What do You think about Matters Of Honor (2007)?
Louis Begley writes, sometimes –many times—about the same things: upper class Americans in moral situations. He does so again in Matters of Honor. Here we follow five people from Harvard (and Radcliffe) from the late forties to some kind of end for three of them. Along the way he writes probably the most interesting novel ever created about property law. Throw in some holocaust material, some coming of age sex in the ‘fifties, and a scintillating international scene and you have quite a book. In fact you have both too much and not enough. Begley sometimes gets bogged down in plot lines that seem endless. And then, the conclusion, if not quite a “I have a letter,” is not much better. We have invested too much attention to be thrust away with a “I found him and he was happy.”What I liked most about the book is the almost invisible narrator. He is a participant, but we know almost nothing of him. In fact, he knows little of himself except he is an orphan and has turned into a fine writer. I hope these are both positives, but I am not sure. I have read all of Begley, and he continues the J.P. Marquand tradition quite admirably.
—William Koon
This book follows three young men who are college roommates at Harvard during the early 1950s. One is from an old New England family, but has conflict with his parents. Another is a Jewish refugee from Poland, trying to fit in to a largely gentile society at Harvard. The third is from a military family, and has traveled around throughout his life.The characters were interesting and well-written, and the book provided interesting insight into the world of upper-class New England in the 1950s. It also gave me a sense of how much things have changed over the years.My only complaint was that I felt the second half of the story, which followed the three characters after they left Harvard, was somewhat rushed; trying to cover too much material in too few pages.
—Diane
