Scan barcode
runkefer's review against another edition
4.0
At first, deceptively simple, but as the story develops, the reader realizes there is so much more simmering beneath the surface. Ozick pulls together numerous threads to create a tapestry of family, disconnected in all but the most elemental ways.
robforteath's review against another edition
4.0
This story has just enough plot to keep the characters (and us) going for the duration. While the action is ostensibly about the young people who have fled to Paris against the wishes of their father, really it's all about Bea. We occasionally like her, though not always.
Bea is a reliable narrator for us, but far from a reliable emissary for her brother. Every character in the book is operating at cross purposes, and they all lurch about from beginning to end. The writing is lovely enough that we can enjoy watching the various train wrecks. You are unlikely to ponder the book much once you're through, but it is engaging while you're in it.
Bea is a reliable narrator for us, but far from a reliable emissary for her brother. Every character in the book is operating at cross purposes, and they all lurch about from beginning to end. The writing is lovely enough that we can enjoy watching the various train wrecks. You are unlikely to ponder the book much once you're through, but it is engaging while you're in it.
heathssm's review
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
wordnerdy's review against another edition
1.0
http://wordnerdy.blogspot.com/2010/11/2010-book-268.html
stacthor's review
4.0
This is my perfect kind of book - no unnecessary characters making appearances 3/4 of the way through, characters thinking and changing even in minor circumstances, insight into different world views, both in history and now. Now I know what I'm going to read next - James' The Ambassadors. We'll see if I'm as patient with Henry James now as I was in my twenties.
lulukubo's review
3.0
Not having read the James novel of which this is supposedly a photographic negative, I cannot make a comparison. I enjoyed it very much though, for the language more than anything. The characters mostly lacked what we call "character" but certainly were intriguing.
unabridgedchick's review
4.0
One-sentence summary: Bea Nightingale, school teacher, becomes embroiled in lives of her niece, nephew, and brother when she's asked to fetch said nephew from Paris.
Did... I hate every character in this book and yet, still care about what happened?: YES. It's a little freaky, actually, how Ozick did that.
Did... I read this book in about 1.5 days?: YES, both because the pacing is pretty snappy and because it's a brief 272 pages!
Did... I want to move to Paris after reading this?: YES, although that's usually my default response.
Review: I've never ready Henry James' The Ambassadors, so I was a little apprehensive that Foreign Bodies would just go over my head. (I wiki'd James' book to find out the gist of the plot.) While the premise of Foreign Bodies is vaguely similar to The Ambassadors (a teacher sets out to retrieve wayward pupil from Paris), I don't think one needs to have read the latter to enjoy the former.
Rather than Henry James, I was strongly reminded of the books from the era Foreign Bodies is set, particularly Lawrence Durrell's Alexandria Quartet. Ozick's prose varies from concrete and certain to ethereal and scattered. The characters are all vaguely amoral and unappealing. The prose hardly plumbs anyone's motivation, not even Bea Nightingale, the heroine, which is my only complaint. Even though we're in Bea's head, swimming in her thoughts, something about the prose keeps the reader at arm's length; when the big a-ha moment came, I hardly felt the impact.
Did... I hate every character in this book and yet, still care about what happened?: YES. It's a little freaky, actually, how Ozick did that.
Did... I read this book in about 1.5 days?: YES, both because the pacing is pretty snappy and because it's a brief 272 pages!
Did... I want to move to Paris after reading this?: YES, although that's usually my default response.
Review: I've never ready Henry James' The Ambassadors, so I was a little apprehensive that Foreign Bodies would just go over my head. (I wiki'd James' book to find out the gist of the plot.) While the premise of Foreign Bodies is vaguely similar to The Ambassadors (a teacher sets out to retrieve wayward pupil from Paris), I don't think one needs to have read the latter to enjoy the former.
Rather than Henry James, I was strongly reminded of the books from the era Foreign Bodies is set, particularly Lawrence Durrell's Alexandria Quartet. Ozick's prose varies from concrete and certain to ethereal and scattered. The characters are all vaguely amoral and unappealing. The prose hardly plumbs anyone's motivation, not even Bea Nightingale, the heroine, which is my only complaint. Even though we're in Bea's head, swimming in her thoughts, something about the prose keeps the reader at arm's length; when the big a-ha moment came, I hardly felt the impact.
ellenrhudy's review against another edition
4.0
This is the first time I've read Ozick - finally checking out this book after reading a NYTimes column mentioning her as one of our greatest writers. I think huge chunks of this novel probably went right over my head...I'd be curious to reread it after reading Henry James's "The Ambassadors", to understand how this novel draws on it, and would also like to read it with more of an eye to the historical moment (1952) than I did this time around.
All that said, this is really a beautiful novel and a totally engrossing read, not at all what I'd expected from a book about a 40-something school teacher trying to retrieve her nephew from Paris. There is not a single character in this novel that is likeable, but I'm still somehow invested in their inner lives and in following what happens to them. Bra, especially - tracking her interactions with her ex-husband is fascinating and I rooted for her even as I cringed at many of her other actions. Julian and Iris, her brother's children, are both hideous spoiled people; and her brother Marvin is almost a tragically unlikeable figure as a result of his attempts to detach himself from his Jewish ancestry.
Also, I want to remember this one line: "Her guidebook showed no concern for the tourist's bladder" (5). Too accurately captures every guidebook I've ever owned.
All that said, this is really a beautiful novel and a totally engrossing read, not at all what I'd expected from a book about a 40-something school teacher trying to retrieve her nephew from Paris. There is not a single character in this novel that is likeable, but I'm still somehow invested in their inner lives and in following what happens to them. Bra, especially - tracking her interactions with her ex-husband is fascinating and I rooted for her even as I cringed at many of her other actions. Julian and Iris, her brother's children, are both hideous spoiled people; and her brother Marvin is almost a tragically unlikeable figure as a result of his attempts to detach himself from his Jewish ancestry.
Also, I want to remember this one line: "Her guidebook showed no concern for the tourist's bladder" (5). Too accurately captures every guidebook I've ever owned.
humbledt's review against another edition
3.0
quando comprei o livro, pensei que fosse ser sobre uma mulher de meia-idade viajando pela europa atrás do sobrinho e sei lá passando por transformações no estilo comer, rezar e amar; no lugar, recebi um conflito familiar.