All Times Have Been Modern

by Elisabeth Harvor

Book Overview

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0143016172
• ISBN13: 9780143016175
• Release Date: August 2005
• Publisher: Penguin Books Canada
• Length: 352 Pages

Customer Reviews

A Great Read!

Raised by fairly bohemian, artsy parents, Kay meets Polish émigré Alexander Oleski at a young and tender age. The entire courtship takes place by mail. [A process no less dangerous in real life, than in novels...] Their marriage isn't really horrible, but neither is it able to build anything that will sit well upon its shaky foundation. It ends. Kay moves on with her two young boys, and her dreams of becoming an established writer. She's appeared in The New Yorker, and written a novel. Kay lands a job, and begins a relationship with one of the handsome architects there. Pretty much the perfect guy. Galbraith. Will this relationship now prove to be all that Kay wants and needs? I won't say a word more about it, except to say that the Boulanger quote plays into all that happens between Kay and Galbraith. In art [and what is more artful than good love?] should problems regarding age and history, in a word, generational-distance, hinder the true recipient of art, namely, the individual? Further, if one person genuinely appreciates the art [the love] and the other person genuinely appreciates the art [the love] does it follow that the two of them together will appreciate it [the love, the art] twice as much as they would if they consider it [the love, the art] separately? Also, if it is true, [in art, and in things artful] that "all times have been modern," shouldn't the most important consideration always involve what is being experienced right now, in the present tense, rather than in what will or may be experienced in the future, by the recipient[s]..... of art? Of love? These are the kind of questions that our protagonist asks herself in this story, even if she is not aware that she is asking them, in this way. It's dang good, and as a whole, this book reminds me of the idea that love and power displace each other. That is to say that love has very little to do with control. Much more to do with the loss of it. To me it is a story of emotional perseverance and resilience. Kay's. Adjustment to disappointment, as well. It speaks to the idea that no life is lived perfectly, and that while our own may seem as though it is lived in sort of a matte finish way, there are flecks of technicolor in it, all over the place. Also, that good sex is among the greatest privileges of a well-lived life. Also, that good sex may mean different things to different people, often very different things even between the very two people that are enjoying "it" with each other. Also, that to be in love is to be caught in a web or cycle of freedom and dependence. Not that these words are necessarily antonyms of each other, but, rather, the coupling of them points toward the fact that there is no such thing as real "love" that doesn't involve possible rejection. No such thing as real love that does not include a measure of vulnerability to the partner's whims and and caprices. In love there exists the constant interplay and exchange of dependence and indepe

I lost interest in my life in favour of Kay's. Until i finished anyway.

I adored this book. Elisabeth has a way of capturing the details of life in this unique but exact way, ah! I love the way this woman thinks. It is so honest it's enthralling. I was so caught in this story, I thought about it during breaks from reading and am still thinking about it now that I've finished. Like it's my own tragic (but not so much) life. Exciting, very exciting in this sort of interior way.

Full-blooded and deeply moving.

Kay Oleski, the protagonist of Elisabeth Harvor's All Times Have Been Modern, flames across our radar and we had better be prepared to tackle relationships, writing, urban life, and affairs of the heart.We follow Kay's journey from a luminescent young teen to the years when she becomes a woman who bears children, entertains dissidents, houses militants and is the imperfect housemate of a self-made political opportunist.Kay struggles with the age-old dilemma of womanhood. How to re-invent and yet stay attached to the present. Her love of good literature overpowers her desire "to be a good revolutionary."Relationships end and time moves quickly on.Harvor is brilliant at fleshing out character and motive. Her dialogue is fresh and thought-provoking as seen through Kay's inner and outer voice. I would unabashedly compare her talent for creating full-blooded characters to Woolf or Plath. She has the same swift grace of language and deeply moving inner monologue of reproach.Harvor is an amazing story-teller. I was reading into the wee hours to find out how Kay's complex, confusing, emotionally full life would turn out.Highly recommended.

Full-blooded and deeply moving

Kay Oleski, the protagonist of Elisabeth Harvor's All Times Have Been Modern, flames across our radar and we had better be prepared to tackle relationships, writing, urban life, and affairs of the heart.We follow Kay's journey from a luminescent young teen to the years when she becomes a woman who bears children, entertains dissidents, houses militants and is the imperfect housemate of a self-made political opportunist.Kay struggles with the age-old dilemma of womanhood. How to re-invent and yet stay attached to the present. Her love of good literature overpowers her desire "to be a good revolutionary."Relationships end and time moves quickly on.Harvor is brilliant at fleshing out character and motive. Her dialogue is fresh and thought-provoking as seen through Kay's inner and outer voice. I would unabashedly compare her talent for creating full-blooded characters to Woolf or Plath. She has the same swift grace of language and the same deeply moving inner monologue of reproach.Harvor is an amazing story-teller. I was reading into the wee hours to find out how Kay's complex, confusing, emotionally full life would turn out.Highly recommended.