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3.86 AVERAGE
3.86 AVERAGE
For a young reader, it was difficult to get through, dull and repetitive for great lengths throughout.
Unfortunately the memory of the storyline as a whole is fantastic, and so I have no choice but to recommend it.
The type of book you fondly look back on, and can only fully appreciate when you have finished it.
Unfortunately the memory of the storyline as a whole is fantastic, and so I have no choice but to recommend it.
The type of book you fondly look back on, and can only fully appreciate when you have finished it.
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
challenging
dark
reflective
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I am probably a hopeless cause to not feel more impressed by this book. "It's a classic! I have to love it! I have to be possessed and haunted by the characters! It's a masterpiece!" But I was generous with a three star review. It was long, longer than it needed to be to paint the same picture. Very harpy on certain aspects that would have been fine to be said once or twice. The "interesting developments" were barely fleshed out and came far to late in the story to have much of an effect on my feelings toward the characters. I hated them all, truth be told. I tried very hard not to judge Sophie, given her tumultuous past and my sheer inability to comprehend her survival. But i hated Nathan, I hated Stingo, I hated the side characters who we learned barely anything about because we were too focused on the near nothingness of Sophie and Nathan. Maybe there was a subtle beauty that my crass and childish mind can't comprehend. Maybe I was supposed to feel the characters were doomed from the start. But I didn't feel wretched or moved by their fate and that strikes me as sad, that I couldn't muster any sadness or excitement or hope for them. Just blankness and sometimes an eye roll.
This was such a ride...
First of all, I had this book confused with Sophie's World, of which I had once read an excerpt and became consequently interested in. I guess all that I remembered from reading the excerpt was that the title had the word 'Sophie' in it. But I digress.
When I first got into this novel, I was struck by the prose. I was torn between marveling at Styron's brilliant use of language and becoming infuriated with how florid it was. I love lyricism and writing that read like poetry, but there are certain times when I felt like Styron wrote in this particular way just because he could. In any case, it made the main character, Stingo, sound kind of ostentatious and just a tiny bit snobbish. Maybe he's meant to sound this way?
I really don't understand the "three different tales" part of the summary here. I just see it as one giant story that goes back in time on several occasions to tell the backstory of one of the main characters. These several occasions, by the way, span several chapters, and they're about the eponymous Sophie, a Polish survivor of Auschwitz now living in the United States, described as being blonde and unbelievably beautiful. She certainly has an interesting history. My favorite thing about her is that she impressively speaks several languages (Polish, German, French, English, and Russian, I think), which is a goal I hope to obtain (if not speak, then at least read). About a-third to half of the book focuses on Sophie alone, starting from her teenage years before her capture to Auschwitz (for possessing meat, by the way ) to her life within the camp. Once we reach the latter part, it's deeply atmospheric, even when told in this removed way - with Stingo relating the information Sophie had told him to the audience. Sometimes we get the direct story from Sophie herself. I think it's amazing how much we don't know about a person beyond the surface - looking at Sophie, you'd never imagine that she'd once labored (well, she got off easy compared to the others) in a concentration camp, that she'd been malnourished and sick. Additionally, it might be surprising to learn that she had once been married, that she has two kids who came with her to Auschwitz, and that she tried to bribe an officer into letting one of her kids go free by claiming that she had always been sympathetic to their side and that just like her father, she hated the Jews - so much so that she helped produce and disseminate a pamphlet that denounced them. . And now she's here, in the U.S., working as an assistant to a chiropractor and renting a space in the Pink Palace with her partner.
To contrast her, we have her Jewish lover, the "brilliantly demonic" (such an apt description) Nathan. When we are first introduced to him, he was beating the shit out of Sophie. He's an interesting character, but a grade-A asshole who physically and mentally abuses Sophie up when he's in one of his "moods." This book actually enlightens on why some people in toxic relationships stay together. At one point, the narrative travels back to Sophie's first meeting with Nathan, which was during a time when she was still new to the U.S. and didn't know many people or any of its customs, and Nathan showed kindness to her after she experienced a rough interaction with a library clerk after trying to locate Emily Dickinson and failing due to her mis-remembering the name. The Nathan that is calm and relaxed is a total 180 from the temperamental one, who not only gets violent, but also lashes out on anyone and everyone and makes bold, false claims about someone else's moral character (i.e. accusing Sophie of being a whore and hooking up with her chiropractor). During this phase, he also can't let go of the fact that Sohpie went to Auschwitz and was eventually released, prompting him to wonder how and why she was,insinuating that she had whored herself. It's only later in the novel that we discover he's a paranoid schizophrenic, which explains his accusations; his frenzied state is sometimes triggered by his drug addiction. This makes it harder to hate his character; it's much easier to hate him if he were being an asshole just because he was an asshole. It's unbelievable how different he can be. It's quite tragic, too; the normal Nathan seemed like quite a guy - charming, intelligent, humorous when he wants to be, quick-witted. One of my family members suffered from a case of psychosis, and I cannot describe to you the overwhelming fear I felt at that time. It's horrifying, and it's something that I wish I'd never have to witness again. So when I got to the part where it's revealed he suffered from paranoid schizophrenia, it 1) confirmed my suspicion that he was mentally suffering from something and 2) made me re-evaluate Nathan as a person. If he didn't have it, how much different would he have been?
~
We have Stingo as a narrator. He's an aspiring author who has moved up north for some reason that eludes me (probably for a change of environment) and is struggling to complete his first novel. Shortly after his arrival at the Pink Palace, he is befriend by Nathan and Sophie. He has an infatuation with the latter. He's also super horny. I mean,the guy has tried to shed his virgin label several times . He isn't as particularly interesting as the other two, and most of the time, the novel is focused on the other two anyways. One interesting thing about him is his father, who discourages prejudice but kind of has a prejudice against the people in the north.
The "choice."I actually had a strong feeling that Sophie's choice involved her child, Jan, somehow, because nothing's as tantamount or as important to a woman as her children. Or at least there are not so many things for which they are willing to sacrifice anything. As it turns out, she sacrificed her second child for the well-being of this one - one was sent to death, the other to imprisonment inside the camp. I felt like this scene was supposed to answer a lot of questions and explain Sophie's character more, but I honestly thought it was somewhat underwhelming. The decision is heartbreaking, of course, but reading it, it didn't impact me the way it was supposed to, probably because the existence of a second child was just sprung onto me like that. It didn't feel dramatic, either. I don't know if everything was leading to this big reveal or not, but I think perhaps the title goes beyond that one scene and is applicable to every decision she's made, from trying to steal a radio to her trying to seduce Hoss to her settling in America to her staying with Nathan to her following through their suicide pact.
I'm not sure how it could've ended in any way other than the way that it did.I did not want to see Sophie with Nathan together. Yet if she had ended up going along with Stingo, she probably wouldn't be content. I didn't see any love between her and Stingo, just Stingo's infatuation and Sophie's temporary willingness to leave the past behind her and stick with someone who *might* treat her as she deserved. Her and Nathan's love was messed up, but it was passionate. When they both lay dead wrapped around each other, they kind of seemed at peace, with both of their demons dead as well - Sophie's past, his mental war.
This is one of few books I've read that really lets me inside the chaos. Perhaps it's thanks to the prose. More often than not, I come out of it exhausted, which isn't a bad thing - it's a testament to how much the story sucks you in and how detailed it is (somethings tangentially and unnecessary so).
First of all, I had this book confused with Sophie's World, of which I had once read an excerpt and became consequently interested in. I guess all that I remembered from reading the excerpt was that the title had the word 'Sophie' in it. But I digress.
When I first got into this novel, I was struck by the prose. I was torn between marveling at Styron's brilliant use of language and becoming infuriated with how florid it was. I love lyricism and writing that read like poetry, but there are certain times when I felt like Styron wrote in this particular way just because he could. In any case, it made the main character, Stingo, sound kind of ostentatious and just a tiny bit snobbish. Maybe he's meant to sound this way?
I really don't understand the "three different tales" part of the summary here. I just see it as one giant story that goes back in time on several occasions to tell the backstory of one of the main characters. These several occasions, by the way, span several chapters, and they're about the eponymous Sophie, a Polish survivor of Auschwitz now living in the United States, described as being blonde and unbelievably beautiful. She certainly has an interesting history. My favorite thing about her is that she impressively speaks several languages (Polish, German, French, English, and Russian, I think), which is a goal I hope to obtain (if not speak, then at least read). About a-third to half of the book focuses on Sophie alone, starting from her teenage years before her capture to Auschwitz (
To contrast her, we have her Jewish lover, the "brilliantly demonic" (such an apt description) Nathan. When we are first introduced to him, he was beating the shit out of Sophie. He's an interesting character, but a grade-A asshole who physically and mentally abuses Sophie up when he's in one of his "moods." This book actually enlightens on why some people in toxic relationships stay together. At one point, the narrative travels back to Sophie's first meeting with Nathan, which was during a time when she was still new to the U.S. and didn't know many people or any of its customs, and Nathan showed kindness to her after she experienced a rough interaction with a library clerk after trying to locate Emily Dickinson and failing due to her mis-remembering the name. The Nathan that is calm and relaxed is a total 180 from the temperamental one, who not only gets violent, but also lashes out on anyone and everyone and makes bold, false claims about someone else's moral character (i.e. accusing Sophie of being a whore and hooking up with her chiropractor). During this phase, he also can't let go of the fact that Sohpie went to Auschwitz and was eventually released, prompting him to wonder how and why she was,
~
We have Stingo as a narrator. He's an aspiring author who has moved up north for some reason that eludes me (probably for a change of environment) and is struggling to complete his first novel. Shortly after his arrival at the Pink Palace, he is befriend by Nathan and Sophie. He has an infatuation with the latter. He's also super horny. I mean,
The "choice."
I'm not sure how it could've ended in any way other than the way that it did.
This is one of few books I've read that really lets me inside the chaos. Perhaps it's thanks to the prose. More often than not, I come out of it exhausted, which isn't a bad thing - it's a testament to how much the story sucks you in and how detailed it is (somethings tangentially and unnecessary so).
So, I think Sophie's Choice (audio book) is DNF for now. I got through 2/3 before quitting. It's due back at the library tomorrow and as I have ten discs left to listen to, there's no way I'm going to finish it. It doesn't help that despite some great scenes here and there, I'm kinda bored by this one. I just don't love it enough to be willing to pay the late-fee fines. I may come back to it at some point (I haven't gotten to the choosing part of Sophie's Choice and I am curious about it), but then again maybe not.
Finally got around to finishing this one.
First of all I found this to be far too long. At least a few hundred pages too long. I'm uncertain if this is supposed to be some sort of coming-of-age story, I think it's not, but I don't know how else to categorise all the tedious, extra, neverending pages in this novel.
Second, I don't like Styron's style of writing. I hate to sound like a twat, but the use of all sorts of overly fancy, extravagant words and sentences like 'So much of the rest of what I wrote was made up of callous musings, pseudo-gnomic pretentiousness, silly excursions into philosophical seminars where I had no business horning in, that I decisively cut off any chance of their perpetuation, by consigning them, a few years ago, to a specacular backyard auto-da-fé.'
The narrator says several times during the course of the book that his earlier writings were pretentious and no good. However, that's exactly what I felt about the narrator's writings now. Pompous and pretentious.
I had problems liking any of the main characters, perhaps apart from, at times, Sophie. A woman who had endured and suffered through the things she had, could very well be in her right to make awful decisions for herself. In the beginning of the book she seems very naïve and silly to me. I couldn't understand why she stayed with that manipulative, cruel, and abusive twat Nathan.
Victims of abuse can have trouble escaping from their abuser, both mentally and physically, and that's how I understand Sophie's relationship with Nathan.
It took me 250 pages to really get into the story. If someone had asked me in the beginning what the book was about, I could only have answered, 'There's this bloke who moves into a house, meets this couple and hangs out with them'. I never felt the story moving forward. What kept me reading was really to find out Sophie's secret. That was it. What is it about Sophie? Styron gives us a hint here, a hint there, and Sophie tells Stingo the narrator a lot about her past in parts of the book. What remains then is for the most part Stingo walking around New York City looking for sex partners, talking about women in degrading and sometimes quite frankly misogynistic terms. This really put me off the story several times.
The way Stingo treat women throughout the novel is disgusting. After reading the final pages of the book it seemed to me as if Stingo's only goal is not to get to know Sophie or to try to understand her as a human being, but to sleep with her.
For instance, after Stingo's adventures with Mary Alice, who never in any way even hinted at the two of them sleeping together, he says this to her:
'You cock teasers have turned millions of brave young men, many of whom died for your precious asses on the battlefields of the world, into a generation of sexual basket cases!'
He goes to stay at his friend's house merely because he might get into her pants; that's his main goal for the trip.
Since falling in love with her at first glance, Stingo seems to only see Sophie as someone to fuck, which he fantasizes about several times during the novel. Stingo is through and through a wholly unlikable character, and his never-ending nagging about how he's not having sex at this very moment is awfully tedious and boring.
The only storyline that kept me reading was Sophie's - and when her secret is finally revealed it's over in a couple of sentences, and that's it. Again; I think the novel is far too long, at least 200 pages could easily have been cut and it would have made no difference to the main plot - actually, it would have made the book better. There's too much irrelevant information, too many re-caps or events we just read, too much filler; that's really how it feels like. It's not worth the trouble.
First of all I found this to be far too long. At least a few hundred pages too long. I'm uncertain if this is supposed to be some sort of coming-of-age story, I think it's not, but I don't know how else to categorise all the tedious, extra, neverending pages in this novel.
Second, I don't like Styron's style of writing. I hate to sound like a twat, but the use of all sorts of overly fancy, extravagant words and sentences like 'So much of the rest of what I wrote was made up of callous musings, pseudo-gnomic pretentiousness, silly excursions into philosophical seminars where I had no business horning in, that I decisively cut off any chance of their perpetuation, by consigning them, a few years ago, to a specacular backyard auto-da-fé.'
The narrator says several times during the course of the book that his earlier writings were pretentious and no good. However, that's exactly what I felt about the narrator's writings now. Pompous and pretentious.
I had problems liking any of the main characters, perhaps apart from, at times, Sophie. A woman who had endured and suffered through the things she had, could very well be in her right to make awful decisions for herself. In the beginning of the book she seems very naïve and silly to me. I couldn't understand why she stayed with that manipulative, cruel, and abusive twat Nathan.
Victims of abuse can have trouble escaping from their abuser, both mentally and physically, and that's how I understand Sophie's relationship with Nathan.
It took me 250 pages to really get into the story. If someone had asked me in the beginning what the book was about, I could only have answered, 'There's this bloke who moves into a house, meets this couple and hangs out with them'. I never felt the story moving forward. What kept me reading was really to find out Sophie's secret. That was it. What is it about Sophie? Styron gives us a hint here, a hint there, and Sophie tells Stingo the narrator a lot about her past in parts of the book. What remains then is for the most part Stingo walking around New York City looking for sex partners, talking about women in degrading and sometimes quite frankly misogynistic terms. This really put me off the story several times.
The way Stingo treat women throughout the novel is disgusting. After reading the final pages of the book it seemed to me as if Stingo's only goal is not to get to know Sophie or to try to understand her as a human being, but to sleep with her.
For instance, after Stingo's adventures with Mary Alice, who never in any way even hinted at the two of them sleeping together, he says this to her:
'You cock teasers have turned millions of brave young men, many of whom died for your precious asses on the battlefields of the world, into a generation of sexual basket cases!'
He goes to stay at his friend's house merely because he might get into her pants; that's his main goal for the trip.
Since falling in love with her at first glance, Stingo seems to only see Sophie as someone to fuck, which he fantasizes about several times during the novel. Stingo is through and through a wholly unlikable character, and his never-ending nagging about how he's not having sex at this very moment is awfully tedious and boring.
The only storyline that kept me reading was Sophie's - and when her secret is finally revealed it's over in a couple of sentences, and that's it. Again; I think the novel is far too long, at least 200 pages could easily have been cut and it would have made no difference to the main plot - actually, it would have made the book better. There's too much irrelevant information, too many re-caps or events we just read, too much filler; that's really how it feels like. It's not worth the trouble.
Well, now I finally understand this cultural reference. Was it worth wading through such seminal waters? Maybe, but I really wasn't expecting so much sex in a book (at least titularly) focused on events at Auschwitz.
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes