A Heart So White
by Javier Marías
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 194)
Read in September, 2005
I guess this must be how people who read mysteries feel. Open this book as cynically as you please but if you give it a sentence to hook you, you are in for the long haul, my friend. The opening sequence is so perfectly rendered and moves with such a natural rhythm that it is all you can ask of your eyes to try and keep pace. I probably read a little TOO quickly toward the end (when I was encountering long passages for the second or third time) but when I think back on this book it is with a rea...more
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Read in October, 2007
recommends it for:
nobody
This is one of the worst books I have ever read. Where shall I start? Its banal insights may just about justify a short story by a teenager; the dialogue is stilted, pretentious and postured; and no interesting events occur - nothing actually happens.
Most importantly, the style is pedestrian, repetitive, circumlocutary. For instance: "Carefully, very carefully (but not that carefully) I crossed the room." So which is it, Marias? Carefully, very carefully or not that carefully?...more
Most importantly, the style is pedestrian, repetitive, circumlocutary. For instance: "Carefully, very carefully (but not that carefully) I crossed the room." So which is it, Marias? Carefully, very carefully or not that carefully?...more
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Read in August, 2007
recommends it for:
Amy
Very interesting story of the marriage of two translators and the hidden history of the husband's father. But it's mainly about words, what we tell each other, the shadowy nature of history, time. It took a while for the book to hook me, but once it did I really liked it. Very intimate read, having this very intelligent person whisper a long convoluted tale to you, trying to give a balanced recounting of the past as the present is already slipping away.
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This book is almost great -- really fantastic memorial prose, good mystery ratcheted up to metaphysical levels, interesting ideas about translation and eternal return, and for the most part, great lithe spare writing.
until the end. when certain mantras and themes get beaten into the ground. I was tempted to actually re-edit the end of the book into a version that I thought was perfect.
as it stands, it's still really good though.
until the end. when certain mantras and themes get beaten into the ground. I was tempted to actually re-edit the end of the book into a version that I thought was perfect.
as it stands, it's still really good though.
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Read in June, 2007
My new fave. book...well, definitely up there. I have absolutely no complaints about it. Marias narrator traces us through the life of a memory creating a longing, beautiful story where, seemingly, there is now story being told; we don't know why or where we are being led, but we know we want to be there.
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Read in January, 2008
I don't know, this book is supposed to be great but I pretty much welcomed any distraction from reading it. Maybe I just don't enjoy novels that deal so specifically with the use of language... brings back memories of reading Gertrude Stein (shudder).
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i tried it twice to find access to the story...i failed...but i have a feeling it's worth another try...like there's something BIG waiting once i found my way through the first pages...
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Read in November, 2004
recommends it for:
mystery-lovers
A great book. Another wordy one, but it's worth it. a complicated mystery set in Spain and Havana. I read it in Spanish but I am sure the English version will be fantastic as well.
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Has a copy to sell/swap
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Read in January, 2005
I had read that this was one of the best Spanish-language novels, but frankly, it's not so great. (Not even comparable with The Savage Detectives.)
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Read in February, 2004
An interesting meditation on marriage...and other things I don't remember. The language was wonderful, though, a strange and beautiful place.
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Read in January, 2000
Marias has a knack for making meandering thoughts compelling in this terrific story about love and disillusion.
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Read in April, 2006
psychologically intriguing...
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