this underlines that we find what we are looking for when we read. (an interesting article about this aspect in this novel can be found at: ... - "Three at one Blow: Using Possession to Introduce Theory by Julia Whitsitt) I thought women's studies suffered especially from this aspect in the book - why does every important female writer *have* to be a lesbian?? ☺But this is book is not just some intellectual exercise - it is a great story. Two historians come together to chase the trail of an unexpected 'addition' to the writers they study (she studies Christabel LaMotte, a not so famous poet; he studies Randolph Henry Ash, a famous Victorian poet). The story flows seemlessly from the 20th century to the 19th, with wonderful use of letters, diary entries and good old-fashioned story writing. Also included is a great cast of 'supporting characters' - brash American intellectuals (i have come across my fair share of Leonora Sterns) introspective British ones. I must admit that I did skim over some of the passages of poetry by LaMotte and Ash, the two main historical characters, but i found the story engrossing, and the historical aspects very believable. A truly worthwhile read.
Rating:
Summary: Scholarly and Literary Intrigue and Romance
Review: A.S. Byatt's "Possession" has been on my out-of-control to-read list for almost two years. I was fortunate lately that "Possession"'s turn came up and I got the opportunity to read it. "Posession" is a fabulous novel that takes place in two eras (19th and 20th centuries) and deals intensely with relationships - between individuals personally, professionally, romantically, and between cultures over time. The primary storyline has Roland Michell and Maud Bailey, two relatively young Victorian scholars, investigating the possibility of a before-unknown relationship between the poets that they respectively specialize in, Randolph Henry Ash and Christabel LaMotte. The correspondence, diaries, and anecdotes they pore over develop into a second major storyline as Ash and LaMotte become as palpable characters as Michell and Bailey. In the mid-1980's, Roland Michell is a dissatisfied literary scholar, struggling to find real employment, and wholly consumed by his study of R.H. Ash. He happens upon a letter from Ash to a mysterious woman which could change the face of Ash research. Intrigued by what this discovery could mean to his career, he enlists the help of Maud Bailey, for whom a relationship between LaMotte and Ash could be of similar importance. They are forced by the hostility of the literature profession to keep their findings secret from their colleagues and superiors, and start an obsessive chase all over England and France to piece together the story of Ash and LaMotte. Over time, life begins to imitate scholarship and art, as Roland and Maud find each other in their work. Byatt does an Anthony Burgess-quality job appropriating the language of mid- to late-Victorian England in the Ash-LaMotte letters, journals, etc. Creating an entire body of supposedly literary poetry (male and female) as well as correspondence and diaries is highly impressive and shows an extraordinary range of knowledge and skill. She does excellent work in keeping the language of the two eras separate, and what is tougher, making the language of literary criticism for the most part accessible to a broad audience. Not to be gender biased, but it seems one part where Byatt takes a little too much license with the 19th century is in making all of her major Victorian women characters, LaMotte, Blanche Glover, and Sabine de Kercoz, all into hardcore Wollstonecraftian feminists. Especially considering their disparate backgrounds, minor aristocrat, would-be governess, and sheltered French girl, this is kind of hard to take. Maybe this is an acknowledgment of LaMotte's influence on her immediate acquaintances, but it does seem a little farfetched even for the late 19th century. Overall, "Possession" is truly an enjoyable novel. Byatt's command of styles, genres, languages, and most of all character combine to make a fine work. Casual readers may be put off by the constant shift in time periods, the length of time spent away from the 'main' characters, Roland and Maud, and the constant poetical interruptions. For the committed reader, these facets make the novel challenging and ultimately rewarding.
Rating: 
Summary: A defining book for me
Review: This is my favorite book. I read it about once a year, and I always find something new to notice in it. It is a literary detective story, a very sharp and accurate depiction of the struggles of competing views of literary criticism in the 1980s, and also a deep and complex love story that addresses, on a very personal level, the great philosophical struggles of late Victorianism. Darwinism and its impact on the central question of whatwe all are as humans, and connected religious questions are all addressed in the context of an extremely moving story about complex, adult characters who certainly did not expect or necessarily expect to find a soul mate in each other who would radically change each of their lives. This is not an easy book to read--it requires careful reading and a willingness to give Victorian poetry and conventions a chance. If you are patient with it it will return your efforts one thousand-fold.
Rating: 
Summary: worth the read
Review: Although Possession starts out rather slowly and also in a complicated manner (as far as character and plot development), the second half of the book redeems Byatt's abilities. She possesses a sensational ability to fuse the past with the present. Her talents are revealed through the use of poetry, letters, and prose. I found myself, after 500 pages, sad to put it down.
Rating:
Summary: Might be worth reading to some
Review: Reading Byatt's Possession will make you feel like you are reading four different novels at once. In terms of style, there is no doubt it is in a category by itself -- this novel is one part biography, one part poetry, one part adventure, and one part romance. English majors will have fun studying Byatt's ability to write in varyiing styles in just one novel. However, in terms of plot, it is paper thin. It will make you wonder whether all the verbage is necessary to advance the plot. The main plot is about two long-dead poets whose letters to each other were discovered by one Roland Mitchell. To uncover the relationship, Roland seek out the help of Maud Bailey and the two went in search of undiscovered letters. Along the way they met a few characters who helped them get closer to the truth and the truth does get revealed at the end. There are a few interesting characters who weren't really fleshed out such as Val (in relations to Roland) and Fergus (in relations to Maud). It make you wonder what purpose they serve in the novel. For those who are more interested in plot than style, I would say to skip this behemoth novel and wait for the movie that will be out by the end of the year.
Rating:
Summary: An Audio Version Befitting Byatt's Masterpiece
Review: It has been years since I read Possession and I remember liking it very much indeed; I recall thinking at the time, "Storytelling is not dead." Listening to the unabridged audiobook confirms that Possession is every bit as good as I remembered. Maybe better. Possession has it all: mystery, poetry, fairy tales, letters, diary entries, poets and academics, science and spiritualism, past and present, a Victorian love story and a contemporary one, Victorian energy and scientific progress versus the sterility of modern literary theory. The audiobook narrator handles it all with great skill. Only once in sixteen hours of tapes did I find myself momentarily confused about who'd spoken a bit of dialogue; for the other fifteen hours and fifty-nine minutes or so all was clear. The reader's voice is pleasant and easy to understand; she reads a variety of materials equally well and handles a great many voices skillfully enough to make them distinct without resorting to distracting characterizations. (A near-exception: the accent given to Professor Cropper was a trifle odd, but distractingly so.) This audiobook could have you wishing a long car trip were even longer or make you log a few extra miles on the treadmill every day until you finish it. You may even find yourself listening to it while you do your housework. It's that good.
Rating:
Summary: Transported
Review: Having just finished reading "Possession" by A S Byatt (which I couldn't put down) I consulted my Oxford Companion to English Literature to find out more about R H Ash and Christabel LaMotte. I was so convinced that they actually existed. I am filled with admiration for the author. I was utterly taken in by her novel which I was convinced was semi-biographical. I thought the letters and poems were the genuine article. I don't want to give the impression that this is a 'heavy' text. I admit I did skip some of the poems to go back and read later because I just had to find out how things turned out in the end. The best book I have read in a long time.
Rating: 
Summary: Potentially Interesting Story Gets Stifled
Review: I must admit, I couldn't get past page 50 of this behemoth Booker Prize winner... and thank God! Because nothing I heard during my book group's subsequent discussion of it led me to believe I would have liked the remaining 500 pages. Byatt constructs a somewhat imaginative romance hidden within the poems of two obscure Victorian writers. All very nicely done I suppose, but it was putting me to sleep... Somewhere in the dreadful poems, faux letters, and overwritten prose, there is probably a decent story, however I saw little evidence of it, or of any characters to care about. I doubt I'll be spending any more of my precious time on earth in Byatt's tedious academic settings.
Rating:
Summary: A good thriller needlessly gussied up as "literature."
Review: Byatt's novel is an excellent example of 90s literary fiction: take the conventions of genre fiction (in this case the detective story) and onto that graft some philosophic/literary/postmodernist discourse which is almost always extraneous to the story itself but which explains/subverts/contextualizes the story to please historicist. Is this the latest attempt to break the bounds of "realism"? (Another example is ALIAS GRACE by Margaret Atwood, which resembles the form of this novel closely.) POSSESSION is at its best when it sticks to the genre conventions; it builds palpable tension with some hilariously delineated characters. Byatt questions what we mean when we talk of an author's "voice," and the oscillation from one form of text to another creates a nice energy, although I'm tiring of this narrative at this point and hope the new millenium brings some other perspectives. I recommend this book strongly, although skip ahead whenever Byatt feels the need to talk about psychoanalytic sexuality.
Rating:
Summary: Better the Second Time Around
Review: Possession is a book worth rediscovering if you have trouble getting through the poetry the first time around. I read it years ago with a reading group, and although I thouroughly enjoyed it, it took a long while to get through it, and the poetry bogged me down. Although I vowed to read the poetry -- didn't! This time around, I am choosing the book as my choice for a new reading group, and am discovering the thrill of it all over again. Mystery, love story, certain to become a classic.
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