What I Loved
7 journalers for this copy...
"In her third novel, Hustvedt, a sophisticated and alluring writer drawn to the psyche's most convoluted passageways, co-opts New York's competitive and faddish art world for its symbol-laden milieu. Leo Hertzberg, a thoughtful art historian, narrates a measured and mesmerizing tale of passion and tragedy that spans 20 years and involves his wife, Erica, a literary scholar; his close friendship with highly provocative painter Bill Wechsler; and his hidden infatuation with Bill's sexy muse and second wife, Violet, an expert in psychotic disorders associated with women's body images, from nineteenth-century hysterics to contemporary anorexics. The two couples become thickly entwined, and their two sons, Leo and Erica's artistically inclined Matthew, and Mark, the strangely chimerical offspring of Bill and his morbid first wife, seem like brothers. Hustvedt has Leo dwell at length on the quartet's creative pursuits, which enables her to construct a disturbing lexicon of erotic obsessions and intimations of violence as her labyrinthine tale undulates its unnerving way toward abrupt deaths, prolonged grief, and teenage Mark's increasingly inexplicable behavior. By wedding the ordinary torments of family life with the heightened sensibilities of artists and a criminal grotesqueness, Hustvedt ponders the dark side of inheritance and creativity and the crushing burdens of love." from booklist
1001 Book!
1001 Book!
Thanks so much for your donation ApoloniaX!
This book is now part of the 1001-library. If you want to take this book from the library but don't know how to proceed, please refer to the 1001-library bookshelf.
Released 14 yrs ago (9/1/2009 UTC) at
CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:
Journal Entry 4 by kingfan30 from Somewhere in Lincs 🤷♂️, Lincolnshire United Kingdom on Friday, September 11, 2009
Many thanks for the book. I would have posted sooner but unfortunately the package would not fit through our post box and has sat at the post office for 3 days till my hubby could collect it.
14 Feb 11 - Not sure about this book. It started off well, although to be fair I think anything would be better than the book I read before this one. By the end of part one I was getting bored and could not see where the book was going. Part two started with a bang and drew me back in again. I got a bit fed up with Marks lies and the fact that Violet and Leo kept falling for it. Overall I enjoyed it, it was different from anything I have read before.
14 Feb 11 - Not sure about this book. It started off well, although to be fair I think anything would be better than the book I read before this one. By the end of part one I was getting bored and could not see where the book was going. Part two started with a bang and drew me back in again. I got a bit fed up with Marks lies and the fact that Violet and Leo kept falling for it. Overall I enjoyed it, it was different from anything I have read before.
Shovelmonkey1 is very generous with bookrings/rays so I have decided to send her this surprise RABCK that she has on her wishlist to say thanks.
Journal Entry 6 by shovelmonkey1 at Liverpool, Merseyside United Kingdom on Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Thank you very much for this surprise RABCK! It was great to come to work (after a particularly annoying morning on a very problematic site!) to find a book shaped package waiting for me. I've got a few book rays to read then i'll hopefully be able to get to this one.
Thanks again for your kindness kingfan30 (and hello to apoloniax too as she registered this book and started its journey)!
Thanks again for your kindness kingfan30 (and hello to apoloniax too as she registered this book and started its journey)!
Started reading this yesterday and have nearly finished it. So far I'm totally loving it!
I love Paul Auster. Having discovered him through the joys of the 1001 books list, I've now read almost everything he ever wrote and just when I was getting to the end of his stuff and wondering how I could get my hands on more Paul Auster stuff (short of holding a gun to his head and forcing him to write faster), along comes the literary off-shoot of Auster that is Siri Hustvedt. What!? I hear you yell in supportive indignation for Mrs Auster and her right to be recognised as a successful and talented author in her own right (who is not and should not in anyway be perceived as being in the shadow of her husband)... oh come on you've got to admit the similarities in style, references and imagery are pretty close. Jewish male narrator? Tick. Based in NYC. Tick. Artsy and creative writer types? Tick. Even allusions to the same artists ( see William de Kooning in Oracle Night). Yes, I appreciate as husband and wife they will in many ways be exposed to the same social situations, stimuli and inspiration and I'm not criticising. I really loved this book. The best elements were the real sense of impending danger whenever the story line turned to Mark and Teddy. I really felt like Leo was in danger and felt a little bit worried for him. Beyond the day to day storyline, Goya was the real star of this book whether he was meant to be or not. Everyone in the book has a little bit of Goya in him. A little bit creative, a bit wild, a bit restrained and a little bit bloodthirsty and destructive. Was this book really a story about Goya but in some sort of hidden code? Whatever. After reading this book I decided to refresh my memory on Goya's work and yes, he was clearly mad as a box of frogs but that doesn't stop him being brilliant at the same time.
Released 12 yrs ago (5/13/2011 UTC) at Liverpool, Merseyside United Kingdom
CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:
After I read this I recommended it to Mafarrimond via goodreads.com and asked if she would like to read this book as I have shared Paul Auster books with Mafarrimond in the past. Mafarrimond is a member of the 1001 library and this book is now travelling to her.
The book has arrived and I am looking forward to reading this.
Gosh, I think that I enjoyed this even more than her husband's books.
Sent onto Danielle23. Enjoy.
Journal Entry 13 by Danielle23 at Sunderland, Tyne and Wear United Kingdom on Saturday, September 3, 2011
The book has arrived safely and I will get to it as soon as I can. Thanks for sharing xx
Journal Entry 14 by Danielle23 at Sunderland, Tyne and Wear United Kingdom on Friday, February 24, 2012
I absolutely loved this book! It drew me in from page one and then kept changing my expectations of what the book was going to become and so kept me enthralled until the very last page. I had no idea that the author was Mrs Auster but this from no way detracts or adds anything to my views of this brilliant stand alone book.
I loved Leo, he was my favourite character by far and yet I felt I didn't really know him very well. I knew the facts about his wife and his son and yet I didn't feel that we discovered all that lay within him (although I liked that). Erica annoyed me a little and I fely she withdrew from me and the novel at the same time she did from Leo.
My favourite character though was Lazlo, always appearing on the cusp of some impending disaster like a modern twist on the fairy godmother. Fantastic!
Back to the library where I hope it will be checked out soon.
I loved Leo, he was my favourite character by far and yet I felt I didn't really know him very well. I knew the facts about his wife and his son and yet I didn't feel that we discovered all that lay within him (although I liked that). Erica annoyed me a little and I fely she withdrew from me and the novel at the same time she did from Leo.
My favourite character though was Lazlo, always appearing on the cusp of some impending disaster like a modern twist on the fairy godmother. Fantastic!
Back to the library where I hope it will be checked out soon.
This book is now back on the 1001 library bookshelf and can be borrowed by PMing Danielle23:)
If you want to take this book from the library but don't know how to proceed, please refer to the library bookshelf.
Travelling to Stoepbrak in South Africa as requested from the 1001 library.
The book arrived today. Thanks, Danielle23!
A gripping read, with real characters. The book deals with quite a few interesting themes and subtexts, but what stood out for me was the believable way in which it probed the effect of loss and grief on love and lives.
(Thanks for donating the book to the library, ApoloniaX. Back it goes.)
If you are interested in this book, let me know.
This book is now back on the 1001 library bookshelf and can be borrowed by PMing Stoepbrak:)
If you want to take this book from the library but don't know how to proceed, please refer to the library bookshelf.