pickI listened to this as read by Samuel West who was the perfect narrator. Most people have heard of this, it won the 1990 Booker Prize. It‘s a deep dive into nineteenth century poetry and modern day (well 1980s!) literary academics, particularly a pair of researchers, Roland and Maud who discover some hidden letters. There‘s mystery, romance, academic politics, feminist theory and a lot of 19th century style poems. ⬇️
Centique I particularly loved some of the side characters that Byatt gives a lot of depth to - Sabine the cousin and Ellen the wife, for example. I feel that she had a lot of fun writing this, she created her own little slice of nineteenth century England. While there are some meaty subjects in here, such as limited gender roles, it‘s surprisingly gentle and hopeful in tone I felt. A definite chunkster though #notforthefainthearted (edited) 2y
Centique Loved it - I was in just the right head space for this and I‘m going to miss those letters 😍 2y
LeeRHarry This is one of my all time faves - and I actually enjoyed the movie as well. Great review 😊 (edited) 2y
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Centique @LeeRHarry ooh I‘ll have to look for the movie! 2y
batsy Lovely review! 💜 So glad you enjoyed it and like @LeeRHarry says the movie is also very good. 2y
Centique @batsy thank you Suba 😘 2y
kspenmoll Have to check out the movie- good review! 2y
Lcsmcat I loved this when I read it in the 90s. I‘ll have to look for the movie. 2y
KarenUK Lovely review! And I enjoyed this book very much too 💕 2y
sarahbarnes I‘ve had a copy of this book literally forever. I really want to read it someday! 2y
Graywacke Great review. I‘m looking for an audiobook and I‘m encouraged by your comments. I was worried this might be too difficult for audio. Noting. 2y
Centique @Graywacke he does a great job of giving each character a different sound without going overboard on accents. I may be unusual though in liking longer slower books in audio. Audio preference is such a personal taste I think 🤷🏻♀️ 2y
Centique @kspenmoll @KarenUK thank you! 😘 2y
Centique @Lcsmcat it‘s taken me 30 years to get to it! 2y
Centique @sarahbarnes I know right? I had a couple of chunksters I wanted to finally get off my list. The other one is Middlemarch 🤞 2y
Graywacke @Centique yes, i agree. It‘s a personal taste and little unpredictable. 2y
CarolynM I really didn‘t like this book much, but Samuel West is almost enough to get me to listen to it🥰 2y
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