Reviews

All Passion Spent by Vita Sackville-West

pjmoore's review

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challenging dark emotional reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

bekaf's review

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reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character

3.5

kgfugate8299's review against another edition

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hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

eimear_stockmann's review

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

4.0

scremes's review

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reflective fast-paced

4.0

This is perhaps the greatest novel on the subject of old age I’ve ever read. Love in the Time of Cholera also touches close to the heart of that phase of life, but in All Passion Spent Sackville-West delves into with the most delicate and successful of probes the rarely explored mind of one for whom life has become all rear-view and death is the only item awaiting in the agenda. Goregously wrought prose. 

coolbaud's review against another edition

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emotional funny informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

kategci's review against another edition

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4.0

I had never read, nor really heard of Vita Sackville-West and then at some point Thomas from The Readers and hogglestock.com mentioned her. I picked this from the Bas Bleu catalog which always ahas an interesting selection of books and this was the perfect book to carry me through this part of December. Lady Shane is 88 years old and a recent, relieved widow. Truth be told she is not a huge fan of her 6 children, their spouses, her grandchildren or her great grandchildren. She is happy to move out of her house and into a rental in Hampstead which is out of the way for her family. Act two for her involves the owner of the house, the handyman and her maid Genoux, conversing and caring for her. Another old gentleman comes to visit and she realizes she met him in India where her husband had been the Viceroy of India before he became the Prime Minister of England. A lovely story, Sackville-West makes her point clear about women subsuming their lives for their husbands.

la_cantina_dei_libri_0's review against another edition

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3.0

Quanta tristezza mi ha messo questo libro, ma la tristezza è dovuta da una riflessione. È fondamentale che una persona abbia il diritto di avere un proprio spazio per sé ed esprimersi come più ci si identifica.
Lady Slane ha passato una vita all'ombra del marito, senza mai deludere le aspettative di chi la circondava e non ha fatto altro che ubbidire, portando - letteralmente - allo spegnimento della sua passione più grande: quella di dipingere.
Alla morte del marito decide di vivere lontana dal resto della sua famiglia e crearsi un luogo tutto suo.
Il romanzo è come una lunga riflessione della protagonista e ripensamenti della vita passata.
Lady Slane ha fatto di tutto per costruire una sua immagine pubblica impeccabile, che va via via sgretolandosi alla morte del marito e si comprende il motivo per cui verso la fine sostiene il sogno di sua nipote. °
Lo stile di scrittura è abbastanza lineare e scorrevole. Nella prima parte il ritmo è un pò lento ma poi si velocizza. Mi ha suscitato un pò di tristezza è vero, ma anche la tristezza è un sentimento. E questo è uno di quei libri che ti fanno riflettere e ti spingono ad agire per il benessere proprio, per smetterla di sottomettersi al sistema e iniziare a splendere di luce propria.
Mai abbandonare le proprie passioni, mai far scemare nessun tipo di amore e mai rinunciare ad uno spazio tutto per noi stessi: è di vitale importanza per non "spegnersi".

lizwisniewski's review

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4.0

It was as charming and well written as I expected. Loved being in this book.

swifteagle's review

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reflective medium-paced

3.0