karen's Reviews > The Lover
The Lover
by
by
i found myself utterly muted by this book, which is problematic because the book club meets this friday, and they aren't going to be so dazzled by my bruschetta that i can get away with just hiding behind the tiny jewess and drinking their wine. so i have to think of something.
consulting the "reading group handbook" by rachel w. jacobsohn, bought for my final school assignment, i learn how to think about literature:
characters and story line: young french girl, older chinese man falling into bed and clinical love without names in indochina.
character's actions: she has poor unsatisfying home life, he has rich traditional home life. they bang. everything seems muffled by gauze.
reader's emotional response: unmoved. if the author's voice is going to be so removed, and the characters aren't going to feel anything particularly deep, why should i be expected to have emotions? it's like watching people fucking with a wall in between them, masturbating at each other. resentfully.
narrative: fragmentary, past/present conflation, surface-emotions only. short, poetic musings which are occasionally quite lyrical, but never caught at me.
oh, man, i have zero to say about it. i don't know - people love this book, but i am not one of them. wish me luck.
readers, thinkers and drinkers jan 2010.
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consulting the "reading group handbook" by rachel w. jacobsohn, bought for my final school assignment, i learn how to think about literature:
characters and story line: young french girl, older chinese man falling into bed and clinical love without names in indochina.
character's actions: she has poor unsatisfying home life, he has rich traditional home life. they bang. everything seems muffled by gauze.
reader's emotional response: unmoved. if the author's voice is going to be so removed, and the characters aren't going to feel anything particularly deep, why should i be expected to have emotions? it's like watching people fucking with a wall in between them, masturbating at each other. resentfully.
narrative: fragmentary, past/present conflation, surface-emotions only. short, poetic musings which are occasionally quite lyrical, but never caught at me.
oh, man, i have zero to say about it. i don't know - people love this book, but i am not one of them. wish me luck.
readers, thinkers and drinkers jan 2010.
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Reading Progress
Finished Reading
January 3, 2010
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Comments Showing 1-50 of 97 (97 new)
remember there is a felty in the mail as we speak...
Fingers rescinded.
But seriously... I don't think this is a particularly 'moving' novel... but then not every novel is moving. (Some are just bowel-moving, like John Williams' Stoner.)
But I agree that books don't have to be moving to be good or even great. This one hasn't really stuck with me in any capacity though.
Still, The Lover is like a poem.
(see 11)
Her first books were very good, I think I didn't like the later ones as much.
I once read nearly everything Duras wrote. It's been awhile.
I liked 'Cleaned Out' a lot.
I also liked the story about her parents, I guess she did one book for each. (somewhere, pre-Goodreads, I have the titles written down).
Were the works in your class in French or in translation?
What else did you like?
I'll look for Women of Algiers
what a syllabus! fantastique.
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59...
for variations on the theme that might be less of a horror for you...
both good books, sez me, both utterly different in tone and import. ekaterina is truly wonderful and great pursuit is just a lot of fun.
You just don't understand the beauty of the sand mandala.
Right. I think you are spot-on about Duras writing in the 'voice' of a sexually-awakening teen. I believe at the time it made my stomach roil to think of innocence surrendering to aged experience...bad memories, perhaps. But because the book was so well respected, when I saw there was a film, I thought I would try it again. I didn't care if the book was faithful to the book. I didn't even like the book.
Though what a film that would be...
I think I'd call that a terrifying film. Though in the right directorial hands it could be funny...
OMG and me not able to buy any more books for the whole rest of the month.... //whimpers
David, did we ever see a picture of the felty that karen sent you?
The disgruntled postal workers haven't delivered it yet.
(she not only cooks, reads, writes top reviews, she makes felties! wow...)
"Open ya up like a Christmas present!" (@ 2:27)
Okay. Not really. Me loves some brissette, but you're wrong. This is a good book.