The Château by William Maxwell

You could argue that it is a successful choice if a book group picks a title that everyone loves and is pleased that they have been asked to read. I much prefer it, however, when there is disagreement, particularly of the sort that has greeted The Château. None of you disliked it and most of you found it to be elegantly written — the argument is over whether the Rhodeses, the American couple at the heart of the novel, are to be pitied, liked or despised.

Jean Marshall, in her posting on the Books group website, said that she felt sorry for the Rhodeses, who suffer at the hands of the château’s “negligent hostess”. But Eleanor Fitzsimons thought that the couple were self-centred and needy and she was critical of their attempt to find an idealised France that had probably never existed.

Perhaps we are too used to novelists telling us how we are supposed to feel about their leading characters. William Maxwell deliberately leaves the Rhodeses open to interpretation — and that is why this novel is so well suited to the books group phenomenon.

Star letter

A meditative book that brings the reader back to a vanished Europe — France just after the Second World War.

The central couple in the novel, Harold and Barbara Rhodes, are innocents abroad; sometimes the reader thinks that we have come a long way since then (we are all globalised now, right?) and sometimes the misunderstandings and perceived cultural slights seem just as apt today as they ever were.

Maxwell observes from what feels like an affectionate distance; the novel doesn’t give an impression of warmth, but of precise observation. The details in the book are beautiful and telling, and it is worth getting into it for the descriptions alone. I will continue to read William Maxwell's work. Felix Hareton Macclesfield

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