Julia Martin is at the end of her rope in Paris. Once beautiful, she was taken care of by men. Now after leaving her last lover, she is running out...
read full description
reviews
Jul 20, 2007
Kyla
rated it: 
A book I've had on my bookshelves for some time but never got around to reading, dusted off while packing for a move. Perhaps not the ideal book or frame of mind to put yourself into as you move across the country and question your life and direction and the bland little corporate apartment you are forced to live in at first - nope, not ideal for that. A sad, desperate book. But I love her sensibility, a down at the heels Edith Wharton. The desperation women felt on having to look after themselv
More...
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Jun 08, 2010
Deja
rated it: 
Visit my review of this book and a discussion on reading sad books at: http://squeezetheuniverse.com/archives/6...
****
Re-reading this so that I can host a reading group on it for my friend's blog: http://squeezetheuniverse.com/ The plan is to be up by the end of the month, so why not join me? I plan on talking about the merits/pitfalls of being obsessed with sad books. (or something like that--we'll see.)
****
Quick, gorgeously written, heartbreaki More...
****
Re-reading this so that I can host a reading group on it for my friend's blog: http://squeezetheuniverse.com/ The plan is to be up by the end of the month, so why not join me? I plan on talking about the merits/pitfalls of being obsessed with sad books. (or something like that--we'll see.)
****
Quick, gorgeously written, heartbreaki More...
2 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Feb 27, 2011
Ali
rated it:
The only other Jean Rhys novel I have read is The Wide Sargasso Sea - which I loved and in fact read twice. This is a beautifully written little novel, which at the time it was written must have been a bit shocking.
Julia Martin is a woman who has lived off the money of various lovers. Her most recent Mr Mackenzie has been paying her through his lawyer to live in a run down hotel in Paris since she left him. Now with no money left - and no longer as young as she was Julia faces an uncertain More...
Julia Martin is a woman who has lived off the money of various lovers. Her most recent Mr Mackenzie has been paying her through his lawyer to live in a run down hotel in Paris since she left him. Now with no money left - and no longer as young as she was Julia faces an uncertain More...
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Nov 02, 2010
Michael
rated it:
Depressing 'here n' there'...but a Profound Literary Accomplishment,
I completed this book on a flight from LA to NY on 10/11/2000. This was my first reading experience by Jean Rhys.
I learned that Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis included Jean Rhys on her roster of favorite authors. That's why I bought the book. I was curious to learn what 'tickled her fancy'. At first...the book was 3 stars...but after a day or two had passed I realized that the book had quite an impact on me. I h More...
I completed this book on a flight from LA to NY on 10/11/2000. This was my first reading experience by Jean Rhys.
I learned that Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis included Jean Rhys on her roster of favorite authors. That's why I bought the book. I was curious to learn what 'tickled her fancy'. At first...the book was 3 stars...but after a day or two had passed I realized that the book had quite an impact on me. I h More...
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Apr 02, 2009
Sandra
rated it:
A very interesting book about a woman who rebels against what is expected of her and well, pays for it. What I loved is Ms. Rhys' language, accessible and enveloping. This book was written in the 1930's and even though we know what it was like for women back then, it's still slightly unbelievable to think a woman would be turned out of a hotel room if a man was discovered in her room. The narrator, Julia, is not necessarily a likeable character; she's opportunistic, moody, unstable, but she is p
More...
Nov 27, 2010
Craig
rated it: 
It would be easier to file the book away as a period piece showing two sides of the single woman in the early 20th century. Joker side 1 is the libertine Monroe with a bubbly laugh, bright clothes and a man for any bed who lies in bed during daylight, considers life in shades of gray and wanders aimlessly but alone. Joker side 2 is the doting daughter who unselfishly cares for the mother who the pretty daughter has left, who is admired and complimented by all, but who yearns to have a life out
More...
Jul 20, 2010
Lauren
rated it:
Beautiful and bleak. I read this in one sitting. Such is Rhys' artistry that she creates an unlikeable character who is still sympathetic. She's trapped not just by the limitations of her time, but by the limitations of her own character. I kept thinking of Lily Barth from Wharton's House of Mirth--Lily is bound by tighter social conventions but also by her own strength of character and morals. Lily is more likable than Julia and surely she would have judged her more harshly than we do. C
More...
Mar 07, 2009
ramona
rated it:
i am in the midst of reading all of rhys' work. this is a dangerous thing to do and i may have to take a break from it. rhys indelibly captures something very real about being a woman, having needs, disappointment, but she was also a miserable, lost creature, and the only hope in her books is the very existence of them. that she wrote so exquisitely and still had such a low opinion of humanity seems to be a testament to something muscular and breathing under the cringing and sneering she sees
More...
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Nov 05, 2010
Sarah
rated it:
Jean Rhys is an absolute master of the feminine psychological interior - her work is very stream of consciousness yet succinct, and her characters complex yet very easy to relate to. I love the relationships her characters tend to have with men - naive but jaded, broken from past hurts, reckless, and full of misdirected, desperate need to fulfill something nebulous and undefined. Much like the confusion of real life after pain. I wish I could have met Jean Rhys in life. I suspect she was a very
More...
Mar 04, 2010
Judy
rated it:
Although Jean Rhys has a reputation as being one of the best, I didn't like either the story or the writing that much. I liked it well enough to have finished it but .... The dissolution of a young woman was depressing and I didn't care for her. However, having read it once, anyway, I might go thru parts of it in my mind for a few days. Although I found the sentences "choppy," some of them were rather good. I have mixed feelings about it. (Read my review of some Rhys short stories in "
More...
Jun 04, 2011
It had been many years since I'd read this, although it's quite good. Here Rhys presents one of her less sympathetic protagonists, Julia, who hasn't fully realized quite how close she is to no longer succeeding in getting men to support her. Somewhere in her thirties but beginning to lose her looks (or at least the looks of a very young woman), she lurches along with little self-awareness or comprehension of how she appears to her lovers, her family, or people met by chance.
Sep 06, 2009
Taylor
rated it:
A book about the true horrors of being a woman with no prospects in the early twentieth century. I read it in a day and felt horribly depressed afterwards, but it's impossible to put down. Julia's desperation is sickening, and you find yourself almost wishing she would give up, but the fact that she doesn't is all the more terrifying. Possibly my favorite Rhys.
Jul 18, 2011
Robert
rated it:
A fairly short novel that tells the story of a woman at a very particular point in her life. A romantic relationship, that included financial support, has just ended, and she finds herself entering a world of suddenly constrained options. The story reminded me of a modern, working class version of Edith Wharton's "House of Mirth". Recommended.
Dec 26, 2010
Deena
rated it:
Started this book on the plane and finished it th3 next morning.It's rare I finish a book so quickly. This is so cleanly written. Precise descriptions in a minimally crafted tale. Very bleak but somehow deeply bubbling. Like a meal that looks very simple but leaves a complex aftertaste.
Feb 21, 2009
hallie
rated it:
This book was super depressing. It was very bleak and made you never ever want to go to London or Paris again. Julia's situation made me feel miserable! And there were no admirable or sympathetic characters at all. The writing is good but the story is too sad for me.
Jul 22, 2011
Jimmanning
rated it:
I loved this book, although it did seem rather depressing, the characters seemed contemporary for a novel written in 1931! My first Jean Rhys novel and I love her writing style. Looking forward to starting another of her novels soon...
Nov 05, 2011
Courtney
rated it:
This is a beautiful, devastating book by a Modernist who makes Hemingway look like an amateur. If you're only familiar with Rhys from The Wide Sargasso Sea, definitely read this one. Outstanding.
Nov 05, 2009
samwan
rated it:
I'm totally loving Jean Rhys!! But none of the libraries seems to have Wild Sargasso Sea...I might just end up buying my own copy!
Sep 19, 2007
Tom
rated it:
Rhys strikes staccato emotional chords, creating an odd little symphony of gloom. Everything seems so basic, so bare in her prose, it insists upon the reader's attention. The novel lightly anticipates humanity's mechanization during the interwar period, sketching out themes more grotesquely addressed by writers like Ballard, in his novel Crash. There aren't any heroes here, unless you'd like to make a martyr of the main character. But heroism isn't what Rhys is after anyway, she's out to scal
More...
Feb 20, 2010
Belann
rated it:
I have to agree with Sam and Deja that this book was an example of excellent writing. It was just so depressing!
May 14, 2009
Genevieve
rated it:
I found this book at a garage sale last week and I am so glad I did! The story is very bleak, but the insights into human behaviour are wonderful. I really enjoyed this book.
Aug 17, 2009
Tina
rated it:
I read a lot of Jean Rhys, and this is one of my faves. Never a happy ending!
Sep 22, 2011
Karen
rated it:
Down and out in Paris and London, distaff version. Poor Julia can't escape the patterns of her life. Rhys write this as though she'd lived it, which she had.
Dec 05, 2009
Sam
rated it:
a near perfect work of art. there was one sentence in which she used the phrase in which or on which in a way which i did not like. that was one sentence out of 190 some odd pages that wasn't perfect. there was also a scene where i thought the characters were in a cab when they were actually in a restaurant. it was confusing for a second. that aside i'd say this is one of the best books i've ever read.
ever.
ever.
