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Moon Tiger

By: Penelope Lively
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
ISBN: 0140099956
ISBN-13: 9780140099959
Released: 04 Aug 1988
RRP: £7.99
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Customer Reviews

A superb read! - By: A reader, 01 Nov 2007
Moon Tiger has been one of my favourite books for twenty years. The quality of the writing & the universal themes of the book (life, death, love & the fact that no two persons see or experience the same events in the same way) has more than stood the test of time. In Claudia Hampton, Penelope Lively has created a heronine as interesting & moving as she is egotistical & irritating. As a historian Claudia realises that history is not linear, & as she reflects on her own life we see it through her eyes & through the eyes of those close to her - brother Gordon, lovers Tom & Jasper, daughter Lisa, & so on. But is their remembrance & history the same as Claudias? Even when it is shared history? It is not. The essential solitariness of the human condition comes strongly to the fore in this account of a many faceted life. Are we ever truly known? Even by those closest to us? And do we have a core that alll else revolves around, unbeknowst to the outside world? Perhaps, read, see & experience your own story.
The best book in the history of the world - By: Mrs. Davinia J. Mac Taggart, 31 May 2007
I read this book for A-Level & the memory has stayed with me forever. I hope when I am 76 I will be like Claudia but without the regrets. An incredibly powerful journey interweaved with so many different lives. I love this book & have yet to find another book with such a clever storyline. Penelope Lively is amazing.
UNFORGETTABLE. - By: Val De Beer, 03 Mar 2005
I taught this book for many years, because to me, it was one of the most perfect books which I had ever read.
The fact that the main character, Claudia, is dying is contributed simply because that is the only way that we can see Claudia still at last.

Her life, like the Moon Tiger- a mosquito coil which burns itself down to ashes, burns down till the end of the book, & duing that book, we meet alll the characters who have had an effect on Claudia. They are her brother Gordon whom she loves more than anyone except her lover Tom Southern, Gordon's wife, Sylvia (not Sheila, & certainly not a wife to Tom who has no wife), Jasper the father of Claudia's child, Lisa,and Lazlo, a surrogate son.

We examine the mercurial temperament which is Claudia & whether we love her or hate, (and sometimes we do both) we are fascianted by her.

This is a book which stays in your memory for ever.

Powerful, Moving and Beautifully Wrought - By: pris, 20 Jun 2004
"I'm writing a history of the world. The whole triumphant murderous unstoppable chute-from the mud to the stars, universal & particular, your story & mine", so says Claudia Hampton, in her 76th year, as she lies dying. We alll have books we can't put down, this is mine. This is the glorious book that I did not want to end, that I read in one sitting. I could not, absolutely could not put this book down. A ten star book if there ever was one!

Claudia is a character so rich, you feel her in your bones. You want to know her as your own. Claudia Hampton & her brother Gordon born of a comfortable family. Father died in his war, & mysteriously not much is known of him. Mother lived her life, she withdrew from the world. She lived for her roses, tapestry & unchangeable weather. Gordon & Claudia, sister & brother, wild, untamed as children, brilliant & wild & untamed as adults. They were self-involved & never needed an other person when they were together. The important people in Claudia's life are so well defined & characterized- they become the story.

Claudia became a write of books, history, & met her off & on lover, Jasper & father of her child, Lisa, when she was writing a book about Tito. Not one of Claudia's acquaintances or family approved of or liked Jasper, but that made him much more interesting, and, anyway, theirs was a sexual love-sex kept them together. And the fact that Claudia was beautiful & intelligent & such an asset. Men loved her & women approved of her. They never married, but they saw each other many times throughout their lives.

Tom Southern, the love of Claudia's life. She met him while she was a correspondent during the War in Egypt. Theirs was a love like no other. A sweet, short love, & one of the most memorable affairs.

Sheila, Tom's wife. A woman to be put up with. A stable wife who said not much & did little else, but she kept their life together. A woman who mattered not to Claudia- someone to be tolerated.

Lisa, the child of Claudia & Jasper. Like neither her mother nor father & treated as such- like a neither. Shunted off to be brought up by her grandmothers a child who so wanted to be loved by her mother, & was, but the love was not spoken.

Laszlo, the child of a Hungarian, who was left homeless & family less after the Hungarian uprising. Claudia took him in & treated him almost as a son.

These the important people in Claudia's life. This strong, independent woman who had such contentious relations with family & friends. Penelope Lively, won the Booker Prize for this novel. And well she should! What a powerful, moving & beautifully wrought book she has written. Claudia Hampton, a literary figure not to be forgotten. Well done, Penelope Lively !prisrob

Wonderful imagery and heartfelt emotions - By: , 23 Apr 2003
I read this book because it was a Booker Prize winner. I love this book because it's deep beyond words. I found it incredibly moving. The lyrical way Ms. Lively blends the past with the present is amazing. In the end you feel you've lived life right along side the main character, Claudia. She has become at once a relative you never knew you had. Her thoughts & fears take hold of you & despite your feelings about her choices in life, you care about her & are moved. The detailed historical references & incredible imagery are not to be missed.