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4.05 AVERAGE
4.05 AVERAGE
zacareads's review against another edition
emotional
funny
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
sunsoar25's review against another edition
1.0
The Book of Ebenezer Le Page by G.B. Edwards is a classic piece of fiction that I pretty quickly realized wasn't for me. I was bored out of my mind and the formatting of it didn't help me focus. I'm interested in the idea of this as a person's life story, but this was just a sprawling slog for me. I might have been able to withstand this a little more if I was able to listen to the audiobook. Being able to heard Ebenezer Le Page tell his story might have helped me get into it especially with his Guernsey English/ French.
hux's review against another edition
4.0
This was an exquisite piece of work. A proper good-old yarn.
It felt so real that about halfway through I googled G.B. Edwards to see if this was literally just his life. But no, he left Guernsey, lived in London, had a very different existence. Ebenezer feels too real to be fictional though; too cantankerous and funny and opinionated. Most novels are narrated by personality-lacking robots who gaze into the middle distance and say nothing remotely human. Yawn. This was sweeping and epic and full of life. A real life.
I so desperately wanted him to get together with Liza Quéripel but it just doesn't happen. Because that's just not how life works. I felt for him when his best friend Jim died in the First World war. When Tabitha lost her husband. When Raymond lost his faith. When the sisters Prissy and Hettie fell out and made up again and again. When Neville Falla vandalised his property. When he killed a Nazi. When he befriended another. And when he told us about the book he was writing.
This book was an absolute joy. And to learn it was yet another book which publishers rejected reminds me how incompetent most publishers are.
"The older I get and the more I learn, the more I know I don't know nothing, me."
It felt so real that about halfway through I googled G.B. Edwards to see if this was literally just his life. But no, he left Guernsey, lived in London, had a very different existence. Ebenezer feels too real to be fictional though; too cantankerous and funny and opinionated. Most novels are narrated by personality-lacking robots who gaze into the middle distance and say nothing remotely human. Yawn. This was sweeping and epic and full of life. A real life.
I so desperately wanted him to get together with Liza Quéripel but it just doesn't happen. Because that's just not how life works. I felt for him when his best friend Jim died in the First World war. When Tabitha lost her husband. When Raymond lost his faith. When the sisters Prissy and Hettie fell out and made up again and again. When Neville Falla vandalised his property. When he killed a Nazi. When he befriended another. And when he told us about the book he was writing.
This book was an absolute joy. And to learn it was yet another book which publishers rejected reminds me how incompetent most publishers are.
"The older I get and the more I learn, the more I know I don't know nothing, me."
dmelliott's review against another edition
4.0
Sorry to leave behind these people and this place. It is in no way chocolate-box sentimental about Guernsey. Ebenezer is flawed and humane, sometimes quick tempered, patient when it counts. One to reread.
danalot's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
clanhay's review against another edition
5.0
Wonderful book. A bit sad that I’m finished. I’ll miss Ebenezer.
embi's review against another edition
4.0
This is an excellent work. Ebenezer is incredibly real and very entertaining. And poor Raymond! I know he's fictional, but enough real people suffered for the same reason. I want to go back in time and rescue him.
For that matter, I want to go back to Guernsey and visit or revisit all the places that are mentioned in the book. Edwards makes the place so vivid.
There's one bit in the introduction which makes me laugh:
"The ubiquitous contempt for England and the English (and outsiders in general, even the sister Channel Island of Jersey) must similarly be taken in a metaphorical way"
Lmao, no. Not metaphorical in the least. Fowles is clearly not an islander himself, or he would know that
For that matter, I want to go back to Guernsey and visit or revisit all the places that are mentioned in the book. Edwards makes the place so vivid.
There's one bit in the introduction which makes me laugh:
"The ubiquitous contempt for England and the English (and outsiders in general, even the sister Channel Island of Jersey) must similarly be taken in a metaphorical way"
Lmao, no. Not metaphorical in the least. Fowles is clearly not an islander himself, or he would know that
marc129's review against another edition
2.0
The old Ebenezer Le Page looks back on his life, and shares his autobiographical story with us, in his own voice. This certainly has its charm. Especially the microcosm he lives in, on the island of Guernsey, close to the French-Norman coast but still English territory, comes into its own. And the Anglo-French 'patois' (which author Edwards explains in detail in an appendix) gives color to the story. The style is old-fashioned-classic, with a lot of cliché coming-of-age details in the beginning. Moreover, this book does require some stamina from the reader due to the endless list of relatives and acquaintances, of which Ebenezer tells the mutual relationships and feuds. The up and down fates, the missed opportunities and the hidden secrets of both narrator Ebenezer and many other friends and family members also pass by, a bit like in a naturalist novel. But Edwards gave his protagonist Ebenezer his own voice and enough character to rise above that, culminating in a form of benign resignation at the end of his life. With that this novel clearly belongs to the genre of the serene and stoic (auto)biographical stories, like Williams' [b:Stoner|166997|Stoner|John Williams|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1320600716l/166997._SY75_.jpg|1559207] and Seethaler's [b:A Whole Life|28598101|A Whole Life|Robert Seethaler|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1453145479l/28598101._SY75_.jpg|42007512]. So, indeed, it has its charm. But I have to be honest: I had expected just a bit more from this book. (rating 2.5 stars)