Reviews

Château d'Argol by Julien Gracq

didofrederi's review against another edition

Borrowed!

ogrenoah's review

5.0

Julien Gracq does not mince his words, he uses them exactly as he means to and the result is astounding. I wish I could read French in the same way I wished I could read Russian while reading The Master and Margarita.

jake_'s review against another edition

mysterious slow-paced

5.0

khlochette's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Je pourrais crever pour avoir le talent de Julien Gracq ok?
+ sérieusement, c'est une histoire qui prend aux tripes dès les premières pages avec des descriptions à couper le souffle, une immersion totale dans ce fabuleux et merveilleux château d'Argol.
Une plongée dans un univers onirique mais qui cache une face plus sombre, plus mystérieuse et dont l'obscurité en révèle les dangers tout en jetant un éclairage nouveau sur la psychologie des personnages que l'on découvre pas à pas. Des bouleversements inattendus qui demandent alors au lecteur de se positionner, voire de se faire avocat du diable... C'est également une forêt envoûtante, ensorcelante, presque vivante qui complète alors ce quatuor. De nouveau, à l'instar du Rivage des Syrtes, c'est un univers à la fois réel et imaginaire qui se dessine : on évoque la Bretagne mais y sommes-nous vraiment ? La féerie du lieu (entendre son côté complètement hors du temps et qui dépasse toute espérance, tout en faisant appel à un imaginaire collectif fort et ancré avec une architecture de d'autres temps qui renforce un ancrage dans le réel tout en laissant place à une certaine créativité de la part du lecteur) contraste légèrement avec son essence de songe.

Du Gracq on en lit une fois, on en veut pour la vie. Lisez ce génie de la plume, je vous en conjure ! Vous pouvez lire une page 1 000 fois que vous auriez 1 000 détails à (re)découvrir et savourer. Une lecture est insuffisante, ses ouvrages doivent être vécus du plus profond de l'âme. Les lectures seront multiples et chacune s'orienter vers une appréciation différente : l'histoire, le lyrisme, les descriptions, les personnages et leur psychologie, la construction du récit.. Tant d'élément à s'approprier.
Gracq se confirme comme mon auteur de chevet disons :) il n'y a plus de doute

briancrandall's review against another edition

4.0

They entered the sanctuary through a low door. A heavy, dense air, a fragrant and almost total obscurity filled this refuge of prayer, in the middle of which, hanging from the vaulted ceiling, shone a lamp in a red globe whose marvellously fragile flame was constantly flaring up, bent over and lifted as by the beating of invisible wings. There were large breaches in the roof through which glided pell-mell, as into a deep abyss (and without the soul that was pierced to its very depths like the sharp point of a spear, being able to distinguish the sound of the light the yellow and vibrant cry of the sun) the dazzling darts of the flaming breast of a bird. And the whole chapel, submerged in the green dusk diffused by its stained glass windows against which the leaves, indistinct through the dirt and thickness of the panes, floated with a movement more indolent and softer than seaweed, seemed to have descended into the gulfs of the forest as into some submarine grotto that pressed with all the force of its cool palms against these walls of glass and of stone, and to be held over these vertiginous depths only by the marvellous cable of the sun. [84–5]

Long lingered the hours of the profound night. And now a vague feeling they were powerless to resist invaded the souls of Heide and of Albert. It seemed to them that the planet, swept along by the heart of the night which it belaboured with the crests of all its trees, overturned and spun backward following the obstinate direction of the avenue, more unreal than the axis of the poles, more abundant than the sun's rays drawn in chalk on a blackboard. And as though lifted by a prodigious effort onto the roof of the smooth planet, onto the nocturnal ridge of the world, they felt, with a divine shudder of cold, the sun sinking under them to an immense depth, and the unballasted avenue as it climbed right through the thickness of the true night revealing to them, minute by minute, all its secret and untrodden paths. In the silence of the woods, hardly distinguishable from that of the stars, they lived through a night of the world in all its sidereal intimacy, and the revolution of the planet, its thrilling orb, seemed to govern the harmony of their most ordinary gestures. [116–7]

kingkong's review

3.0

This book is like one of those electronic albums without any lyrics where you can't tell if it's good or not

acantha's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

bookwomble's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0