A Question of Upbringing is the first volume in Anthony Powell's massive 12-volume Dance to the Music of Time. The series as a whole has been on my "books to think about reading" list for a long time, but it seemed daunting to even begin. Amazon solved that problem for me by selling the volumes individually for the kindle and making the first a freebie.
So I dove in and was surprised at what the book wasn't, as much as by what it was. First off, it's not really a novel in the normal sense. There are four semi-connected sections, each of which takes up a few a days in the life of the narrator, Jenkins. Also, although the series covers a large span of time and a large cast of characters, it's not really panoramic; instead, each section could almost be an individual short story (it reminded me a little of Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man in this).
Powell's style is gorgeous; I think this is the best-written of all the kindle freebies so far. Different parts are funny or wistful or lyrical. You get the sense of a narrator looking back over a long time, sorting through his memories to find ones that present people at some moment that epitomizes them, or finding particular turning points that solidified his attitudes toward them. In each section, the characters jump out; even ones who are only introduced for a few pages feel vivid.
At this point, I guess I'm in for the long haul, looking forward to reading the next 11 volumes.
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