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4.15 AVERAGE
4.15 AVERAGE
With the opening Henry James quote, I immediately knew this used bookstore find was a keeper.
Structured as the collected diaries of Logan Mountstuart, "Any Human Heart" is the story of a life that spanned most of the twentieth century. Because of the format, the style changes as Logan ages, there are gaps in the story when he didn't feel like writing, he can be touchingly confessional one moment and aggressively self-justifying the next. While he can certainly seem terribly self-involved, lustful and selfish, I found myself liking him very much for his honesty and self-awareness. Sure, he only feels guilty about the stuff he does when he is aware of having dropped in someone's esteem, but when he takes a second to look back at some events, he realizes their importance as turning points into what will become a life lived to the fullest.
Watching Logan be shaped by his life is a fascinating process, and I loved the recovered diary format. It captures something very candid about Logan's character that another style would not have carried across as well. It helped me believe in him and sympathize with him tremendously: I wanted to hold his hands through the tough parts and slap him when he was being a complete jerk. It also makes for a messy narrative at times, with some plot lines going unresolved, but that's what life is like, and I really appreciated the realism. I found myself occasionally forgetting that I was reading fiction! People change, grow, are shaped by their experiences and I feel like Boyd captured this long, slow process beautifully; and Logan's voice made the narrative compulsively readable and entertaining. He is in turn kind, thoughtless, passionate, pathetic, sad, endearing and frustrating. As are we all when life decides to knock us around.
The time at which Boyd decided to place Logan's birth is very clever, because his adult life then covers most of a rather eventful century, and he ends up bearing witness to most of it's significant events and cultural changes as they are happening. His acquaintances with historical figures of all kinds, from fellow writers Woolfe and Hemingway, to the Duke of Winsdor and Picasso himself - are not just pretentious name-dropping: they are simply people he bumped into at one point or another in his life, worked with or wish he'd never met. He was never as famous or important as them, but he is no less remarkable in his relative anonymity.
I feel like this is such a good but quiet book; I found Logan's story moving and strangely comforting, even when it was heartbreaking. In a way, I think I envy all his (mis)adventures and wanderings. I remember my grandfather's stories about being in the Franciscan order, then playing semi-professional baseball, then becoming a teacher and a headmaster, and it always seemed to me that people of that generation (he was born in 1919, passed away in 1998) seem like they had lived 10 lives, as where I sometimes feel like I can barely keep this one from going straight off the rails. Of course, the book is saturated with Britishness, which I can't get enough of, but it also strongly carried this spirit that life should be lived as truly and as fully as we can because it is inevitably fleeting.
I watched the miniseries that aired on the BBC and I also enjoyed it very much, even if a few elements have been changed. A colleague who saw me reading during a break recommended four other books by Boyd, and after "Any Human Heart", I will definitely keep my eyes peeled for more!
Structured as the collected diaries of Logan Mountstuart, "Any Human Heart" is the story of a life that spanned most of the twentieth century. Because of the format, the style changes as Logan ages, there are gaps in the story when he didn't feel like writing, he can be touchingly confessional one moment and aggressively self-justifying the next. While he can certainly seem terribly self-involved, lustful and selfish, I found myself liking him very much for his honesty and self-awareness. Sure, he only feels guilty about the stuff he does when he is aware of having dropped in someone's esteem, but when he takes a second to look back at some events, he realizes their importance as turning points into what will become a life lived to the fullest.
Watching Logan be shaped by his life is a fascinating process, and I loved the recovered diary format. It captures something very candid about Logan's character that another style would not have carried across as well. It helped me believe in him and sympathize with him tremendously: I wanted to hold his hands through the tough parts and slap him when he was being a complete jerk. It also makes for a messy narrative at times, with some plot lines going unresolved, but that's what life is like, and I really appreciated the realism. I found myself occasionally forgetting that I was reading fiction! People change, grow, are shaped by their experiences and I feel like Boyd captured this long, slow process beautifully; and Logan's voice made the narrative compulsively readable and entertaining. He is in turn kind, thoughtless, passionate, pathetic, sad, endearing and frustrating. As are we all when life decides to knock us around.
The time at which Boyd decided to place Logan's birth is very clever, because his adult life then covers most of a rather eventful century, and he ends up bearing witness to most of it's significant events and cultural changes as they are happening. His acquaintances with historical figures of all kinds, from fellow writers Woolfe and Hemingway, to the Duke of Winsdor and Picasso himself - are not just pretentious name-dropping: they are simply people he bumped into at one point or another in his life, worked with or wish he'd never met. He was never as famous or important as them, but he is no less remarkable in his relative anonymity.
I feel like this is such a good but quiet book; I found Logan's story moving and strangely comforting, even when it was heartbreaking. In a way, I think I envy all his (mis)adventures and wanderings. I remember my grandfather's stories about being in the Franciscan order, then playing semi-professional baseball, then becoming a teacher and a headmaster, and it always seemed to me that people of that generation (he was born in 1919, passed away in 1998) seem like they had lived 10 lives, as where I sometimes feel like I can barely keep this one from going straight off the rails. Of course, the book is saturated with Britishness, which I can't get enough of, but it also strongly carried this spirit that life should be lived as truly and as fully as we can because it is inevitably fleeting.
I watched the miniseries that aired on the BBC and I also enjoyed it very much, even if a few elements have been changed. A colleague who saw me reading during a break recommended four other books by Boyd, and after "Any Human Heart", I will definitely keep my eyes peeled for more!
it was an interesting read. it dragged at times but for the most part it kept me interested and def wrenched my heart at times. worth the read.
DNF. Perusing the other reviews I see I’m clearly in the minority on this one, but I found everything about this book, from the writing style itself to the narrator’s misadventures and musings thereon incredibly dull. My interest in and patience for the navel gazing of the more privileged classes is nonexistent these days, it seems.
I managed to get maybe 200 pages in and didn’t bother to pick it up again before it was whisked off my ereader and back to the library.
I managed to get maybe 200 pages in and didn’t bother to pick it up again before it was whisked off my ereader and back to the library.
What an interesting premise for a book - journals from an entire life. Concept works nicely, including footnotes and explanations of missing journals. Very enjoyable read.
adventurous
emotional
reflective
relaxing
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Incredible and beautiful and maybe one of my very favorites. I have a feeling this one will stay with me
Told primarily in journal entries, this is the story of Logan Mountstuart, his education, his loves, his career as a reporter, editor and later experiences imprisoned (during the final years of WW2) and mistakenly getting involved with terrorists. The book sketches his entire life as an ex-pat in places in Africa, Spain, witnessing the Spanish civil war and the NY art scene. Throughout the novel. real people interact with him. He crosses paths with, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, Wallis Simpson, Hemingway, Picasso and a Who's Who slipstream of 20th Century history. Boyd is a versatile UK author who has lived in France and Africa himself. There are times when the observations and characters could use a drop of gin or a spot of tea to alleviate the dryness and dense detail. The book has a great story, and is kept moving by Boyd's fascinating characters, attention to detail and vivid descriptions. (RATING: 4.2-4.5/5.0 stars).
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated