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laurflanagan's review against another edition
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This is such a hard one to rate. The sentence-level writing is incredible. Full stop. Reading it for a second time and having been married ten years longer than when I first read it, I liked the premise less. It is definitely a *very* discussable book.
marie_adina's review against another edition
4.0
I really enjoyed the majority of this book, but the end was not satisfying for me. The turn wasn't as drastic as Gone Girl's was, (and didn't drive me nearly as crazy). It was more of a beautiful series of hazy pictures painted with excellent writing telling the story of a married couple.
leelas_reads's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-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
4.5
vscomuzzi's review against another edition
dark
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
dargan18's review against another edition
4.0
I enjoyed this book and think it’ll stick with me for a while. Looking at many of the other reviews here, it seems I am in the minority. I just really like Lauren Groff’s writing style, and I found the characters and story compelling.
This book centers on a marriage. The first half of the book is from the husband, Lotto’s, point of view and the second half is the wife, Mathilde’s pov. The first half felt too long. I found Mathilde’s half of the book much more interesting, and I wish Groff had mixed in her perspective earlier. There’s a lot of interesting themes here about love, loneliness, revenge, how much people (mostly women) give up to help their partner pursue their dreams, the gap between our perception of our partner and who they really are beneath the surface, how many things people hide from each other.
Within the different sections, the narration sometimes shifted to the perspective of a side character. It happened infrequently enough to throw me off. That, along with the ocasional asides in brackets and the random literary quotes in Mathilde’s section made the voicing and pace feel uneven.
But all told, I liked this book a lot and want to keep reading more from Lauren Groff.
Some quotes I liked (from Mathilde’s half):
“He knew her: the things he didn’t know about her would sink an ocean liner; he knew her.”
“The man swallowed praise the way runners swallow electrolytes.”
“Great American Artistitis. Ever bigger. Ever louder. Jostling for the highest perch in the hegemony. You don’t think that’s some sort of sickness that befalls men when they try to do art in this country? Tell me, why did Lotto write a war play? Because works about war always trump works about emotions, even if the smaller, more domestic plays are better written, smarter, more interesting.”
This book centers on a marriage. The first half of the book is from the husband, Lotto’s, point of view and the second half is the wife, Mathilde’s pov. The first half felt too long. I found Mathilde’s half of the book much more interesting, and I wish Groff had mixed in her perspective earlier. There’s a lot of interesting themes here about love, loneliness, revenge, how much people (mostly women) give up to help their partner pursue their dreams, the gap between our perception of our partner and who they really are beneath the surface, how many things people hide from each other.
Within the different sections, the narration sometimes shifted to the perspective of a side character. It happened infrequently enough to throw me off. That, along with the ocasional asides in brackets and the random literary quotes in Mathilde’s section made the voicing and pace feel uneven.
But all told, I liked this book a lot and want to keep reading more from Lauren Groff.
Some quotes I liked (from Mathilde’s half):
“He knew her: the things he didn’t know about her would sink an ocean liner; he knew her.”
“The man swallowed praise the way runners swallow electrolytes.”
“Great American Artistitis. Ever bigger. Ever louder. Jostling for the highest perch in the hegemony. You don’t think that’s some sort of sickness that befalls men when they try to do art in this country? Tell me, why did Lotto write a war play? Because works about war always trump works about emotions, even if the smaller, more domestic plays are better written, smarter, more interesting.”
lcweaverson's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
dgio06's review against another edition
3.0
The first half of the book was amazing. The second half felt incredibly melodramatic and rushed. It was so disappointing because the first half was so good!
lgarcianavarrete's review against another edition
5.0
Fantastic novel! ("untruths made of words and untruths made of silences")
erickibler4's review against another edition
4.0
I'm ambivalent. 3 or 4? I'll give it four.
The book started out slow for me. But after Lotto started writing plays it became compelling for me. There are still some mysteries that may warrant a second reading, although I don't know if I'll ever read it again.
I don't want to reveal much about the plot. Just read it and see what you think.
The book started out slow for me. But after Lotto started writing plays it became compelling for me. There are still some mysteries that may warrant a second reading, although I don't know if I'll ever read it again.
I don't want to reveal much about the plot. Just read it and see what you think.
ghartke's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0