book data
129 ratings, 4.04 average rating, 23 reviews
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published
December 31st 1992
by Vintage
binding
Paperback, 240 pages
isbn
0679738045
(isbn13: 9780679738046)
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 208)
Read in November, 2008
This slim stream-of-consciousness volume would be hard to decipher without knowing Elizabeth Smart's background: she fell in love with the poet George Barker through his poetry, then flew him and his wife to California, then began an long-term affair with him. Knowing this, you can follow the narrative thread, in which she suffers from and rejoices in love, which is alternatively unbearable, triumphant, and despondent. Very short -- I read it in one day. Much easier to follow than other stream-o...more
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Though the novel seems complicated at the beginning, but on the contrary this is a simple autobiographic novel about LOVE, writen by a young girl with a wonderful female language! A girl fall in love with a homosexual man who is already married with another woman. These three spend the summer(1945?) at Californian coast while Europa (where they come from!?) is burning in war flames. The man and the girl leave together, start a journey, spending time in dirty guest-houses, sunny coasts, low-spiri...more
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Actually, this is poetic prose, but since I don't have a category for it "poetry" will have to do.
It is quite possibly the most heartbreaking love story I have ever read - a completely destructive affair with a married man, all its highs:
"O the water of love that floods everything over, so that there is nothing the eye sees that is not covered in. There is no angle the world can assume which the love in my eye cannot make into a symbol of love."
and the lows:
Perhaps ...more
It is quite possibly the most heartbreaking love story I have ever read - a completely destructive affair with a married man, all its highs:
"O the water of love that floods everything over, so that there is nothing the eye sees that is not covered in. There is no angle the world can assume which the love in my eye cannot make into a symbol of love."
and the lows:
Perhaps ...more
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Wrong person, wrong time... and yet, such an amazing, strong, beautiful love. Beautifully written.
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What it means to try to love in the face of anything
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Read in December, 2008
An eloquent appeal in the name of love...
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Read in January, 1991
recommends it for:
People who appreciate poetic prose.
I wanted to like this book more and I feel the fault is mine and not Smart's. I struggled with it for quite a while before I gave up. It is and inspiring book and one where you can pick it up, read a few lines and go away with something to think about. Not that long after I bought The Assumption of the Rogues and Rascals but I has the same problem with that one. My loss.
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Read in May, 2006
A- Her prose is brilliant even if at times you lose the plot. The most beautiful sentence is "By Grand Central Station I sat down and wept"--and when you read it within the context of the book, it hits you hard--so intense and beautiful. I loved this! It's about a tragic love affair with a married man--Elizabeth Smart's relationship with poet George Barker.
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Read in July, 2008
Elizabeth Smart's writing is absolutely stunning. This poetic story is one that is filled with incredible metaphors and descriptions to express how powerful love is as an emotion. Many references to Biblical and literary figures make it exciting and challenging. Although not a huge fan of poetry, Smart captured my heart!
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Attracted to this book by its enticing title, I was sorely disappointed to find that from then on it goes downhill. One doesn't need a lengthy review to get an idea of the content of this book. This isn't writing, it's typing! It is simply a collection of words, not a story, not a poem, not even a book, just words!
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Read in June, 2007
Perhaps the best piece of prose I have ever come across. The heartbreak in this book is beyond the misery that most people will ever experience. What amazes me is how someone could muster the strength to write something this amazing after being crushed so completely. Cigarettes are probably a requirement for this one.
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Read in June, 2006
One of the best book titles, and reread regularly by me. A stream of consciousness novel with a huge heart, the partially autobiographical account of the early part of a young womens affair (that ended only decades later after the birth of Smarts 4 children) with a married poet. Deserved a place in the Canadian canon.
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a few truths hidden inside a hysterical mess. admirable and damnable for its self-indulgence. contrary to marginal belief, not the most illustrious prose in the universe, but quite beautiful at times--though more beautiful conceptually than in prose-qua-prose.
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A very dear friend gave me this as a present for a long journey I've just begun. I nearly finished it before my first flight (one of nine in the next five weeks) touched down, but it's beauty and power will surely resonate for long after I've returned home.
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Read in June, 2006
It's really difficult to describe this story. Coming from a film background I could only compare it to the lyrical films of Maya Deren or Stan Brakhage. It's a beautiful, fluttering mess.
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I'm all about the prose poetry right now, and I read a review stating this prose-poem-novel is one of the defining works.
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An interesting effort to write a novel with the free flow of verse. Not entirely successful, but still powerful and moving.
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please note that i haven't neglected to rate this, i simply gave it no stars.
aaagh.
aaagh.
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Read in September, 2007
A good, short read. The prose of it becomes tedious at times, but is beautiful at others.
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Read in January, 2000
recommends it for:
masochists
I still can't believe this book doesn't make course lists... Smart is utterly stunning.
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quotes from this book
"No, my advocates, my angels with sadist eyes, this is the beginning of my life, or the end. So I lean affirmation across the cafe table, and surrender my fifty years away with an easy smile. But the surety of my love is not dismayed by any eventuality which prudence or pity can conjure up, and in the end all that we can do is to sit at the table over which our hands cross, listening to tunes from the wurlitzer, with love huge and simple between us, and nothing more to be said."
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