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A review by amandagstevens
Sophie's Choice by William Styron
Did not finish book. Stopped at 3%.
Why I Stopped Reading (after 17 pages and then skipping forward a bit to see if Stingo became any less insufferable; he got worse; I jumped forward some more; the whole thing got worse; I quit): Yes, 17 pages breaks my "10% or 50 pages, whichever comes last" rule for DNFing a book, but I skimmed more than enough to make a reasonable decision on this based on my personal reading preferences. In fact, I'm going to be bold and say that for any reader, if the first 17 pages of a book fill you with the degree of loathing with which this narrator filled me, it's legitimate to "DNF" the thing and read other books. Go ahead. Be free.
As for why this book and I will never be friends: oh my word, let me count the ways. Pretentious, prolix prose. Annoying protagonist. Wrong person narrating the story. Ridiculously graphic sex scenes that felt so out of place and exploitive of Sophie herself. I'm not sure how to explain why graphic sex feels so wrong for this particular story, but wow, it does. Wrong in a way that makes me feel as if not only Stingo but also Styron is exploiting a broken woman who needed and deserved better from both her friend and her author.
The story of Sophie's choice is powerful and wrenching and important (and Meryl Streep makes it what it ought to be), but the structure in which Styron chose to tell it is really not for me.
As for why this book and I will never be friends: oh my word, let me count the ways. Pretentious, prolix prose. Annoying protagonist. Wrong person narrating the story. Ridiculously graphic sex scenes that felt so out of place and exploitive of Sophie herself. I'm not sure how to explain why graphic sex feels so wrong for this particular story, but wow, it does. Wrong in a way that makes me feel as if not only Stingo but also Styron is exploiting a broken woman who needed and deserved better from both her friend and her author.
The story of Sophie's choice is powerful and wrenching and important (and Meryl Streep makes it what it ought to be), but the structure in which Styron chose to tell it is really not for me.