So, the description on Amazon reads like this: "The first novel of the Cazalet Chronicle, this masterpiece in the
tradition of Upstairs, Downstairs takes us to the Cazalet household in
1930s England, when the coming war is only a distant cloud on the
horizon. Elizabeth Howard paints an irresistible picture of the family's
intimate world."
This is, evidently, the first novel of the Cazalet Chronicle, it does take us to the Cazalet household, and war is on the horizon. I'm not sure I'd classify it as a masterpiece, though. My primary quibble with The Light Years is that Howard introduces far too many characters, with insufficient depth for the reader to differentiate one from the other. After 400 pages, I still couldn't consistently remember whether Teddy and Simon were the sons of Edward and Hugh, or the other way around. There are the senior Cazalets, their four grown children, three of whom are married, the children of those three, the sister, mother, and assorted relations of one daughter-in-law, a stable of servants, and assorted friends, colleagues, paramours, and others hangers-on. Oy.
What's more, there was no real story, no plot here. Or, what plot there was moved so slowly that it was difficult to discern and harder yet to follow. Howard records the minutae of their lives, with plenty of dialogue and details, but little action. I felt as if I were reading the blow-by-blow-by-blow of any family, without the author having done me the courtesy of distilling the salient bits. After close and faithful reading for the first half or two-thirds, I admit to heavy skimming of the remainder.
Two stars.
