The Children's Book by A.S. Byatt

For all the detail, ideas, and characters in Possession, it told a specific story with a beginning, middle, and end. The Children's Book, on the other hand, is a sprawling narrative with no plot to speak of. The novel follows several families from the 1890s to the end of World War I. The characters are artists, writers, bankers, socialists, and housekeepers, all of them struggling in one way or another with the cruelties of society and looking for personal fulfillment.

In fact, it's a rather remarkable of how the human condition doesn't change. The parallels to our current American society are striking; in reaction to industrialization the Arts and Crafts Movement called for a return to handcrafted, artistic objects, furniture, and clothing -- much like the recent explosive growth of both the internet and the global economy is countered by maker culture and the desire for authentic, artisanal products. The pollution and urban growth of the late 19th century resulted in a "back to nature" movement, a fetishization of the English countryside; compare this with the current interest in sustainable living and undoing the effects of man-made climate change.  Many of the adult characters live in a sort of perpetual adolescence, obsessed with parties and games and fairy tales, just as some people today delay responsibilities and use "adult" as a verb. Income inequality, the mistreatment of workers, the environment, women's rights -- these issues are just as relevant now as they were a hundred years ago.

But this book isn't just about ideas and philosophies; the political is personal for these characters. Olive Wellwood loves her children, but is perhaps too focused on writing wildly popular children's stories to really pay attention to them. Olive's daughter Dorothy wants only to become a doctor, to deal with the realities of bone, blood, and muscle rather than fiction and romance. Olive's husband Humphrey genuinely cares about the fate of the have-nots, but isn't quite willing to give up the privileges of his status as a wealthy, white businessman. Geraint, Imogen, and Pomona suffer greatly because of their brilliant, impractical, abusive father, and find different ways to escape. Working-class Phillip just wants the opportunity to exercise his talents and artistic vision; his capable, practical sister chafes against the restrictions placed on her because of her sex and status. Herbert Methley expounds on women's rights and sexual freedom while keeping an eye out for vulnerable girls he can exploit; his wife and his friends quietly clean up the resulting messes, aware of his flaws and hypocrisies but not willing to call him out on them.  Each of these characters and many, many more (so many!) are complex, thinking, feeling people who are not at all that different from the people you might encounter today. In particular, watching each of the children grow up and find their way (or not) in the world was utterly engaging.

The final section of the book deals with World War I, and in a way it serves as a corrective to some of the naivete and selfishness the characters exhibited. The senseless brutality of that war shocks some characters out of complacency, and brings out the best in others. The ending is just a moment when some of the survivors gather for a meal -- a fitting end to a novel that doesn't so much as tell a story as give us a picture of the untidiness of real life. I highly recommend it, for those who have the patience for it.