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Aug 19, 2011

Ellie rated it:

Everything Beautiful Began After by Simon Van Booy is a truly stunning book. Vivid images cascade one after another but all serve to illuminate the characters and their past.

Three characters dominate the story-the classic French scenario of a woman (Rebecca) loved by two men. But in this story, all the characters are dominated by pasts filled with loss & abandonment and childhoods scarred in powerful ways.

This image is a representative example of how Van Booy uses images More...

7 comments like (9 people liked it)

Jun 24, 2011

NerdGirlBlogger rated it:

I'd say it is the perfect novel or at least, the perfect novel for me.

Of course, I loved it–in fact, it is the best book I’ve read in 2011. Set against the spectacular backdrop of an Athens summer that changed the lives of three tortured souls forever, Everything Beautiful Began After: A Novel is not your typical story of soul-searching abroad, or an entangled romantic triangle. This novel is told with Van Booy’s trademark gift to write about love, truth, beauty and compassion in a More...

7 comments like (8 people liked it)

Feb 11, 2012

Vivienne rated it:

I couldn't decide if I should give this book two stars or five, so I settled on four.

I was sold on it by the blurb beneath it on the shelf at my favorite bookshop, claiming that had Fitzgerald and Hemingway had a baby, it would be this book. As I love both of those authors, I had a hard time saying no. In many ways, this is entirely accurate. (Also, in the author photo at the back, Van Booy definitely looks like he really, really wishes that he was Jay Gatsby.)

Ultimately, I t More...

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Oct 09, 2011

Judith rated it:

This book caught my attention because it is set in Athens and one of the characters is an archaeologist, topics I enjoy. Those two aspects turn out not to be overly central, but I’m glad I read it. The narrative voices and the structure of the novel are inventive and very contemporary in style. Van Booy has created a masterful piece of fiction, although it is not an easy read. I found it disorienting at times, and sometimes the masterful demanded I take notice of the author’s skill rather than l More...

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Sep 30, 2011

Larry rated it:

I fell in love with Simon Van Booy's mesmerizing short story collection, Love Begins in Winter, when I read it in 2009, and it was among my favorite books of that year. His first novel, Everything Beautiful Began After, approaches love and relationships in a wholly different way, and although it didn't resonate with me as much as his short story collection, Van Booy's writing continues to transfix me.

Rebecca is a former flight attendant and an aspiring artist on the run from life. G More...

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Sep 21, 2011

Denis rated it:

This may well be one of the most exquisitely written books of the year. I can imagine that some may find Van Booy's style precious and maybe too elaborate, and I guess some could describe him as an acquired taste: it seems that people don't write like this anymore, today - and that, for me, is an immense quality. I miss writers who are able to create, in some ways, a language of their own, who aren't afraid to be poetic (without sounding pretentious or ridiculous), who want to enchant the reader More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 29, 2011

Jamie rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

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Jul 24, 2011

Amy added it

Everything Beautiful Began After by Simon Van Booy

ISBN: 978-0-06-166148-8
Pages: 416
Release Date: July 5, 2011
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Genre: Literary Fiction
Rating: 5 out of 5

Publisher: Rebecca is young, lost, and beautiful. A gifted artist, she seeks solace and inspiration in the Mediterranean heat of Athens—trying to understand who she is and how she can love without fear.
George has come to Athens to learn ancient languages after gr More...

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Jul 21, 2011

Carita rated it:

Van Booy has such a deft touch with language, I wasn't sure it could carry a novel... but it does, and gracefully.

This was a simple, thought-provoking read. Henry, Rebecca and George were interesting to follow on their journeys, interesting to understand. Van Booy describes their surroundings beautifully, with the kind of subtle skill that can leave aspiring writers gnashing their teeth with envy.

The book isn't perfect. The writing is still in short story form; on one han More...

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Jun 23, 2011

Heather rated it:

Everything Beautiful Began After took me by surprise. It begins with a little girl playing in the "wild end of the garden". She's thinking about how she came to be, and realizing there was life before her, she decides she again wants to hear the story about how her parents met.

I thought I had an idea of the story this book would tell, but I was taken down a completely different path.

Rebecca is a beautiful, young, former French stewardess turned aspiring artist.
More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Nov 07, 2011

Jenny rated it:

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0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Nov 01, 2011

Erika rated it:

The novel takes place largely in Athens, Sicily, and France, but spans many continents and time periods, and is divided into the time before and after an event. Before the event, in Athens, Greece, three people’s lives converge in unexpected ways as they are all displaced in some way from a life they should be living, where they reside under the cover of shadows from their pasts or demons from their present.

Rebecca, an artist, still feels the hollow wound of her mother’s abandonment of More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Dec 14, 2011

Rosy rated it:

Simon Van Booy has a beautiful way with prose that left me in tears at some points when reading his two short story collections ‘Love Begins in Winter’ and ‘The Secret Lives of People in Love’. So I was eagerly anticipating his first full novel ‘Everything Beautiful Began After.’

And it does contain a lot of the things that I loved in Booy’s shorter prose. His trademark lyrical beauty and skill with words is present throughout, but unfortunately some of the skill that weaves his stori More...

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Oct 02, 2011

Sasha added it

So many disappointments in me right now.

I don’t have the energy—or the patience—to rationally talk about those bedamned disappointments right now. How to say that the prose had me rolling my eyes more times than it made me breathless? How to say that I didn’t feel as though Van Booy respected his characters to give them room to grow—and not just mope for the purpose of displaying the author’s dubious skillz with the language? How to say that I am certain that a chunk of the book coul More...

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Jun 10, 2011

Jennie rated it:

I have let this book simmer in my mind for a while after finishing, trying to find the words to write this review. Alas, I am still at a loss but must get the review written anyway. This book was written in a manor that left me with a feeling of confusion each time I put it down – I didn’t understand where anything was going in the plot or with the characters. I felt lost but could sense the drama building but never really connected with any of it. When the sense of impending doom finally came t More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

May 24, 2011

Elizabeth rated it:

I think this is a book that will divide its audience: either you will love it or you will give up after a few chapters. Having not read anything by this author previously, I was intrigued by the writing style. Most of the novel is composed of short, direct sentences that read almost like a journalistic reporting of events. No effort is made at description or character building which will bother some readers. I, however, found the style to be generally engaging and it helped pull me along thr More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 01, 2011

Olduvai rated it:

“For those who are lost, there will always be cities that feel like home.

Paces where lonely people can live in exile of their own lives – far from anything that was ever imagined for them.”

I was going to start off by saying that I would pretty much read anything that Simon van Booy writes. And then I stopped and thought, this book is actually only the second book of his that I’ve read (the first being his collection of short stories, Love Begins in Winter – even announcing it More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 09, 2011

Remoy rated it:

There is a shift in book 2 of this novel that makes the amorous utopian blasé narrative of book 1 smartly plotted. And this is not specific to the dramatic shift, but to the shift in how the protagonist is no longer just "Henry" but suddenly compounded into a three letter direct pronoun that allows the spectator to become less the spectator and more the character involved in the spectacle that is Everything Beautiful Began After. There are many modern conventions like this throughout t More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 27, 2011

Acacia rated it:

The first "book" is wonderfully evocative of the warmth of the sun, and the scents and dusty roads of Athens. Of brief encounters and falling in love and friendships developed too fast and too close and a time of potential. Then a devastating intermission. The next two books, for me, was a struggle between me as reader, and the thoughts and feelings the writer was trying to impose on me. This is the problem I have every time a writer moves into second person. I always feel like its a c More...

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Jul 30, 2011

Carol rated it:

The first time that I tried to read this book, I was completely lost and confused and that was after only eight pages! I put the book down and decided to come back to for a second try.

The second time went better; I got through the whole book. It is very true that you either loved it or hated it. I did not like it. I cannot help my feelings. For me the first half was better than the second and I would have preferred to stop there.

First, here is what I like about the book. More...

1 comment like

Jul 15, 2011

Sarah Joyce rated it:

I fell in love with Everything Beautiful Began After after having just read the Prologue and the rest of the book did not disappoint. Simon Van Booy’s beautiful poetic language is stunning and his descriptions require the reader to pause and take a deep breath to take them in. The characters are so well developed that one cannot help but love and care deeply for them. It is fascinating to watch as they argue over the existence of fate while we quietly witness fate take its toll on each of them. More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 28, 2011

Sharon rated it:

This book is beautifully written by Simon Van Booy whose use of language makes you want to dwell on his words. The book looks at how our past lives shape us and together with fate, determine the nature of our love. Booy delves into the lives of his three characters who have all come to Athens: Rebecca, an artist; George, who studies ancient languages; and Henry, who is a young archaeologist. The story unfolds mostly around Henry's broken heart after he loses his first love. This line of the bo More...

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Aug 25, 2011

Jamie rated it:

I had to think about this one for awhile and then I realized that the very fact I was thinking about it means it did what I like books to do: entertain and make me think. Everything Beautiful Began After did both. There were parts that were hard for me to read but I find myself quoting the book more than most other books I've read. It does remind me in a way of The Elegance of the Hedgehog, but the difference for me between the four and five star (five star to Hedgehog) was that there were times More...

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Aug 29, 2011

Sarah rated it:

Book Review | Everything Beautiful Began After
Posted on August 29, 2011 at www.theornamentedline.wordpress.com

Everything Beautiful Began After

Simon Van Booy is a writer for those who truly love and enjoy the written word — those who possess the ability to fall in love with a line and cherish a book for a single sentence. Luckily this work contains many beautifully crafted sentences, as well as complex characters that both break your heart and induce inspiration.
More...

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Aug 05, 2011

Jennifer rated it:

I had never read anything by Simon Van Booy before, but it was a recommended read at my local independent bookshop, so I decided to give this book a try. I am so glad I did. Simon Van Booy writes in such a way that you have the most vivid picture in your mind of a place you've never been. He writes so beautifully and poetically, and carves out his characters perfectly. I devoured this book despite all the other reviews that said it should be savored. I couldn't savor it, I just wanted more. More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 28, 2011

Marg rated it:

There are a number of very enthusiastic fans of Simon Van Booy. After hearing rave reviews from Jen and Bookfool (amongst others) I added his books to my list but he doesn't have any books in my library catalogue so I was contemplating how I was going to get my chance to try his writing! Lucky for me, not long after this book came up on Netgalley, and I requested instantly!

Now, I am lucky enough to be able to join in on the praise, because the language was a joy to read! Simon Van More...

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Sep 18, 2011

Erika rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

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Jan 18, 2012

Deanna rated it:

The only likeable feature of this book, in my opinion, was the scenery of Europe and travels made by the characters within. Van Booy also adds some contemporary features into his work, such as faxed letters, and drawings and sketches from children. These parts were refreshing and fun, but the rest of the novel was cliché, making it hard to think beyond the words on each page. Van Booy tangles his philosophical thoughts in his characters actions and motives, yet it is difficult to connect the two More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 18, 2011

Melody rated it:

Everything Beautiful Began After tells a story about three different people and how their life changed after they met one another. At one glance of the blurb, one may dismiss it as a love story but let me tell you that there's more going on here than that.

Rebecca used to be an air stewardess before she comes to Athens to paint. When Rebecca was young, she and her sister lived with their grandfather as they were abandoned by their mother. At that time, she was also very intrigued by t More...

5 comments like (1 person liked it)

Nov 16, 2011

Kristin rated it:

I honestly don't know what to rate this, so I won't. I can't say that I really liked it, although it was beautifully written. Really...I don't know!!

0 comments like (1 person liked it)