Rating: 
Summary: "The finest novel..."
Review: So I have this daydream. I am being interviewed by a journal or magazine. "Tell us the writers that have most influenced you.""Well," I would say, "There are two that come immediately to mind: Seamus Heaney and John Berger. Everything they write seems to be steeped in compassion." "Is that all?", my interrogator would, well, interrogate. "Basically, yes. If I can make others feel the way those two make me feel, I would count myself a great success! One more thing though. Let me tell you about a book that was written by neither of those two. It is by a woman called Penelope Fitzgerald, and happens to be the finest novel I ever read..."
Rating: 
Summary: I have to think about it either more or less
Review: I wish I could solve the elusive question of what makes readers love or hate this book! I'm not at all adverse to gratuitously complicated and elusive fiction; Henry James and Jane Bowles are two of my favourite authors. Perhaps the real culprit is the misleading description on the back cover: I identify with the frustration of the amazon reviewer who was hoping to get an explanation (not a "demystification") of Fritz's strange passion for an ordinary 12-year-old girl. I still cling to the old-fashioned idea that writers are people who come up with fascinating answers ("right" or "wrong"), not just fascinating questions. Other amazon reviewers have pointed out that love is irrational (an "overvaluing of the object," as Freud said); that Sophie's very ordinariness and unreflecting nature are what make her appeal to Fritz. Fair enough: that's where I thought the book was going, too. I thought the "moral," that for Fritz the greatest mystery of all is the ordinary, was delicious. But later developments contradict these ideas. Sophie is not just an ordinary little girl, or ordinary little girls turn out not to be so ordinary after all. Sophie is haunted by the shadow of death, and meets her fate with miraculous grace. The irritating incontinent laugh that was at first a shocking sign of Sophie's shallowness and animal spirits eventually reveals an almost self-effacing good nature. Yet Fritz doesn't seem to notice these things. As one amazon reviewer pointed out, Fritz doesn't want Sophie to develop, because she would lose her purity and unity of being; well, he gets his wish. But why does the artist tearfully say he can't "hear Sophie's question"? This surely predicts her imminent death--but how much of a role does that play in Fritz's obsession? Does she mean death for him, or life?
And why does his brother also become obsessed with her after initial skepticism? What has taken place to change his mind? If only I could be sure the answers were really in there, and I was too dense or distracted to notice them, I would rate the book higher!
Rating:
Summary: One of Pepe's Passionfruits
Review: One of the best books of the 20th century. Just trust me.
Rating: 
Summary: The Emperor has no clothes
Review: I remember when this book was first published and made the cover of the New York Times Book Review under the caption "Romanticism breaks out!" or something of the sort. Romanticism does NOT break out in this book. The very fact that it can be characterized as such shows us just how far we've come from the Romantic era.-All that "breaks out" in this novel is meticulous descriptive writing of the late 18th Century German milieu, in all its mundanities and shoddiness. In other words, the book is ANTI-ROMANTIC. The only Romantic passages are the quotes from Fitzgerald's straw man/main character Novalis and they are always quoted in a context that makes them appear misguided and silly. I'm sure Fitzgerald could have done the same thing with Keats, who grew up as a stable boy. Romantics are easy to comedize, because they take everything seriously. In doing so, they express our greatest longings and highest aspirations as well as the depths of human despair.
I'm too depressed by this book and by the reviewers and critics who have fooled themselves into thinking something deeper is going on here to say anymore. But I'll end with a riposte quoted from Novalis on p.157 (and, of course, made by Fitzgerald to look ridiculous in the context in which she places it): "Courage is more than endurance, it is the power to create your own life in the face of all that man or God can inflict, so that every day and every night is what you imagine it. Courage makes us dreamers, courage makes us poets."
Have the courage not to go along with the fickle sheep of reviewers and critics on this one. Have the courage to see the book for what it is: An old, learned woman's meticulous sneer at the visions that make living on this earth worthwhile.
Rating:
Summary: Very interesting, but unsatisfying, metaphysical love story
Review: Penelope Fitzgerald's Booker prize-winning novel THE BLUE FLOWER is the story of Friedrich "Fritz" von Hardenburg, who later became the Romantic poet Novalis, and his love for Sophie, an adolescent with whom he has little in common but who illuminates the world for him. Among the book's strengths is its vivid depiction of life in late-1700s Germany. Much of THE BLUE FLOWER is concerned with mood and the inner lives of its characters, and may disappoint those who favour a smooth and moving plot. The ending is particularly abrupt and I didn't find it satisfying. Among common criticisms of the book is that the issue of Fritz's consuming love for Sophie is unrealistic because they have nothing in common, and in fact Sophie is quite a dullard. Nonetheless, every man has at times fallen in love with some woman who may display few intellectual qualities but who is beloved because she is a glass through which the universe is seen. Thus, Fritz calls Sophie his "Philosophy. Plus, there is much emphasis on the fact that it is Sophie's mysterious aura, not her mind, that is the real draw. Fritz cannot help but love her. THE BLUE FLOWER raises some interesting questions to ask of oneself, although after the reading it is somewhat forgettable. Nonetheless, it's a quick read, and I'd recommend it to anyone who might find the setting interesting. I should mention that the book does change a few details of Novalis' life, so if you are already acquainted with the poet it may annoy you.
Rating:
Summary: Not half as interesting as the ratings suggest
Review: On the strength of the ratings and the fact that she won the Booker I bought the book. It really wasn't an interesting read and the character development seemed pretty poor. I, like many of the other reviewers, wouldn't recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: An amazing book
Review: The more Penelope Fitzgerald I read, the more I believe that she must be ranked with Iris Murdoch and Anita Brookner as the best writers the last fifty years have produced. This book is unlike anything I have read, and within the conventions of the novel, Fitzgerald's mind takes yours down little alleyways where you see things in a completely new way. I was reminded of 18th century portraits with the sitters and their surroundings come to life; and of a tiny, exquisite music box opened to entertain and edify. Every character is beautifully depicted, every scene has meaning and beauty. I love this book.
Rating:
Summary: Yes, it is a masterpiece
Review: This is a book that captures a time and place and sensibility that is vastly different from our own. Fitzgerald's ability to transport us fully to that world is nothing short of astonishing.
Rating:
Summary: A book of longing
Review: This book is amazing. Fitzgerald built this entire book on actual historical documents. Every chapter relates to a letter, journal entry or something similar. She does everything possible to bring you into the world of Novalis, before he was Novalis. Her use of the German language inside of English was masterful. If you want to know how some of the German translates http://dict.leo.org/ is the best free tool out there. Some times the piecing effect is felt. You find yourself wanting more, and the scene switches. This itself is part of here pure genius. The entire book is about longing. What better tribute could be made to Novalis, perhaps the greatest poet of the German Romantic. The Blue Flower, the ultimate symbol of longing.
Rating:
Summary: The German Romantic Artist's Life
Review: A great short read - as rare and wonderful as the flora of the title. Ms. Fitzgerald creates the family environment, society, education and general circumstances of a young man destined to become a great poet of the German era of the period of Goethe (the great man himself makes an appearance in the tale). The eccentric, precocious, intensive perceptions of the sensitive young man coming of age, struggling between wisdom and understanding, love and faith. Like any great work of art, it reflects life's mysteries - what is the basis of love and life? The fact that we can never know heightens the sense of tragedy and pathos - the explanation for Fritz's quote in the end "All things considered, I think I'd rather be dead". An excellent, introspective work, great characterizations, dramatic in the mind's workings.
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