A young woman's impassioned pursuit of a sealed cache of T. S. Eliot's letters lies at the heart of this emotionally charged novel -- a story of ma...
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Sep 08, 2007
Aaron
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You know that email chain letter, "Bad Analogies from High School English Papers," the one that went "He was as tall as a six-foot-three-inch tree"? That's the feeling this book gave me a lot of the time. It's about a librarian in charge of, and obsessed with, a collection of letters T.S. Eliot wrote while separated from his wife, who was in a mental hospital. As it turns out (surprise!), the librarian himself was also separated from his wife, who was in a mental hospital. No
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Mar 10, 2008
David
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Martha Cooley obviously went to a lot of trouble setting up the various patterns and parallels in this very tightly constructed book. I wish I had enjoyed it more. But really, she might have done better if she hadn’t been trying quite so hard.
Let me explain. There are three main characters in the book – Matthias, the archivist of the title (who is custodian of a cache of T.S. Eliot’s letters, sealed for the next 60 years, and a potential treasure trove for scholars), his wife Judith, More...
Let me explain. There are three main characters in the book – Matthias, the archivist of the title (who is custodian of a cache of T.S. Eliot’s letters, sealed for the next 60 years, and a potential treasure trove for scholars), his wife Judith, More...
Nov 19, 2007
Kelly
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This has become, unintentionally I assure you, the third book in a row I've read about repression, silence, isolation, and lies, and how they destroy you bit by bit. When I began reading this, I expected something of a love story, something along the lines of Possession, by the description on the back cover.
I could not have beenn more wrong. It is instead, a very introspective, harsh self examination by a man who happens to work at an archivist at "a prominent university," More...
I could not have beenn more wrong. It is instead, a very introspective, harsh self examination by a man who happens to work at an archivist at "a prominent university," More...
Feb 23, 2009
Brittany
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I really didn't like this book. The dual plot lines were contrived; the characters felt flat, fake, and forced; and everything was just far too predictable for my taste. Add to that the unremarkable, occasionally wooden, writing, and this was a book I was eager to be done with. So that I could move on to something else, not so that I would know how it ended.
This all surprises me because I went in really expecting to like it. After all the plot sounded remarkably similar to Possession More...
This all surprises me because I went in really expecting to like it. After all the plot sounded remarkably similar to Possession More...
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Jul 24, 2009
Debbie (Readerbuzz)
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I'm participating in a twenty-four hour read-a-thon. I chose this as my first read (or half-read, as I was already up to page 175 when I started the read-a-thon).
Thoughts about the book: This book reminds me in many ways of one of my all-time favorite reads, Possession. The novel has several storylines: Matt and Judith, Roberta and her boyfriend, Roberta's parents, Judith's parents, and Eliot and his wife and Emily Hale.
As a librarian, I was intrigued with the idea of sa More...
Thoughts about the book: This book reminds me in many ways of one of my all-time favorite reads, Possession. The novel has several storylines: Matt and Judith, Roberta and her boyfriend, Roberta's parents, Judith's parents, and Eliot and his wife and Emily Hale.
As a librarian, I was intrigued with the idea of sa More...
Dec 26, 2010
Meagan
rated it:
I enjoyed the voices of each of the narrators in this novel and there were definitely some thought-provoking and powerful moments in it. I also liked reading about some characters who find reading and books to be so important to their lives - even if they are mainly interested in Eliot, who doesn't really float my boat. What was dissatisfying, though, was that the book and the characters continued to feel as if they never came fully in to focus. Despite first person narrations and despite some m
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Mar 14, 2011
Caity
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I had really high hopes for this book. A man whose wife mysteriously died works in an archive with delicate, sometimes ancient, texts, and a willful, conflicted woman is fighting him to get her hands on letters written between T.S Eliot and a lover of his before they are scheduled to be released to the public. Sounds compelling, but I kept reading, and this book disappoints. I trudged on through the lamentation and religious angst, peppered almost incoherently with poetry, expecting this intelli
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Sep 28, 2010
Paula
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This is a sandwich novel: a long middle section of diary entries by Judith Lane written during her "incarceration"--how she experienced her (in)voluntary stay at Hayden, a mental hospital during the late 50s & early 60s-- that breaks and connects Parts I and II which concern Judith's husband Matthias, an archivist at a major university library; Roberta Spire, a graduate student who wants access to T.S Elliot's letters to Emily Hale, sealed until 2020; and T.S. Elliot's poems and marria
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Jul 29, 2011
Kateri
rated it:
This was recommended to me by the greatest reader I've ever known, with the description "It's like The Hours for boys." The themes of isolation, mental illness, historical literary figures and love of reading are common to both books, but I'll revise the "for boys" part of that characterization. The main character is a man, but it's still the women who hold center stage, and it's still the women who suffer from crippling mental illness. The archivist is the recorder of their
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May 22, 2011
Patricia
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Matthias Lane is an archivist at a prestigious university that is never named in this novel. He is probably in his sixties (Matthias was born in 1918, but the novel is unclear about his exact age at the time) and has been working at the university library for many years. He is in charge of cataloging and maintaining rare books and manuscripts. One day, a youngish graduate student named Roberta Spire shows up at the library, demanding to see the letters that T.S. Eliot wrote to Emily Hale, a clo
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Oct 13, 2009
Beryl
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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May 18, 2010
Susan
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This book sounded really good: national best-seller, New York Times Notable Book of the Year, rave reviews from all corners of the literary kingdom. I loved the description, too: an archivist responsible for cataloguing a bunch of letters T.S. Eliot wrote to a woman named Emily Hale confronts his failed marriage and a grad student who has her sights set on reading those letters. And it started out interestingly enough, if not a little slow. My main problem with THE ARCHIVIST was that I didn'
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Sep 13, 2010
Niki
rated it: 
Really enjoyed this debut novel from Martha Cooley. The story is largely about the relationship between a husband and wife in post-WWII New York City and it's eventual breakdown, but it also contains themes of family, identity, religion, despair, and mental illness.
While there are discussions of the Holocaust, suicide, war and tragedy, somehow this book did not feel heavy or weighed down with depression. The author gives wonderful descriptions of spoken and unspoken interactions among her More...
While there are discussions of the Holocaust, suicide, war and tragedy, somehow this book did not feel heavy or weighed down with depression. The author gives wonderful descriptions of spoken and unspoken interactions among her More...
Feb 03, 2009
Susy
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This cleverly written story tells the story of a quiet librarian who serves as an archivist of sealed letters supposedly written by TS Elliot to a lover during the years surrounding WW2. The layers of the novel are the most gripping: his relationship with his wife who was a brilliant poet but who suffered from tragic mental health issues; his relationship with his parents and even his graduate students. The author weaves pieces of Elliots poems throughout the novel to add to the plot. I was
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Aug 13, 2009
Marvin
rated it:
A rather awkward book, one with a great appreciation (one I don't share) for T.S. Eliot, a collection of whose letters the title character cares for. It's also yet another reflection on the meaning of the Holocaust. & on how we often try to protect loved ones from the truth that we fear will harm them, how those efforts affect relationships, & the importance of accepting people as they are. These parts of the book (the dominant part) were subtly powerful, troubling, & sometimes confusing. The pr
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Aug 21, 2010
Diane
rated it:
A friend gave me this book because he heard my talk about TS Eliot. I don't think I have ever had such a strange reaction to any book. I started out very dubious - found fault with the portrayal of libraries and archivists although which made it hard for me to like the book. Really liked the use of lines from the poetry of Eliot, Auden and others and began enjoying the story of Matt and Judith and even interested in Roberta. Then everything abruptly changed and the entire middle of the book is
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Nov 05, 2010
Karen
rated it: 
Having been a bookseller in an earlier life, I picked up this novel because I liked the cover. Anyone familiar with archives knows they don't look like that, but a stack of old papers would look messy, not interesting. This novel far exceeded my expectations. A middle-aged, self-contained archivist befriends a passionate young woman obsessed with her past and the life of T.S. Eliot. The book was passionate, but reserved at the same time. Cooley created two entirely different voices for the ma
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Aug 05, 2009
Maria Sundai
rated it:
When I started this book, I loved it - loved the whole first section (there are four). The storylines were very interesting and while they didn't interwine, they did seem to shadow each other. I was very eager to read the rest and understand how everything fit together. However I was disappointed by the rest of the novel. Although background information is revealed that is supposed to bring closure and understanding to some of the questions that arise in the 1st chapter, I did not feel that it w
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Nov 25, 2009
I expected a Da Vinci Code-ish novel from the title. Suffice to say I was pleasantly surprised and relieved. I couldn't handle another book like that without having to hire a hit man for the author. The references to T.S. Eliot and jazz music truly made the story come to life. Tragically beautiful and I loved it. A search for identity amidst a masterfully fragmented plot. It made me want to immerse myself in poetry, reminding me that most of my generation wouldn't recognize poetry if it smacked
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Oct 16, 2010
Betsy
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This is an intriguing story, mostly because there is not a single "regular person" as a character. Everyone in it is either disturbed, peculiar, or confused about his identity in some way. It offers a unique glimpse into the minds of people that most of us would never(and could never) know deeply. Especially fascinating is how important, indeed vital, the written word (both writing it and reading it) is to each of the main characters. The way in which each of the main characters' li
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Aug 18, 2009
Kate
rated it: 
I got about 40 pages into this and had to stop. Her writing style reminds me of a creative writing class I took in college. AKA, it sucks. This was like some library-ized version of The Da Vinci Code.
Haha anytime I hate the way a book is written, I compare it the DVC, I know, I know. But it's just the most well-known example of that kind of writing where it's like, I know I'm reading a work of fiction that some shitty writer spent a lot of time trying to make sound good. I don't like More...
Haha anytime I hate the way a book is written, I compare it the DVC, I know, I know. But it's just the most well-known example of that kind of writing where it's like, I know I'm reading a work of fiction that some shitty writer spent a lot of time trying to make sound good. I don't like More...
Aug 29, 2009
Robin Marie
rated it:
I started out with high hopes for this book. After all it's about a librarian, and I want to be a librarian. The author is very clever in her writing and evokes strong emotions from her readers. Unfortunately the plot is utterly depressing, and the author is too good at making me feel that. I read the first 80 pages in one sitting and found myself so utterly depressed that I couldn't shake the cloud all afternoon. From that moment on every time I picked the book up that dark feeling settled over
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Aug 01, 2010
Susan
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This is a wonderful novel. The archivist works in a university library where TS Eliot's letters to Emily Hale are stored with a not to open date of 2020. This part of the story is based on truth (her letters are at Princeton). A young poet wants to see the letters and is refused. She and the archivist become friends? collaborators? antagonists? and the archivist is driven to examine his own life and spiritual beliefs. T. S. Eliot's life and poetry are woven through the story, sometimes as
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Jul 18, 2009
One of the very best novels I've read, The Archivist also has a St. Louis connection: T.S. Eliot. The novel purports to concern itself with letters written by Eliot to an American woman while Eliot was writing The Four Quartets in England and while his wife was institutionalized. But these events are only the backstory for a profound examination of faith, frailty, desire and art. Cooley came to Left Bank Books as part of our author series and we were all enthralled by her intellect and the emoti
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Jun 21, 2010
Leah
rated it:
The Archivist is about many topics which hold great interest for me. Librarianship, religion, poetry, jazz, history, and madness are all themes. However, what looked like a fascinating read at the outset quickly turned into something mediocre. What the book lacked was a sense of realism - the characters were too convenient, the story too cliche.
Matthias Lane works as an archivist for a prestigious university. One day a young woman comes in and requests to see T.S. Eliot's letters to More...
Matthias Lane works as an archivist for a prestigious university. One day a young woman comes in and requests to see T.S. Eliot's letters to More...
Mar 02, 2011
Kate
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
To view it, click here
Jul 18, 2010
Sarah
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There seems to be a trend towards complex debut novels with multiple timelines, parallel structures and themes evolving across points in history. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn't. For me and the reviewer at Curious Bedfellows, The Archivist doesn't work.
Matthias Lane works at the Princeton archive that houses the T.S. Eliot papers. The letters of Emily Hale are sealed until 2020. A young poet, Roberta, who happens to remind Lane of his own wife (deceased) and of Emily Hale, a More...
Matthias Lane works at the Princeton archive that houses the T.S. Eliot papers. The letters of Emily Hale are sealed until 2020. A young poet, Roberta, who happens to remind Lane of his own wife (deceased) and of Emily Hale, a More...
Oct 01, 2009
K8e
rated it:
I think I would give it 2.5 stars if I could.
The book itself has different parts, four I think in total.
Part one, describes Matt's job basically as an archivist. He's got some issues about guilt, stemming from his wife, Judith, who was sent to a psych ward called Hayden. His main job is to keep everything away from his work including people, dust, condensation, light etc. He archives T. S. Eliot's poems/letters to Emily Hale. A young poet, Roberta Spire, attempts to h More...
The book itself has different parts, four I think in total.
Part one, describes Matt's job basically as an archivist. He's got some issues about guilt, stemming from his wife, Judith, who was sent to a psych ward called Hayden. His main job is to keep everything away from his work including people, dust, condensation, light etc. He archives T. S. Eliot's poems/letters to Emily Hale. A young poet, Roberta Spire, attempts to h More...
Jun 09, 2011
James
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Matthias Lane, a reclusive widower in his 60's, is an archivist at a university library. The jewel of his collection is a set of letters that T. S. Eliot wrote to his friend Emily Hale over a 20-year period -- letters that Hale bequeathed to the library, provided that they be kept sealed until the year 2020. This is his story and that of his wife and family. Although The Archivist takes place on an intimate stage -- no more than two or three characters are typically present in a scene -- the n
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Feb 22, 2010
Amber
rated it:
The Archivist has been around for a good ten years. Every now and then I see it pop up on a shelf at some over crowded book store, hidden among thousands of other books. The summary intrigues, the blurbs confirm its place in history, this book is a gem. The writing is eloquent, the plot, well it constantly thickens, the story grabs and then pulls you in and leaves you wondering "seriously, this is her first novel?" I only wish I had read Cooley sooner.
Matt, is an aging ar More...
Matt, is an aging ar More...
