Book Review: THE GO-BETWEEN by L. P. Hartley

The Go-Between by L.P. Hartley
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

"What did we talk about that has left me with an impression of wings and flashes, as of air displaced by the flight of a bird? Of swooping and soaring, of a faint iridescence subdued to the enfolding brightness of the day?"

I was twelve years old. It was my second year of journal writing. I remember waking up every day, feeling like each one was one grand adventure. I'd see my crush in school and invent all sorts of reasons to "accidentally" pass by his classroom. I'd prop up a fiction book behind my textbook in class and read it (and get sent to the Principal's Office later for my bad behavior, tsk tsk!). I'd bring my wooden top (we called it "turumpo") and decorate it with pretty dots using a marker, that turned into beautiful wavy lines when spun.

All these memories came back in full force, thanks to this beautifully moving tale of a child turning into a man, caught in a tangled web woven by manipulative adults he falls in love with.

"In most people's lives tragedy has been the rule, not the exception."

Remembrance is a funny thing. The child is the mother of the woman/ father of the man, after all. I look back and remember a stream of halcyon days of industry and learning, naughtiness caught out, the penitent sinner straightened out, and am grateful that my parents sheltered me from the harsher realities of life because I never had a problem bigger than studying for that exam, or preparing for that swimming competition.

L.P. Hartley's fatherless protagonist, however, wasn't as lucky. And though he spent a summer in the estate of a rich classmate, his innocence wasn't as well preserved as mine.

The teacher/protector in me is saddened and infuriated by the callousness with which he was treated by those who were old enough to know better than to manipulate guilelessness. Since they didn't have telephones at the turn of the century, two lovers from different social classes asked a poor child to ferry love letters to and fro (hence the title, "The Go-Between."). I have nothing but pure admiration for the way Hartley structured his novel, which crescendoes to a climax memorable in its intensity and poetic brevity.

"I was no longer satisfied with the small change of experience, which had hitherto contented me. I wanted to deal in larger sums... I must act on a grander scale."

Despite the scandalous set up, Hartley was able to write something sensual yet not salacious, elevating what could have been a tawdry tale into a haunting meditation on meanings we create out of social contexts, and how a childhood trauma can close an open heart to future love.

I particularly appreciated the ending, set several decades after the tumultuous summer. It comes with a call to action for readers of this book. Live each day, yes, but be careful. For a life can be unmade or made within seconds, a heart destroyed by a letter.

What we do matters. Every day. 


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