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3.54 AVERAGE
3.54 AVERAGE
emotional
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A 20th century f boy & a very very naive orphan. All characters unloveable but i finished it.
In retrospect, probably the best new-to-me book I read in 2011. Bowen is a brilliant stylist. E.g.:
"In pauses that could but occur in the talk, Portia could almost hear Mrs. Heccomb's ideas, like chairs before a party, being rolled about and rapidly rearranged."
and
"Only in a house where one has learnt to be lonely does one have this solicitude for things. One's relation to them, the daily seeing or touching, begins to become love, and to lay one open to pain. Looking back at a repetition of empty days, one sees that monuments have sprung up. Habit is not mere subjugation, it is a tender tie: when one remembers habit it seems to have been happiness."
"In pauses that could but occur in the talk, Portia could almost hear Mrs. Heccomb's ideas, like chairs before a party, being rolled about and rapidly rearranged."
and
"Only in a house where one has learnt to be lonely does one have this solicitude for things. One's relation to them, the daily seeing or touching, begins to become love, and to lay one open to pain. Looking back at a repetition of empty days, one sees that monuments have sprung up. Habit is not mere subjugation, it is a tender tie: when one remembers habit it seems to have been happiness."
минимум одна звезда, если не две — на каждое плечо за особые заслуги, из-за перевода завозовой. у неё английское начало двадцатого века начинает шелестеть вишневым садом и такой русской звенящей пошлостью богатых и пустых.
люблю гудридс за чужие рецензии. так вот, всем либо жалко отвратительных героев, либо жалко времени на отвратительных героев, а мне, во-первых, жалко себя (классика) — вдруг я такая же пустая, во-вторых, непонятно, на какой странице произошла смерть сердца и рождался ли вообще кто-то из этих героев с сердцем или акушерка забыла кнопочку нажать и они теперь все ходят как в несмешном салтыкове-щедрине.
п.с. страдаю всякий раз от это звездочной системы и всплывающих подсказок, прям какой-то кризис идентичности — а что я люблю, а понравилось ли мне по-настоящему, а не ставлю ли я слишком много, а то полиция гудридс приедет и накажет.
люблю гудридс за чужие рецензии. так вот, всем либо жалко отвратительных героев, либо жалко времени на отвратительных героев, а мне, во-первых, жалко себя (классика) — вдруг я такая же пустая, во-вторых, непонятно, на какой странице произошла смерть сердца и рождался ли вообще кто-то из этих героев с сердцем или акушерка забыла кнопочку нажать и они теперь все ходят как в несмешном салтыкове-щедрине.
п.с. страдаю всякий раз от это звездочной системы и всплывающих подсказок, прям какой-то кризис идентичности — а что я люблю, а понравилось ли мне по-настоящему, а не ставлю ли я слишком много, а то полиция гудридс приедет и накажет.
Perfect follow-up read after Virginia Woolf’s To the Lighthouse. Bowen’s characters are entertaining on their own, and for a while it seems like the characters and their micro-interactions are the focus of the story. But then in the last chapters the arc and plot comes into focus for the first time, throwing off all the expectations I had for what this novel would be. Love love loved this book!
Oof. A slow burn of a novel with slow, meandering baroque prose.
I stuck with the book because it was recommended by a great American author at a conference I attended. Though the plot on some level annoyed me, it was because Eddie's character resonated with someone from my life--so I guess Bowen struck a chord. Other than that, there are moments of character analysis that delve on "universal truths," and those were rich, thought-provoking, and memorable.
I liked sections of this a lot and found other sections boring. Overall, I would recommend it.
challenging
dark
reflective
tense
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
reflective
sad
slow-paced