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3.43 AVERAGE
3.43 AVERAGE
I liked this book a lot... it just took me a long time to get through it.
challenging
dark
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
An interesting concept- what happens if you never age and continue living? A facinating book that spans 3 centuries and has quite a few historical elements/people thrown in for good measure. Really a great book!
This book tells about the extraordinary adventures of one Matthieu Zela, a French boy who escapes France in the year of 1758, having just witnessed the murder of his mother by his step-father. After he makes sure the authorities find out and his step-father is executed for his crime, Matthieu runs away with his step-brother and boards a boat going to Dover. He meets Dominique in Dover and she becomes his first and only real love.
He quickly reveals to the reader his strange affliction: It is the year 1999 and he has stopped ageing when he reached 50 years of age. Thus he has been living for more than 250 years. The book then goes into several parallel narratives of Matthieu's adventures in the various periods of his long life. These adventures take place in various venues ranging from Dover, London, Rome, New York and so on. In the meantime he meets historical figures such as the Rosenbergs, Joseph Mc Carthy, Charlie Chaplin etc.
The narrative gets a bit tiresome in time, when you realise that all these narratives do not really combine into a coherent theme. There are various, much better examples of this theme of longevity (or immortality) or in other cases multiple parallel narratives leading up to a coherent background story (Cloud Atlas comes to mind immediately).
One just finishes the book because you wonder how the story will end, but you do not get the warm, fuzzy feeling that you have just finished a book with immense intellectual value or an amazing value of the story.
He quickly reveals to the reader his strange affliction: It is the year 1999 and he has stopped ageing when he reached 50 years of age. Thus he has been living for more than 250 years. The book then goes into several parallel narratives of Matthieu's adventures in the various periods of his long life. These adventures take place in various venues ranging from Dover, London, Rome, New York and so on. In the meantime he meets historical figures such as the Rosenbergs, Joseph Mc Carthy, Charlie Chaplin etc.
The narrative gets a bit tiresome in time, when you realise that all these narratives do not really combine into a coherent theme. There are various, much better examples of this theme of longevity (or immortality) or in other cases multiple parallel narratives leading up to a coherent background story (Cloud Atlas comes to mind immediately).
One just finishes the book because you wonder how the story will end, but you do not get the warm, fuzzy feeling that you have just finished a book with immense intellectual value or an amazing value of the story.
An interesting read - I enjoyed the ties to historical events throughout his story.
The premise of this book is so interesting: a man who stops ageing and lives through some of the most interesting and turbulent times of the modern era. And the parts where Matthieu encountered famous historical figures or took part in important historical moments were the most interesting aspect of this book for me.
I feel like Boyne was interested most of all in the historical events and figures, and wanted to tell a story about someone who could be involved in all that history, but the other threads of the story, Matthieu's early life and his present-day life were far less interesting to me. I didn't really care about his feelings for Dominique, and I don't think her character was developed well enough to make the storyline involving her work properly.
The thread involving his brother and his descendants needed more development too. We were told that their short lives enabled Matthieu's longevity, but I wanted to know how. I also felt like there should have been more difficulty in the fact that Matthieu lived so long. All of his wives conveniently died or were divorced before his lack of ageing became an issue. I'm not sure why he wasn't more careful about concealing his lack of ageing. Perhaps the primitive technology accounts for it, but he was involved in such important history that photographs must have captured his likeness at some point. I think if you're going to have a character who doesn't age, they should be taking some kinds of precautions so that they're not found out. The fact that Matthieu didn't wasn't believable to me.
I liked the history Matthieu was involved in, but the other strands of the story weren't that interesting to me. Boyne must have done a lot of research for the historical aspects, which make those stand out, but I didn't enjoy this as much as I was hoping to.
I feel like Boyne was interested most of all in the historical events and figures, and wanted to tell a story about someone who could be involved in all that history, but the other threads of the story, Matthieu's early life and his present-day life were far less interesting to me. I didn't really care about his feelings for Dominique, and I don't think her character was developed well enough to make the storyline involving her work properly.
The thread involving his brother and his descendants needed more development too. We were told that their short lives enabled Matthieu's longevity, but I wanted to know how. I also felt like there should have been more difficulty in the fact that Matthieu lived so long. All of his wives conveniently died or were divorced before his lack of ageing became an issue. I'm not sure why he wasn't more careful about concealing his lack of ageing. Perhaps the primitive technology accounts for it, but he was involved in such important history that photographs must have captured his likeness at some point. I think if you're going to have a character who doesn't age, they should be taking some kinds of precautions so that they're not found out. The fact that Matthieu didn't wasn't believable to me.
I liked the history Matthieu was involved in, but the other strands of the story weren't that interesting to me. Boyne must have done a lot of research for the historical aspects, which make those stand out, but I didn't enjoy this as much as I was hoping to.
Het idee was wel leuk, maar de uitwerking was het gewoon net niet..
informative
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
adventurous
emotional
funny
informative
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This book is quite interesting, plus I like John Boyne's style. Even if the book is long, it's very pleasant to read.
One star removed because it could feel repetitive at times, but I think the way he constructed the narrative kept us engaged enough.
Do recommend this one!
One star removed because it could feel repetitive at times, but I think the way he constructed the narrative kept us engaged enough.
Do recommend this one!