Sweet Caress – William Boyd
This one was recommended by my Mother-In-Law – I think her book club read it.
I found it to be a quick easy read – better in some parts than in others. The parts in Berlin were particularly interesting.
Here’s the blurb …
When Amory Clay was born, in the decade before the Great War, her disappointed father gave her an androgynous name and announced the birth of a son. But this daughter was not one to let others define her; Amory became a woman who accepted no limits to what that could mean, and, from the time she picked up her first camera, one who would record her own version of events.
Moving freely between London and New York, between photojournalism and fashion photography, and between the men who love her on complicated terms, Amory establishes her reputation as a risk taker and a passionate life traveler. Her hunger for experience draws her to the decadence of Weimar Berlin and the violence of London’s blackshirt riots, to the Rhineland with Allied troops and into the political tangle of war-torn Vietnam. In her ambitious career, the seminal moments of the 20th century will become the unforgettable moments of her own biography, as well.
In Sweet Caress, Amory Clay comes wondrously to life, her vibrant personality enveloping the reader from the start. And, running through the novel, her photographs over the decades allow us to experience this vast story not only with Amory’s voice but with her vision. William Boyd’s Sweet Caress captures an entire lifetime unforgettably within its pages. It captivates.
I have to say it reminded me of Forrest Gump – Amory just happened to be in the right place at the right historical time! Having said that though, it was interesting. Some sections appealed to me more than others – Berlin, working as a society photographer in the 20s and others less so – Vietnam, attempting to rescue her daughter from the ‘cult’. I suspect this novel will appeal to people of a certain age (i.e. baby boomers and older).
More reviews …