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3.37 AVERAGE
3.37 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
funny
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This is a fun comedy full of strange characters, that somehow manages to make a pretty dark, tragic ending seem amusing
Content Warnings
Moderate: Suicide
A sour lemon of a book. Beerbohm's satire of Edwardian Oxford hits its mark sometimes--it illustrates the tragic consequences of the delayed adolescence brought about by academic pursuits, especially when fueled by wealth. Otherwise it's just depressing. Beerbohm's stance is of someone too worldly-wise to have sympathy for any of his characters. All it does is render the entire novel unsympathetic.
funny
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
The tragedy of comphet. lol
debated over dnfing this but i had to. i would've really enjoyed this as a novella, it was far too long. i liked the plot, but jesus christ did this book drag.
"To calculate, catch, distribute, seemed in her but a single process, She was one of those who are born to make chaos cosmic."
Chapter 2, p 10
"They had availed thousands and innumerable thousands of daybreaks in the broad, these Emperors, counting the long slow hours till the night were over. It is in the night especially that their fallen greatness haunts them. Day brings some distraction. They are not incurious of the lives around them - these little lives that succeed over one another so quickly. To them, in their immemorial old age, youth in a constant wonder. And so is death, which to them comes not. Youth or death - which, they had often asked themselves, was the goodlier? But it was ill that these two things should be mated. It was ill-come, this day of days."
Chapter 14, p 125
Chapter 2, p 10
"They had availed thousands and innumerable thousands of daybreaks in the broad, these Emperors, counting the long slow hours till the night were over. It is in the night especially that their fallen greatness haunts them. Day brings some distraction. They are not incurious of the lives around them - these little lives that succeed over one another so quickly. To them, in their immemorial old age, youth in a constant wonder. And so is death, which to them comes not. Youth or death - which, they had often asked themselves, was the goodlier? But it was ill that these two things should be mated. It was ill-come, this day of days."
Chapter 14, p 125
Oh, my heck. Totally the funniest book about mass suicide ev-er! Zuleika Dobson was, like, such the Paris Hilton of her day -- except a bazillion times hotter.
But seriously, the novel is a slim, arch, stupendously written thing of horror and hilarity that also has one of the oddest narrators in all of literature and some totally bizarre narrative digressions. One of the best satires I've ever read.
But seriously, the novel is a slim, arch, stupendously written thing of horror and hilarity that also has one of the oddest narrators in all of literature and some totally bizarre narrative digressions. One of the best satires I've ever read.
Read again finally, and I feel basically the same. There are good parts here, some even laugh-out-loud funny parts, but I still feel like I’m missing something. I think this is one of those books where not being English is a problem. Oh well. Glad I read it again.
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Parts of this I really enjoyed, but I think I should read it again sometime...
———
Parts of this I really enjoyed, but I think I should read it again sometime...
Zuleika Dobson or, An Oxford Love Story killed me in the best way. A satirical and scathing undressing of Oxford society in the early twentieth century, Beerbohm's wit flashes through his characters and prose. Since I am currently studying at Oxford, I especially enjoyed the integration of the features of the city of Oxford with the narrative: "Oxford walls have a way of belittling us." I absolutely had to purchase this book after spotting it at Blackwell's because of its tantalizing preface and the fact that it is not printed in the US. In my opinion, Max Beerbohm's wit in Zuleika Dobson overshadows Oscar Wilde, which is a big statement coming from a Wilde lover! BIG FAN