The Golden Gate
by Vikram Seth
The Golden Gate
Vikram Seth |
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 430)
Read in March, 2008
recommended to Molly by:
Phil Zeyliger
I was expecting to enjoy this book, but even so it really knocked my socks off.
Total times I missed my bus stop as a result of this book and had to walk home from Bosworth and Mission: 2.
Total times I have ever missed that bus stop: 3.
That will tell you how involved I got reading this book. Seth is a charming writer. The characters were fully-fleshed-out and interesting to read about, the places were very real (as a Bay Area resident, it was very exciting to see places like the Cafe ...more
Total times I missed my bus stop as a result of this book and had to walk home from Bosworth and Mission: 2.
Total times I have ever missed that bus stop: 3.
That will tell you how involved I got reading this book. Seth is a charming writer. The characters were fully-fleshed-out and interesting to read about, the places were very real (as a Bay Area resident, it was very exciting to see places like the Cafe ...more
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This book was fabulous - imagine an entire novel written in verse! How could you? when I started, I couldn't imagine that I would finish it. But Seth does such a fabulous job with the rhyme scheme, with choices of words, and with the story itself that I couldn't put it down. It actually worked best when my wife and I took turns reading it aloud to one another. Then you can really "hear" the poetry in it as well as enjoy the story.
Seth said that he was inspired by Eugene Onegin by P...more
Seth said that he was inspired by Eugene Onegin by P...more
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recommends it for:
anyone
This is my favorite novel. I discovered it by way of Douglas Hofstadter's "Le Ton Beau de Marot" (a non-fiction treatise on translating the untranslatable, which is pretty amazing on its own). "The Golden Gate" had me hooked from the Table of Contents. The whole novel is written in verse -- as a series of sonnets, in the style of Aleksandr Pushkin's iambic tetrameter stanzas in the Russian classic novel in verse, "Eugene Onegin." Instead of wealthy Russians of the e...more
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Read in November, 2000
recommended to Sari Lynn by:
a gift from Tomrecommends it for: poetry-phobes, those who live in the Bay Area or dream of it
Years ago, when my friend Tom, who lived on the opposite side of the Golden Gate Bridge from me, gave me a copy of this book for my birthday, I was a bit daunted by the fact that it was written in verse - sonnet, to be precise. You see, I never found poetry to be particularly easy to read or accessible - unless the author was reading it aloud. (Okay, that was before I discovered the work of Billy Collins, but I digress...)
But, because it was a gift from someone dear to me, and because I ha...more
But, because it was a gift from someone dear to me, and because I ha...more
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You know, I never thought that I'd enjoy this as much as I did, but I am a huge poetry buff. Witness my love of 'Possession' by A.S. Byatt and the over fifty pages of poetry I read just to enhance my enjoyment of that book. I'm sure it would have been 500 pages if I'd tried to study it. Anyway, although the theme of this was something I didn't think I'd enjoy, I found myself lulled by the, at worst, adequate poetry, which is implying a high degree of skill given how many rhyming couplets need to...more
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To write a contemporary love story, intertwining the lives of 6 people that you and me can completely relate to, and delving deep into their everyday lives, struggles, loves and lamentations...and to be able to do this entirely using sonnets and poetry....simply UNBELIEVABLE! This poem/story/work of fiction is a must read for anyone that thought poerty is hard to read or too hard to understand. The simple language, yet strong prose makes this book a delightful, magical read. You'll fall in love ...more
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Read in November, 2007
Written in sonnets, and written in absolutely stunningly beautiful sonnets. The plot is nice and I was interested in what would happen next, but I mainly read it for the poetry. Which is marvellous. The fact that this book has been written by a non-native English speaker is downright incredible. I love how the about-the-author, thank yous and whatnot are all written in sonnets, too.
I wish I was gifted enough to write my review as a sonnet.
I wish I was gifted enough to write my review as a sonnet.
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Read in January, 1999
Quite possibly, this book is why I'm married to the person I married.
The novel presents a daunting challenge to readers, because it consists of sonnets - 14 lines per, babe. I recall that Seth doesn't adhere closely to iambic pentameter, which is fine - there's a good tradition of poets being flexible with verse. (See Shakespeare, William.)
This is a book of love and loss, friendship and loss, and San Francisco.
The novel presents a daunting challenge to readers, because it consists of sonnets - 14 lines per, babe. I recall that Seth doesn't adhere closely to iambic pentameter, which is fine - there's a good tradition of poets being flexible with verse. (See Shakespeare, William.)
This is a book of love and loss, friendship and loss, and San Francisco.
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Read in April, 2007
I was so disappointed with the ending of this novel in verse (yes, verse). The best part, I thought, came right before the plot takes a tragic turn, when two people begin to quietly and casually fall back into love under the guise of friendship. It felt like a healing of wounds that were then torn open again by what comes next. I love that Seth self-deprecatingly slips in a proxy for himself in the guise of Kim Tarvesh, the befuddled and blue economics PhD.
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Read in September, 2003
Really good! An entire and mostly non-fiction semi-autobiographical novel written in verse! Not as distracting as you'd think, and really impressive how he manged to do a full length novel in this form. Interesting to read just as a piece of experimental writing, but actually quite good also in the narrative department. Well recommended.
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I got this book as a gift and was honestly a bit wary at first because the concept—a novel told entirely in sonnets!—seemed a bit hokey and pretentious to me. But in general it's really quite lovely and clever, even if the plot is a bit thin (with the exception of one incredibly shocking moment toward the end). Plus, Seth captures the feel of the Bay Area really well. You were right, dear gift-giver!
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Read in December, 2005
I claimed I didn't like poetry until my ex-bf made me read this. It's a fantastic epic poem about several couples (one gay, I think) in modern(ish) day San Francisco. Seth has an incredible and enviable vocabulary and, to bank on that cliche, he makes writing verse seem easy.
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Read in January, 1989
Note: this is actually one sustained story, not a collection of poems. This is my #1 favorite book for both "literary" and personal reasons. It's beautifully written. The characters became a part of my life. I can't say enough good things about this book.
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Read in May, 2008
Great language, so-so story. I suppose it's not an objectively bad story, as it's competently told, but I couldn't relate to any of the characters at all. Nonetheless, the language is beautiful and witty, and the book is consistently entertaining.
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Marvellous piece of fiction in verse form - I never thought I'd enjoy it as much as I did, specially the form. Infact I discovered that I quite liked reading fiction in verse and have since read another in the same style!
A MUST READ indeed!
A MUST READ indeed!
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Read in January, 2002
A rather formidable attempt, you can't ever get around the Seth's bold use of verse, but it reads naturally and the story alone would be enjoyable enough that the sonnet form of the book is just an extra bonus. Impressive and pretty fun.
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Read in January, 2004
A good story, written rather awkwardly. That it's in verse—-which may be the source of the awkwardness--somehow makes it readable. Ignore your disbelief and keep reading. If nothing else, it is entertaining.
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Read in June, 2008
This book shows what a talented, fresh and diverse writer Vikram Seth proves himself to be. There is an initial hesitancy to read a novel in verse but once you let go of preconceived notions, it's a delight.
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This was brilliant. I barely remember what it was about, but the fact that he basically wrote a novel in rhyme was pretty impressive -- and that isn't to say it was just a silly exercise, either...
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Any novel that's written in iambic pentameter has got to be halfway decent. I honestly don't remember this book very much, but I do remember being impressed with the whole iambic pentameter thing.
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