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laurareads87's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
"I have condensed into a few score of pages ... the year when I first became conscious of myself, of love and pleasure, of death and pain, and when every reaction to them was as unexpected, as amazing, as involuntary as the experience itself."
I read Olivia for a book club; I am glad it was chosen. I found myself entirely swept away by the writing, and read it in two short sittings. I most appreciate the writing's sheer beauty -- I found myself, at times, marveling at a particular sentence. The author has certainly captured the overwhelming, urgent, and dramatic feeling of a young teenager's first love and the internal struggles and uncertainties that go along with that. Where I struggled with this book, though, is that I found myself much more interested in the background of the story -- particularly the relationships between the different teachers and the running of the school -- than in the foreground of Olivia's emotions. I was interested in the strongly implied romantic relationship, likely past, between the headmistresses, and their comings and goings between Paris and the school, but having all of this filtered through the lens of a young, rather immature narrator with a far from complete picture of what was going on was, for me, less than ideal. I recommend this book for those interested in lesbian classic literature.
I read Olivia for a book club; I am glad it was chosen. I found myself entirely swept away by the writing, and read it in two short sittings. I most appreciate the writing's sheer beauty -- I found myself, at times, marveling at a particular sentence. The author has certainly captured the overwhelming, urgent, and dramatic feeling of a young teenager's first love and the internal struggles and uncertainties that go along with that. Where I struggled with this book, though, is that I found myself much more interested in the background of the story -- particularly the relationships between the different teachers and the running of the school -- than in the foreground of Olivia's emotions. I was interested in the strongly implied romantic relationship, likely past, between the headmistresses, and their comings and goings between Paris and the school, but having all of this filtered through the lens of a young, rather immature narrator with a far from complete picture of what was going on was, for me, less than ideal. I recommend this book for those interested in lesbian classic literature.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death and Alcohol