false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171904329m/125502.jpg 125502 22 <I>What I Loved</I> is a deeply touching elegiac novel that mourns for the New York artistic life, which was of a time but now has gone--by extension, it is about all losses swept away by mischance and time. Half-blind and alone, Leo tells us of marriage and friendship, and makes the sheer fragility of what seemed forever not only his subject, but perhaps the only subject worth considering. Scholars Leo and his wife Erica admire, and befriend, artist Bill and his first and second wives--their respective sons Matthew and Mark grow up together until the first of a series of tragedies strikes. And things get gradually worse from then on, both because terrible things happen and because people do not get over them. <p> Part of the strength of this impressive novel is its emotional intensity and part is the context in which those emotions exist; these are smart and talented people, even the children, and we luxuriate, even when things are at their worst, in the sheer intelligence they bring to bear on their situations. It is also impressive that, for Hustvedt, intelligence is an end in itself rather than something that prevents tragedy or makes it more bearable. This is a powerful book because everything Leo knows makes him ever more the victim of exquisite pain. --<I>Roz Kaveney</I> 1309881 4 8 2003 What I Loved total:1246|5:440|4:468|3:243|2:73|1:22| 1246 4969 1905 215 4 5 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Sat Jan 05 12:30:41 -0800 2008 Sat Jan 05 12:46:00 -0800 2008
The story is di...more...]]> 5 4 false false Sat Dec 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Sat Dec 08 10:55:05 -0800 2007 Tue Dec 18 11:18:20 -0800 2007 more...]]> 2 4 false false Tue Jun 26 23:57:43 -0700 2007 Wed Aug 22 17:50:11 -0700 2007 more...]]> 4 3 false false Tue May 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Sun May 20 05:52:38 -0700 2007 Mon May 21 09:03:53 -0700 2007 more...]]> 5 4 false false Thu Oct 23 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sat Oct 18 07:26:24 -0700 2008 Thu Oct 23 21:24:53 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 3 false false Thu Mar 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Wed Jun 13 15:01:37 -0700 2007 Tue Jul 10 00:06:08 -0700 2007
I didn't initially like the descriptions of the a...more...]]> 4 2 false false Mon Nov 24 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Mon Nov 24 18:23:53 -0800 2008 Mon Nov 24 18:24:49 -0800 2008 more...]]> 3 1 false false Thu Apr 10 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Thu Apr 10 21:41:15 -0700 2008 Thu Apr 10 21:46:49 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 1 false false Thu Nov 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Mon Sep 17 05:35:13 -0700 2007 Sat Dec 01 10:17:58 -0800 2007 more...]]> 5 1 false false Mon Oct 27 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Mon Oct 27 08:52:33 -0700 2008 Mon Oct 27 11:14:14 -0700 2008
The story plays out in three parts, and the first two were utterly transcendent. The third part is totally compelling, and I couldn't stop reading until I'd finished the book, but somehow the mid-portion of the last part felt a bit f...more...]]> 3 1 false false Sat Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Tue Sep 11 22:53:20 -0700 2007 Fri Sep 14 17:44:13 -0700 2007 more...]]> 5 1 false false Mon Dec 15 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Sat Dec 13 08:13:46 -0800 2008 Mon Dec 15 20:45:02 -0800 2008 1 more...]]> 4 1 false false Sun Sep 28 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Tue Sep 02 19:49:17 -0700 2008 Tue Sep 23 19:37:12 -0700 2008 1
Just finished 9/22 and really enjoyed it. I got really caught up in the middle 60% of the book and could not put it down. That meant for some much to late nights. I loved the characters and was talking back to the book as I read because some of their acti...more...]]> 5 1 false false Sun Apr 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Thu Jul 26 06:28:43 -0700 2007 Thu Jul 26 06:33:43 -0700 2007 more...]]> 5 0 false false Wed May 06 06:36:17 -0700 2009 Wed May 06 07:38:05 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Mon Jul 06 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Jun 26 00:17:20 -0700 2009 Wed Jul 08 00:45:09 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon Oct 13 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Thu May 21 09:09:45 -0700 2009 Thu May 21 09:10:04 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Tue Jan 20 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Tue Jan 20 01:50:29 -0800 2009 Tue Jan 20 01:58:04 -0800 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false true Wed Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Jun 24 13:19:58 -0700 2009 Thu Jul 16 13:50:10 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sun Feb 08 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Mon Feb 09 05:59:31 -0800 2009 Mon Feb 09 06:45:20 -0800 2009
Anything I could say would give away the plot - some peripheral stuff of note: Hustvedt did not publish her first novel until she was 39 - the two I've read are set in times and places in New York with wh...more...]]> http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=125502