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agnestyley's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Heartbreaking: an intoxicating depiction of an intensely passionate love affair that could never end well. Interesting backdrop of Nixon-Kennedy without it being the focus of the book. A tragic depiction of alcoholism and grief.
davereader's review against another edition
5.0
Evocative! If they make a movie of this book, and manage to convey the emotion of the last couple of chapters, it will blow "Casablanca" off the screen
deanjean_reads's review against another edition
4.0
Heart-breaking finale, with each and every step simultaneously luminous in its orchestration. I hate how this slowly undos you right up from Charlie's almost-suicidal breakdown, right up to the moments of Mary and Frank's last meeting, but if something can arouse such strong emotion in you, then that's a testament to the power of Faulks's writing....
bellebelly's review against another edition
3.0
This was the first Faulks book I've read, although I know we have the French trilogy. The writing was gorgeous, which is good, because it wasn't the greatest story ever. It's about a British diplomat's wife who has an affair while living with her husband in Washington DC. I did like the depictions of the emotions involved in infidelity. She loves her--(Non sequitor: Hey, there's no male word for mistress, is there? That's weird, there should be. Mister? Master? Neither of those are right. It's like how there's no satisfying female equivalent of 'guy'.) Anyway, she loves Frank, the guy she's having an affair with, but she never stops loving her husband, who is an alcoholic undergoing a nervous breakdown and professional difficulties. When she is with her family, she feels like standing by them is the most important thing, but when she's with Frank, she feels like she can leave them behind for him. We get some chapters from Frank's perspective--he knows and likes the husband, and the husband's perspective, as he goes from ignorance to suspicion to certainty about the affair. I just thought it was a fairly honest portrayal of all emotions involved in infidelity--absolutely nothing is black and white.
Set in 1960, this all unfolds against the backdrop of Nixon and Kennedy's presidential campaigns and the cold war.
Set in 1960, this all unfolds against the backdrop of Nixon and Kennedy's presidential campaigns and the cold war.
hayesstw's review against another edition
3.0
I didn't like this book. I really didn't like this book. But I couldn't stop reading it.
I read the first chapter, and thought "this is not my cup of tea". I read another chapter, and thought I can dtop reading it at any time. I don't have to plough my way through it. But I read another chapter anyway.
I don't like this book. I don't like the characters, or the clothes they wear. They are the wrong generation, my parents generation. But still I read. Why? It's 1960, the election campaign in which Kennedy was elected, the first American election I can really remember. I remember wishing that Kennedy would win, because Kennedy was a Roman Catholic and back then I was a High Church Anglican, and High Church Anglicans were second-class Catholics. Kennedy would bring morality and Christian values to American politics, world politics, or so I thought. The Cuban missile crisis put me right on that score. American hypocrisy, and the thought that Krushchev had saved the world from a nuclear holocaust.
1960 was also the year I first heard the name of Jack Kerouac, the year I read [b:The Dharma bums|412732|The Dharma Bums|Jack Kerouac|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1428986082s/412732.jpg|827497]. Jack Kerouac is the same generation as these people, but what a world of difference.
But still I read it, until I eventually reached the end. I think it is well written, but it recalled to me people of my parents' generation, with their business suits and ties and hats and women with hats and gloves and lipstick and high-heeled shoes and well-stocked drinks cabinets. When people visited you had, at the very least, to offer them a choice of brandy, whisky, beer and gin. People of that class did not offer skokiaan and Barberton.
And Faulks describes it all, in excuciating detail -- the clink of ice in glasses, the martinis, the clothes, and all the rest.
No, it is not my kind of book, and these are not my kind of people.
Faulks is even self-mocking, having characters rather disparagingly referring to novels about suburban adultery, like [b:Peyton Place|526869|Peyton Place|Grace Metalious|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348089469s/526869.jpg|37258], in the middle of his own novel about suburban adultery.
I didn't like this book, but I read it.
I read the first chapter, and thought "this is not my cup of tea". I read another chapter, and thought I can dtop reading it at any time. I don't have to plough my way through it. But I read another chapter anyway.
I don't like this book. I don't like the characters, or the clothes they wear. They are the wrong generation, my parents generation. But still I read. Why? It's 1960, the election campaign in which Kennedy was elected, the first American election I can really remember. I remember wishing that Kennedy would win, because Kennedy was a Roman Catholic and back then I was a High Church Anglican, and High Church Anglicans were second-class Catholics. Kennedy would bring morality and Christian values to American politics, world politics, or so I thought. The Cuban missile crisis put me right on that score. American hypocrisy, and the thought that Krushchev had saved the world from a nuclear holocaust.
1960 was also the year I first heard the name of Jack Kerouac, the year I read [b:The Dharma bums|412732|The Dharma Bums|Jack Kerouac|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1428986082s/412732.jpg|827497]. Jack Kerouac is the same generation as these people, but what a world of difference.
But still I read it, until I eventually reached the end. I think it is well written, but it recalled to me people of my parents' generation, with their business suits and ties and hats and women with hats and gloves and lipstick and high-heeled shoes and well-stocked drinks cabinets. When people visited you had, at the very least, to offer them a choice of brandy, whisky, beer and gin. People of that class did not offer skokiaan and Barberton.
And Faulks describes it all, in excuciating detail -- the clink of ice in glasses, the martinis, the clothes, and all the rest.
No, it is not my kind of book, and these are not my kind of people.
Faulks is even self-mocking, having characters rather disparagingly referring to novels about suburban adultery, like [b:Peyton Place|526869|Peyton Place|Grace Metalious|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348089469s/526869.jpg|37258], in the middle of his own novel about suburban adultery.
I didn't like this book, but I read it.
nothingbutthedreams's review
3.0
This is a book which I read mainly because my dad thought it might interest me, otherwise I probably never would have read it. The characters and plot are fairly predictable but what made it more interesting for me was the setting, which is around the Cold War and the election of Kennedy, which is a period I don't know much about. That gave it all a weird feeling of dread somehow but didn't have as much impact on the plot or characters as I expected. Overall it's a book which I'm not sure I'd read again and I occasionally struggled to work up any enthusiasm about but it wasn't a complete waste of time.
hevleary's review
1.0
I couldn't finish this. From the self-centered characters to the slow-paced plot, I found nothing about this book enjoyable. I loved [b:Birdsong|6259|Birdsong|Sebastian Faulks|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1165555939s/6259.jpg|1093016] and [b:Charlotte Grey|730804|Ageless Love The Conviction of Charlotte Grey, Summer Snow, to Dwell in the Land (Ageless Love Series , Vol 1)|Jeanne Cheyney|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1266628170s/730804.jpg|716998] but I really couldn't get through this