Casting Off (Cazalet Chronicle) Paperback – August 1, 1997

Casting Off is the last book in a volume of four series. I loved all these books and was sorry to see them end even though I could not put them down when reading...staying up to the wee hours of the morning to see what happened next. The war is over and the Cazalet family is expecting things to go on as before the war ...that does not happen as they have all changed and grown during the war and cannot go back to the way it was. Polly and Clary are sharing a flat in London wondering what happened to their youth. Clary is in love and becomes pregnant only to be devastated with the results...the patriarch has died..there is a divorce as was expected...Rupert returns home after four years and discovers there is tension with Zoe and delight with a new daughter, Juliet. Rachael continues to care take of any and all leaving herself empty of the love she could embrace..this is one of the best series I have read in years. I recommend this to anyone who likes a good read. I got my books from Amazon at a great price and you can also.

I liked the book in the sense that it is well written, like all Howard's work. However, I found the characters a bit frustrating at times. All those secrets that they kept from one another made their lives seem rather miserable. I began to feel that a bit of directness would not have gone astray - but maybe that's an Australian attitude. The girl cousins seemed to generally make a bit of a hash of their lives - a bit aimless, not much self-discipline, generally seeming to need a bit of a shake-up.So separating the characters from the writing, the book was very good. However, I found that the characters seemed to take forever to do anything or get anywhere and I felt like saying ''Just get a move on; stop dithering around". Despite these misgivings, I enjoyed finding out what had happened to the family, even if the outcome was a bit disappointing. Makes me think my life is pretty cheerful after reading all their woes.

This is the fourth in a series of five. I dont know how you could make heads or tails of it if you haven’t read the earlier books, but I have and I loved it.

By volume four I am thoroughly attached to the Cazalet family. They are a spectrum of human nature and one ends up caring what becomes of each and every one. I warmly recommend.

Just finished and now looking forward to the fifth in the series. Never before have I read so many of one author in so short a period! I so enjoy these books and it is such a joy knowing the next is available !Howard portrays a post war London as struggling with difficulties of housing and rationing .The celebrations of a coronation are a long way off and there seems very little for the population to be happy about..I did feel this book displayed this weariness and I shall be interested in finding how the Cazalets get on in the fifties.I wonder if Rachel's relationship with her father had been the reason for her difficulties.

This edition is in serious need of some solid proof reading. It is rife with typographical errors often making it difficult to understand the actual meaning of the sentence. These errors occur steadily throughout the book. Virtually every time the sentence uses the word "men", it appears as "Then". This is a really sloppy job.

My favorite of the four I have read. Probably because I finally know who everyone is and whom I enjoy the most and the least as in all families. Wonderful series about a wonderful family. God Bless dear Archie, is all I will say.

I bought the 5 books, by book 4 I had had more than enough flowery adjectives yet I read on. By. Book 5 my interest perked up to see how would it all get wrapped up. Sadly, way too convoluted and cutesy for me

The war is over, but this doesn't mean that the lives of the Cazalet family, who this series chronicles, gets any easier, and in some cases, life becomes much more complex than before. The war has shaped people's lives for so long, what will they do now that it is over?This is the fourth in the Cazalet Chronicles, and carries on where the third book left off. It is pretty useless to try and read these books out of sequence, although each book starts with a potted history of what went before and the characters relations to each other, but if you start here, you will be missing the joy of getting to know these characters the way the author intended, and you will not appreciate the greatness of these books. Start at the beginning, and learn to live the story. You won't regret it.

The GLORIOUS Canaletto Chronicles come to a close. I wanted MORE

I'd been meaning to buy this last book in a series for a long time and the death of the author brought it to mind. I would recommend the whole series.

I rated this book 5 stars, it totally fulfilled the various family members and how they came together. No real surprises however very well written.

Loved the whole series.