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3.64 AVERAGE
3.64 AVERAGE
Like the movie adaptation and decided to read the book. The movie is beautiful and very moving, but the book is much better!
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I watched the movie after I heard about it in The Oscars. Well, actually I watched the movie, then watched The Oscars and then I read the book.
And Wow!
I loved the movie the first time I watched it. I fell in love with the awesome soundtracks! But the book? Oh My God!!!!
My heart hurts for Lili Elbe and people like her, the way they suffer and nobody understands them! It must be painful and lonely.
And Gerda! What an amazing woman! Strong!
It was such a beautiful book, touching. Talking about a thing so... melancholy and important and for lack of better word, beautiful.
I enjoyed every minute of it!
Gonna watch the movie again, even though I know I'm not gonna love it like before (because now I've read the book), but still... Eddie Redmayne is one amazing actor! ^^
Oh God! I... don't even know what I'm talking about anymore, still under the influence of the book and the feelings it evoked1
And Wow!
I loved the movie the first time I watched it. I fell in love with the awesome soundtracks! But the book? Oh My God!!!!
My heart hurts for Lili Elbe and people like her, the way they suffer and nobody understands them! It must be painful and lonely.
And Gerda! What an amazing woman! Strong!
It was such a beautiful book, touching. Talking about a thing so... melancholy and important and for lack of better word, beautiful.
I enjoyed every minute of it!
Gonna watch the movie again, even though I know I'm not gonna love it like before (because now I've read the book), but still... Eddie Redmayne is one amazing actor! ^^
Oh God! I... don't even know what I'm talking about anymore, still under the influence of the book and the feelings it evoked1
A fantastic novel that paints the deep hardship it is to transition (let alone during the 1920's). This was a great read, and am looking forward to the film starring Eddie Redmayne this November.
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I enjoyed this book, but it was quite slow in some parts and I felt myself falling into a reading slump. I can't wait to see the movie, though! Such an incredible, inspiring story.
Einer Wegener was the first man to undergo a sex change operation, and he did so in the early 1930s. For years before that, however, he was Lili Elbe, still living with his wife Greta, who was supportive of his transformation into a woman. Ebershoff's The Danish Girl is very loosely based on Einer and Greta's life and should not be taken as anything other than fiction. I must say, however, that Ebershoff has done a wonderful job making the story sincere; it feels real, honest. The story is intriguing, the characters unique, and the pacing perfect.
*actual rating 4.5, rounded to 5*
Beautifully written with intricate characters, The Danish Girl kept me interested the whole time. Even though it's one of those stories that last for years, it wasn't a slow book at all. It was really progressive and developed - that development being really natural.
The relationship between Lili and Greta is simply one of a kind. I love that. What marriage means to them is very personal, their love goes beyond the average couple. Their relationship is very difficult to describe, as it changes so extraordinarily, they change so extraordinarily - it is just so unique. So yes, I love the characters, I love the story and I understand their decisions.
That being said, at times the story seemed very imaginative...as in, I sometimes would think, can this really happen? You know, is this legit?! - kind of thing. It is 'very loosely' based on the actual artist Lili Elbe though, so it's fine I guess. Honestly, I just loved the story so much that I pretty much overlooked all that. But afterwards you might look back and question the realism a little.
I also don't understand how Lili could marry Greta when she supposedly always knew that she's a girl inside? I mean, does that mean she just realised this? They've been married for years, and she's lived more than 30 years of her life as a guy already, and I don't think she was purposely trying to hide her inner woman whilst knowing that she is a woman within. Because then how could she marry another woman? She was attracted to Greta, so does that make her bisexual?
The novel concludes with an open ending. I did feel like the story was meant to end there. As in, I didn't feel like 'omg what it just ended like that?!' but none the less, that vagueness made me think about all the questions I had.
The Danish Girl definitely is a novel that makes the reader think, transcending the conventional, even for modern times, let alone the novel being set in the 1900s.
Beautifully written with intricate characters, The Danish Girl kept me interested the whole time. Even though it's one of those stories that last for years, it wasn't a slow book at all. It was really progressive and developed - that development being really natural.
The relationship between Lili and Greta is simply one of a kind. I love that. What marriage means to them is very personal, their love goes beyond the average couple. Their relationship is very difficult to describe, as it changes so extraordinarily, they change so extraordinarily - it is just so unique. So yes, I love the characters, I love the story and I understand their decisions.
That being said, at times the story seemed very imaginative...as in, I sometimes would think, can this really happen? You know, is this legit?! - kind of thing. It is 'very loosely' based on the actual artist Lili Elbe though, so it's fine I guess. Honestly, I just loved the story so much that I pretty much overlooked all that. But afterwards you might look back and question the realism a little.
I also don't understand how Lili could marry Greta when she supposedly always knew that she's a girl inside? I mean, does that mean she just realised this? They've been married for years, and she's lived more than 30 years of her life as a guy already, and I don't think she was purposely trying to hide her inner woman whilst knowing that she is a woman within. Because then how could she marry another woman? She was attracted to Greta, so does that make her bisexual?
The novel concludes with an open ending. I did feel like the story was meant to end there. As in, I didn't feel like 'omg what it just ended like that?!' but none the less, that vagueness made me think about all the questions I had.
The Danish Girl definitely is a novel that makes the reader think, transcending the conventional, even for modern times, let alone the novel being set in the 1900s.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
What a good book.
I don't know what I was expecting when I picked it up at Shopper's the other day, but I was pleasantly surprised.
I did find it a slow start, and hard to get into, but by the time I was about 40% done, I was hooked and couldn't wait to read more more and more of it!
I don't know what I was expecting when I picked it up at Shopper's the other day, but I was pleasantly surprised.
I did find it a slow start, and hard to get into, but by the time I was about 40% done, I was hooked and couldn't wait to read more more and more of it!