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4.15 AVERAGE
4.15 AVERAGE
I started out really disliking this book. The main character is so arrogant and his actions are despicable. But then, as he ages, and experiences life, he mellows. In the end, I felt sympathy for him.
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I loved this book, couldn’t put it down and it stayed with me after I finished it.
emotional
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
**Review from March 2011, transferred from Shelfari**
Tough going in parts but ultimately rewarding. Logan Mountstuart's incredible life spans the entirety of the twentieth century. Logan's diaries are vividly, and at times excruciatingly, real. This is because Any Human Heart is not a story, but a life. It doesn't have intricate plotlines neatly tied up, goodies and baddies, a happy ending or a sad ending (or really an ending) it is just one man's journey from cradle to grave shaped solely, according to the protagonist, by good and bad luck.
Tough going in parts but ultimately rewarding. Logan Mountstuart's incredible life spans the entirety of the twentieth century. Logan's diaries are vividly, and at times excruciatingly, real. This is because Any Human Heart is not a story, but a life. It doesn't have intricate plotlines neatly tied up, goodies and baddies, a happy ending or a sad ending (or really an ending) it is just one man's journey from cradle to grave shaped solely, according to the protagonist, by good and bad luck.
I wasn’t sure I was enjoying this initially but at the end I was enthralled. It’s a work of art - a book that manages somehow to capture a whole life. The tone is always exactly right. The author captures the petty, self involved writings of a teenager, the grief of a widower, the long, drawn out melancholy of an older man. It’s somehow life affirming too. Honestly brilliant
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Not for me. I nearly gave up after 100 pages but persevered to the end. Struggled to read about such a shallow entitled and misogynistic man with few redeeming features. I’m not saying I didn’t enjoy it because I didn’t like the main character - Alan Hollinghurst writes about people like this and I love his writing - I just didn’t get the point of the book - probably my fault.
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I'm giving this four and a half stars. Any Human Heart is the fictional collection of journals of writer, Logan Mountstuart, from his birth in Uruguay, through his English school days, Oxford years, WWII adventures and his post war life until he dies in the 1990s. It is set in so many fascinating places, France, the Bahamas, Spain, Switzerland and Nigeria as well as London and New York. Logan is not always likeable, his life both ordinary and extraordinary, peopled with characters and events from real life, so that it is never boring. It was a wonderful experience, living Logan's life from childhood, all the way to the end, giving such a moving sense of the human experience; love, ego, identity, aging, dignity and longing.