Reviews - The French Lieutenant's Woman

453 reviews for:

The French Lieutenant's Woman

John Fowles

3.75 AVERAGE

mtudor520's review against another edition

4.5

challenging mysterious reflective slow-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

haydenmcasey13's review against another edition

1.0

tomorrow is my birthday and I made it my mission to finish this book before then so I did not have to spend any time on my birthday thinking about it.

that is what I thought about the book.

mar_melade's review against another edition

3.0

i feel like my rating is way too generous
the main character was SO annoying but the endings were ok
i would not recommend this book unless you're really into postmodernism and you have nothing else to do

hoobabi's review against another edition

5.0

If I had written a book, it would look a great deal like The French Lieutenant's Woman. I spend most of my literary and artistic endeavors reading and thinking about the Victorian psyche-but more importantly, I secretly suspect I am a Victorian caught, like an insect in amber, in the 21st century. Though I am sure, if I was a Victorian, I would be far more like Sarah than the more typical of the age: Ernestina.
In truth, I secretly suspect that Fowles is a better philosopher than he is a writer. Take away the postmodern reflections about the omniscience (or lack of it) of the author, or about the essential fictionalisation of all human life, and all you are left with is a relatively predictable romantic historical fiction. The French Lieutenant’s Woman however, is not about the content at all, but a reflection about the nature of freedom, the infinitely infinitesimal complexity of emotion, the shifting nature of sexuality-not to mention a pretty damn good analysis of the Victorian mind.
It uses a relatively mediocre story (compare the story alone to Hardy and you’ll see what I mean) and uses it as a launchpad to reflect about the truth of behind every human story; that it is just that, a story and that perhaps we cannot help fictionalising our lives and furthermore that it would be impossible not to fictionalise them, as we have no access to what we mean by ‘reality’. We often define reality as something other than ourselves that sustains itself without our presence (Was that the ghost of Berkeley I just saw?) but in truth, we probably could never see the universe as it is because of us being an intrinsic part of it-despite our smallness and perhaps, our insignificance. Perhaps only God can know reality, but it doesn't matter because we do something better, we experience it.
The experiential nature of life and therefore, of choice, was extremely important to understanding Charles’ character-no matter which ending you choose to believe as ‘real’, the uniqueness and authenticity of the choice that brought it about was what mattered. It wasn't just because Charles wanted to leave his own personal mark out of ego, that is, to be unique just for the sake of being unique, but also for the sake of truth. Charles had to escape the schizophrenia of Victorian society to fully realise his identity from shadowy follower to a full-bodied metaphysical actor.
Yet all this philosophy brings me to the novel’s single flaw, that despite Charles elicits not only sympathy but empathy, that despite Sarah’s character was one of the most riveting and detailed characters in fiction, in the end this is a novel to appeal to the mind and not to the heart. The French Lieutenant’s Woman is no Tess, but it’s a damn good reflection upon it and all Victorian fiction.

thetoughestdelf's review against another edition

4.0

I liked this more than I thought I would.... a Victorian novel written in 1969, with references to the current era. Unusual take on the genre.... enjoyable.