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chillcox15's review
4.0
I read Deborah Levy's twisty-without-being-too-much-about-the-plotting The Man Who Saw Everything aloud, the entire book. I think that fundamentally changed my processing of the novel, which involves so much filtration between different levels of consciousness. In reading it aloud, it felt literalized in a way that it may not have if the words were just splayed across my own brain. So much of what Levy is doing is nonchalant, perhaps even subtle, in constructing a narrative strategy reliant on the most unreliable of narrators. In the end, it felt hard to be grounded anywhere in the book, by design, but that meant that some of the most heartfelt, bruising stuff came out of the blue-- for example, a character obviously central to Saul Adler's life, but outside of the scope of his traumatic memories, barely plays a role in the novel's exploration of those memories, and theres barely anything in the novel to indicate how important he is, until it completely suplexes you with that emotional heft. Great work from Levy.
paulsnelling's review against another edition
3.0
Two episodes 28 years apart, the second part explaining, surreally, aspects of the first. Saul Adler's live and loves, and an uncertain end.
terroreesa's review
3.0
i'm really glad i had no idea what this book was about going into it. it takes a turn about halfway through that i did not see coming at all, and the narrator was deeply unlikeable.
that being said, i enjoyed the narrator's sexual fluidity and general ambiguity of the timeline. i'm still not entirely sure that i understand what really happened, and i am fine with that. it was a great read.
that being said, i enjoyed the narrator's sexual fluidity and general ambiguity of the timeline. i'm still not entirely sure that i understand what really happened, and i am fine with that. it was a great read.
derekmoodyrutledge's review
4.0
I was too confused for about 50 pages in the second half to go a full 5 stars. But the writing was always exquisite and once I found my way through the second half of the book it was just as enjoyable. A writer whose back catalogue I will definitely be exploring more. Glad I have discovered a Deborah Levy and glad to have read this wonderful novel.
sarapropad's review
mysterious
medium-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
3.75
elon's review against another edition
I'm not going to rate this book. Not yet, because it's a book that's incredibly hard to rate fairly upon just one read. Upon my first read, I can see specres of its greatness; but I cannot yet fully grasp its complexity. Hopefully, I will later on.
essjay1's review against another edition
4.0
“It was true that I had no idea how to endure being alive and everything that comes with it”.
Levy writes in such a unique style, shifting her main character Saul between time frames seamlessly yet he is a thoughtless friend, careless with their love and their safety. Throughout this short novel Levy shows us how everything we see is framed by our own expectations, assumptions, experience. How our actions always have consequences - some harmless, some with dreadful ramifications.
This a story about growing up and growing old. About perception. About memory. About love.
Levy writes in such a unique style, shifting her main character Saul between time frames seamlessly yet he is a thoughtless friend, careless with their love and their safety. Throughout this short novel Levy shows us how everything we see is framed by our own expectations, assumptions, experience. How our actions always have consequences - some harmless, some with dreadful ramifications.
This a story about growing up and growing old. About perception. About memory. About love.
sujuv's review
4.0
This is the fifth book by Deborah Levy that I've read - it's not such an accomplishment on my part, they're all really short - and she continues to surprise and amaze. She does so much in these short books. Her stories and characters are strange and yet relatable. There's something almost supernatural about them and yet there are also logical explanations. She manages to dig into people, finding the things that define them without oversimplifying. This one is ostensibly about a man who gets hit by a car on Abbey Road twice in his life but that's just the start and to give much more away would be a shame. I find her work moving and unnerving and I think that's hard to pull off.
johndiconsiglio's review
3.0
The title character of this often-perplexing, always-intriguing novel doesn’t actually see anything other than himself. He’s a young (or maybe old?) history scholar who’s side-swiped by a car while crossing the Beatles’ Abbey Road. The accident loops him through time. One moment he’s traveling to 1988 East Berlin, watched by Stasi spies as he falls in love with a translator & his sister; the next he’s in a London hospital bed in 2016, piecing together memory fragments. Is it saying something about the narcissism of history—how we only see events through lenses that touch us? Puzzling & provocative.