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3.42 AVERAGE
3.42 AVERAGE
Read with L'Immoraliste in mind. Gide is a master of anguish and heartbreak. In spite of this I preferred L'Immoraliste. Maybe because of the scandal. Still, I am in awe of Gide.
This took me longer to read than I thought it would when I decided to "quickly zoom through one of those 100-page classics I have on my TBR".
It's not awful, just a little dull and mopey at times. I can't see the great romance some other readers have found in these pages. It is mostly about how religious fervour can be a kind of mental illness that destroys a person from within. Despite being in love with Jerome from childhood, Alissa rejects his marriage proposal and gradually withers away out of some misplaced piety. She sees romantic love as a threat to her relationship with god, and so shuns it.
Pretty dark and interesting concept. A little flowery and woe-is-me in execution.
It's not awful, just a little dull and mopey at times. I can't see the great romance some other readers have found in these pages. It is mostly about how religious fervour can be a kind of mental illness that destroys a person from within. Despite being in love with Jerome from childhood, Alissa rejects his marriage proposal and gradually withers away out of some misplaced piety. She sees romantic love as a threat to her relationship with god, and so shuns it.
Pretty dark and interesting concept. A little flowery and woe-is-me in execution.
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
A couple of people who make themselves miserable for pretty much no reason. Which was relatable, actually. But I’m probably being too simplistic: it was more about longing and happiness. Alissa remains in longing and dies unfulfilled, Juliette achieves her longing and grows up to be, as the book has it, fat and annoying. Happiness does not exist. Longing is the closest you will get to it, when you have the illusion that there is something close before you that will make you happy. Or, if happiness does exist, there are only brief chances for it. You should grab them as soon as you can. (Though that will make you a bad person, like Alissa’s mom) Alissa and Jerome have some idea of the futility happiness, though they explain it to themselves in religious terms, rather than the ones I used.
Started this while waiting for a flight, finished it very jet lagged.
Started this while waiting for a flight, finished it very jet lagged.
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The characters were super annoying and it was not clear if intentional
dark
emotional
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Curious romance(ish) novella from Gide, with a sparkling translation from Dorothy Bussy. There's tinges of Nabokov's Ada here, but altogether the narrative veers from sweet to frustrating.
I think this book has to be looked at in terms of interpersonal dynamics - tension - in the vein of Barthes' A Lovers Discourse in order to get the most out of it. Mostly it just feels very strange from the whole cousin-shagging angle, which may have seemed more acceptable back in the day, but it didn't help me feel at all comfortable.
I think this book has to be looked at in terms of interpersonal dynamics - tension - in the vein of Barthes' A Lovers Discourse in order to get the most out of it. Mostly it just feels very strange from the whole cousin-shagging angle, which may have seemed more acceptable back in the day, but it didn't help me feel at all comfortable.
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes