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Liked It “I know this has been out for a couple of years (and the Man-Booker Prize suggests it's goodish) BUT it's pretty much my Book-of-the-Year, for 2009. Banville's beautiful and beautifully-crafted novel explores in language so perfect it evokes memories so vividly that you begin to transpose your own...” see full review » see other reviews » |
Didn’t Like It “Isn't good unless you stick with it til the very end. In fact, it's the one time that doing so actually was worth it.” see full review » see other reviews » |
Newest Reviews
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“Isn't good unless you stick with it til the very end. In fact, it's the one time that doing so actually was worth it. ”
Jenny B wrote this review 8 days ago. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No“I know this has been out for a couple of years (and the Man-Booker Prize suggests it's goodish) BUT it's pretty much my Book-of-the-Year, for 2009. Banville's beautiful and beautifully-crafted novel explores in language so perfect it evokes memories so vividly that you begin to transpose your own childhood memories into his. Max revisits the house he had visited as a child, many years before, trying to refocus after his wife's death. The honesty and startling perception as he moves past wry and skeptical detachment into an understanding of not just one painful acknowledgement of responsibility and death, but two is brilliant. A fantiastic read.”
David B wrote this review 12 days ago. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“I'm awarding this only 3 stars even though it was beautifully written and Banville's descriptive style was worth the Booker prize. It was not a book for me to read in bleak November! The sadness and death themes that pervaded the novel were more than I could continue with for very long at a time. Some of it was humerous, but the whole book required more attention than I was willing to give it. Maybe I'll try it again another time.”
G P wrote this review 2 weeks ago. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Depressing, and with no breaks for chapters, it seems relentlessly depressing!”
Louise C wrote this review Monday, November 9 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“A coming of age novel. Max remembers a summer in his childhood days with the Grace family, images and experiences idelibly etched into his subconsiousness. While reading this book, the events described trigger memories from my childhood too, except that they are patches and not as hypnotic and disturbing as Banville's character delineation. Plenty of allusions to poets and Shakespeare, I must say.”
Ken W wrote this review Sunday, November 1 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“my review disappeared - but this was a beautiful (but sad) book - read it!”
Jane H wrote this review Friday, October 30 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Finished... yes, saw its literary merits... became boring with the subject matter...”
Rose S wrote this review Friday, October 16 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No“disarmingly chanting language and honesty but patchy narrative”
Siok wrote this review Sunday, October 11 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
