Review of Go Back at Once by Robert Aickman

Aickman excelled at the short story form.

I am not sure he needed to write novels. Yet he did write three. This is one which was released posthumously. It was enjoyable, if uneventful.
The narration has voice. Very droll humor throughout. So dry. Heavy on the dialogue as is usual with his work. In Aickman, one must often endure long boring sections to get to the strange and atmospheric parts. But all of the chapters here add subtle layers to the characters and various textures to the nuanced world he depicts.
Cressida’s mild conversation. The imposing Aunt. All charmingly depicted.
A vague fear of men pervades their lives. This male author was very good at getting convincing female characters on the page.
The main character’s fascination with the aspects of the world she hasn’t been exposed to propels her to engage with the other characters. Part-going, chatty people. The witticisms flow.
Not much happens for quite a while. Hundreds of pages.
Observations from the main girl character’s perspective are the highlights of the reading experience, following her pedestrian opinions and gossip. Full of admirably unique turns of phrase. Not rich with incident. The short episodes might be called unfaltering examination of human interaction. Many of the incidental chapters might’ve been edited out, though they add satirical flare, and occasional dramatic tension.
This is yet another novel about rich people doing privileged things.
That concept is challenged at the end. The girls are put through hardships for a few chapters, but it all ends satisfactorily. Without a care most days, traveling, hobknobbing with alacrity, these girls get along fine.
The delightful descriptions of quirky people, overall good company, with a few rude individuals entering the scene. That’s about the sum of it.

“Cressida loved all rain, from single diaphanous drops falling on the bare neck while the air was warm and luminous, to heavy downpour, demanding the stoutest protection. The demands of external nature, Cressida adored to meet halfway; however differently she might feel about the demands of daily living.”

This interiority is representative of the whole. This moment is prophetic considering what happens to them in the end.
Her obsession with what people are wearing and the obscure literary allusions might satisfy some readers who are in the know. She always wishes to have a read a lot. If one examines her statements one sees she has read just enough to get by, but she puts on airs, as if she has read more.

This is not the place to start reading this author. But one can do worse. It is almost a mock Victorian or early Gothic novel with a few notable atmospheric adjustments.
For Aickman fans looking for a different side to his masterly scribblings.