Possession: A Romance By A.S. Byatt

 

Possession: A Romance

By A.S. Byatt

 3.5 stars.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

Image
A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara This is a beautifully written and thoughtful exploration of friendship, love, and loss, and how the trauma of youth never really leaves you. I'm unsure why the author has received so much backlash for the writing of this story, which I see myself reflected in so much. Never did I feel manipulated into feeling a particular way; isn't that what fiction writing is supposed to do anyway? There is also the matter of readers having such strong reactions to this book, some having cried and others revulsed by the graphic depictions of violence. In full disclosure, I only felt visceral reactions twice while reading A Little Life : the first with the scene of violence with Caleb, which I admit was difficult to get through; the second the end of the story where we find out what happened to Jude, but more than what happened to him, Harold's feelings about it, especially on the last two pages. I felt deeply in touch with this book, as if my own experie...
Read more

House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski

Image
  House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski I can't pretend I know how to talk about this book other than to briefly say what happens in it and what my impressions are of it. The story is about a young man named Johnny Truant as he makes his way through a documentary writing by a man named Zampanò, who himself discusses a documentary film involving the Navidson-Green who made the film that came to be know as The Navidson Record. The film documents their time living in a new house that turns out to be bigger on the inside than it is on teh outside, and which has the ability to change itself in astounding and incomprehensible ways. This film seems to affect everyone who sees it in some way, and the record of it, and Johnny's attempts to work his way through it and unravel its meaning, ultimately causes him to lose his mind. It is a smartly written book, though the prose is simple. It is supposed to be a horror novel, but it is far too complicated and thought-provoking for me to redu...
Read more

Beneath the Scarlet Sky By Mark Sullivan

Image
  Beneath the Scarlet Sky By Mark Sullivan This story follows Pino Lella, an Italian teenager, who becomes enmeshed in World War II when he is enlisted as the driver for a high ranking German official. Pino is sent to a mountain getaway/school by his parents in order to keep him safe when the bombing reaches his Italian city. There, he helps to get Jews across the border to Switzerland to escape the Nazis. Afterward, when he returns home and is at the age of enlistment to be drafted into the war effort, he is noticed by General Leyers, who asks for Pino to become his driver, taking him around Italy to various appointments and battle positions. Pino saves Leyers's life a couple times, even though Pino himself is against the Nazis and is working undercover as a spy, relaying information to his uncle who is part of the resistance movement. Throughout the story Pino is forming a romantic relationship with Anna, who is the maid to Leyers's mistress, and a woman he asked out on a dat...
Read more