This book moved along quickly and developed the characters nicely, but I felt like I missed the boat on something. It just didn't sit quite right with me as I neared the end.

That said, I think this does read like a first book, which it was for Messud. I absolutely loved The Emperor's Children and her other books, so she's improved with time. Read those instead.

I like how Messud writes. I had read The Emperor´s Children and The Woman Upstairs but this novel was different. Maybe because it´s her debut novel. I had the sensation that neither the writer nor I knew where the story was going... she wanted to tell so many stories... but yet it was intriguing and involving. Absolutely enjoyable.

i don't know what it is with me and Claire Messud--her writing just rubs me the wrong way. I don't buy half of what she's selling and feel irritated all the way through to the end! This 'quiet' study of two very different sisters, their common past, etc, did nothing to pull me in and I felt no special interest in or sympathy for either of them.

Not sure why I kept going with this one, I didn't really like any of the characters, or the story much.

I wanted to like this book, and I do love the potential - I would love to read a set of short stories about several of the side characters, including Melody (the main characters' mom), Jenny (the Balinese friend), or even the gay couple at the prayer group. The sections about expats in Bali just did not seem believable to me. The man at the center of that plotline, Buddy, was utterly deplorable and it was never clear to me what Emmy, our protagonist in these sections, found appealing about him. I was distracted by this question throughout.

I do like the style of writing. This was the first book I've ready by Messud and maybe my opinion about this one will change if I read more of her work and better understand what she's going for.

Really disappointing book that I MADE myself finish. Not in anyway as good as her other books. Boo.

I read this book the first time in 2007 and read it again this year. Messud is one of my favorite authors, though I haven't liked everything of hers (The Burning Girl least of all). But this novel, for me, is perfection. A story that on its face wouldn't be likely to interest me—two sisters half a world apart—but the author makes it surprising and believable, with insights into ideas about one's own life.

What I marvel at most is how Messud is able to write such true characterizations of all types of people. You believe every single person, whether an Indian immigrant to Britain or a young Balinese woman, could be real.

I loved this book. Messund writing reminds me of Pym and Elizabeth Bowen. Messund writes of two middle age sisters both finding themselves at turning points in their lives. Virginia lives with her mother in England. After a break down she is forced into traveling with her mother to the Isle of Skye. Emmy has escaped Virginia and her mother by marrying William and moving to Australia. Emmy fleas to Bali once William has leaves her for her best friend Dora. Both women must confront their grownup selves and the disappointment they have encountered.

Claire Messud can be really good, or she can be hard to take. When the World Was Steady is some good Messud.

Two British sisters hit middle age, hard. One attempts to salve the wounds of her divorce by climbing a difficult mountain in Bali, and she's no athlete. The other, a spinster, worries that the young smarty-pants in her office is edging her out of a job.

Their mother is planning her death. She has taken one of her daughters on a vacation to a dreary Scottish island, the land of their ancestors. Unbeknownst to the daughter, she doesn't plan to return to London. All this after having survived breast cancer years ago. Her foam, um, replacements often get jostled out of place. She can't always tell when she's, um, uneven unless her daughter points it out. Which the mother does not like to hear.

Beautiful writing about Bali. The book is divided between Bali and London I found the London parts very boring but the lush exotic descriptions of Bali and Emma’s adventures there were a pleasant read.

This was an interesting book. I picked it up because I absolutely loved Claire Messud's "The Emperor's Children".
"When the World Was Steady" follows the lives of 2 adult sisters by alternating sections devoted to each sister. Both are completely different in the ways their lives have progressed, but both are faced with life-altering experiences and we are shown the strength of their characters by how they react and change with these experiences.
I will say that for this book and "The Emperor's Children", I continued to sit and think about the book as a whole long after I had finished reading it. So while not every page may have been great or enjoyable, a book that stays with you long after you have finished it is a book well written in my opinion.

She is terrific at detailed character development, but not what we come to expect with stereotypical character growth. But I think her point is that we don't really change major things about ourselves in punctuated bursts; many of us really hardly change at all throughout our lives.