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Liked It1 of 1 members found this review helpful “'Le' Marguerite Duras par excellence.” see full review » see other reviews » |
Didn’t Like It1 of 1 members found this review helpful “Autobiographical work about the authors life and love in French colonial Vietnam. The focus is on the challenges of the main characters family and love life. |
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1 of 1 members found this review helpful“Undoubtedly French in so many ways... from the description of bizarre clothing to the unfulfilled, nearly pathetic, passion of the young girl and Chinese man. This book is a like a series of images preserved in the past. Though it is a short novel, readers will undoubtedly get caught up in the Saigon of the 1920s. ”
Arusa S wrote this review Thursday, April 19, 2012. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
0 of 1 members found this review helpful“LOVE. Beautiful writing. ”
Sarah G wrote this review Monday, April 9, 2012. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
0 of 1 members found this review helpful“by author of Hiroshima Mon Amour a French girl has an affair with a Chinese whose family won't sanction a marriage
Laurel B Deloria wrote this review Monday, October 10, 2011. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
Back in print in paperback, "an exquisite jewel of a novel, as multifaceted as a diamond, as seamless and polished as a pearl" ("Boston Herald"). This edition includes an Introduction by Maxine Hong Kingston that looks back at Duras's world from an intriguing new perspective--that of a visitor to..”
1 of 1 members found this review helpful“Duras has a unique style. I am not sure I like it, but it intrigued me in its differentness. This was a quick single-sitting read describing Duras's taboo teenage love affair (it was mostly biographical according to the introduction). Duras, a poor white French teenage girl, falls in love with an older rich Chinese man in post-colonial Vietnam. The story was partially about her affair and partially about her search for her inner artist.
Sarah L wrote this review Tuesday, September 20, 2011. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
I was drawn into the text partially because the introduction said the book depicted the lover (a Chinese man) as a highly sensual and desirable man. I was interested in seeing this (considering how much the media has consistently de-masculinized Asian men). However, the lover's masculine characterization did not really live up to my hopes. The lover was cowardly, sex-obsessed, and pitiable. ”
“This short book tells the story of a fifteen year old French girl in Vietnam who meets an extremely rich Chinese man who becomes her lover. He is ten years her senior and very much in love but his family does not allow him to marry her. Doing so would make them break all ties with him.
JudithAnn wrote this review Saturday, July 30, 2011. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
The girl is based on Duras herself who lived in Vietnam as a child. She lives with her mother and brothers in very poor conditions and the weekly restaurant trips for the whole family, organised by the Chinese lover, are very welcome.
This book is beautifully written and a pleasure to read. The story was familiar to me since I’d seen the movie. I didn’t approve of the story itself – a fifteen year old having an affair with a much older man in a relationship that seems to be very close to prostitution.
But the back story about her circumstances, poor, with a mentally unstable mother, was interesting. There wasn’t much that would make even the prudest person recoil – I would not call this an erotic book at all.
The way it was written made this a good reading experience.”
“Es un buen libro, que a mi no me atrapó para nada!”
Pablo Soler wrote this review Wednesday, July 20, 2011. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Auntie Nanuuq said: I'm not rating this, because I really don't care one way or the other about it.
Play Book Tag Shelf wrote this review Saturday, July 23, 2011. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
Fifteen years old, crossing the river on a ferry, in a worn sleeveless silk dress, gold lame sandals on her feet, an flat man's fedora on her head.....she meets a Chinese man 12 years her senior in a black limousine. The go to a room in town and they become lovers.
Her life is crap, her mother head mistress, her father dead, her younger brother just there, & her older brother afraid of her, yet abusive.....
There is no apparent sense of time, just bits of the story crossing its own time worn path.
Even when there are tears, anger, loss there is no sadness, no feelings, no emotions...... It's all as if written in dream time. Not even the so called "erotic" has feelings in this book..... Lyrical yet empty.
JudithAnn said: 5 stars
This short book tells the story of a fifteen year old French girl in Vietnam who meets an extremely rich Chinese man who becomes her lover. He is ten years her senior and very much in love but his family does not allow him to marry her. Doing so would make them break all ties with him.
The girl is based on Duras herself who lived in Vietnam as a child. She lives with her mother and brothers in very poor conditions and the weekly restaurant trips for the whole family, organised by the Chinese lover, are very welcome.
This book is beautifully written and a pleasure to read. The story was familiar to me since I'd seen the movie. I didn't approve of the story itself - a fifteen year old having an affair with a much older man in a relationship that seems to be very close to prostitution.
But the back story about her circumstances, poor, with a mentally unstable mother, was interesting. There wasn't much that would make even the prudest person recoil - I would not call this an erotic book at all.
The way it was written made this a good reading experience.”
“
Auntie Nanuuq . wrote this review Monday, June 27, 2011. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
Best of 1984 Challenge.....(which I may or may not finish)
I'm not rating this, because I really don't care one way or the other about it.
Fifteen years old, crossing the river on a ferry, in a worn sleeveless silk dress, gold lame sandals on her feet, an flat man's fedora on her head.....she meets a Chinese man 12 years her senior in a black limousine. The go to a room in town and they become lovers.
Her life is crap, her mother head mistress, her father dead, her younger brother just there, & her older brother afraid of her, yet abusive.....
There is no apparent sense of time, just bits of the story crossing its own time worn path.
Even when there are tears, anger, loss there is no sadness, no feelings, no emotions...... It's all as if written in dream time. Not even the so called "erotic" has feelings in this book..... Lyrical yet empty.”1 of 1 members found this review helpful“Autobiographical work about the authors life and love in French colonial Vietnam. The focus is on the challenges of the main characters family and love life.
virre wrote this review Tuesday, April 12, 2011. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
The book is not presented in the traditional chronological order but more as the events and thoughts come up. It's more a collection of memories, feelings and dreams. At the same time Duras switches between writing in first and third person, third person veiw is most often used under the more "difficult" memories for the author to relive.
Not a new favorite for me, honestly i dont get why so many people are drawn to it. To me the book feels like a conversation the author should have had with her shrink, not something to be pawned off as great literature.”
“Set against the backdrop of French colonial Vietnam, The Lover reveals the intimacies and intricacies of a clandestine romance between a young girl from a financially strapped French family and an older, wealthy Chinese man. In 1929, a 15 year old nameless girl is traveling by ferry across the Mekong Delta, returning from a holiday at her family home to her boarding school in Saigon. She meets the son of a Chinese businessman and becomes his lover. Reading it, you feel you are looking at a dark-hued portrait of lovers embracing surrounded by a mysterious and impenetrable jungle of blackness. It is a ravishingly beautiful work of art that has a dream-like quality.”
jwhenderson wrote this review Saturday, February 26, 2011. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
