Scan barcode
lizawall's review against another edition
Cynthia Ozick is basically great, but I thought this was too boring to even finish! There go all my dreams of writing contemporary adaptations of Henry James novels. It made me realize it would be more fun to imitate the style than the plot!
annemariep68's review against another edition
2.0
I didn’t enjoy the characters and felt the different perspectives left me wanting to know more about at least one character. Nit sure I’d recommend.
ridgewaygirl's review against another edition
4.0
I've never read anything by Cynthia Ozick beyond a short story or two, so I thought to remedy this with this book. Set during the 1952, Foreign Bodies is the story of Bea, whose life has been on hold since her husband left her years earlier. She goes on a trip to Europe and her brother orders her to find his son and to bring him home. She fails, but is now enmeshed in the life of her brother's family. Her brother is a blow-hard who has estranged every member of his family and it's not hard to see why, but those family members aren't very nice themselves and it's hard to see why Bea is willing to involve herself in all that drama. Bea, through all the family drama, wakes up and begins to take an active role in the lives of those around her, finding that while it's difficult to change one's own life, it's relatively easy to have an impact in the lives of others.
Oddly, while I liked none of the characters and disliked several of them, and wasn't gripped by the plot, I could not stop reading this book. It's written in an old-fashioned style, which suits it's post-war setting and has a fearsome momentum that left me turning pages, uncertain of what lay around the bend.
Oddly, while I liked none of the characters and disliked several of them, and wasn't gripped by the plot, I could not stop reading this book. It's written in an old-fashioned style, which suits it's post-war setting and has a fearsome momentum that left me turning pages, uncertain of what lay around the bend.
dllh's review against another edition
I didn't love it, but then I don't love James and haven't read his The Ambassadors, of which this is apparently sort of a retelling. I think I'm just not the right reader for this book. It's my least favorite of the several Ozick books I've read.
cami19's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
eleong's review
2.0
I've never read Ozick before although I know her name. Brief, spare novel about a family whose existence is fragile.
lola425's review
3.0
I have a love/hate relationship with Henry James, but I still wish i had read The Ambassadors before I embarked on this book. You can't help but enjoy this book if you are a fan of true literary fiction, and it absolutely could stand alone, but I would have had a richer experience if James' original had been fresh in my mind.
emma_naomi's review
1.0
Listening to the audio version...& now given up half way through. Just not my thing :(
jeanettesonya's review against another edition
3.0
I think I maybe just didn’t get this book. Or maybe I wasn’t in the right head space to read it. It felt like it got loftier and loftier and more work to read as I reached the end. I enjoyed a lot of parts, all the family drama, interactions between people who are so very different from each other and really have no business being in the same family. And then it just kind of fell apart at the end and I don’t feel like analyzing why.