This novel appealed to those who attended the session. It vividly depicts life in Berlin during the first decades of the twentieth century while focussing on the fortunes of Lilly who, deprived of a conventional upbringing, survives by drawing on her own inner resources and intuition. While deprived of maternal security during her formative years spent at a Catholic orphanage, Lilly’s vulnerability becomes only too apparent when her adulation for Sister Augusta cannot be reciprocated by a young woman whose role and too idealistic view of religion prevents her from expressing affection. Misguided attitudes prevalent in society during that period are ridiculed where much needed funding for the necessities of life can only be provided by a local establishment figure if it is spent on flowers. An attempt to raise money through staging a play at the orphanage provides Lilly with an opportunity to display her natural ability to captivate her audience while acting in it. This talent comes to the fore in her adult life when her ability to convey a whole range of feelings through mere facial expression together with her alluring beauty make her ideal for the exciting new media of cinema.
It was generally agreed that the account of Lilly’s successful period as a film star was short in comparison to the leisurely and detailed narration of her childhood. Great suspense is created towards the close of the novel with an unexpected twist when a malicious trick is played on Lilly by a disgruntled Goebbels whose attempt to involve her film career in the Nazi party is thwarted. Just as she has faded from this film we find that following her own meteoric rise to fame she returns to obscurity.
The April meeting of the group will discuss The Legacy by Katherine Webb.
Tuesday 5 April 2011, 6.30-7.30pm
New Cross library
Read the Manor House Reading Group’s verdict on The Luminous Life of Lilly Aphrodite.
Have you read this book? Let us know your thoughts.
Filed under: Book review, Culture, Death, New Cross reading group | Tagged: Beatrice Colin |
Lewisham book blog 
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