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3.37 AVERAGE
3.37 AVERAGE
Zuleika is the most interesting character I have encountered in quite a while and although he novel is satirical of a way of life a century away from mine, I still found myself chuckling.
The book is everything everyone says it is, just a little less so for me. I don't recommend the audio version, because it was hard to follow the slightly dense prose. What was really remarkable is that I finished this book on a long commute, and switched to the next book I had downloaded, a non-fiction about quackery, and within the first couple of chapters, the author, Lydia Chang, quoted Beerbohm. The coincidence was stunning.
The stream of good writing does not make up for the fact that there is not much in this book. This is another one that is unravelling my faith in the Modern Library Top 100 books. Yes, it might be a good satire on Oxford life, but that is not that interesting for most. The absurdity of the book is only matched by its selection in the Modern Library list.
I don't usually read things so cynical as this, but it was too artful to put down! I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in a wittier, more intellectual P.G. Wodehouse experience. It is also #59 on the Modern Library 100 Best Novels of the 20th Century list.
dark
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I know that this book is supposed to be satirical but personally, I didn't see that or get it. It just felt too melodramatic and over the top that it just felt more like a fantasy than satirical fun.
I wasn't keen on A Picture of Dorian Gray either which was written by Beerbohm's good friend Oscar Wilde. I feel that I don't gel with the late 19th/early 20th century satirical writings by upper class men. If you like Oscar Wilde then do check this out.
I wasn't keen on A Picture of Dorian Gray either which was written by Beerbohm's good friend Oscar Wilde. I feel that I don't gel with the late 19th/early 20th century satirical writings by upper class men. If you like Oscar Wilde then do check this out.
Beerbohm was famous during his era for his witty, airy essays and short works of various types. I believe this was his only novel.
There were a number of novels about femme fatales* during that era, after Benson's Dodo, and Hope's (much more witty and readable) Dolly Dialogues--and at the serious end, Henry James' various lapidary, even microscopic looks at females who destroyed men's lives--but this one was meant to be satire. Zuleika, born poor, was an unhappy governess, ignorant and uninterested in academics, and pretty on top of it, so she seldom lasted long at any place. As soon as the house's young master took a look at her, she'd be sent packing . . . but not before one son taught her conjuring.
She soon was world famous for her conjuring act, and rich, but her heart was untouched. She comes to visit an old relative in Oxford, and instantly falls "in love" with a Duke just because he scorns her--as he falls in love with her because she scorns him. Then all of Oxford falls in love with her, and all the young men commit suicide for love.
This was apparently funny at the time. It was not funny to me--it was actually kind of painful, not the suicides of characters with all the depth of kleenex, but because of the Oxford depicted there. It really was the old world, the Oxford Evelyn Waugh, for example, badly wanted to belong to, if only he could have been born a few years earlier and much higher on the social scale then he was. It was Lord Peter Wimsy's Oxford. When you consider that this book came out in 1911, it's difficult not to imagine these swan-like young men sent off to the Somme, a few years later, had they not expired for love of a very, very boring girl with a pretty face.
Three stars for its being interesting as a cultural artifact, but as a story? Meh. A few funny lines, some wit, but most of it very, very dated.
*It could be that Beerbohm was making fun of Mary Sue characters way back in 1911, which idea would almost be enough for another star, but she was still boring to read about.
There were a number of novels about femme fatales* during that era, after Benson's Dodo, and Hope's (much more witty and readable) Dolly Dialogues--and at the serious end, Henry James' various lapidary, even microscopic looks at females who destroyed men's lives--but this one was meant to be satire. Zuleika, born poor, was an unhappy governess, ignorant and uninterested in academics, and pretty on top of it, so she seldom lasted long at any place. As soon as the house's young master took a look at her, she'd be sent packing . . . but not before one son taught her conjuring.
She soon was world famous for her conjuring act, and rich, but her heart was untouched. She comes to visit an old relative in Oxford, and instantly falls "in love" with a Duke just because he scorns her--as he falls in love with her because she scorns him. Then all of Oxford falls in love with her, and all the young men commit suicide for love.
This was apparently funny at the time. It was not funny to me--it was actually kind of painful, not the suicides of characters with all the depth of kleenex, but because of the Oxford depicted there. It really was the old world, the Oxford Evelyn Waugh, for example, badly wanted to belong to, if only he could have been born a few years earlier and much higher on the social scale then he was. It was Lord Peter Wimsy's Oxford. When you consider that this book came out in 1911, it's difficult not to imagine these swan-like young men sent off to the Somme, a few years later, had they not expired for love of a very, very boring girl with a pretty face.
Three stars for its being interesting as a cultural artifact, but as a story? Meh. A few funny lines, some wit, but most of it very, very dated.
*It could be that Beerbohm was making fun of Mary Sue characters way back in 1911, which idea would almost be enough for another star, but she was still boring to read about.
Цинично, но виртуозно и несмотря на фантастичность интонации часто правдиво. Напоминает то Гоголя, то Уэса Андерсона, то психоделический мюзикл, то фильм Алена Рене.
Все утонули. Это спойлер.
Все утонули. Это спойлер.
Like a glass of champagne as a novel. Light and sweet.
dark
funny
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Greek tragedy. Edwardian absurdity. Modern celebrity.