The Photograph

Written by Penelope Lively

Narrated by Daniel Gerroll and Patricia Kalember

The Photography is a literary, psychologically complex novel of suspense that brings acclaimed author Penelope Lively's talents to a whole new level.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Highbridge Company
• Release date: Jun 9, 2003
• ISBN: 9781598871838

Penelope Lively

Penelope Lively is a novelist, short story writer and author of children's books. Her novels have won several literary awards including the Booker Prize for Moon Tiger in 1987, the Carnegie Medal for The Ghost of Thomas Kempe in 1973, and the Whitbread Award for A Stitch in Time in 1976.

Reviews for The Photograph

[ja · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The book held my interest the entire time, as I wanted to see how this would end. The ending is ok. The characters were ok-nine that I liked or disliked. Kath’s reason for marrying-because he loved her. She didn’t necessarily love him-how sad is that.

[alexia561 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

A story about a man finding a photograph showing his late wife holding hands with another man, and his journey to find out what happened and who she really was. While not a bad book, it was easy to put down and forget to pick back up. I can't really understand why it was chosen for the Today Bookclub or how it won any awards, as it wasn't very engrossing. Kath, the woman in the photograph, seems to have been a rather flighty but engaging woman. Her widower Glyn is not a very sympathetic character, and we wonder why she would have married someone like him. Her sister and brother-in-law fare no better; Sister Elaine has a giant stick up her butt, and B-I-L Nick is a feckless boy-man who has never grown up. We wind up not caring very much about any of the main characters, which is not a good thing. Ms. Lively is a good writer, but none of the characters were very engaging, and the story seemed to go nowhere. Not bad enough to discard before finishing, but it took me 3 times as long to finish than usual and I read several other books in between.

[deckla_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Glyn, an archaeologist, is going through some papers when he finds an envelope containing a photo of his beautiful deceased wife Kath and her brother-in-law Nick holding hands. He decides to go on an archaeological quest to find out how and his wife was unfaithful. From there, the chapters of the book reveal how each of the people around her saw Kath (and how they interact with each other): Glyn, Nick, her sister Elaine (a well-respected horticulturalist), Oliver (Nick's partner in their defunct publishing firm), Polly (Nick & Elaine's grown daughter), and Mary Packard, Kath's best friend. No one sees Kath clearly. Kath is so beautiful she becomes invisible, and this ultimately leads to her demise. An interesting premise, and a quick read.

[pgchuis · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Glyn's wife Kath has been dead for some time when he comes across a photo indicating that she had an affair with Nick, her brother-in-law. Glyn is floored by this and tells Elaine, Kath's sister/Nick's wife. The revelation causes repercussions which touch Polly, Nick and Elaine's daughter, and Oliver, who took the photograph. Glyn in particular is forced to revise his mental picture and memories of Kath as he seeks out people from the past to work out if Kath had other affairs.This was well-written, but suffered from having such a narrow topic. There were chapters from various view points with distinct narrative voices, some of which worked better than others. The novel opens with a chapter from Glyn's perspective, which was pretty boring, to be frank. I fully expected later chapters to confirm that he was universally regarded as a bore, but no - he is recalled as vibrant and interesting and in the present he seems to be a good lecturer... The chapters in Polly's voice confused me - sometimes she seemed to be speaking to her mother on the phone, but at other times it was almost as if she was being interviewed. By whom? To what end? No one was remotely likeable, with the possible exception of Mary, who only appeared at the end. It was sad in a gentle way and so many characters lived lives of such compromise (Oliver, Elaine, Kath herself), but I needed more somehow.

[sandyamcpherson · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Amazing book, because none of the characters are particularly likeable and the entire story is based on the dead woman's photo in an envelope directing someone to destroy it without opening it. That alone compels one to read through wondering who on earth is such an idiot. Burn it if it's such a big secret. Excellent writerly craft, to prompt the reader despite the unlovely characters.

[nx74defiant · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Glynn discovers a photograph of his beloved late wife in a cupboard. It is marked -destroy do not open. But open it he does and discovers he may not have known her heart at all.This does a good job of showing each person's point of view.But I didn't like any of the main characters. They were all to self involved. Glynn was to involved in his work. Polly cared more about how this inconvenienced her than anything else. Polly had no sympathy for her mother. The only glimmer I saw was Elaine recognizing how a kinder sister would of reacted to a childhood incident and letting that effect her judging of a gardening contest.

[bodachliath · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Penelope Lively's books are always a pleasure to read, and this is a beautifully constructed and moving novel. The emotional centre of the book is Kath, who is now dead. Her husband finds a photograph of her which reveals an affair with her brother-in-law, and the story follows the upheavals of the various protagonists as they are forced to adjust their memories and feelings, discovering that none of them really knew her

[carmenmilligan · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

This book was based on a promising premise, but it was very narrowly developed. It could have been sweeping, full and rich, but was a shallow characterization of the main players instead. While each character felt real, none were developed beyond the initial and cursory dimension necessary for the plot. The writer used a point-of-view perspective from each character which could have been more developed and expanded beyond the short chapters. In all, I was left flat.

[sidiki-8 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

the concept is what attracted me to read the novel that is dealt with expertly no wonder its Penelope Lively! Did not much care for or found interest in the seven or so people dealt with in detail, their lives explained just because they were connected in some way to the protagonist. three stars for the pleasure of the style and caliber of the author and her use of language. will read her other works

[lauralkeet · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Glyn, a historian, is rummaging through a cupboard looking for some old papers when he comes across a photograph of his wife Kath, taken about 20 years earlier. In the photo she is holding hands with another man. Glyn is shaken to the core, but unable to confront Kath because she recently passed away. Seeking the truth, he reaches out to Kath’s sister Elaine, who is also in the photo. Glyn’s discovery ultimately sends shock waves through the family and surfaces long-buried issues. The happy-go-lucky and stunningly attractive Kath’s presence is still very much present; grief is still fresh. As details of Kath’s life are revealed, everyone who loved her is forced to re-examine often seemingly trivial events now infused with new meaning.Penelope Lively is a master at telling a story by showing how the tiniest of details can have a profound effect (for another example of this talent, I recommend How it All Began). No one’s life is as simple as it first appears, least of all Kath’s. I was fascinated by the way Lively gradually revealed connections and entanglements, and the possibility for different outcomes, had other choices been made at various points in time.

[ameise1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This was a very fascinating reading. The whole story is about memories from different persons about a woman called Kath who died a few years ago. The widower founds a compromising photo of his deceased wife and his BIL. He is obsessed to find out if there were other men in her life. Therefore he starts asking questions and confronts his counterparts to look into their memories and past. During his investigatings all memories are turned upside down and in the end everybody has to learn to live with a new Kath.I was impressed with how Lively so impressively describes each character. I had always the feeling I was sitting in each person's head and was able to follow their mind. I saw Kath from different points of view sometimes fun-loving or melancholic but mostly as a person who is very lonely.It's a book I can strongly recommend.

[eachurch-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

In this quiet book, Lively explores how we remember people, how our memories are influenced by our assumptions about others and the stories that we create for them, and what happens when doubts about the past arise. Although one of the main characters is dead, throughout the book we see her change and transform in a rather remarkable way.

[pdebolt_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Glyn is a widower who unexpectedly finds a photograph of his deceased wife, Kath, with a group of people. This leads to alterations in relationships, recriminations and adjustments in values. Each chapter is told from the perspective of those thought to be closest to Kath, which gives us a gradually evolving view. Penelope Lively is at her best in revealing the essence of her characters in a thoughtful, subtle way. As with all of her books, this one leads to thought-provoking questions.

[bookforage · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

She has become like some mythical figure, trawled up at will to fit other people's narratives. Everyone has their way with her, everyone decides what she was, how things were. It seems unjust that in the midst of this to-do she is denied a voice.Oliver Watson's feelings regarding his deceased friend Kath sum up the theme of Penelope Lively's beautifully written novel, The Photograph. It is a novel about relationships - relationships between spouses, siblings, friends, and even acquaintances. It is also about the perceptions of each other that go along with those relationships. Do we ever see the complete picture of those we love, or do we only see them in snapshots, little snippets instead of the whole person?The story opens when Glyn, a landscape historian, finds an envelope with a note in his dead wife's handwriting saying, "Do not open! Destroy." Of course, he opens it, and gets a shock that causes him to question his whole perception of Kath and their marriage. So he sets out to find out what really happened, and who she really was. But the story centers around Kath herself. We get vignettes of her from many different characters. The plot feels very small and contained, with just a handful of characters and their memories. And even though Kath is dead, you don't know what happened to her, which adds to a growing feeling that she is going to pop in at any minute (a habit of hers that everyone remembers) and explain everything. This feeling is strengthened by the memories of the living characters - instead of a simple flashback, they actually see her in their surroundings and hear her voice speaking to them, causing their memories to sort of merge with the present. It is as if she is actually there and is indeed trying to explain.But as Glyn picks the brains of every person he can think of that Kath may have come into contact with, and as she herself inserts herself more and more into everyone's daily lives, the picture of Kath begins to expand. We start to get this sneaky suspicion that there was much more to her than those who were supposedly closest to her remember. And by the end, when most of the questions have finally been revealed, we realize along with the characters that it is the things we don't know about a person, the things that they, in retrospect, seemed to be trying to tell us, that make all the difference.

[tigsw · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Well played out story of alienation within close relationships, particularly of the main character who was somehow unable to ever establish a meaningful relationship with anyone, her sibling, her many admirers, and even her husband. There's an underlying theme throughout the book of self-absorption.

[ltimmel_2 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Penelope Lively's The Photograph strikes me as not up to her usual standard. For one thing, the style and pacing are uneven-- at the beginning, the style is inappropriately brittle, as if this were a Fay Weldon social satire. (The first third of the book does not match the the second and last thirds.) But in fact it's not a satire, but rather a sad story about how the people closest to a woman who has committed suicide never knew her (because they could not be bothered to get past the static images of her filtering their perceptions of her, in ways that suited their own lives. Although I began to suspect that Kath, the dead woman, had been a suicide, this point is needlessly withheld from the reader until nearly the end of the book. Granted, the author probably wanted to convey the fact that Kath's surviving sister & husband had repressed the fact of the suicide, but since they are not the only viewpoint characters, delaying the revelation really was not necessary-- & in fact would have enriched the read.

[cynthiabelgum · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

A long stored, but never before viewed photograph sets a man in search for the possible other loves of his suicided wife's past, including his former brother in law. He stirs the pot by telling his wife's sister about the affair, looks up old acquiantances and buisiness associates, only to find that her tragedy was a series of miscarriages. It's a tale of lives lived in parallel. At the end, a perceptive friend of his wife fills in the blanks for all the characters involved. Everyone "settles". I read this for book club.

[debnance_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Glyn finds a photograph of his dead wife and it changes everything for him. As he slowly investigates the implications of the photo, a picture of his wife gradually develops and grows. A thoughtful book about relationships, death, and more. Recommended.

[riofriotex · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

More character-driven than plot-driven, this is the sad story of a widower (Glyn) who finds a photograph of his late wife (Kath) surreptitiously holding hands with her sister's (Elaine) husband (Nick), taken by the latter's former business partner (Oliver). Kath's friend Mary is also in the photo, and Glyn proceeds to interrogate all of them to find out if there had been other affairs. The story is told from all these multiple viewpoints, including that of Nick and Elaine's daughter Polly, a favorite of Kath's. We learn a lot about all the narrators (including some of the minutiae of their daily lives - Glyn is a landscape archaeologist and Elaine is a garden designer), but Kath remains an enigma. How she died isn't revealed until near the end, but there are indications all along. The story is set in England, with British vocabulary, so it's only fitting that the audiobook narrators be British. Actor Daniel Gerroll is, but his wife, actress Patricia Kalember (of Thirtysomething and Sisters TV fame), is American. Both do a fine job creating distinct personalities for the various narrators.The book's title intrigued me, although the audiobook cover art is misleading (an attempt to portray the photo that's so central to the story seems like the better choice to me). All in all, though, I was disappointed. Very little happens in the story, and the characters are so self-absorbed, it's hard to empathize with any of them. It's no wonder they knew so little about Kath.

[oldblack-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I liked this book very much. I found it to be a very readable story with interesting characters living believable lives and dealing with issues to which I could relate. Yet at the same time there was a deeper level. The book also explored, in a realistic way, the question of what people look for in a "marriage" type relationship and whether such a relationship enhances your life or not. I guess there is more of a focus on female lives than male, but the men were by no means neglected. It suited me, but I'm not a deep thinker, and maybe the more intelligent reader might find it a little too light??

[alirob_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Excellent book, I really enjoyed it.

[petiteprof · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Intriguing, but predictable. I picked it up thinking it would be a quick read, but found it to seem much longer than its thickness would suggest.

[onemorepage · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Widowed for many years, an academic historian looks through a jumble of papers in a drawer and discovers a picture of his wife looking into the eyes of her sister's husband. With it is a "remember this day?" note from the man. Both are in an envelope with the note "throw away" written on it in his wife's hand.Wanting to understand this new information, he begins to contact people from his wife's past, discovering a woman he didn't know. Thinking he would find many affairs, he discovered only this one, of very short duration. Instead, he found a woman who led a very full life in the arts while he worked, traveled, researched, did not notice her. A lonely woman who touched many but befriended few. A beautiful woman, worthy of being painted, her portrait commending a high price and revered by a man who never spoke to her.She was beautiful. Everyone thought so. Her parents, long dead. Her sister, brother-in-law, husband, niece, artist friends, strangers. How could anyone so beautiful be lacking for anything? But she was. She lacked love. She lacked talent. She lacked children. She was lonely, unbearably so. And finally, at the end of his investigation into that photograph, he understood, at long last, who she was and why she killed herself.A wonderful, but sad, tale that examines what it can be like to be beautiful, but unloved.

[brianna_h_2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Penelope Lively's books should be read for their prose alone. Her writing is elegant and the story flows. This is a quick read but a satisfying one.

[rosecityreader · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A widower finds an old photograph of his dead wife on a picnic with friends and becomes obsessively interested in her in a way he never was when she was alive. Through his search to learn about his wife, we learn about the two of them, as well as her family and circle of friends. As with every Penelope Lively book I've read, I was really wrapped up in this story. The characters were fully formed, with interesting lives and complicated relationships. In contrast, the dead woman at the center of the tale is indistinct, defined neither by occupation nor personality. Cath is most remembered for being pretty in a purely decorative way -- more than one character describes her as being like a vase of flowers. Cath's vague character is a useful literary device for developing the other characters and their stories. She is a foil for the others. But this leads (for me anyway) to an unsatisfactorily pat ending, as one by one the characters learn Cath's secret and begin to cope with her death. Looking back from the end, it just didn't seem likely that no one in her life understood her enough to realize the one thing that was the most important to her.

[tanyatomato · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I'm not much for novels about marriage and domestic issues, but Lively creates interesting characters that kept me reading. An old photograph is found and so starts an investigation from alternating points of view. First person narrative changes so you get everyone's perspective, and that is how the full breadth of the story comes together in the end.

[tikilights_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Re-evaluating your life in the choices you made and how those choices affected others is a prevailing theme in this story. An old photograph is found, and with it questions arise as to its meaning and the story behind it. As it is being investigated, memories and lives are reviewed and while some look back contented, others are not as happy with their decisions. Penelope Lively does a great job in analyzing these people's lives and is able to evoke empathy for these seemingly lost people. I also think that Liveley having kept the story short gave it a bigger impact because she revealed just enough about these characters to make the reader satisfied. The Photograph is an enjoyable somber read.