Possession in Our Shared Shelf

Dec 26, 2016 Emily rated it liked it

Oh, this book. There were parts of it I loved. Byatt writes beautifully, and with sly humor. I liked Roland and especially Maud as characters. But I was SO annoyed with the epic digressions. Did I really need to read fifty pages (50!!) of Christabel's cousin's journal? No, I did not. Or forty pages of Christabel and Ash's letters? Or several epic Victorian poems? Good lord, no. I appreciate that Byatt is an excellent mimic; her Victorians sound like real Victorians. But after a while, it's just ...more

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Mar 01, 2012 Anie rated it did not like it

Shelves: fiction, abandoned

Defeated this day, 18 April 2012.

I was excited for this book. I'd heard good things, and I love epistolary novels---and epistolary novels with romance, and poets, and academics, all written in elegant prose!

Well, the prose is sometimes quite pretty, but this is really a tedious book. I frankly do not care about either of the main characters. They're boring, at best, and caricatures at worst---quite uncompelling. Neither love story is exactly compelling, either. Although the book is rife with de ...more

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Aug 29, 2011 Sophie rated it it was amazing

I LOVED this book. It was so incredibly satisfying on so many levels. Great plot, great characters, totally page turning and romantic and thrilling, and also a very very intelligent book. A.S. Byatt not only creates two entire extremely believable Victorian poets and their poetry, she also very handily invents literary criticism on said poets. Beyond all the intellectual shenanigans, the book is just a great read. Highly recommended.

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