By a Slow River
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By a Slow River
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3.65 of 5 stars
A bestseller in France and winner of the Prix Renaudot, By a Slow River is a mesmerizing and atmospheric tale of three mysterious deaths in ... read full description

reviews

Apr 20, 2009
Oscar rated it: 5 of 5 stars
¡No perdáis el tiempo leyendo ésto y corred a comprar este libro! Si el último libro publicado por Claudel, 'El informe de Brodeck', era perfecto, este, que es anterior, roza lo sublime. Todas las frases son perfectas, no hay ninguna mala. Parece increíble pero es cierto. La prosa de Claudel es deliciosa, todo encaja como en un reloj suizo. Se me acaban los calificativos.

Diciembre de 1917, en un pueblecito de Francia. Acaba de ser encontrada una niña flotando en el canal y a la escen More...
2 comments like (2 people liked it)
Jan 29, 2012
CD rated it: 5 of 5 stars
El Libro es algo indefinible, aunque esta basado en la 1º Guerra mundial no va de la guerra en si, tampoco es un thriller pues a pesar de haber un asesinato (y un suicidio)no son mas que meras excusas para descubrir la personalidad, la forma de ser y el interior de los personajes. Es un libro que no deja indeferente a nadie. Para mi, una pequeña joya, con su prosa delicada, con sus almas grises.... todo un descubrimiento.
1 comment like (2 people liked it)
Jun 03, 2010
Bettie rated it: 5 of 5 stars
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here
0 comments like (1 person liked it)
Nov 21, 2011
Janelle rated it: 4 of 5 stars
A beautifully written novel. The narrative voice is one of the strongest I have read in a while. Claudel creates a fascinating protagonist who happens to be an observer of people and therefore draws wonderful characters- quixotic, humorous and flawed. The tone reminds me of "A Prayer for the Dying" by Stewart O'Nan. I can't imagine what life must have been like during WWI, but Claudel brings some of that into his novel. It's not a WWI story, but the war serves as a backdrop, enhan More...
1 comment like (1 person liked it)
Aug 30, 2010
R. rated it: 5 of 5 stars
J'avais attendu longtemps avant de lire ce livre, il était là tout proche prenant, depuis de longs mois déjà, la poussière sur l'une de mes étagères. C'est un livre que j'avais acheté d'occasion, je ne sais pas ce qui a poussé son ancien propriétaire à le revendre mais je ne pense pas que ce soit lié à la qualité du texte. Après l'avoir lu, j'ai dû encore attendre longtemps avant de m'atteler à la rédaction de ce billet tant la claque je j'avais reçu lors de la lecture des âmes grises était gran More...
0 comments like (1 person liked it)
Aug 03, 2010
Rowland rated it: 3 of 5 stars
Grey Souls (By a Slow River in the US) is sodden with death. The events on which the book focusses are set during World War I, in a town only a few miles from the front, and the sounds from the battles and the steady stream of wounded are a constant reminder of the life-and-death struggle nearby, but it is other deaths that hit closer to home.

The book is narrated by the man who was a policemen there at that time, looking back upon events and the mysteries of those years. He takes his More...
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Oct 10, 2010
Friederike rated it: 5 of 5 stars
"During my lifetime, I hardly spoke. Now I write as if I had died since then. And, deep down, that is true. That's the real, true truth. For a long time now, I feel dead. I pretend that I still live a bit. I am on borrowed time. That's all." [translations are mine] The events that, twenty years later, continue to disturb the nameless narrator of LES AMES GRISES take place in a small town in northern France during World War I, in a region so close to the frontline, that the sounds of wa More...
0 comments like (1 person liked it)
Apr 26, 2011
soul rated it: 3 of 5 stars
Много приятно написана, макар и мрачна книга за мистериите във френско село по време на Първата световна война. Хората в него не са променили навиците си, живеят си живота, какъвто е бил и преди, охолен или беден и всичко върви по допирателната на войната. Само я чуват зад хълмовете, четат за нея, но тя не е от техния свят, опитват се да я надлъгват и да се нагодят към нея, "както се прави с лошите сънища и горчивите спомени". Дори живеят от войната - всички мъже работят в завода, " More...
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Mar 01, 2011
Belen added it
Por primera vez en Años, estoy con dos libros a la vez. Faulkner (Absalom, Absalóm! profundo, farragoso, difícil e intenso) y éste, de lectura fácil pero acabo de empezarlo, ya veremos.


Bien, ya está acabado. Me ha fastidiado el final. La vida te puede sorprender y eso puedo admitirlo, podemos ir equivocados, con la dirección puesta fija para solo conseguir un error, vale, pero considero que una novela así es bastante engañosa. O quiero penasrlo.


Me gustaba bast More...
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Aug 29, 2007
Beverly rated it: 5 of 5 stars
A stark, vivid depiction of the terror and horrors of WWI as the nearby French village confronted a brutal murder of a young girl. The descriptions of locations, characters and situations are stunning. The language is beautiful. This is a haunting story of very painful truths told with poetic insight. It isn't an "easy read", and it won't be easily forgotten.
0 comments like (3 people liked it)
Feb 13, 2010
Jean-Luc rated it: 5 of 5 stars
superbe récit à la fois amoureux et policier, à la lisière des tourments de la guerre, dans le gris indistinct de chacune des âmes.A conseiller
0 comments like (1 person liked it)
Feb 08, 2012
Miss Wednesday rated it: 1 of 5 stars
By giving this book just one star I don't want to say that it's not a good book. The language is powerful and the author often shows an amazing insight into humanity. Still it's so utterly depressing that I never want to think about it again. Nothing good happens throughout the whole book, everyone who seems good at heart or likeable suffers and dies in a cruel and inhuman way. There are characters so unlikeable and unfeeling they made me sick just hearing about the,. If life was like it's descr More...
1 comment like (1 person liked it)
Jan 29, 2012
Tina rated it: 3 of 5 stars
Ich habe dieses Hörbuch kürzlich zum zweiten Mal angehört, als ich mich mit dem Thema Erster Weltkrieg beschäftigt habe und ich muss gestehen, dass es mir bei diesem zweiten Hören wesentlich besser gefallen hat. Durch die vielen Zeitsprünge war ich beim ersten Mal noch etwas verwirrt.
Graue Seelen ist die Geschichte eines französischen Dorfes unweit der Front, dessen etwas apathisch wirkende Einwohner durch den Mord an einem Mädchen aufgerüttelt werden. Der Staatsanwalt will den Mord zwei Kr More...
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Feb 25, 2010
Núria rated it: 2 of 5 stars
Siempre mantengo que una de las cualidades imprescindibles para que un libro sea realmente bueno es que el estilo tiene que ser sencillo. Aunque en realidad con “sencillo” quiero decir más bien “natural”. Vladimir Nabokov, por ejemplo, tiene un estilo lleno de florituras, metáforas rebuscadas, imágenes evocadoras, figuras retóricas complicadas, pero sin embargo su estilo fluye de forma natural, parece que se haya puesto a escribir y le haya salido todo tal cual, a la primera, de forma natural, s More...
7 comments like
Nov 21, 2011
Mike rated it: 4 of 5 stars
Sometimes I find a review that hits the nail, so I share this one:

"The distinct quality of the writing...conjures up the eerie atmosphere of an Edgar Allan Poe murder-mystery...A page turning whodunit with a subtle aftertaste."~~Kate Chisholm, The Sunday Telegraph

And for all the lurking menace of evil-doing that hovers over this story, this novel is decidedly NOT a crime thriller in the genre sense. This is good literature, and it reads as if it were penned in 1 More...
1 comment like
Nov 21, 2011
Tony rated it: 4 of 5 stars
Claudel, Philippe. BY A SLOW RIVER. (2003; Eng. Ed. 2006). ****. Once again, the author exhibits his talent for description by innuendo using time as his scratchboard to set scenes and describe personalities. The story is about a “case” that still occupies the mind of a retired policeman. The case involved the murder by strangulation of a ten-year old girl in a small village somewhere in France. Her body was then thrown into the local canal where it was eventually found. Her nickname in More...
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Nov 21, 2011
Charlotte rated it: 1 of 5 stars
Another book club book. I have to lead the discussion on this one, which will be interesting, because I didn't particularly like it; despite of the fact that it won a prestigious French literary award. "By a Slow River" is a good name for the book, because the book is a bit slow and meandering. The main story takes place during WWI, though it is told from the perspective of a man 20 yrs. after the events occurred recounting his memories of the past. The time shifts the narrator mak More...
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Feb 13, 2010
Vanillabricot rated it: 3 of 5 stars
Me voilà réconciliée avec Phillipe Claudel.
Je n'avais que peu apprécié "j'abandonne" et encore moins "Quelques uns des cents regrets". J'avais regretté leur atmosphère grisatre qui contrastait durement avec le beau mois de juillet d'alors: cigales, festival et abricots.
Il est des livres, et peut-être à plus juste titre des auteurs, qui s'affaiblissent ou au contraire se révèlent selon les conditions de lectures.

J'ai lu "les âmes grises" de re More...
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Jan 29, 2012
Stephanie rated it: 4 of 5 stars
" Elle ressemblait ainsi à une très jeune princesse de conte, aux lèvres bleuies et aux paupières blanches. Ses cheveux se mêlaient aux herbes roussies par les matins de gel et ses petites mains s'étaient fermées sur du vide. Il faisait si froid ce jour-là que les moustaches de tous se couvraient de neige à mesure qu'ils soufflaient l'air comme des taureaux. On battait la semelle pour faire revenir le sang dans les pieds. Dans le ciel, des oies balourdes traçaient des cercles. Elles semblai More...
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Dec 15, 2009
Maurits rated it: 4 of 5 stars
Great but dark book about loneliness, written from the perspective of a police officer, who didn't know all the facts straight away, only after serveral interviews, so you won't get all the facts either. The story is about a murder of a young girl, but that's only one of the many storylines, lines about the diversity of the villagers, the impact of world war one on their lifes, etc. Very well written!
0 comments like (1 person liked it)
Dec 21, 2008
Christian rated it: 3 of 5 stars
I finally finished this truly dark novel on our flight to the US this year. A little bit too nihilistic for me, but it is truly beautifully written. I will never get the picture of raw eggs on a beard out of my head.

I can recommend this book to anyone who needs proof that we're all grey rather than black and white. Don't read it if you're borderline suicidal though, it might push you over.
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Dec 17, 2011
Fran rated it: 5 of 5 stars
in my opinion an extraordinary novel
combines elements of thriller, romance, philosophy and historical reflection
the description of ambience and atmosphere is amazing and delicate
one of the books whose reading has given me more pleasure in recent years
excellent literary quality .
totally recomendble for lovers of literature
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Nov 21, 2011
Alicia rated it: 2 of 5 stars
By A Slow River is a French mystery. I have found that the French literary style is not a particular favorite of mine. I have a difficult time with novels that do not have one sympathetic character (or at least one that isn't too awful). The French authors I have read tend to have a writing style that creates an emotional distance from its characters. Oddly enough, I find this interesting and compelling in French movies. Can't explain why but I will give it some thought.

Anyway, becau More...
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Aug 24, 2010
Loredana rated it: 4 of 5 stars
A very touching book about life and relationships between people, in a background of war, violence and grey indifference. I liked it! You have to read it for yourselves in order to get a larger picture of what the book's really about. It's a smooth and flowing read. I highly recommend it!
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Jun 18, 2010
ROSE rated it: 5 of 5 stars
"Les âmes grises", en français.
Un roman magnifique, empli de poésie. Philippe Claudel rend ses personnages extrêmement profonds.
J'ai adoré !!
Un film a été adapté, ne surtout pas s'y fier, il n'est pas très bon !
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Nov 23, 2011
Alison rated it: 5 of 5 stars
Les âmes grises est mon livre préféré et de loin. La claque qu'on se prend en lisant ce livre est tout simplement monumental. Je le conseille à quiconque aime lire.
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Dec 15, 2011
Sheri rated it: 4 of 5 stars
WW I was a time of slaughter in Europe. So this novel, set close to the front in a rural French town, and relating the story of the deaths of some female non-combatants, has an eerie quality when juxtaposed with what you know is happening just a few miles away. The writing (and translation) is exquisite. It was difficult to resist reading sentences out loud to my husband every chapter or two. I adored Brodeck, Claudell's novel set (apparently) during WW II. I found By A Slow River less sati More...
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Nov 21, 2011
Brianne rated it: 5 of 5 stars
Around page 50 of this novel, I knew I would read it again. I cannot remember ever feeling that way about a book before -- and that likely is why I am adding this review! The story is set in France during World War I in a town very near the front and each of the lead characters carry with them a sadness and emptiness that must have consumed people of that time. This is not a happy read, but Claudel's prose is beautiful and left me with a very real pain in my stomach for the characters of his s More...
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Feb 25, 2008
sisterimapoet rated it: 4 of 5 stars
I picked this book based on mostly the title alone - as part of my What's In A Name reading challenge.

I wasn't sure it would be my kind of thing, set a while ago and French (for some reason I seem to hold a belief that I don't like French literature, although every French book I think of I have enjoyed...).

But I thoroughly enjoyed it. It had a beautiful tone, pace, setting. Wistful and revelatory. A gentle story about brutal acts.

No wonder it won some Frenc More...
0 comments like (1 person liked it)
Jul 30, 2011
Lauren added it
Approaching the end of the book, the story pierces your heart and makes you bleed...willingly.
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