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saturnsmoons's review against another edition
3.5
weird as hell. french as hell. beginning had much better content going on than the end, i was quite disappointed. but i don’t regret reading it either! what an odd trip of a book!
casparb's review against another edition
4.0
Love Cocteau lots and the prose here absolutely slaps. The man cannot miss.
Something to do with the translation renders this, in Part One, into a fairly 50s-ish Englishness. The school of jolly-rather-wouldn't and so on. So the first section of the novel reads like if Nabokov wrote The Famous Five or something, which, having thought of, I want to read. In truth, there is an Ada ring to a lot of this.
My feeling is that JC's films are exquisite and catastrophic and probably perfect - or at least I find the Orpheus trilogy this way. This novel is brilliant and very interesting and worth reading but I wasn't ecstatic as I was for the films. love you jc
Something to do with the translation renders this, in Part One, into a fairly 50s-ish Englishness. The school of jolly-rather-wouldn't and so on. So the first section of the novel reads like if Nabokov wrote The Famous Five or something, which, having thought of, I want to read. In truth, there is an Ada ring to a lot of this.
My feeling is that JC's films are exquisite and catastrophic and probably perfect - or at least I find the Orpheus trilogy this way. This novel is brilliant and very interesting and worth reading but I wasn't ecstatic as I was for the films. love you jc
sophieb25's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
mockingthebird's review against another edition
4.0
3.5 Holy hell, reading this felt like a slow yet also speedy descent into madness.
readea's review against another edition
3.0
love is absurd. Elizabeth’s bond with her brother stemmed more from pain and dependency than genuine care. she wanted to posses him. is that love? no
larsbraeuer's review against another edition
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
paul_viaf's review against another edition
5.0
A true master! The language has the potent aroma of something seductive yet fatal. The translator did an amazing job! I truly envy the skills of both artists involved. Also the drawings add to this graand piece of literature that much more! I shall revisit this in the future