The Watch Tower ebook | Pages: 240 pages

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Original Title:	Watch Tower ISBN13 9781921921988
Edition Language:	English

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It was interesting reading this Aussie classic written in the 1960s and set at the start of WWII through to the 1940s. The lives and expectations of women were so different at that time so the novel must be read with that in mind.

Laura and Clare Vaizey are happy at their Sydney boarding school when their father dies suddenly and their lives change forever. Fifteen year old Laura had wanted to finish school and study medicine (or become an opera singer) but their cold, unfeeling mother pulls them out of school and sends Laura to secretarial college and Clare to the local school. Laura is also told she must clean and cook and take care of Clare while her mother languishes in bed reading magazines and occasionally going out to bridge. After secretarial school Laura is sent out to work to support the family and finds a job locally with a man called Felix Shaw. When the girls' mother absconds with a man to England just before the start of WWII, Laura and Clare are left to fend for themselves and Laura feels she has no option but to take up Felix's offer to marry her and keep Clare at school. But Felix is not the quiet, gentle, generous man he seems to be, especially when he has been drinking. He plays mind games with the girls and subjects Laura to psychological torture as well as verbal abuse and violence in the form of rages, destroying china and furniture. There are also hints of physical abuse, but mostly it seems to be his bitter and malicious mind that he likes to use to control others. Being 1966, when this was written, sex is never mentioned so we are not told if Felix's cruelty extended to the bedroom.

As Felix has no friends their lives are insular and lonely and revolves around working in Felix's various businesses and going for drives in Felix's car. Gradually over time Laura becomes worn down, and any spark she had of fun and vitality she once had is snuffed out. She spends all her time kowtowing to Felix and living in fear of his outbreaks. Clare fares somewhere better, eventually also attending secretarial school and breaking away to work outside Felix's business and making friends outside the home, but she also bends to Felix's will.

From our modern viewpoint it is difficult to see what these two women would subject themselves to the mental torture inflicted by this controlling man, but women had few options in those days and leaving home to live independently was not easy. It is not until a catalyst, in the form of a stranger coming into their lives, that events are set in motion that lead to Clare's escape.

This was not an enjoyable book to read as I did not like any of the characters however the writing is very sharp and clean and the tension is gradually built to a point where you can feel the girls holding their breath when they here Felix arrive home before they know what sort of mood he is in. It takes a lot of skill to depict a complex monster like Felix, occasionally kind and generous to strangers but with rage not far away. I felt very frustrated that neither Laura nor Clare were able to put up any resistance to the horrible man who controlled their lives and was appalled that he was able to get away with his behaviour. I was also shocked that neighbours, who would comment in the novel on the ruckus of loud voices and furniture being thrown next door, would just ignore it and not call the police not check that the women were okay. Although times have changed and women have more options today, unfortunately there are still women who do put up with men like Felix; those who drink and become violent, or subject women to physical or mental abuse, so it is a book that still resonates today.

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Title	:	The Watch Tower
Author	:	Elizabeth Harrower
Book Format	:	ebook
Book Edition	:	Deluxe Edition
Pages	:	Pages: 240 pages
Published	:	2012 by Text Publishing (first published 1966)
Categories	:	Fiction. Cultural. Australia. Classics. Novels

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Ratings: 3.58 From 884 Users | 135 Reviews

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Very unsettling read, with memorable characters and intense relationships made truer by their complexity. Starts off a little slowly, but soon comes into full life and colour. Has similarities with Shirley Hazzard's 'Transit of Venus', and is of the same high quality.

Painful and disturbing, and not just because Felix reminded me of someone I know. In no way fun to read, but very accurately told. Read it if you want to be grateful for how much easier it has gotten for women to extricate themselves from abusive marriages, and to understand why it's still so hard.

Overhyped. I was expecting this to be an almost traumatic read as I had hear how powerful it was and how mentally fatiguing it was to get through, because of the pure stress and tension created by the author. Personally, I didn't really get it. I was bored. It was hard to get through because nothing was happening. Nothing. This whole book could have been cut down to 50 pages and I don't think much would have been left out. Clare started off inspiring, moved to confusing and frustrating, then



I love a dark book. This one takes place in Sydney and is indeed dark. Having spent a year or so with Rob and Helen of The Archers, I am very familiar with the world of abusive, controlling husbands. This time we have the wife and her sister at his mercy. Psychological, claustrophobic novel. Sound good? It is!I heard about it from Stephen on the Slate Culture Gabfest (podcast) when they were in Melbourne and thus gave Australian themed endorsements.

excruciating but a must read

It was interesting reading this Aussie classic written in the 1960s and set at the start of WWII through to the 1940s. The lives and expectations of women were so different at that time so the novel must be read with that in mind.Laura and Clare Vaizey are happy at their Sydney boarding school when their father dies suddenly and their lives change forever. Fifteen year old Laura had wanted to finish school and study medicine (or become an opera singer) but their cold, unfeeling mother pulls them