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mfp's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
4.5
julia212's review against another edition
5.0
anita brookner. eine entdeckung für mich und gleich zum ziel gesetzt ihr gesamtes werk zu lesen. sprachstil und schönheit der worte in formulierung und präzision. einfach und doch so gehaltvoll. wunderbar atmosphärisch, melancholisch, traurig schön. zurück bleiben fragen, die einen nicht loslassen.
elliejack's review against another edition
dark
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
doctorgrape's review against another edition
funny
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
4.0
bookishnorth's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
wmhenrymorris's review against another edition
Shows all the promise of a debut, but is shaky in the way the POV and storylines shift in ways that don't quite pull together as a novel. Still very much worth reading (and more a 3.5 and a true 3).
aasheeaa's review against another edition
4.0
3.75 stars
It was enjoyable and well written, but the blurb was very misleading, it makes you think that the story will start at her being forty and embarking on a new start, yet the majority of the novel is about her growing up and her life in Paris, in her twenties.
Also the time period it is set in is also a little unclear
It was enjoyable and well written, but the blurb was very misleading, it makes you think that the story will start at her being forty and embarking on a new start, yet the majority of the novel is about her growing up and her life in Paris, in her twenties.
Also the time period it is set in is also a little unclear
fearandtrembling's review against another edition
3.0
This is Brookner's first book, and my first Brookner. I have to agree with another reviewer who says there is a disconnect between the book's earlier sections and the latter bits. This disconnect is interesting, in some ways, even if the effect on the whole is to make the novel feel disjointed and bumpy. It's the difference between young Ruth-with-plans; her ambitions or her hopes for herself when her life was still her own, vs. the Ruth of circumstance, who has learned that even when your life is in your own hands you may find yourself having to bend it to another's will, not merely out of external impositions, but also out of a sense of responsibility and love (in this case, for one's aging parents). The first two-thirds does have that crisp Pymsian irony, so deliciously wry and funny, while the latter part of the book enters a shadowy area and becomes vague. I found this latter 1/3 interesting because Brookner rushes through it; almost as if it might have been too much to dwell on in detail. So much has been made about Brookner's bleak, sad female protagonists coming to terms with diminished lives that I'm curious to see how this aspect - an aspect that seems to have been minimised or evaded, in a certain psychological sense, in this book - develops in her later works.
mrh29992's review against another edition
5.0
Anita Brookner is always a joy to read. Her writing is both gentle and yet sharp when she sees the need for it. This, her first novel, also introduces readers to that Brooknerian stallwart: the lonely woman. Dr. Ruth Weiss looks back on her and her parents lives, never wholly sentimental, and with a lot of wit.
Ruth, Helen and Sally all have this quality of being women who float. Floating through life, propelled only by the events that happen mainly to others, not themselves. - Brooknerian men on the other hand are generally selfish (though not necessarily malicioulsy so), and yet... there is a coolness, a certain chic to this extraordinary debut.
There are many references to Balzac and French literature, and a bare knowledge of that helps, but isn't required to fully appreciate this novel for the intriguing debut it is.
Ruth, Helen and Sally all have this quality of being women who float. Floating through life, propelled only by the events that happen mainly to others, not themselves. - Brooknerian men on the other hand are generally selfish (though not necessarily malicioulsy so), and yet... there is a coolness, a certain chic to this extraordinary debut.
There are many references to Balzac and French literature, and a bare knowledge of that helps, but isn't required to fully appreciate this novel for the intriguing debut it is.