How It All Began / Penelope Lively. London: Peguin Books. 2012. (247 p.)

This latest book by Penelope Lively was highly rated by the NY Times. It was my first Lively read and she was a Booker Prize winner in 1987 for Tiger Moon. Her latest novel centers around the lives of eight characters whose emotional, intellectual, and/or physical lives are intertwined in some fashion. This work is beautifully crafted. I do appreciate a story which is about the lives of people whose ages span middle years to elderly. However, for this reader the character development and story lines were a bit too restrained. How It All Began lacks a visceral quality that I find necessary to a good read. Having said this, I am still willing to go back to some of her earlier works. Read How It All Began yourself and see what you think.