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laila4343's review
5.0
Brookner is all interior - characters's motivations, fears, reveries, inner dialogue. This one was exquisite.
technomage's review
4.0
I enjoyed this tale of Maud and Edward and there sort of romance as imagined by their daughter.
Everyone loves Tyler but Tyler never loves anyone not even Maud who adores him and though she marries Edward he knows Tyler will always be with them.
I had never read any Anita Brookner and knew only of Hotel du Lac whose name put me off but listening to the backlisted podcast, one of whose presenters is often praising her writing, I was intrigued and picked this up when I found it in our local library and I wasn't disappointed.
It reminded me part way through of Ian McEwan's "On Chesil Beach" but less excruiciatingly tense and all in all more enjoyable.
Everyone loves Tyler but Tyler never loves anyone not even Maud who adores him and though she marries Edward he knows Tyler will always be with them.
I had never read any Anita Brookner and knew only of Hotel du Lac whose name put me off but listening to the backlisted podcast, one of whose presenters is often praising her writing, I was intrigued and picked this up when I found it in our local library and I wasn't disappointed.
It reminded me part way through of Ian McEwan's "On Chesil Beach" but less excruiciatingly tense and all in all more enjoyable.
fourtriplezed's review against another edition
4.0
Andy Miller of Backlisted podcast fame has had an ongoing love affair with the writing of Anita Brookner to the point he made a joke about there being a “cult” readership due to his enthusiasm. That enthusiasm would never have made me thought I would walk into a charity shop and find not one but four novels by Brookner all for the princely sum of $2 each. I grabbed them all, I mean what more can I complain about? If I didn’t like the writer that much, it was a donation to a charity at the very least.
So with absolutely no intention to particularly start this cult writer, I did exactly that. The truth is that I would once have run a thousand kilometres from a novel such as this as it had minimal dialogue, long passages that were deep descriptions of individuals and of place and was then lacking a particularly strong plot.
For whatever reason I could not put Incidents in the Rue Laugier down, the writing is extraordinarily good and that has to be part of it, the depth of the characters was of such quality in the descriptors used I found myself just compelled to keep reading. As to the theme, it covers that reality that the vast majority live, a life unfulfilled.
The story is written by Maffy, the daughter of the two main protagonists, Edward and Maud. Maffy in the first chapter admits that this is an unreliable narration of her parent’s life and is based on a few words written in a notebook that she found after her mother passed, and also confesses to having no idea as to their lives and that the tale told is fabrication. With that Maffy tells of the meeting of Edward and Maud and how they “fell in love” and got married, had a child and then lived and died in an all very simple and so middle class bourgeois way. And that is it!
But…….it is so well told and written I could not put this down. This was neither unhappy nor happy families, it was the story of lives that might have been, and the sense of loneliness that pervaded both characters as their very existence just chugged along and along. I am amazed how much I enjoyed this and I too join the cult.
Highly recommended for the sublime writing alone.
So with absolutely no intention to particularly start this cult writer, I did exactly that. The truth is that I would once have run a thousand kilometres from a novel such as this as it had minimal dialogue, long passages that were deep descriptions of individuals and of place and was then lacking a particularly strong plot.
For whatever reason I could not put Incidents in the Rue Laugier down, the writing is extraordinarily good and that has to be part of it, the depth of the characters was of such quality in the descriptors used I found myself just compelled to keep reading. As to the theme, it covers that reality that the vast majority live, a life unfulfilled.
The story is written by Maffy, the daughter of the two main protagonists, Edward and Maud. Maffy in the first chapter admits that this is an unreliable narration of her parent’s life and is based on a few words written in a notebook that she found after her mother passed, and also confesses to having no idea as to their lives and that the tale told is fabrication. With that Maffy tells of the meeting of Edward and Maud and how they “fell in love” and got married, had a child and then lived and died in an all very simple and so middle class bourgeois way. And that is it!
But…….it is so well told and written I could not put this down. This was neither unhappy nor happy families, it was the story of lives that might have been, and the sense of loneliness that pervaded both characters as their very existence just chugged along and along. I am amazed how much I enjoyed this and I too join the cult.
Highly recommended for the sublime writing alone.
nocto's review
2.0
This got off to a really slow start. First there is an unnecessary introductory chapter and then there is a long bit about the family history before the main character is born. When the book finally gets going about a quarter of the way in it quickly turns into a marvellous life story.
Mostly it's a story about Maud from Dijon who doesn't quite fit into the social world that her mother, who is something like a poor relation out of an historical novel, wants her to be part of. The thing that seemed oddest though was that several mentions were made of it being 1971 when the core of the story takes place. The characters act like they come from an earlier time, and the timeline of the end of the story goes well past 1995 when it was written. Neither of which are that odd really now I come to write them down!
I like Brookner's writing but find it hard to get going with sometimes.
Mostly it's a story about Maud from Dijon who doesn't quite fit into the social world that her mother, who is something like a poor relation out of an historical novel, wants her to be part of. The thing that seemed oddest though was that several mentions were made of it being 1971 when the core of the story takes place. The characters act like they come from an earlier time, and the timeline of the end of the story goes well past 1995 when it was written. Neither of which are that odd really now I come to write them down!
I like Brookner's writing but find it hard to get going with sometimes.
peppikeranen's review
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
wmhenrymorris's review
The most post-modern of Brookner's novels (although thoroughly Brookner) -- brutally incisive but also so very contingent.
sarahelena's review
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
lectrice's review
5.0
4.75? I read a ton of Brookner decades ago and got tired (they felt repetitive) but this one knocked me out emotionally and reminded me of how perceptive and penetrating she can be about flawed humans. Plots about missed chances and unlived lives always get to me. Reminds of my old favorite of hers: The Debut and Look at Me. « Quietly devastating » could be Brookner’s trademark...
hardcoverhearts's review
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
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