Scan barcode
lola425's review against another edition
3.0
I really liked the first quarter of the book, disliked the second quarter, started liking it again the third quarter and not so much by the fourth. I wasn't sure how I was supposed to feel. Should I have felt that everyone (from Cecil's time) became who they became because of Cecil's death or were they already on their way to becoming who they were before Cecil came along. And would a living Cecil changed everything or simply pushed people off track for awhile. George, for instance, as taken as he was with Cecil, we don't find him miserable at the end of his life. He looks back on his dalliance with Cecil with some joy, albeit still a largely unspoken one. And still you wonder what trouble a living Cecil might have stirred up. Of course, Cecil managed to stire things up from beyond the grave as the interest in his poetry sparked a biographical and litcrit industry that ultimately led to the revelation of all the secrets that Cecil initiated and that his immediate family and circle tried to keep hidden.
Once again, in a story that migrates between the historical and the modern, I find myself left cold by the modern narrative. Peter and Paul's flirtation was interesting, but once the story shifted to Paul, I lost interest. I didn't feel the motivation behind his passion for Cecil's story. He felt to me like a passionless scholar looking to out Cecil to fortify his own theories. I'm not sure that's how I should have felt.
Once again, in a story that migrates between the historical and the modern, I find myself left cold by the modern narrative. Peter and Paul's flirtation was interesting, but once the story shifted to Paul, I lost interest. I didn't feel the motivation behind his passion for Cecil's story. He felt to me like a passionless scholar looking to out Cecil to fortify his own theories. I'm not sure that's how I should have felt.
lisandra_toma's review
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
logopolis's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Minor: Alcoholism, Homophobia, and Child abuse
okenwillow's review against another edition
1.0
Je découvre la plume enchanteresse d’Hollinghurst avec ce roman. On succombe au style de l’auteur dès le premières pages, c’est si beau, délicat, recherché, que j’ai eu l’impression de lire un auteur mort du XXe. Malheureusement, on se rend compte à peu près aussi rapidement du degré d’ennui et d’insipidité de l’intrigue. Alors que tous les ingrédients étaient là pour me séduire, (époque, propos, pays, style) la construction et l’absence d’intrigue ont eu raison de ma patience. Le personnage de Cecil Valance sert de vague fil conducteur à plusieurs histoires, qui se déroulent tout au long du XXe siècle, et sont souvent séparées par plusieurs années. Des personnages réapparaissent dans une nouvelle histoire sans autre lien apparent qu’eux-mêmes. On a la sensation de lire un recueil de nouvelles déguisé, un roman dont le découpage ne permet pas au lecteur de s’attacher aux personnages. On saute un peu du coq à l’âne, avec chaque fois (du moins jusqu’à la moitié du livre) une mini-histoire qui s’écoule en un court laps de temps (un week end, une soirée) avant de faire un saut dans le temps avec une autre histoire. À chaque fois, il ne se passe rien, chaque épisode étant le prétexte à un exercice de style, réussi, certes, mais d’un ennui rare. Après un léger et furtif regain d’intérêt à 20% du livre, j’ai fini par abandonner à 47%.
J’ai lu et entendu bien des choses au sujet de ce roman, presque toutes dithyrambiques, la plus idiote étant la comparaison avec Dickens et les Brontë. Je crois que lorsque l'on fait ce genre de parallèle on prend les gens pour des ânes. Les personnages n’ont pas le temps d’avoir de l’épaisseur, on ne les suit pas assez longtemps pour s’intéresser à eux. Il ne se passe rien, trop de non-dits tue le non-dit et on finit par ne vraiment rien dire. À force de jouer la carte de la subtilité, on en devient vide et plat. Isolément, ces épisodes n’ont aucun intérêt, il est possible qu’une lecture complète du roman mette en lumière un formidable propos et un final qui explique tout, mais j’en doute, et me farcir des heures d’ennui pour un dénouement potentiellement sympa mais très probablement aussi insipide que le reste ne me sied guère. Et pourtant, quelle plume exquise !
J’ai lu et entendu bien des choses au sujet de ce roman, presque toutes dithyrambiques, la plus idiote étant la comparaison avec Dickens et les Brontë. Je crois que lorsque l'on fait ce genre de parallèle on prend les gens pour des ânes. Les personnages n’ont pas le temps d’avoir de l’épaisseur, on ne les suit pas assez longtemps pour s’intéresser à eux. Il ne se passe rien, trop de non-dits tue le non-dit et on finit par ne vraiment rien dire. À force de jouer la carte de la subtilité, on en devient vide et plat. Isolément, ces épisodes n’ont aucun intérêt, il est possible qu’une lecture complète du roman mette en lumière un formidable propos et un final qui explique tout, mais j’en doute, et me farcir des heures d’ennui pour un dénouement potentiellement sympa mais très probablement aussi insipide que le reste ne me sied guère. Et pourtant, quelle plume exquise !
harris39's review against another edition
2.0
Ugh. Just could not get into this one... Over 100 pages of very little/nothing happening was far too much for me!
ohnoflora's review against another edition
3.0
It's fine! It is absolutely nothing new. If you have read EM Forster, Evelyn Waugh, and at least one Mitford sister, you know what this book is. And if you want to read about literary legacy, class, scholarship, the futility of biography and the ultimate unknowability of people, read [b:Possession|41219|Possession|A.S. Byatt|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1391124124s/41219.jpg|2246190].
annaelisereads's review against another edition
3.0
A love (or lust) story revisited across generations, The Stranger's Child examines truth, reality, memory, and myth-making. The book starts with the love triangle in question and then checks in with the three (and adds some new ones) throughout the next 60 or so years. I liked the first two iterations, but as time elapsed, I got less and less interested in the story.
mmparker's review against another edition
2.0
A strange, melancholy book redeemed by some of the most nuanced descriptions of commonplace feelings I've ever read.
snowmaiden's review against another edition
4.0
This book begins in 1913 and ends in 2008, spanning almost a whole century. I really liked the first section and would have gladly spent a whole novel in that setting with those characters, but that wasn’t the author’s intent. Instead we take great leaps forward through the twentieth century and beyond, seeing how the lives of the 1913 characters are interpreted and reinterpreted by successive generations. I really enjoy Hollinghurst’s gentle and discerning style, but I felt the emotional impact of the book was less than it could have been. Also, certain characters changed in ways that didn’t make sense to me. Still, I am eager to read something else by this author.