84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff
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Book Reviews of 84, Charing Cross Road
Book Review: Friendship with Depth and Love
Summary: 5 Stars
In these days of e-books, and bland books constructed from franchised ideas and formulas, we are presented "84, Charing Cross Road," a story about a relationship begun because of a mutual love of old great books.
Frank Doel owns the English bookstore, and Helene Hanff mails him a request for a book. Correspondence and a relationship begins. Contently and confidently married, Doel responds as an older brother might, and the two grow to cherish each other despite the distance.
As they care for each other, and slowly, their local friends and family become aware, we see how love transcends the sea. Neither character has an agenda, and this left me feeling a little less cynical about the world around me.
Like Nick Bantock's "Griffin and Sabine," it carries a romantic mystery and intrigue. We read the correspondence and imagine.
Like so many of today's e-mail- and chatroom-only friendships, they learn to appreciate each other, though knowing only the other as they choose to describe themselves.
This isn't a story about books or bookstores, despite the honest representation of their demeanor and personality. Any booklover knows the search for a book, and the texture of a bookseller's knowledge and connection with his books.
This is a book about the depth, trust, and love of one unexpected relationship. Book lovers will enjoy the context, and good friends will smile knowingly.
The movie with Anthony Hopkins and Anne Bancroft is likewise worth viewing, carrying the letters into a emotional zone of charm and delight.
Book Review: Love to Read Someone Else's Mail
Summary: 5 Stars
Especially when the letters are interesting and well written. As noted, this is the story of the developing relationship between a bibliophile in New York and a book dealer in London. I picked up this book at a used bookstore, never having heard of it before, and was instantly hooked.
The best part of this book is that Helene Hanff -- who is also the writer of the letters -- includes letters from people other than the book dealer, who also have an appropriate place in the story. There are her friends who go to London and visit the bookstore; there is the book dealer's wife; and there is the old woman who lives near the book dealer, too. Over twenty years' time, you get a peek into the lives of these people and how they affected each other. The epilogue (one final letter giving permission for Helene Hanff to Frank Doel's letters) was an especially nice touch, as it gives the book closure and ties things together with a sad but sweet ribbon.
My final question is: how did she go about getting the mail she sent out? Was it returned to her, or did she mimeograph it? I noticed there are some letters missing -- alluded to in other letters but not in the book. But how did she get letters she sent to people who moved to Australia and were never heard from again, etc.? A little curiosity there, as I have never made a copy of a letter I'm sending out...
If you want a quick but memorable book, please give Ms. Hanff's a read.
Book Review: Heart-warming cult classic
Summary: 5 Stars
"84 Charing Cross Road" is a series of letters charting the twenty-year correspondence between a would-be playwright in NY and Frank Doel, a London antiquarian bookseller. From such a modest premise, Helene Hanff has created something with an almost unique charm which continues to endure as a successful book, play and film.
To me the great joy of Hanff is her style. She is wonderfully conversational, humorous and self-depreciating. She describes her life - learning ancient Greek or watching endless English films - with panache. However, in truth very little happens in these pages. Rather, it is the gently teasing nature of her relationship with Doel which shines out, the feistiness of the young American lady chaffing against the more reserved nature of the quiet, polite English gent, as they read their way through the 1940s, 50s and 60s.
On her death, the London Times said tartly, "Seldom has a writer sailed to literary fame in so slender a craft." It is true that 84 CXR is a very slim tome. Yet it is one that bears much re-reading, as it seems that somewhere between the lines there lie more than a few life-lessons for us all.
Pilgrims to the real-life 84 Charing Cross Road will be sad to find that it no longer exists as such. Look out for an "All Bar One" outlet however and a dull, bronze plaque commemorating the bookstore.
Book Review: A booklover's book
Summary: 5 Stars
84, Charing Cross Road is a delightful collection of letters chronicling the 20-plus years' correspondence between screenwriter Helene Hanff and Frank Doel, bookseller of Marks & Co. It begins with a request in which Helene inquires after a series of books she wants to buy, saying that Barnes & Nobles's sells "marked up, grimy schoolboy" copies of the books she wants (my, how things have changed!), and continues through a friendship between Hanff and Doel in which the two never meet. As their lives grow and change, Hanff and Doel's friendship remains the one constant.
It's a special friendship, and Hanff is sharp-tongued and witty, making her a delightful narrator. I have a feeling that not all of the letters are preserved here in their entirety, but they're reprinted word-for-word, including Hanff's idiosyncratic punctuation--no doubt due to the fact that she typewrote all of her letters, but nonetheless, the letters show Hanff's personality and her rather abrupt way of corresponding.
It's a short book (just about 100 pages), but it's a special book, nonetheless, about a shared love of books. 84, Charing Cross Road is a must-read for any bibliophile. It's too bad that a woman on the subway accidentally tipped soda into my bag and all over my copy of this wonderful book...
Book Review: A charming collection of correspondence
Summary: 5 Stars
A friend of mine--who is always recomending books to me, told me to pick something up by Hanff--this was all the store had. But really did it need anything else?
This is a wonderful ode to books and friendship. What more could I ask for?
This is a series of letters between Helene Hanff and a bookseller in london, Frank Doelle (sp?). Their letters span many years and there are the occasional other letters from some of his coworkers. Hanff as a customer is very specific in her needs, she does not want books that have been trimmed by editors or poorly translated.
Beyond her wonderful reactions to the books she is reading and recieving we get an interesting perspective on what has happened in England since WW2, its something that I was taught about in my history classes (here states side) But something that I think should be. I didn't know they were on rations for meat and eggs. And here in this book we have a group of real people who had to deal with this--and Hanff in her generosity find great joy in helping out her beloved booksellers by sending them tins of meat and dried eggs (didn't know those existed!)
Its a great book, and there is alot in it for its small size. definately for a book lover.