The characters in this book were very well developed, but that's really the only positive thing I have to say. I had previously read Penelope Lively's book 'Consequences' and enjoyed it, so I decided to read some of her other books. This one sounded interesting, but I found it slow, boring, and not worth my time.

THis book will stay with me for awhile I'm sure. I loved it. As it unfolds much is learned by those in the photograph and the person who took it. It's a lesson in "why didn't I pay more attention at the time". I will be seeking out many more of Ms. Lively's books.

Ever wonder what the people you love do when you're not around? This book examines this issue using the vehicle of a photograph. The author uses the word "feckless" alot. British Author.

Extremely well written novel, and I was captivated throughout by the way the characters were all portrayed as interconnected. I can't say enough about Penelope Lively's writing - it is pure, intelligent literature, and at the same time entertaining and thought-provoking.

Terrific story. Well written. Characters were richly drawn and stayed with me for quite awhile after I finished the book. Highly recommended.

The photograph is in an envelope marked DON'T OPEN - DESTROY. But Kath's husband does not heed the warning. the mystery of the photograph, and of Kath's recent death, propels him on a journey of discovery in which he must peel back layers of their lives. the unfolding tale reveals a tight web of secrets - within marriages, between two sisters, and at the heart of an affair.

I was pleasantly surprised by this book. It was engaging and hard to put down.

Throughout the book, I kept wanting to tell the main character 'just stop it, would you'.

I felt like I was reading the author's character sketches for a book, not a finished novel. Lively gives us many points of view to her central story, which apparently took place fifteen years in the book's past. But each character is a one-dimensional type who doesn't do or reveal anything surprising. And, except for the dead woman, they are all tedious people, which is my charitable explanation for the annoying prose in which this book is written.

The story is that the main character, a dry, ageing academic named Glyn, discovers a photograph which reveals that his now-dead wife had an affair with another man before she died. It's clear from how the characters avoid discussing her death directly that she died either by murder or by suicide, and we can rule out murder because there's no intrigue about it. So Glyn goes on what the book describes as an "obsessive quest" (but really just feels like more academic research) to find out if his wife had other affairs, and in the process, he learns that he didn't know her very well and that she was unhappy. His quest doesn't change him as a person, just as none of the other characters learns anything from being dragged into Glyn's research project with him. Then the book ends with anticlimactic revelations about how the characters each experienced the dead wife's last day and *gasp* we find out that she did indeed commit suicide. Glyn decides that he "has to find a new way of living with Kath, or rather a new way of living with a new Kath." But as a reader, I was left with serious doubts about whether Glyn was going to find a new way of doing anything, ever.

Booker Prize-winning novelist Penelope Lively's latest masterpiece opens with a snapshot: Kath, before her death, at an unknown gathering, holding hands with a man who is not her husband. The photograph is in an envelope marked "DON'T OPEN-DESTROY." But Kath's husband does not heed the warning, embarking on a journey of discovery that reveals a tight web of secrets—within marriages, between sisters, and at the heart of an affair. Kath, with her mesmerizing looks and casual ways, moves like a ghost through the memories of everyone who knew her-and a portrait emerges of a woman whose life cannot be understood without plumbing the emotional depths of the people she touched.

Propelled by the author's signature mastery of narrative and psychology, The Photograph is Lively at her very best, the dazzling climax to all she has written before.

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I found this book so boring! The premise was so intriguing, but I found myself avoiding reading time because I couldn't face returning to this book. I can deal with self-absorbed characters, but only if the story is moving along.

this very original British book starts with a mystery of a snapshot with the warning not to open but to destroy. But of course that is just too delicious to think one would do that...not open it. it is a photo of a man's dead wife in a hand embrace with someone she should not be...thus starts the sjourney to find out what he did and did not know about his late wife. it is a good and fast read!

The wife died. Years later her husband finds a picture which leads him to find out much more about her.

A husband finds a photograph of his wife holding hands with another man. The author then deconstructs the story into layers explaining the where and why .Great book

Following Kath's death, her husband finds an envelope marked DON'T OPEN. In it is a photograph of her with her hands clasped with a man, not her husband. The mystery of her recent death and the photograph propels him into a journey of discovery in which he must peel back layers of their lives, revealing a tight web of secrets with everyone who knew her. Great Read!

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