84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff
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Book Reviews of 84, Charing Cross Road
Book Review: Writer To Writer "84 Charing Cross Road"
Summary: 5 Stars
I woke up early on Saturday January 13th. 2002, just in time to miss the first twenty minutes of 84 Charing Cross Road, on A&E T.V. in Calgary Alberta. I do not usually watch a movie at 5 A.M., but I just checked for the weather and then I flicked a few channels, and happened upon the movie " 84 Charing Cross Road". I am a writer, and the first scene that I saw was the one of Ann Bancroft at the typewriter writing a letter to Mark & Co., Booksellers. This kept me on the hook for the rest of the movie.
Usually, in the past, I have turned off movies that have the English look to them, but not this time. I thoroughly enjoyed the movie. I could not find record of another presentation on television, so, I surfed the Internet for the book. I paid my money and I am now waiting for the arrival of the hard copy.
I thought that the story was so down to earth that it brought the past into view for me. I saw people who cared for people in sincere fashion. I saw people who formed a relationship of love: Long Distance. People who never saw each other, loved as though they met on some focused romantic adventure. A physical connection existed as though it were a match made in heaven.
I liked the part where a friend of Helene Hanff's went to London to explore the Marks & Co., Booksellers store to give Helene a mind picture she could relate to. She saw Frank's office and all the neat things about the antiquated shop.
On another occasion, Helene's friend stopped in and left some nylons on a desk in MARKS & CO. They were for Frank's family. This left the people in the bookstore in a quandary. They could not figure out how this happened. This gesture was just another one of those expressions of love that this book is about.
Frank observed another visit by Helene's friend; he watched her as if thinking that if may be Helene herself. The anticipation seen in his demeanor was worth the thousand words a picture is supposed to represent. I thought that he was going to go over and introduce himself, and give her an English hug.
The bookstore family of MARKS & CO., Booksellers was unable to secure some of the luxuries of life in the fifties. I loved it when Helene and her friends in New York sent these items through a parcel by post system. There was so much true love portrayed in this movie, which I expect the book will revisit for me when it arrives by post.
Helene had a dream to one day cross over to England and visit the people she had such a great relationship with. She never got there as long as the book sore was still alive. Frank, her key connection in the whole story also died as did some of the others. She never met Frank. It was as if fate kept them apart. If she had met him, the story might have taken on a sordid twist.
There seemed to be such a relationship of love that had developed through their correspondence by letter, that if they had met, it might have destroyed the good marriage relationship that Frank had with his wife. Frank's wife realized that there was something of a love affair, which had developed because of simple requests for books by letter. The love of books both Frank and Helene shared was so strong that it bonded them together for life.
I was nearly moved to tears when news of Franks death was brought to Helene. She was as broken up as one is when they lose the closet thing on earth. It was as if she lost a piece of herself, when Frank died.
Circumstance had kept Helene from visiting earlier in the twenty year relationship, but she finally put everything aside and went to see Marks & Co., Booksellers, on 84 Charing Cross Road, London England for herself. It was empty now, but she saw Frank's office, and she smiled. This was another picture worth a thousand words.
Well, there is much more. You will have to get the book, and see: " The Rest of The Story".
Wonderful Story!
Book Review: Angieville: 84, CHARING CROSS ROAD
Summary: 5 Stars
I owe the discovery of this wonderful book to DH, before he was DH, in fact. He gave the movie to me for my birthday--the first birthday I had after we started dating. Along with the Old Friends Simon & Garfunkel box set and a kiss. At the time we were living in different cities and meeting up somewhere in the middle for our "dates." So I drove home that night and watched the movie all by myself. I cried. Twice. I laughed and laughed and laughed. And I went out and bought the book immediately. I was on my way to London for a study abroad program and so it was a going away gift of sorts. He's particularly good with gifts, as you can tell. It is without a doubt my very favorite memoir and the movie adaptation starring Anne Bancroft and Anthony Hopkins is pretty much my favorite movie of all time. Just another of those little things that my man brought to my life that I might never have found without him.
84, CHARING CROSS ROAD tells the true story of Helene Hanff and Frank Doell. Helene is a loudmouth, eccentric, struggling writer from New York. Frank is a quiet, reserved, always proper bookseller from London. In a fit of rage at being unable to find the vintage editions of classic books she loves in New York, Helene drafts a letter to Marks & Co.--an antiquarian bookshop located at 84, Charing Cross Rd. The first letter reads as follows:
"Gentlemen:
Your ad in the Saturday Review of Literature says that you specialize in out-of-print books. The phrase "antiquarian booksellers" scares me somewhat, as I equate "antique" with expensive. I am a poor writer with an antiquarian taste in books and all the things I want are impossible to get over here except in very expensive rare editions, or in Barnes and Noble's grimy, marked-up schoolboy copies.
I enclose a list of my most pressing problems. If you have clean secondhand copies of any of the books on the list, for no more than $5.00 each, will you consider this a purchase order and send them to me?
Very truly yours,
Helene Hanff
(Miss) Helene Hanff"
And that is how this exquisite little gem of bibliophilia begins. Frank Doell answers Miss Hanff's letter on behalf of Marks & Co., signing his letter FPD. Over the course of twenty years, these two book lovers exchange letters and, in the process, become fast friends. Though they never actually meet, their friendship spans years, nationalities, personalities, and an ocean.
It's hard for me to express how much I love this collection of letters. I'm always wanting to talk about it with other readers but know few outside my immediate family who've heard of it let alone read it. Which is sad as, when I think about books about books and book lovers, I have a difficult time coming up with a better, more moving and intensely personal story. It doesn't hurt that I'm extremely tactile when it comes to my love of books. I adore owning multiple editions, particularly old, used, loved copies picked up in used bookshops around the world. The day I walked into Hay-on-Wye I promptly broke out into a cold sweat at the sheer number of "antiquarian booksellers" within a one-mile radius. And in this book, Helene Hanff's love for the physical books themselves, the words within, and British literature especially just suffuses this reader with joy and a beautiful sense of camaraderie. I hope that, if you haven't picked 84, CHARING CROSS ROAD up yet, you will.
Book Review: Pepys, tongue, tins of dried eggs, and abiding friendship
Summary: 5 Stars
...The book is comprised of letters exchanged by a New York-based American television script writer and various personnel at a small London bookshop where she prefers to buy all her books. The bookseller tolerates her insistance on paying in US currency and stoically endures her teasing and scolding when they send her a book that doesn't quite come up to her expectations. What comes across in this twenty year exchange of letters is the ease with which making and keeping friends is possible--if one only makes the effort. In the years immediately following World War II, Hanff saw that rationed food stuffs were sent to the shop so that they could be shared among the staff. The letters of thanks sent to Hanff and the enthusiasm with which the booksellers greeted friends of the author who happened to visit the shop when taking their vacations in England shows that their affection for their American friend was sincere and deep.Don't read this collection with the expectation that you will get an in-depth view of the characters' lives. Read it as a way of discovering how simple it is for human beings to drop their defenses and treat one another with respect, civility, humor, and openness. Read it when your hope for humanity is at its lowest.
"84, Charing Cross Road" reminded me of Jan Struther's "Mrs. Miniver." I believe "Mrs. Miniver" was originally published as a series of newspaper articles. When collected into a book, it was rightly or wrongly perceived as a novel. Readers who see it as a novel usually have complaints about it's structure and seeming lack of plot (if this is what you desire, you can always rent the movie). Read as a collection of finely crafted observations of daily life in England during World War II, it's a moving tribute to the strength and durability of the human spirit. "Miniver" and "84, Charing Cross Road" make great back-to-back reads.
Book Review: One Fantastic Experience
Summary: 5 Stars
I happened upon this first in the movie version, which starred Ann Bancroft. It was sensitive, subtle, intelligent, romantic and witty -- qualities seldom found in movies today. Shortly after seeing the movie, I discovered it was available in book form. I'm intensely aware of the gap between movies and the books they try to emulate, so I was anxious to read the print version.WOW!
October 5, 1949. Helene Hanff is a writer who is determined to acquire a solid education in classical English literature so she writes a letter to a small bookshop (at 84 Charing Cross Road) to ask about some rather obscure works she'd like to read. She's seen their ad in the Saturday Review of Literature and is encouraged by the fact that they specialize in out-of-print books.
Thus begins, with one short, polite inquiry, a chain of events that changes Hanff's life and eventually (in 30 years) catapults her into fame.
It is Hanff's personality that carries the story. Writer-like, she infuses it onto paper as she comments on the books she receives and requests more. As WWII ravages England, Hanff sends food packages of rare treats to the penpals she develops at the bookstore. Employees write to her, she exchanges recipes with them and shares her observations as she reads.
The manager of the store, Frank Doel, slowly evolves into a romantic figure as Hanff cajoles, teases and chides him and he responds in a particularly British manner.
If you love books and people, abhor violence and gratuitous sex, and if you're content with subtleties in relationships combined with sensitive observations about life and literature, this is your book. It's normal, healthy, charming and funny -- a far cry from everyday movie and "literary" fare.
Book Review: Beautiful, with a heart-rending and tragic moral
Summary: 5 Stars
This is the story of an American writer (the author of the book) who strikes up a friendship by mail with a bookseller in England. The entire book is a series of unedited and un-commented-on letters exchanged between Hanff and the Marks & Co. booksellers at 84 Charing Cross Road. Her primary pen pal is a man named Frank Doel, with whom she shares a love of old books. [Perhaps this is the point where I should say that I flatly disagree, without reservation, with the previous reviewers who believe there was a potential romantic attachment between the two of them.]The correspondence runs from 1949 until 1969, during which time Helene and the people at 84 Charing Cross Road exchange Christmas gifts and news of their families, but never meet. At least in the early years of the correspondence, almost every year Ms. Hanff states her intention to come over to visit England, but something always comes up to prevent the trip.
In 1969, one of Hanff's letters to Frank Doel is answered by another member of the firm, informing her that Frank Doel has died.
This is a beautiful book, which can be read in 45 minutes. I suppose every reader will take his or her own lessons from the book, but here is mine: If there is something you really want to do in your life, then DO IT when the opportunity arises. Time is finite. If you keep saying, "Maybe next year," there will eventually come a time when there IS no next year. It is a painful tragedy that Helene Hanff never got to England to meet Frank Doer and the other people at Marks & Company, and that poignant sadness is what stayed with me after I had closed the book.