Scan barcode
A review by karieh13
Mr. Chartwell by Rebecca Hunt
4.0
There is such a sense of melancholy in “Mr. Chartwell”… Despite the subject matter, I wouldn’t go so far as to say it’s sad…but despite its summer setting – there’s far more shadows than sun.
The two main characters, Winston Churchill and Esther Hammerhans, make for a very interesting contrast. They are each visited by the “black dog” (the name that Churchill used for the depression that beset him during his life) – “Mr. Chartwell” or “Black Pat”, but with very different results.
Esther, who lost her husband nearly two years ago, has only begun to know this black embodiment of depression.
“Esther awoke with a gentle jolt. The primitive departments of her brain, the units that dealt with anciently evolved instincts, were wiring encrypted telegrams to her consciousness. They told Esther in a subtle siren that Black Pat was near. The sirens were insistent, he was very close. It took a minute of hard concentration as she listened through the shades of silence, but then it came. Underneath the sound of the sleeping street, the sound of her own breathing, was the ambiance of an animal.”
Churchill, however, has known this dark presence for many, many years. “I understand that we share a wicked union, and I know the goblin bell which summons you comes from a tomb in my heart. And I will honor my principles, labouring against the shadows you herald. I don’t blench from this burden, but” – here he let out a deep breath, laying the glasses down gently – “it’s so demanding; it leaves me so very tired.”
The melancholy of the story of two people connected by this unseen but overwhelming presence, comes not only from the two of them but from Mr. Chartwell himself. The reader gets the sense that although he accepts his task of guarding them and not leaving them alone – he understands how dreadful it is.
“I’ve wondered on occasion whether you were there, waiting to stake your flag from the moment my soul entered this world.”
“I didn’t come until sent for.” Black Pat’s eyes were like leeches on him. “But I’ve been a companion to others around you, so I’ve never been far away.”
The “black dog” though used by Churchill, works well in the story. Other types of animals might have worked, but there’s something about the unavoidable smell, hulking size, overpowering fur and muscle that works very well. Even when not front and center, Chartwell’s sheer bulk makes it so that Esther/Churchill are aware of his presence at all times.
“It’s a love with a capacity you have no concept of.” Black Pat said with a hot voice. “It’s a love that would endure beyond the precinct of your days with a ferocity you can’t hope to equal.”
“Wait, ferocity?”
“Boundless, endless, friendless ferocity.”
“No,” Esther said after a speechless period, her eyes dark holes. “That’s not love, it’s possession.”
The draw of this beast, the consuming nature of his presence, forces not only a young librarian but one of the most powerful men in the history of the world to fight. Fight demons both inside and outside themselves. This “dark star in the constellation which forms me...” is the center of this poignantly lovely novel.
The two main characters, Winston Churchill and Esther Hammerhans, make for a very interesting contrast. They are each visited by the “black dog” (the name that Churchill used for the depression that beset him during his life) – “Mr. Chartwell” or “Black Pat”, but with very different results.
Esther, who lost her husband nearly two years ago, has only begun to know this black embodiment of depression.
“Esther awoke with a gentle jolt. The primitive departments of her brain, the units that dealt with anciently evolved instincts, were wiring encrypted telegrams to her consciousness. They told Esther in a subtle siren that Black Pat was near. The sirens were insistent, he was very close. It took a minute of hard concentration as she listened through the shades of silence, but then it came. Underneath the sound of the sleeping street, the sound of her own breathing, was the ambiance of an animal.”
Churchill, however, has known this dark presence for many, many years. “I understand that we share a wicked union, and I know the goblin bell which summons you comes from a tomb in my heart. And I will honor my principles, labouring against the shadows you herald. I don’t blench from this burden, but” – here he let out a deep breath, laying the glasses down gently – “it’s so demanding; it leaves me so very tired.”
The melancholy of the story of two people connected by this unseen but overwhelming presence, comes not only from the two of them but from Mr. Chartwell himself. The reader gets the sense that although he accepts his task of guarding them and not leaving them alone – he understands how dreadful it is.
“I’ve wondered on occasion whether you were there, waiting to stake your flag from the moment my soul entered this world.”
“I didn’t come until sent for.” Black Pat’s eyes were like leeches on him. “But I’ve been a companion to others around you, so I’ve never been far away.”
The “black dog” though used by Churchill, works well in the story. Other types of animals might have worked, but there’s something about the unavoidable smell, hulking size, overpowering fur and muscle that works very well. Even when not front and center, Chartwell’s sheer bulk makes it so that Esther/Churchill are aware of his presence at all times.
“It’s a love with a capacity you have no concept of.” Black Pat said with a hot voice. “It’s a love that would endure beyond the precinct of your days with a ferocity you can’t hope to equal.”
“Wait, ferocity?”
“Boundless, endless, friendless ferocity.”
“No,” Esther said after a speechless period, her eyes dark holes. “That’s not love, it’s possession.”
The draw of this beast, the consuming nature of his presence, forces not only a young librarian but one of the most powerful men in the history of the world to fight. Fight demons both inside and outside themselves. This “dark star in the constellation which forms me...” is the center of this poignantly lovely novel.